Who is Roman Tsepov. Connected to the past. Career rise and death

In the photo below - St. Petersburg, September 27, 2004. Funeral of crime boss Roma Tsepov (Beilenson), nicknamed “Roma the Producer.” The photo was added to the court materials in the Litvinenko case as evidence of Putin’s connections with the mafia.

It was a noble funeral, yes. The Prince Vladimir Cathedral, where the funeral service was taking place, was cordoned off. One by one, the foreign cars of the distinguished guests arrived. When the body was buried in the cemetery, there was a fireworks display - a platoon of riot police fired a volley of blank cartridges.

Relatives and friends of the deceased came. There was the head of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of St. Petersburg and his deputies. Also the head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Northwestern Federal District. The head of Putin’s personal security and the head of the internal security department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation urgently arrived from Moscow. From the lads was Kumarin (“Kum”), the leader of the largest Tambov organized crime group in the city. And also deputies, senators, oligarchs, etc.

The deceased himself did not hold any positions during his lifetime and was officially only the owner of a private security company (PSC). He was 42 years old.

Of course, the deceased was a difficult person. Since the 90s. he knew a St. Petersburg official (then little-known) named Putin. I know him closely. Thanks to this, he accomplished many glorious deeds. Many of those present owed their stars, positions, and business successes to Roma. He was their patron. Producer with a capital letter.

Those present left the Prince Vladimir Cathedral with heavy hearts and vague guesses. After all, the deceased did not die a natural death. He was poisoned with an unknown radioactive poison, which could not be identified then (in the fall of 2004). Moreover, he did not die immediately, it was two weeks of suffering from radiation sickness: decay of the bone marrow, liver, hair loss, continuous bleeding stomatitis in the mouth due to a drop in leukocytes, etc. Someone dealt with him very cruelly and viciously. A criminal case was opened for murder, but it ended in nothing.

At the exit from the cathedral, mourners for Roma the Producer were captured by a Novaya Gazeta photographer. This is how the famous photograph came about, which many years later Judge Robert Owen would add to Litvinenko’s case. And really, where else will you see the main cop of the city of St. Petersburg and the main bandit of the city together? And so that Putin’s security chief would also be with them? - Only at the funeral of Roma the Producer.

Although the deceased was killed in such an unusual and savage way, he himself was a person whose life would have been better not to stand in his way. If he gave someone advice, it was worth listening. If you made an offer, it was worth accepting.

You have already heard about Kumarin. He was at Roma's funeral. Together with one journalist, by the way:

Mikhail Glushchenko (Misha Khokhol) could not come. As he later recalled, back in 2002, Roma Tsepov came to him (his private security company provided security for Khokhla) and stated that Mikhail needed to immediately leave the country, since “problems arose with his safety.” And Glushchenko immediately left. At the time of Roma’s death, he was not in Russia.

Please note that Glushchenko is an international master of sports in boxing, the most famous St. Petersburg bandit, State Duma deputy

And then one day - Roma Tsepov came and said: “Misha, we have to get out!” And Misha immediately left. He lived in Spain for a long time until he returned to Russia in 2009. And he was immediately arrested, received 8 years: racketeering, murder, a whole bunch of them. Those. Roma Tsepov was right when he said in 2002 that he could no longer guarantee his safety.

There was an instructive story with the authority of the same Tambov organized crime group, Ruslan Kolyak (aka Bug-Eyed, Lupaty, Puchik). He and Roma had a difficult relationship, they were at odds and then reconciled. But in the end, in the early 2000s, they separated completely. Those. Bug-Eyes decided to go against the Producer.

“From what I personally heard, I know that Tsepov had a very bad relationship with Ruslan Kolyak for a long time. I even remember how at one time Kolyak boasted that he burned Tsepov’s cars, that he would soon “lower him” and other such “blah blah”. This was in 1997-98, but in 2003, shortly before his death, the same Ruslan Artemyevich, whom I somehow met by chance, was interested in whether I could arrange a meeting for him with Tsepov on some particularly important matter. for Kolyak question. (Ruslan asked this question rather angrily and not without a bit of mockery; it was clear from him that the very situation when he was forced to break himself and bow to Tsepov was extremely unpleasant for him).”

The result is this: although Bug-Eyed promised to have sexual intercourse with Roma in an unnatural way, nothing came of it. In the summer of 2003, he was shot dead while on vacation in Yalta, and a whole line was forced into a cafe on the beach. And his entire business (there were several casinos, clubs, a stake in the Pulkovskaya Hotel, etc.) went to Roma.

Or there was another case. At the beginning of 2004, one St. Petersburg journalist named Maxim Maximov decided to conduct an investigation into how Deripaska fought to seize the Arkhangelsk pulp and paper mill (the so-called “forest war” of the oligarchs in 2000-2003).

It turned out that the power part of the operation to seize the plant was provided by Roma Tsepov and his two friends - General Zolotov (chief of Putin’s security) and General Novikov (chief of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the North-West). Zolotov is a very influential person who has the nickname “Generalissimo” in the Kremlin. Novikov is a complete protégé of Roma the Producer, and he promoted him to this position. Naturally, Tsepov and other participants in the raider takeover were not eager to read about their adventures in the newspapers. Especially Deripaska (London, stock exchange, investors).

And on June 29, 2004, journalist Maxim Maximov disappeared without a trace. As it turned out later, he was invited to a meeting by a certain person, a police informant, promising to hand over interesting materials. He offered to go to the office in the basement on Furshtatskaya, 26. However, it was a trap. There turned out to be a bandit bathhouse, where three police officers close to General Novikov were waiting for him. As witnesses later testified, the cops strangled Maxim, wrapped his body in plastic (prepared in advance) and took him somewhere out of town. Despite this, the case was put on hold and closed.

In 2009, 5 years after Maxim’s death, St. Petersburg journalists held a kind of protest at the scene of the murder. Flowers, candles, a portrait of the murdered man were brought, and this homemade board was attached to the house:

In 2007, deputy Viktor Ilyukhin tried to revive this case. I wrote a letter to prosecutor Chaika. Its text can be viewed. How is it, Ilyukhin asked, that police officers (he names their names) killed a journalist who was digging under Deripaska and his friends. And these officers are General Novikov’s closest acquaintances and subordinates. But the investigation is not being conducted, because... connections lead far to the top.

I found someone to complain about the government’s connections with crime! By the way, Roma Tsepov himself was a police officer. Yes Yes. I bought myself a crust from a GUBOP colonel back in the 90s. Where did the fireworks at the cemetery come from? Well, what’s surprising: it was in St. Petersburg that the concept of “striped roof” was born, i.e. joint organized crime groups of bandits, cops and security officers. And now there is also a striped roof over the Kremlin. The trial in the Litvinenko case showed that the deceased was killed because he was investigating how Putin provided protection for the Tambov gang when they were trafficking cocaine through the port of St. Petersburg.

In general, I have a proposal: stop pretending and change the five-pointed stars above the Kremlin to eight-pointed ones. Like these ones:

However, I wouldn’t want you to get the impression that Roma Tsepov was some kind of monster, around whom there were only bandits, corrupt cops and corpses. No, rotating for years in the very underworld of Russian life, among the bug-eyed ones, generalissimos and other Deripaskas, Roma remained a creative person. Periodically, his soul was drawn to beauty and he produced not only cops, but also modern Russian cinema.

The writer Andrei Konstantinov mentioned above in his book “Gangster Petersburg” dedicated the following lines to Roma:

“In the so-called “certain circles,” everyone knows Roman Tsepov, despite the fact that he is absolutely not a public person... The hackneyed cliche “gray eminence” suits him much more. Therefore, if someone was interested in this person to such an extent that they wanted to see him live, then I can only refer him to the series “Gangster Petersburg”. There, there is a scene in which the Lawyer (Pevtsov) kills Misha Rezany in front of the “authorities” sitting at the table. So one of these “ghoul” characters, Tsepov, is.”

It's like that. In certain (i.e. gangster) circles, everyone really knew him, the “gray eminence”, etc. And indeed it was Roma the Producer who gave money for the series “Gangster Petersburg” and himself starred in a cameo role there. This multi-part saga about St. Petersburg criminals went off with a bang among Russian viewers. Like “Brother-2”, “Brigade”, etc. products.

Here it is, the same shot from the 2000 film, where Roma the Producer briefly flashes in the role of a criminal authority. Essentially plays himself:

Well, in general, as you understand, Roman Tsepov achieved great heights during his lifetime. Came to success, as they say now. How did he manage to achieve this? Where did he come from in gangster Petersburg?

In Soviet times, Roma was a simple officer of the internal troops with the rank of captain. He served as assistant to the head of the political department for Komsomol work in the unit that guarded the zone. For the sake of studying at the military school of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he abandoned his father’s surname (Beilenson) and took his mother’s surname (Tsepova).

Roma Tsepov at the military school. By the way, he was a candidate for biathlon

And in general he was fond of shooting.

But Roma’s military career did not work out. In 1990, he got tired of guarding the zones, left the army and started a new life. He created his own brigade in St. Petersburg, close to the Tambov ones. In the best times it reached 100 people or more. Since 1992, the team has been working under the guise of a private security company with the elegant name “Baltic Escort”.

They started like everyone else: they provided protection, guarded, and collected debts. Business was not easy. In the dashing 90s, they tried to kill Roma and imprison him several times. In 1994, he spent a short time in Kresty for armed robbery (an attack on the office of the Parallel-60 company). But the case fell apart and he quickly left. Then he also boasted that he spent his time in prison usefully - he met “Malysh” himself (the leader of the Malyshevskaya organized crime group), who was imprisoned there for banditry.

In 1999, they tried to imprison Roma again, this time for racketeering (extorting 70 thousand dollars from a businessman from Gatchina). But this case was also closed. The former head of the 7th department of the St. Petersburg RUBOP Igor Gusev (the department dealt with the leaders of large organized crime groups in the city) in April 2011 recalled in an interview with the newspaper “Our Version on the Neva”:

“I personally saw Roman Igorevich in 1999, when I was conducting operational support in a criminal case regarding the extortion of a large sum of money from the director of one of the commercial companies in Gatchina. Tsepov came to this businessman personally, hit him in the face with a man purse and demanded money at gunpoint. We then brought up a number of more episodes of his criminal activity - in particular, a robbery at the office. However, all criminal cases against Roman Tsepov were dropped when he had well-known patrons... Later, it was Tsepov who became the biggest disaster for our city. Having unlimited support from the same patrons, communicating with all the criminal authorities of the city and turning into an untouchable, this thoroughly criminal person built the entire St. Petersburg police department for himself.”

Major Gusev did not dwell much on “a number of other episodes of his criminal activity” that they brought up then. Meanwhile, the episodes were really interesting. In the 90s Roma had a mistress, this lady:

She is now in the art world. He writes scripts and films videos with famous artists. And then she was a realtor, the owner of a real estate agency, which was protected by Roma. I don’t know what happened there, but Irina (that’s her name) left Roma. And she began working with the Shevchenko brothers (another branch of the Tambov organized crime group). According to Tsepov, she had previously cheated him by selling him an apartment, which was pledged to the bank. Although I think there is something personal there.

“In September 1999, the St. Petersburg prosecutor’s office opened a criminal case under clause “a, b” part 3 art. 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in relation to Belokopytov N.P., Tsepov R.I. and Kuznetsov N.A., who on June 25, 1999, while in the office of Baltic Steel Corporation CJSC, demanded from Bratchikov A.V. transfer money to them in the amount of 70,000 US dollars, while Kuznetsov and Tsepov caused him bodily harm.

A month later, this criminal case was connected with criminal case No. 990711, initiated by the 1st department of the Investigative Committee of the State Investigative Directorate on September 16, 1999 under paragraph “b” of part 3 of Art. 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in relation to R.I. Tsepov, who, according to the wording of the case, in the period from December 1998 to August 1999, threatened to kill I.G. Afanasyeva. and the murder of her young son, demanded that she give him 100,000 US dollars as “compensation” for refusing to cooperate with his (Tsepov’s) security agency, taking possession of the victim’s property worth at least 80,000 US dollars.”.

This is exactly where Roma’s former passion is, he threatened to kill her, as well as her young son. True, he didn’t kill him. When Putin came to power in 2000 and all cases against Roma were abruptly closed, he himself organized a criminal case against Irina. She was given 5 years for apartment fraud. Her problems only ended when Tsepov died. True, she never returned to real estate.

Major Gusev, who conducted cases against Tsepov in 1999, delicately did not name the patrons of this a thoroughly criminal person, who did not allow him to be imprisoned. This is understandable, the interview took place in 2011, the patrons were just preparing to be re-elected for another term.

An interesting point here is that Major Gusev served in the 7th department of the RUBOP of St. Petersburg, and Roma in the 90s just bought himself the title of an officer of this department with the rank of a freelance (secret) employee. Those. Gusev tried to imprison his “colleague”. I understand that this is already something beyond the pale, but this is Russian reality. A bandit and a cop can be one and the same. In general, Roma had a new type of authority. You just can’t approach it like that.

June 2004, St. Petersburg. Roma Tsepov in his native Military-Political School of Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. A gesture of charity - he gives the cadets a TV and home theater.

How did Roma meet his patrons, about whom Major Gusev speaks without naming names? - There is no secret here. Back in 1994, Roma accidentally acquired one exclusive client for his private security company. The mayor's office of St. Petersburg asked him to organize personal security for Vice-Mayor V.V. Putin. He was not entitled to FSO security due to his position, so the mayor’s office brought in a private security company. This is how Roma met Putin.

This acquaintance soon elevated Roma to the criminal Olympus of St. Petersburg.

But it also destroyed him.

Why did the mayor's office choose this private security company to protect Putin? Who brought Roma the Producer to Smolny in the first place? “This was done by Romin’s friend Viktor Zolotov, an FSO officer and Sobchak’s bodyguard. Roma's private security company was friends with the FSO. FSO officers trained his guys, and they themselves worked part-time in private security, and went to showdowns in their free time. That's how we met. Later there were publications in the media that Zolotov actually had (unofficially) a stake in Romin private security company, which is why he pushed him to the top. It may well be, but, be that as it may, Roma achieved his goal - he climbed into high offices.

Viktor Zolotov, nicknamed “Generalissimo,” is a very important person in the Kremlin.

In 1991, Zolotov was in Yeltsin’s bodyguard, and even stood with him on a tank near the White House during the State Emergency Committee. Then he was sent to St. Petersburg to see Sobchak. Then in 1996, after Sobchak’s failure in the mayoral elections, he was fired from the FSO and he went to work for his friend Roma, at that same private security company. But soon his old friends got him a job again. In 2000, Putin made Zolotov head of the Presidential Security Service. Since 2013, General Viktor Zolotov has been the commander of the Internal Troops of the Russian Federation. Putin has a particularly trusted person; if anything happens, he can disperse the protests.

Who would have thought in 1991, at the time of the fall of the Soviet regime, that this big man behind Yeltsin would come to the fore and stand guard over a new, now purely mafia dictatorship? By the way, the child between Zolotov and Sobchak in the black and white photo is Ksenia Sobchak. It is extremely doubtful that her dad, around whom Putin, Zolotov, and Tsepov did business, knew nothing about this. And I had no share.

Not much is known about Zolotov’s personal qualities. Defector Sergei Tretyakov (former SVR officer, fled to the USA in 2000), was familiar with Zolotov and described him as "ordinary thug". Zolotov’s former chief in the FSO, Alexander Korzhakov, completely hates his subordinate (they had conflicts in life). In 2014, in response to a question from The New Times about Zolotov, Korzhakov snapped:

“I won’t talk about scoundrels... He [Zolotov] is very vindictive, just like our first person with whom he is close. And I’m an old pensioner, I have children, why do I need these problems?”

It’s interesting that Putin and his close friend Zolotov are similar not only in character (vicious and vengeful), but even in appearance, small glass eyes, pursed lips...

But let's return to Roma the Producer. How many people happen to have acquaintances with the powers that be? “That in itself doesn’t mean anything.” But Roma Tsepov was not like that. He made the most of his acquaintance with Putin and Zolotov.

It all started with a casino. The city hall gave them licenses, and Sobchak appointed Putin to be responsible for issuing them. He set to work with enthusiasm. The system developed was classical. The license cost a bribe (to enter the market), and then the work also cost money (a monthly “subscription fee”).

But there was one problem - bandits. They were the owners of the casino. Someone had to communicate with them, resolve issues, collect money. In addition, the bandits were squabbling among themselves. They could send the tax inspector or the cops as competitors to find black cash or drugs in the neighbor’s casino (and often there was no need to look for them). Competitors, for example, liked to do such nasty things to their competitors, using their connections.

In other words, every time some kind of intermediaries were needed, whom both sides would trust, and who would sort it all out. Of course, Putin could do everything himself. Among the Tambov people, he had an old judo buddy, Kostya Goloshchapov, and his own coach, Leonid Usvyatsov (the authority of Lenya the Sportsman), until he was killed. Among the Malyshevskys, Putin also had a friend from his youth - former wrestler Gennady Petrov, a major authority.

You won’t believe it, but the character on the left, Gennady Petrov, in the 90s was one of the founders of Rossiya Bank (this is “Putin’s wallet”). And it was him in June 2007, according to Spanish wiretapping, that Comrade Bastrykin thanked for his appointment as head of the Investigative Committee.

But let's get back to the casino. Money is good, but someone had to constantly be in touch with these soulful people in chains and with crosses. And then fate sent Putin Roma the Producer. This is who was the best fit for the role of mediator. He knew both bandits and cops, he loved this business (mediation) and he succeeded. With the advent of Roma, the casino protection system in St. Petersburg acquired a completely centralized form. Now Sobchak’s mayor’s office could only receive money; Roma would resolve related issues.

The casino was just the beginning. Running in the system. The main thing began later, when Roma reached a new level: in addition to the usual protection racket, he began trading positions in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB and other government agencies. That's when he got his nickname "Roma-Producer".“Producer” because he produced. And not only TV series, but also people for bread-and-butter jobs.

As already mentioned, in September 2004, when he was buried, Vladimir Kumarin (“Kum”) and Mikhail Vanichkin, head of the St. Petersburg City Internal Affairs Directorate, came to say goodbye. Of course, Vanichkin knew that Kum would be at the funeral (Roma and the Tambovites worked closely together). Of course, Vanichikin knew that it was inappropriate for the head of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate to attend the funerals of criminal authorities. But on the other hand, how can you come? — In 2002, it was Roma who helped Vanichkin buy this position.

FSB General Konstantin Romodanovsky was also at that funeral (he was not included in the shot). This is the head of the internal security department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in 2001-2005. Those. the main fighter against corruption in the police department. He was very friendly with Roma. They fought corruption together. Well, if Romodanovsky has come, then why shouldn’t Vanichkin come?

Konstantin Poltoranin, Romodanovsky’s press secretary at the time, recalled in a 2012 interview:

“Tsepov, Putin’s acquaintance from St. Petersburg, apparently did not leave Romodanovsky’s office”.

It seems that Roma did not leave all the main offices of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB at that time. By the way, General Vanichkin is now deputy. Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, responsible for the fight against organized crime. And the security officer Romodanovsky is the head of the Federal Migration Service of the Russian Federation with the rank of federal minister. Romina's pets were promoted.

This is Dmitry Zapolsky, a famous St. Petersburg journalist and political scientist. At one time I knew Roma Tsepov closely. In 2012, Dmitry emigrated from Russia (as he says: “So that they don’t waste polonium on me”) and now lives in Thailand.

“Tsepov was terrible in anger. The speaker almost flew out of the phone and into my ear. The eardrum in the other ear was bursting from the groans of colleagues who were not accustomed to Roman’s harsh, but carefully verified statements. They probably thought that the magazine was unlikely to survive until the next issue...

A week later, a mutual friend of ours came from the capital for a conversation. Very large stars shone through even through a civilian jacket. As befits a real security officer, the acquaintance was attentive, asking if there were any problems, how things were going, what was new in his native St. Petersburg. And then he suddenly asked, do I really want to never have any relationship with Roman again? That well-wishers delivered the interview with appropriate remarks to the “very top.” That at a specific historical moment the appearance of the publication caused indignation among “the very top.” That now “the very top” see in this a provocation of their secret enemies, possibly generously paid for in foreign banknotes...”

In short, they had a preventative conversation with the journalist, conveying extreme displeasure that the name of Vladimir Vladimirovich is generally used in any context with Tsepov. After all, people know what they might think! That Putin is generally a bandit and a member of an organized crime group. What about Western intelligence agencies?

This is businessman Dmitry Skarga, former director of Sovcomflot. Since 2006 he has lived in England.

In 2015, he gave an interview to film BBC "Putin's Secret Riches". There he quite funny describes his communication with Timchenko, Putin’s friend from St. Petersburg, who in 2000 was a nobody, but is now a billionaire on the Forbes list. In a narrow circle, speaking about the origin of his billions, Timchenko usually raised his finger to the top and said meaningfully, they say, this is all Mikhail Ivanovich’s money, he has everything under control.

Michal Ivanovich, this is Putin’s nickname in the Kremlin, like the boss from The Diamond Arm.

Therefore, answering the question about the reasons for the amazing rise and then fall of the St. Petersburg bandit and adventurer Roma Tsepov

You can answer briefly: “This is all Michal Ivanovich’s money.”

UPD. When this essay was already published, the author received a number of critical reviews that the biography of the main character was of a smooth nature. That the most odious details were not included in it. For example, that Tsepov participated in the drug trade together with Putin and the Tambov gang.

Or that the perpetrator in the murder of Tsepov himself was Dima-Krikun - FSB agent Dmitry Mikhalchenko, who slipped polonium into his tea on September 11, 2004, in the office of the head of the FSB Directorate for St. Petersburg (Roma had a business meeting there). And that the security officers not only removed Roma as an accomplice in Mr. Putin’s criminal past, but also looted him for the last time: Tsepov’s entire business went to Mikhalchenko.

In general, in response to critical remarks, we can only say that the essay about Roma Tsepov was written from open sources. Based on what was previously in the media. Perhaps this is not all. That the true picture is even worse. That this is not the bottom yet. And is there a bottom to the Putin mafia regime?

This influential man, who preferred not to appear to the general public, is known as the “gray eminence” of the Northern capital. Now Roman Tsepov for many is a real legend of “gangster Petersburg”. His authority in the criminal and security forces of this city was very high. Few people know that the entrepreneur’s real name was Beilenson.

Naturally, the news that Roman Tsepov was killed by ill-wishers came as a real shock to many business representatives, but the circumstances of his death were surrounded by a lot of speculation and rumors. How did a person who worked as a simple mechanic at an enterprise that produced road metal structures and welding electrodes manage to turn into a high-ranking figure who solved the most important problems on the scale of a large metropolis? Let's consider this issue in more detail.

Curriculum Vitae

A native of the village of Kolpino, which is considered a suburb of the Northern capital.

He was born on July 22, 1962. Even during his school years, the future head of the large security company Baltic-Export showed interest in shooting weapons. And his teacher-military instructor taught him to hit the top ten with a pistol. Soon Roman Tsepov, whose biography contains many dark spots, became the best shooter throughout the school.

Having received a matriculation certificate, the young man decided to enter Leningrad State University. However, he was dissuaded: they say, with your last name, the chances of becoming a student at this university are almost zero. The young man had to go to work at the Izhora plant as a mechanic. However, Roman soon got tired of smelling like machine oil and coming home grimy almost every day.

School of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

He wants to enter the political school. 60th anniversary of the Komsomol Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR. Surprisingly, Roman Tsepov successfully passes the entrance exams and is enrolled in this educational institution. After some time, the young cadet is sent to serve in Valdai, then he goes to Kingisepp to serve.

In 1987, trouble happens to a young man. Tsepov Roman Igorevich almost dies in an accident, he ends up in a hospital bed. His mother takes care of him, and the young man manages to restore his health in the district military hospital.

Changing priorities

Soon the cadet of the Ministry of Internal Affairs decides to leave the school. A career in law enforcement agencies no longer appeals to him.

In the early 90s, Roman Igorevich Tsepov created the Baltic-Export structure, which was engaged exclusively in security activities. According to some sources, the idea to establish the above enterprise belonged to a certain Viktor Zolotov, who subsequently coordinated the activities of the private security company, being a member of the active reserve. This man was the bodyguard of the then mayor of the Northern capital Anatoly Sobchak. Zolotov provided all possible assistance to Roman Igorevich in the competent construction of commercial activities.

Business is booming

Having secured the support of the St. Petersburg mayor and his assistants, Beilenson soon became a monopolist in the market

Its employees provided protection to show business stars, major businessmen and officials who came to the Northern capital. Among Tsepov’s clients were influential people from the criminal environment, in particular we are talking about Alexander Malyshev, who in the 90s was the leader of the largest criminal group. Roman Igorevich was also involved in escorting cars of the Neva-Trans company, the owners of which were associated with the Tambov organized crime group.

Naturally, not everyone liked the fact that Beilenson was doing well. The entrepreneur had many enemies who made every attempt to put an end to his business. In the mid-90s, they first shot at it and then attempted to blow it up.

Criminal factor

Roman Tsepov does not have an impeccable reputation not only because he provided protection to criminal elements. There were rumors that he was collecting tribute, which was paid by large businessmen for obtaining licenses in the gambling business.

Beilenson was first taken into custody in 1994, when he was charged with illegal possession of a weapon. As has already been emphasized, Tsepov’s success in business aroused ordinary envy among some: his life was repeatedly endangered.

In the spring of 1998, a case was opened against Roman Igorevich for extorting a large sum of money, and he was forced to temporarily hide from justice in the Czech Republic.

Life is getting better…

When Vladimir Putin took the helm of power, Tsepov began to gain significant authority in the political and financial life of the Northern capital. Roman Igorevich, according to rumors, was in very close contact with the then head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Rashid Nurgaliev, head of the presidential security service Viktor Zolotov, assistant to the head of the presidential administration

Beilenson himself said that, according to “knowledgeable people,” he had a huge number of important responsibilities: organizing elections, monitoring criminal investigations, developing the fuel business, ensuring security, and so on.

It is noteworthy that shortly before his death, the owner of Baltic Export, according to a presidential decree, was awarded the rank of major general of police, which even his relatives did not know about. However, this information was kept in the strictest confidence.

Personal life

Tsepov Roman Igorevich, whose family consisted of a wife and two children, had a reliable rear. Sources report that after the death of the “gray eminence,” one of his daughters entered into a marriage with a Sudanese citizen and was forcibly taken by her newly-made husband to his homeland.

Circumstances of death

The murder of Roman Tsepov caused a huge number of rumors and rumors.

After performing mediation services between federal officials and the Yukos company, Beilenson developed health problems. He died on September 24, 2004. Detectives put forward a version that Roman Igorevich was poisoned. Doctors, in turn, suspected Tsepov of having radiation sickness, and newspapers later wrote that the symptoms of the disease in the head of Baltic Export and Alexander Litvinenko largely coincided.

Beilenson was buried in St. Petersburg.

In St. Petersburg, they again started talking about the murder of Roman Tsepov - “an influential lobbyist, former security guard of Sobchak, Narusova, and also a good friend of Vladimir Putin, who died on the night of September 24, 2004.” This time, the reason for once again fueling public interest in the mysterious death of Tsepov was the spread of an “information leak” allegedly directly from the department of the St. Petersburg Ministry of Internal Affairs. If you believe some representatives of the St. Petersburg media, high-ranking police officials promised in a private conversation with “especially close journalists” that Tsepov’s murder would be solved in the very near future.

Of course, the name of the alleged customer and perpetrator of the murder was not announced. There is only information that this is a very well-known figure in Russian society, and the publication of the results of the investigation will cause a real sensation.

In addition, representatives of the St. Petersburg media were hinted that the mastermind of the murder was a person who, almost from the first day, was considered as one of the suspects.

Let us recall that from the very beginning several versions of the murder of the St. Petersburg businessman were developed. There were several of them, due to the fact that Tsepov was very active and his interests could one way or another spread in the most unexpected directions.

Firstly, suspicion could quite logically fall on the highest representatives of the St. Petersburg political elite, with most of whom Tsepov was rumored to be in close business and simply friendly contacts. Tsepov’s employees at various times provided physical security for members of the Sobchak family, vice-mayor Shcherbakov, regional governor Gustov, Pierre Cardin, Mr. Wrigley (the owner of the chewing gum factory of the same name), and also ensured the safety of countless show business stars (Pugacheva, Leontyev, Titomir , Rasputina, etc.). The Baltic Escort enterprise, owned by Tsepov, also protected some of the leaders of organized crime - in particular, the “Perm” ones and members of the family of Alexander Malyshev. Roman Tsepov himself later admitted in an interview with the magazine “Personalities of St. Petersburg”: “I will help even the devil. If he shows a certificate that the devil is normal. Honest. Not a scumbag, not a banal scum.”

In 1993 and 1995 they shot at Tsepov, and in 1996 they tried to blow him up. An attempt to eliminate Tsepov from the arena of real events in other ways almost turned out to be effective: during the gubernatorial elections in 1996, a “disinformation” was launched that an assassination attempt was allegedly being prepared on the gubernatorial candidate Vladimir Yakovlev, one of the perpetrators of which was to be none other than Tsepov (apparently, there were simply no other famous personalities who were good with weapons in the city).

Secondly, the reason for Tsepov’s murder could well have been his increased self-esteem in recent years (objectively speaking, it did not increase out of nowhere). Conceit allegedly pushed Tsepov into a really big business at one time, and he allegedly even tried to take an active part in “dividing the YUKOS pie,” offering his intermediary services to interested parties. It is clear that with all due respect to the personality of the deceased, this was still not his level; in any case, Tsepov’s excessive activation in this “field” could cause serious discontent among many influential people.

Thirdly, Tsepov, according to some information, in the last year of his life, in principle, positioned himself, first of all, as a political lobbyist and invited interested parties to “solve problems” at the highest level. And by “solving problems” we do not mean providing security or “having a heart-to-heart conversation” with an obstinate competitor. We are talking about issues such as, for example, lobbying the interests of the “customer” in the Kremlin during gubernatorial elections, etc.

And, finally, fourthly, it cannot be ruled out that Tsepov could have been “ordered” by people whom he “crossed the road” in business conflicts typical of modern Russia. It is known that Tsepov actively helped businessmen close to him to resolve, as they say, contradictions with their obstinate business partners. We are, of course, not talking about banal racketeering, it’s just that Tsepov’s authority was so high that few people dared to go against his opinion. At least out in the open.

Immediately after Tsepov’s murder, a number of media outlets wrote about certain mediation services that Tsepov provided to entrepreneurs Kuyundich and Khovanov in the conflict around the notorious “VILS” and SMK and their supposedly serious confrontation with businessmen close to the banker Veremeenko. In addition, shortly before his murder, Tsepov’s name “came up” in connection with entrepreneurs of various levels of fame and wealth. For example, there is information that Tsepov agreed to help the former director of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, Mr. Sharipov, who approached him for assistance. As you know, Sharipov once owned (and according to some sources, still owns) about 29% of MMK shares. The history of these shares is quite vague; it is only known that now they seem to be under the control of the current director of the plant, Rashnikov, and Sharipov, being by no means delighted with this circumstance, cannot return them to himself. The former director of MMK allegedly asked for help in solving problems with Rashnikov shortly before the mysterious death of the entrepreneur.

The founders of the media group AZHUR, which together with the Swedish media concern Bonnier Business Press owns the largest St. Petersburg online newspaper Fontanka.ru, have resolved differences with the heirs of the St. Petersburg businessman, one of the pioneers of the security business Roman Tsepov, who was killed in 2004 in mysterious circumstances. Tsepov was the owner of a 51% stake in Tayny Adviser LLC, one of the key legal entities of the AZHUR media group.

The transaction amount, according to ZhurDom, was $500,000. It was this amount that Roman Tsepov’s heirs (his son and daughter Igor and Daria Tsepov, as well as parents Tamara Makarovna and Igor Abramovich Beilenson) valued the late entrepreneur’s controlling stake in the Tayny Councilor company. OOO Tainy Adviser, in turn, owns a 24% stake in CJSC AZHUR-MEDIA, which publishes the St. Petersburg online newspaper Fontanka.ru and other investigative journalistic media outlets. Thus, before the completion of the transaction with the founders of AZHUR, the heirs of Roman Tsepov could theoretically lay claim to a blocking stake in AZHUR-MEDIA.

In turn, the controlling stake of ZAO AZHUR-MEDIA (51%) was recently purchased by the Swedish media concern Bonnier Business Press, as reported by Fontanka.ru on April 2, 2013. The remaining minority stake is still controlled by the founders of the AZHUR media group, Andrei Konstantinov, Alexander Gorshkov, Evgeniy Vyshenkov and Andrei Potapenko, but the issue with the heirs of Roman Tsepov remained unresolved. In fact, they retained the rights to the share of their deceased son, which was not properly taken into account at the time of the transaction with the Swedes.

According to ZhurDom, the price of the contract with the Swedish media holding was 8 million euros. Moreover, under the terms of the agreement, the founders of AZHUR received only an advance of 3.5 million euros for the sale of a controlling stake in real money. The remaining 4.5 million euros will be received by Konstantinov, Vyshenkov, Gorshkov and Potapenko from Bonnier Business Press only if the annual revenue of ZAO AZHUR-MEDIA from advertising at the end of 2013 exceeds 135 million rubles. Let us remind you that in 2012, AZHUR was able to earn only about 90 million rubles from advertising, and an increase in advertising revenue by 50% per year is unlikely. Most likely, by the end of the year it will become a fact that a controlling stake in a large media structure in St. Petersburg will be sold for 3.5 million euros.

Publications about this major deal on the St. Petersburg media market attracted the attention of the heirs of Roman Tsepov and Kirill Metelev, who represented their interests by proxy, general director of the Information Department “Operational Cover” LLC (publishes the newspaper “Our Version on the Neva” in St. Petersburg). According to Kirill Metelev, it was he who at one time introduced the head of AZHUR Andrei Konstantinov to the wealthy and extremely influential businessman Roman Tsepov, and therefore had the moral right to speak at the negotiations as a representative of his heirs. The AZHUR side in the negotiations was represented by Evgeniy Vyshenkov, whose position Metelev rated extremely highly in an interview with ZhurDom.

“I would like to note that Evgeny Vyshenkov conducted these difficult negotiations with dignity and constructively, proved himself to be a man of his word, and that is why our communication did not go into a conflict plane. As a result of negotiations with the participation of lawyers of the SMS company, a general meeting of participants of Tayny Adviser LLC was held, and the heirs of Roman Igorevich Tsepov approved all the actions of the general director of the company, Alexander Gorshkov, over many years of his management of the company, and also sold their shares to Andrey Potapenko. I would not like to name the amount of the transaction,” Kirill Metelev told a ZhurDom correspondent.

The editor-in-chief of the online newspaper “Fontanka.ru” and the general director of LLC “Tainy Sovetnik”, Alexander Gorshkov, said that there would be no comments from the media group “AZHUR” about this deal, and called ZhurDom’s information about the transactions of the investigative journalism agency and their conditions containing “lots of misinformation.”

At the dawn of the formation of AJUR (Agency for Investigative Journalism) in the late 1990s, it was Tsepov who was considered the key investor of this St. Petersburg journalistic enterprise. AZHUR received a serious impetus in its development, largely thanks to the financial investments of Roman Tsepov, his serious connections in law enforcement agencies and the Kremlin.

Let us remember that Roman Tsepov (Beilenson), a native of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, created the security company Baltic-Escort in 1992. Employees of this private security company guarded senior officials of St. Petersburg, including the mayor of the city Anatoly Sobchak and his family, as well as vice-mayor Vladimir Putin. After Vladimir Putin was elected president of Russia in 2000, Roman Tsepov became one of the most influential figures in both St. Petersburg and Moscow. He was credited with informal supervision and management of personnel policy and the leadership of law enforcement agencies in St. Petersburg. On September 11, 2004, Tsepov felt unwell and two weeks later, on September 24, he died. The investigation established that the businessman was poisoned. The type of poison, the names of the perpetrators and those who ordered the murder have not yet been named. The materials of the criminal case are classified.

Maxim Fadeev

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According to experts, the cause of Roman Tsepov’s death was poisoning with a large dose of a drug used to treat leukemia. The drug, in the form of a solution or crushed tablets, was presumably administered with food. Correspondents of the Agency for Investigative Journalism learned about this.

Photo from the AZHUR archive

On the morning of September 24 in St. Petersburg in the hospital named after. Sverdlov, a famous entrepreneur, general director of the security company Baltic Escort, Roman Tsepov, died. He was 42 years old.

According to the latest data, the death of Roman Tsepov occurred as a result of damage to the spinal cord, accompanied by symptoms of pronounced radiation sickness. As the Agency for Investigative Journalism learned, according to experts, the cause of the sharp deterioration in Roman Tsepov’s health on September 11 was poisoning with a large dose of a drug used for leukemia. (Roman did not suffer from any cancer). The drug, in the form of a solution or crushed tablets, was presumably administered with food.

According to doctors, depending on the body’s capabilities, signs of poisoning may occur within 4-10 hours. According to a Fontanka correspondent, today law enforcement agencies have completely restored Tsepov’s daily routine on September 10-11.

The investigation into the case, initiated under the article “premeditated murder,” is being conducted by the city prosecutor’s office, and the operational investigative group includes employees of the Criminal Investigation Department and the Department for Combating Organized Crime. Yesterday searches and seizure of materials took place at Tsepov’s place of residence and work. New examinations have been scheduled for the near future in order to more accurately determine the date of poisoning.

Tsepov felt unwell on September 11, but doctors could not establish an accurate diagnosis. He ended up in a serious condition in one of the hospitals in St. Petersburg, and two days before his death he was admitted to Sverdlovka. On Friday, September 24, Roman Tsepov intended to be transported to Germany for treatment, but, according to doctors, the disease had already affected the bone marrow, and the processes had become irreversible.

It can be assumed that establishing the truth in this case will be difficult. If only because Roman Tsepov’s social circle is not only extremely wide, but sometimes almost inaccessible from the point of view of the status of individuals. And it is quite obvious that the death of Roman Tsepov will inevitably affect the balance of power in the St. Petersburg elite - political, security, financial.

Mythological reality of Roman Tsepov

This was the title of the chapter in Andrei Konstantinov’s book “Gangster Petersburg,” dedicated to Roman Tsepov. Today, this is perhaps one of the most vivid and accurate portraits characterizing the personality of this mysterious and extraordinary person in all respects. Fontanka publishes fragments from this chapter... If we put aside emotions, then the following is known about Roman Tsepov.

Born in 1962 in Leningrad. Graduated from the Higher Military Command School of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. After graduating from college, he served in the internal troops. Having completed three courses at the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as an external student, Tsepov joined a group of like-minded people who were developing the Law on Private Detective and Security Activities.

In the early 90s, after retiring from law enforcement agencies, Tsepov organized and headed the security company Baltic-Escort. Tsepov’s private structure was one of the first in the city (and, probably, in all of Russia) to engage in activities related to the so-called removal of gangster “roofs”. It is not difficult to imagine the degree of risk associated with attempts to force an organized crime group that controls a certain enterprise to back down and leave it alone. “Baltic Escort” often helped client companies that were not involved in illegal business (or did not want to engage in such anymore) to free themselves from the influence of a criminal group. It is clear that they had to act extremely harshly, and therefore Tsepov’s employees, faced with serious opposition from informal security forces, were the first to take the path of obtaining weapons licenses, armed with special carbines, which were later replaced by PMs, which are more familiar to most employees.

One of the most illustrative examples of that period is the work of Tsepov’s people to escort vehicles with cargo and re-export vehicles from the territory of Western Ukraine to Moscow and St. Petersburg. This route was once dubbed the “route of death”, since in those years natural banditry was rampant on the highways, and Baltic Escort employees were initially forced to stage “power shows” along the entire length of the route.

At one time, Roman Tsepov was close to Alexander Nevzorov, who contributed to the arrival of people from the Riga and Vilnius riot police at the security company. However, Tsepov, as they say, did not work out well with the famous Mlynnik, and already in the mid-90s he entered into a serious conflict. As a result, most of Mlynnik’s people remained in Baltic Escort, and he himself began to appear in St. Petersburg much less often.

The professionalism of Tsepov’s employees developed largely thanks to people from the security service of the President of Russia - they were the ones who “trained” the security guards from Baltic Escort. This became possible thanks to Tsepov’s long-standing close ties with Viktor Zolotov, the current head of President V. Putin’s personal security.
Tsepov's employees at various times provided physical protection for members of the Sobchak family, vice-mayor Shcherbakov, regional governor Gustov, Pierre Cardin, Mr. Wrigley (the owner of the chewing gum factory of the same name), as well as countless show business stars (Pugachev, Leontyev, Titomir, Rasputin etc.). The security company "Baltic-Escort" also protected some leaders of organized crime - in particular, the "Perm" ones and members of the family of Alexander Malyshev. As Roman Tsepov himself later admitted in his interview with the magazine “Personalities of St. Petersburg”: “I will help even the devil. If he shows a certificate that the devil is normal. Honest. Not a scumbag, not a banal scum.”

It is clear that due to such character traits, Tsepov was unable to avoid a number of serious conflicts in St. Petersburg, which almost led to tragic consequences. In 1993 and 1995, they shot at Tsepov, and in 1996 they tried to blow it up. However, the attempt to eliminate Tsepov from the arena of real events in other ways almost turned out to be even more effective - during the gubernatorial elections in 1996, a “disinformation” was launched that an assassination attempt was allegedly being prepared on the gubernatorial candidate Vladimir Yakovlev, one of the perpetrators of which was to be none other than Tsepov (apparently, there were simply no other famous personalities in the city who were good with weapons). This topic, due to its absurdity, did not receive official development, but it managed to spoil the lives of Tsepov personally and his company. Attempts to discredit Tsepov’s personality were made later. Just last week, negative materials appeared in the Moscow press, the “custom” nature of which was obvious even to a person far from the newspaper market.

In recent years, Roman Tsepov has been actively involved in producing activities, in particular, he acted together with director Vladimir Bortko as the producer of the television film “I Have the Honor,” which received audience recognition. It just so happened that it was on the day of the producer’s death that the film “I Have the Honor” won the TEFI television award as the best television film (mini-series).

Elena Gusarenko,
Svetlana Tikhomirova,
Alexander Gorshkov,
Fontanka.ru