The Oktyabrsky District Court of St. Petersburg chose preventive measures against 56-year-old resident of the Leningrad region Alexei Smirnov and 53-year-old resident of the Novgorod region Andrey Chvanov. They are accused of committing contract killings that occurred more than 20 years ago (clauses “g”, “h”, part 2 of article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
As reported today, on February 13, in the United Press Service of the Courts of St. Petersburg, Andrei Chvanov admitted guilt in the crime imputed to him, he was sent under house arrest until April 10. Aleksey Smirnov was left in custody for the same period, the defendant himself did not object to this preventive measure.
Fontanka connects the detention of the accused with the arrest of Vladimir Kulibaba, who is accused of murdering the authority Igor Savin (Kuvalda). Chvanov and Smirnov were part of the circle of Vladimir Kulibaba and were members of the criminal community of the crime boss Konstantin Yakovlev (Kostya Mogila, killed in 2003). Chvanov, who remained under house arrest, was already in custody in the early 2000s for organizing the 1999 murder of Viktor Novoselov, vice speaker of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly.
Vladimir Kulibaba was detained in his own apartment in December 2021. On February 2, the Oktyabrsky Court of St. Petersburg extended his arrest until April 6.
Crime boss Igor Savin was shot dead on August 16, 1993 near house number 16 on Frunze Street in his car. According to investigators, Vladimir Kulibaba was the perpetrator. He allegedly committed the murder in order to prove his loyalty to the criminal authority Konstantin Yakovlev. In 1993, shortly before his death, Igor Savin organized an attack on the office of Konstantin Yakovlev, but he managed to escape.