«Coming for each of you»
The police were unable to seize the assailant, who attacked Dmitry Muratov, hot on the trail. Novaya found a suspect. We publish the translated version of the Novaya Gazeta investigation
On April 7th, in the center of Moscow, at the Kazansky railway station, unidentified persons attacked the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov. Responsibility for this crime was claimed by people who publicly declare to have some kind of connection with the Union of the Airborne Soldiers of Russia. The location of the crime, great public stir and danger given, one would expect the arrest of suspects in hot pursuit. But this has not happened so far. Novaya Gazeta conducted the investigation and established the identity of the likely attacker (hereinafter called “a suspect”, because an assessment of his actions in terms of law should be given by the inquiry, and the guilt or innocence should be established by the court). Novaya demand that the police check this data procedurally and detain all persons involved in the crime.
On April 7th, at about 19.30, Dmitry Muratov boards the Moscow-Samara train at the Kazansky railway station, the departure of which is scheduled for 20.08. There is no one on the platform, the train is almost empty. Closer to the time of departure, a man enters the coach №2. He tells the attendant that he has come to the passenger who is traveling in 14th place (Dmitry Muratov’s place). The visitor has a plastic bottle with red paint, judging by the smell, oily, diluted with acetone. Claiming: “Muratov, this is to the guys!” - he splashes the paint out on the passenger and the coach compartment and leaves the train without hindrance, throwing the bottle away when Muratov starts to follow him.
Doctors will later observe chemical burns to Muratov’s eyes. The editor manages to see the face of the attacker and remember his looks.
The attacker had a partner who recorded the video of the action through the window. When Muratov sees this and turns his phone camera at the person, he closes his face with a hand.
We know for sure and it was confirmed by a video recording that a police squad stopped one of the attackers on the platform to check the passport, while Muratov directly indicated to the policeman that this particular person had just participated in the attack.
Less than an hour later, a video from the crime scene appears on the “Союз Z десантников (The Union Z of the Airborne Soldiers of Russia)” telegram channel with the comment:
“As we promised, in the near future our veterans will show the “great patriots” that the blood of our Glorious Sons will not be tolerated. You, scums, see how the Ukrainans came up with the “Bucha tragedy” and at the same time support this lie, but you don’t see how our guys’ throats are cut! Coming to each of you, wait!!!” (provided unedited for spelling or grammar).
Interesting to say that broadcasting news about Ukrainian Bucha as a reason for revenge is dragged in - Novaya Gazeta was forced to suspend its work and could not report anything about these tragic events.
The next day, this widely shared on the internet news was deleted, and the channel, which gained 1,000 new subscribers overnight, changed its name to “СоюZ десантников (The Union Z of the Airborne Soldiers)”.
Chairman of the Central Board of the Union of the Airborne Soldiers Valery Yuryev denied an attack on Muratov as well as engagement with the channel, calling the authors of the latter “mummers”. Commander-in-Chief of the Airborne Forces Vladimir Shamanov, in his interview to the State Duma deputy Khinshtein, also condemned the attack on Muratov, saying that “the Airborne Forces had nothing to do with this,” and demanded that the police check the incident and punish those responsible.
We do agree with the general and also believe that a dirty and cowardly action is unsoldierly for the officers.
However, as we found out, the telegram channel that boasted of what it had done could still be associated with the Union of the Airborne Soldiers of Russia.
The “Union Z of the Airborne Soldiers” channel was twice listed as a backup platform for the publications of the Union of the Airborne Soldiers of Russia Instagram account, whose contacts include the phone number and email address of Colonel Pavel Popovskikh (died in February 2018, accused of murdering Dmitry Kholodov —"Moskovsky Komsomolets” journalist).
This phone number is also listed as the contact number for the Moscow branch of the the Union of the Airborne Soldiers of Russia, co-founded by the Colonel. Popovskikh was also a co-founder of a regional public organization for assistance to veterans of the airborne forces and chairman of the central council of the Union of the Airborne Soldiers of Russia - both organizations are now headed by Valery Yuryev.
Back to the Kazansky railway station. Taking into account the number of cameras, the presence of eyewitnesses, the video leaked by the criminals themselves, the looks of the attacker recorded, one could expect an early arrest. Though we’ve got used to the fact that police authorities have not much enthusiasm about looking for those who attack journalists: once those beating:
Elena Milashina,
Elena Kostyuchenko,
Diana Khachatryan,
Izolda Drobina,
Arden Arkman;
repeatedly attacking:
Yulia Latynina,
Sergey Sokolov
splashing the office of Novaya Gazeta with a hazardous chemical;
threatening:
Denis Korotkov,
Tatyana Likhanova — managed to avoid responsibility.
Not to mention those who ordered the murders of our late colleagues Yuri Shchekochikhin and Anna Politkovskaya.
But here the case is somewhat different - regardless of the motive of the crime, it is committed, as they usually write in the accusations, "in a way that's beyond cold, at a transport infrastructure facility of increased danger, with the use of flammable substances." And there were consequences including a 40-minute delay of the train, which arrived in Samara late, which led to a disruption in the schedule of other trains, and a badly damaged compartment or even the coach itself - the smell in it was so unbearable that the attendants had to relocate all passengers.
Nevertheless, the criminal case has not yet been initiated, the victim, who immediately gave written explanations to the police, was not even notified of the beginning of the procedural arrangements and was not officially interrogated.
Moreover, violating the order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which regulates the actions of the police at the scene of the unlawful act, no inspection of the place was made, neither paint nor clothes were sampled: to cut a long story short, no actions were taken to immediately establish all the circumstances of the crime.
On April 8, the Interior Ministry reported that one of the suspects, a Moscow citizen born in 1984, had been detained. After that, no official statements were made by the police. However, already on Friday Baza named both attackers alleged:
Ilya Markovets, who had been detained,
and Nikolai Trifonov, 41, who had fled (isn’t put on the wanted list yet).
Little is known about the detained Markovets. He established the “Brothers in Arms” company in 2013, Pskov, but a little more than a year later he left the business. In 2020, he became the sole owner of the “Strategy-2020” company near Moscow, which was engaged in the processing of mechanical parts. At the end of 2021, the tax service enlisted Markovets into the register of disqualified persons for providing false information about the company, and then closed the company itself.
Since at least the end of 2015, Ilya Markovets has been mentioned as a specialist of the School of Modern Psychotechnologies "in the field of psychophysiological research using a polygraph during personnel checks, investigating theft, detecting industrial espionage and identifying links with criminal structures."
Judging by the information known to us, it is highly likely that the hypothetical Markovets - if he really was detained - may be the person to record the action, but not the performer of the act itself, who remains free.
It is possible that it is difficult for the police to find a person in Moscow with a population of 13 million, but with a significant degree of probability we can point to a suspected “painter”. And we really want the authorities to check this information.
Nikolai Trifonov, 41-year-old, does not really like to be in the spotlight, however, Dmitry Muratov confidently identified him as an attacker by the photos and videos in the publicly available source. Born in the city of Chirchik, in the Tashkent region of Uzbekistan, he got a residence stay permit in the Kursk region, city of Lgov.
Trifonov did not serve in the Airborne Forces, although he claims himself to be a veteran of the landing troops.
While studying at Moscow State University, he founded the organization for military veterans "Otvaga" in 2006. In the same 2006, "Otvaga" became part of the "Brothers in Arms of Moscow State University", which was led by a student of the history department Dmitry Karaichev. Trifonov was entitled to be primary documentation secretary.
It is interesting that, although the people remember him as Trifonov, another person is listed in the registration data of “Otvaga” - Pavel Vladimirovich Tikhonov, whose TIN nevertheless coincides with the data of Trifonov, which seems to be technically impossible. Some sources claim that Tikhonov is Trifonov's cousin, who actually had military experience in Chechnya. It can be assumed that in different years the character who appeared under different names, if necessary, simply took the name of his relative.
According to the documents available to Novaya Gazeta, Trifonov and Tikhonov are one and the same person, as well as Sergei Yurievich Tarusov.
Trifonov studied at Moscow State University for a long time, changed several faculties, tried to head the Student Union of the university, but in vain. At that time, he became interested in nationalistic ideas, becoming close to ultra-right persons of Demushkin and Shibanov. The latter, so-called “chairman of the Union of the Russian People”, the coordinator of the “Russian Moscow” movement, which appeared in the criminal case regarding the anti-migrant riots in Biryulyovo, became a close friend of Trifonov and had a position of deputy chairman of the organization’s council.
There’s a common photo where both of them participate in the Cross procession - together they carry an icon, behind their backs is a white-black-yellow “imperial” flag.
The friendship lasted for a long time - for example, in 2009 they visited together the Tambov Federal Enforcement Service for the construction of an Orthodox church in the colony, where supposedly a significant number of convicted veterans were held.
In 2008, Trifonov participated in a Kremlin-friendly youth movement “Nashi” on lake Seliger - already as part of the delegation of the Airborne Forces. And in 3 years he was elected to be the central council of the Union of the Airborne Soldiers of Russia.
In 2013, Trifonov and Shibanov, as representatives the Union of the Airborne Soldiers of Russia, met the Serbian delegation. The same year they appear in the picture together with the Commander-in-Chief of the Airborne Forces Vladimir Shamanov at a certain event.
Soon the first “Otvaga” was replaced by the second one - Trifonov established an organization with a similar name, which existed until 2017. At the same time, he was engaged in business, jewelry and agriculture. He was listed as the general director of three agricultural enterprises registered at the same address - in the village of Fedino near Moscow - at different times, as well as a member of the board of directors and the supervisory board. This page of his life is the most public: Trifonov receives a diploma, meets with officials of various levels and gets into the photo and TV reports. Here he organizes cheese tasting for officials and businessmen of Voskresensk city district, where he tells about his success to the head of the district administration, shows cows to Vladimir Kashin, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues, and has a visit of Oleg Sirota, Chairman of the Union of Cheese Makers of Russia.
The last year and a half Trifonov, who moved to Ramenskoye, is out of the spotlight. Though, his VKontakte account, which most likely belongs to him, continues to appear on the list of members of the virtual group of the Union of Airborne Forces in Moscow State University, reposts the nationalist magazine which are blocked in Russia, Sputnik and Pogrom, as well as publications related to the “special operation”.
Less than in a day after the crime, without access to the resources of the special authorities and behaving in strictly legal ways, we had the data of the alleged suspects.
Is it possible to assume that law enforcement authorities are not able to do this? Indeed, as the news feed shows, the police, using technical means, is able to immediately establish and bring to justice the authors of pacifist reposts or those who, for example, strike the letter “Z”, which has become a symbol of the “special operation”. Do we remember that in their boastful gab, the authors announced: the action is not the last, and Dmitry Muratov is not the only possible object of attack? We do repeat: the degree of public danger is great, and the longer the criminals are not punished, the higher it is.
However, there arise other important questions. In particular,
how exactly the pseudo-paratrooper and the “polygraph psychologist” got access to Russian Railways data.
They knew for sure which train and which compartment the object of the attack would take, despite the fact that only authorized law enforcement officers have the right to access the Magistral database, which contains this data.
Random people can’t lay their hands on the base, as it was designed specifically for official use. So, we have the right to ask: who and in why or at whose request "assisted" the criminals and for whose sake the video was recorded, though it meant collecting evidence against themselves.
There are also questions about the transport security of the station,
where the paint, which belongs to the category of dangerous goods, the transportation of which is carried out according to strict regulations, which means that it is impossible to be transported in the luggage of an ordinary passenger, was carried into.
Such substances are confiscated at the customs by the entrance of the station. However, this procedure in the case of the attackers, was not carried out.
We have one more question: how didn’t the numerous guards of the station notice people who committed a cynical attack right under the cameras, endangered passengers and disrupted the train schedule?
We have many questions. The answer to them should be procedurally fixed actions of the police, the detention of a suspect, the initiation of a high-quality investigation of a criminal case.
Tatiana Britskaya, Vladimir Prokushev; Novaya
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Dmitry has fast become the most common name of the soft intelligentsia "opposnik" who ran from Ru to comfortably oppose the bloody Presik Putin's regime from afar: Bykov, Gudkov, nov Muratov. One thing binds them altogether: absolute, somewhat clinical misunderstanding of the collective Russian soul. Somehow yet, Vladimirs understand it much better.
Great fast investigation! 👌