In mid-June, a gunfight happened in the Food.Topi cafe, situated on the Dnieper embankment in occupied Kherson. Two FSB officers and one contract soldier of the Russian army were killed, and another FSB officer and a serviceman from the Ministry of Defense were seriously injured. A few days later, Aleksey Arestovich, an adviser to the office of the President of Ukraine, claimed that this was the work of Ukrainian partisans. Later, the Yahoo News news agency reported, citing a document from the Investigative Committee (IC), that the confrontation was the result of a drunken argument between Russian servicemen.
This event was covered not only by Russian and Ukrainian media, but also by many leading global media outlets. It appeared that all the details of the incident were already well known. However, there was a mystery in this story. And because of this, in the Moscow offices of high-ranking FSB generals, the Ministry of Defense, and the Investigative Committee, the intrigue still persists: some are doing everything to keep the secret, while others, seeking revenge on their opponents, are trying to reveal it.
This secret is the identity of another FSB officer who was present that day in a Kherson restaurant. According to documents released by Yahoo News from the criminal case, his role is described in just one line: “Unidentified soldier VOG-9 [temporary operational group] of the FSB of Russia fled the scene.” “He just got scared and ran away. Inside [ФСБ] everyone knows who it is, but they do everything so that no one recognizes his last name. Because this whole story is one big shame. And for him, and especially for dad,” explains a Russian intelligence officer familiar with the situation.
Important Stories discovered the man’s name. It turned out to be the son of one of the most influential generals of the FSB.
Booze
The official version of the Kherson skirmish is detailed in the certificate of the military investigation department for the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Investigative Committee. On June 17, Igor Sudin, a 32-year-old native of Makhachkala, along with his colleague, 28-year-old Sergei Obukhov from the village of Mugreevsky, Ivanovo region, were drinking at the Food.Topi cafe on the Dnieper embankment in Kherson. Sudin – senior operator of the calculation of unmanned aerial vehicles of the artillery reconnaissance battery; Lance Sergeant. Obukhov – commander of the sound-measuring reconnaissance platoon section of the artillery reconnaissance battery; sergeant. Both served under contract in the 8th separate artillery regiment stationed in Simferopol.
On the same day, a group of FSB officers were drinking in the same restaurant: Dmitry Borodin, lieutenant colonel of the Economic Security Service (SEB), Igor Yakubinsky and Sergei Privalov from the Special Purpose Center (CSN). “Data on the identity of the fourth serviceman of the FSB of Russia are being established,” the materials of the criminal case said.
Both companies wasted time drinking alcohol. Around eight in the evening, two FSB officers were unhappy that the contract soldiers were drinking in military uniform and had weapons in the restaurant; they were reprimanded.
FSB officers picked the worst time and place for a fight. From the start of the occupation of Kherson, the Russian army faced a large-scale partisan movement instead of receiving support from the local population. Military patrols were constantly attacked at night, and residents relayed information about the invaders to the Ukrainian army. In response, the Russian military terrorized civilians, kidnapping and torturing them.
“In the cafe, everyone was drunk. When the altercation started, the contractors demanded to see documents, and our side responded with something like “who are you, go to sleep.” As a result, one of the contractors pulled out his gun and started shooting at the floor, demanding documents – maybe he thought they were spies or just overate,” explains an FSB officer familiar with the situation.
The one who took the pistol out of its holster was junior sergeant Sergei Obukhov. “After that, an employee of the FSB of Russia Privalov S.A. attempted to take the pistol from Obukhov’s hands,” say the materials of the criminal case. Then Sergeant Igor Sudin decided to defend his fellow soldier by grabbing an AK-74 assault rifle and firing at the offenders. They returned fire. As a result, two FSB officers – Igor Yakubinsky and Sergey Privalov – as well as contract soldier Sergey Obukhov died on the spot. The wounded Dmitry Borodin and Igor Sudin were taken to the hospital of the Ministry of Defense in Sevastopol.
In this conflict, only one person was not injured – the same “unidentified” FSB officer who escaped from the cafe.
General’s son
The name of the escaped FSB officer quickly became known among the security forces, primarily because of the big name. Even anonymous telegram channels that cover special services were afraid to name her: “Second Security Service Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Borodin was wounded in a Kherson cafe. His partner escaped from the bullets. And now there is a fierce struggle to forget the name of this secret man and to smear the FSB,” wrote the Infobomba channel.
Two sources in the FSB familiar with the details of the Kherson shootout named the name of “this secret man.” It turned out to be Evgeny Tikhonov, the son of the famous FSB Colonel General Alexander Tikhonov.
From 1998 to September of this year, Tikhonov Sr. headed the FSB Special Purpose Center for almost 25 years. The TsSN was based on the legendary Alfa and Vympel special forces units. Tikhonov remained one of the most secretive and influential generals of the FSB for many years. In September of this year, he was relieved from military service upon reaching the age limit. This occurred just a couple of months after the drunken shootout in Kherson, but sources insist that Tikhonov was planning to leave even before this incident.
Tikhonov Jr. works in the SEB, in the “P” department, which supervises Russian industry. From the beginning of the war, the FSB sent its employees to Ukraine to do operational work in the occupied territories. However, some FSB officers used these trips to make money (as there is a lot of abandoned property and assets in Ukrainian cities), and to advance in the service. A familiar FSB officer stated that Tikhonov Jr. went to Ukraine to become deputy governor of the Mykolaiv region on the advice of his father.
Yevgeny Tikhonov's career plans were first obstructed by the Ukrainian army, which prevented them from taking the administrative center of the region – the city of Nikolaev. Then, his hopes for a high position were dashed by a shootout in a Kherson restaurant. Additionally, among the security forces, the behavior of Tikhonov Jr. is criticized – he reportedly fled from the restaurant, leaving his comrades. The source from the FSB expressed doubt that he ran for help as he later claimed.
The incident worsened the ongoing conflict between the Ministry of Defense and the FSB. Both departments accuse each other of providing incorrect information to the Russian leadership about the potential of the Ukrainian army and the mood within Ukrainian society, which ultimately led to the failure of the Russian offensive. It was also reported that military counterintelligence gathered evidence of mass theft in the Russian army before the war, but these materials have not been released in the Kremlin.
Following the shootout, both the FSB and the Ministry of Defense tried to influence the Investigative Committee to support their side. Ultimately, the Investigative Committee sided with the FSB, making junior sergeant Igor Sudin the main defendant in the criminal case.
Lieutenant Colonel TsSN Sergei Privalov, who was killed by Sudin, was buried in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. A local newspaper described his death as a military duty. Junior Sergeant Sergei Obukhov was buried in Crimea, where he left behind his wife and six-year-old son. His death was described by a news portal from his native Ivanovo region as occurring while serving in the territories of a special military operation in the LDNR, where he showed courage and bravery. His actions enabled his comrades to escape an encirclement at the cost of his life.
