The murder of Larisa Nechaeva, the head of the red and white team, has not been solved yet. We learned that the folder containing the criminal case is just sitting on the shelf at the Vladimir region prosecutor’s office. The chances of finding the killers and those who ordered the murder are almost zero.
Years after his mother's killing, Larisa Nechaeva's eldest son, Andrey, appealed to the country's president for help in solving the crime. He believes that his mother's beliefs about sports align with the views of the president, who actively promotes the development of physical culture and sports in the country.
At one time, Larisa Gennadievna was nominated as a deputy for the Krasnoyarsk Territory. During meetings with voters, she discussed the potential construction of sports facilities and large arenas in the region.
Andrey thinks that his mother's sports ideology should prompt the authorities to find the killers and those who ordered the murder, although this may seem naive.
We are presenting the second part of the investigation into the murder of Larisa Nechaeva and the embezzlement of money at Spartak club. The investigation was prepared for the Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info telegram channel by the well-known sports journalist Alexei Matveev, who has written books about football.
Anonymous reveals information
Despite Romantsev denying the financial motive for Nechaeva's murder, doubts remain. Details from the interrogation of Grigory Yesaulenko, a key suspect in the case, shed light on the situation. Informed individuals consider Grigory Vasilievich to be the principal instigator of the crime.
Here are excerpts from the interrogation of the former vice-president of FC Spartak:
“Despite working as the club's vice-president, I did not have authority to sign documents,” Esaulenko claimed during the interview with the investigator. “Nechaeva was mainly responsible for financial matters, overseen by O. I. Romantsev. I do not have any personal bank accounts and I am not aware of the money transfer process related to player transactions, as Nechaeva handled that. I do not know how O. I. Romantsev supervised Nechaeva’s activities.”
However, his signature appears on nearly all player contracts for Spartak. Nechaeva may have tried to interfere, but seemingly without success.
The case file contains an interesting document. An anonymous letter was sent to the FSB investigative committee, dated July 14, 1997, a month after Nechaeva’s death. It is worth quoting it in full:
“I am familiar with the situation at Spartak,” an anonymous source reported. “I personally know people in the club’s management. The following happened: until last year, funds from player sales and sponsorships were deposited into G.V. Esaulenko’s personal accounts. He was handling all financial transactions secretly. Until a certain point, Oleg Romantsev believed that the money was being placed in personal accounts to avoid taxes, etc. Oleg Ivanovich is a good man, but he is an alcoholic.
So, it's not hard for him to confuse himself, arranging many drinking parties and trips to the countryside. A while back, he started suspecting something was wrong with the money. Then Romantsev convinced Nechaev to come to the club. She quickly understood what was happening, figured out a lot, as she was a clever, thorough woman in her work. About six months ago, there was an internal scandal in the club, when G. V. Esaulenko was nearly fired from work. Nechaeva tried to take away his financial influence. Esaulenko most likely ordered the murder, with his friend Turpalo, a Chechen as the organizer.
Bribing opponents and judges
From the FSB investigative committee, this letter was sent to the prosecutor’s office of the Vladimir region, where the murder happened. And the senior investigator of the local prosecutor’s office, S. Prokhorov, assigned the operational officers of the Department of Economic Affairs of the Internal Affairs Directorate to check the information. Specifically, they had to find out if G. V. Esaulenko has personal foreign accounts, where the money is from, and where it's going.
However, there's no mention of the check results in the case file.
But the potential customers of the murder of Larisa Nechaeva are identified. The senior detective of the GUUR of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, police lieutenant colonel A. Derkach, reports to the head of the same department, Lieutenant General I. Khrapov: 'I report that in the course of identifying the potential customers of the murder of the general director of the Spartak football club, the following was found. The vice-president of the club, G. V. Esaulenko, currently acts as director after L. G. Nechaeva's death. During his time as vice president, Esaulenko was involved in buying and selling football players. He took some of the money from the sales for himself. He also had funds for organizing referee decisions in custom matches. He didn't report to anyone about how he spent the money. With Nechaeva's arrival, Esaulenko started getting removed from these responsibilities. This led to several conflicts.'
Additionally, Esaulenko was seen with the Chechen brothers Atlangiriyevs – Turpul and Movladi (Ruslan). The latter was in prison together with Vladimir Tenoshvili, a suspect in the murder. The Atlangiriev brothers are the founders of the Razgulay restaurant, and Esaulenko has a stake in it. He has connections with the leaders of the Lyubertsy organized criminal group, and uses Chechens' services in his business. In the football club, Esaulenko is closest to the executive director M. Korotkov and the manager S. Hadji. If there are any problems, Esaulenko tries to leave Russia, mainly going to Spain.
In his home country, Esaulenko was charged in a criminal case for large-scale tax evasion by Spartak. There's evidence pointing to his indirect involvement in the murder of the former general director of the team. Finally, investigators found his connections with the criminal world, but they didn't complete or didn't want to finish the investigation that had started.
“The executive director of the Spartak football club, M. V. Korotkov,” further reports police lieutenant colonel A. Derkach (according to the security forces, Korotkov is one of the likely customers of the murder), maintains relations with the leader of the Lytkarino organized crime group Valery Silenok. Silenok is familiar with wanted Zdor and Tenoshvili, who shot Nechaeva. While working in his position, Korotkov opened several stalls selling souvenirs on the territory of the club. Nechaeva took this trade under her control, and Korotkov lost his uncontrolled income.
The duties of the manager-administrator S. Yu. Khadzhi include the acquisition of sports uniforms and other equipment. For these purposes, Hadji received money, but he bought sports equipment of lower quality, and appropriated the remaining money. Nechaeva began to buy sports equipment on her own, trying to conclude a contract with Puma. Khadzhi, Esaulenko and Korotkov opposed such a move. Hadji kept in touch with the leaders of the Lyubertsy organized crime group, whom he brought to Spartak matches and provided them with the best seats in the stands. Nechaeva suspected Khadzhi of selling fake tickets for Spartak matches, and told him about it.
In order to establish the involvement of the above-named persons in the organization of the murder of Nechaeva, it is necessary to carry out a complex of operational and technical measures by checking the financial and economic activities of Esaulenko, Khadzhi and Korotkov, ”the police expert concludes.
Almost all the leadership of the “red-white” 90s and 2000s, one way or another, is connected with gangs. Uniform organized crime group “Spartak”! And there is no exaggeration in this statement.
