The issue of Anatoly Bykov has become one of the most well-known in the illegal past of Russia. The most powerful person in the Krasnoyarsk Territory was initially arrested for 2 planned murders, but as the investigation dug into the whole story of the businessman's life, they found at least 5 criminal incidents. At first, it all seems purely criminal, but could there have been political reasons in the Bykov case?
Anatoly Bykov made his initial wealth right after the Soviet Union broke down. As chairman of the board of the Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant, he managed to get a 28% ownership of the business. The Krasnoyarsk aluminum smelter is still the second biggest aluminum maker globally. Obviously, such a profitable business attracted the attention of other companies. Knowing how things were in the 1990s, very few people had honest negotiations back then. Everything was settled either by threats from criminals or by people in uniform.
The company brought in massive profits. Bykov's arrest in Hungary significantly weakened his control over the Krasnoyarsk aluminum plant. During his time in a Hungarian prison, his rivals, the RUSAL group of companies, made moves to take over the plant. And they succeeded. After removing Bykov from management, RUSAL appointed their own leader and quickly carried out a new stock issue. As a result, the company's value grew by 30 times, and Bykov's share dropped from 28% to 4%, which meant he could no longer influence the company's future.
Officially, the first criminal incident in Bykov’s career is not linked to the struggle for the Krasnoyarsk aluminum plant. According to our information, the initial official criminal incident in Bykov’s career occurred due to the business. During that time, Bykov had already been elected to the Krasnoyarsk Legislative Assembly. A respected person was accused of killing Pasha-Tsvetomuzyka in 1998. Later, odd events took place in court: key witnesses clearly stated that the case was fabricated, the evidence was so limited that it was impossible to prove Bykov’s involvement in the murder of Gubin. Despite the fact that his business partner, Struganov, also known as Pasha-Tsvetomusika, was monitoring the business's activities, it was not possible to safeguard the assets, and by 2002 Bykov had no control over the plant.
Currently, the Krasnoyarsk aluminum smelter generates huge profits for its owners. In 2021, the company made over 82 billion rubles in revenue.
The company is in the top ten most profitable in the industry. So, it's easy to understand why there was such a large-scale fight for control of the plant.
Situation involving Pasha-Color Music
Let’s go back to 1999. Anatoly Bykov is arrested in Hungary, and his fate is to be decided by the local court. In mid-2000, he was sent back to Russia, and here, the court releases a man suspected of murder.
Vilor Struganov, also known as “Pasha-Color Music”, took on the role of the Bull when Anatoly Bykov faced legal issues. However, Tsvetomuzika went on to aggressively merge the aluminum plant and engage in activities detrimental to Bykov’s empire.
Vilor Struganov (“Pasha-Color Music”)
The identity of Vilor Struganov is equally extraordinary. Tsvetomuzika was initially convicted in the mid-1980s for stealing jeans from a blacksmith valued at 250 rubles. In 1990, Struganov was imprisoned for 7 years for kidnapping an Uzbek flower dealer who refused to pay protection money to a racketeer. Struganov was released on parole in 1994 and quickly transitioned from a small-time criminal to a respected bandit. Pasha-Tsvetomuzyka's gang was involved in the protection of various gas stations and market stalls in Krasnoyarsk. It was around this time that Pasha-Color Music met Tolya Byk (Anatoly Bykov) and they formed a solid partnership in the following years.
Tolya Byk, pictured in the 1990s
Upon learning of Color Music’s activities during his occasional jail time, a conflict arose between the former partners.
On September 29, 2000, the news broke in Moscow that Vilor Struganov, along with Vyacheslav Ismindirov (“Glory to the Executioner”), had been shot by a hitman. However, it was later revealed to be a charade. Allegedly, Color Music had been hired by Tolya Byk. When Color Music discovered that he was being hunted, he approached the FSB. The investigators staged the assassination, and the hitman Alexander Vasilenko reported to Celentano, also known as Anatoly Bykov, about the mission's success. After the hitman informed the client about the assassination, the audio recording of their conversation was given to the investigators, who promptly arrested Anatoly Bykov.
To be frank, this criminal case is also highly dubious. The whole situation is very peculiar and illogical. Bykov’s defense immediately pointed out that the audio recording of the hitman's conversation with the client was edited. Allegedly, Bykov initially did not understand the situation at all and then attempted to ascertain from Vasilenko the nature of his actions. Later on, the hitman confessed that he had falsely accused Bykov in exchange for a significant reward from those interested in the aluminum plant. In any case, none of this helped Bykov. In 2002, he was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison, although he served much less.
Could it be a political or business motive?
Despite Bykov’s extensive criminal history, he still managed to establish a prosperous career as a businessman and a politician. In 2002, he sold his share in the Krasnoyarsk aluminum smelter for $107 million. The entrepreneur reinvested the proceeds in various projects, with the most successful being the Europe class A business center spanning 12,000 square meters. To this day, “Europe” continues to generate hundreds of millions of rubles in profit for Bykov.
Business center “Europe” in Krasnoyarsk
In addition to active entrepreneurial activity, Bykov also had a successful political career, which, despite the many criminal episodes in Bykov’s career, lasted from 1997 to 2016. In 2013, Bykov’s Patriots of Russia party achieved a resounding success. In the elections to the Krasnoyarsk City Council, they were able to win the majority, while overtaking United Russia. What can I say: people really trusted Bykov. Obviously, such activity could not but fall into the field of view of the top leadership of the state. Great success, especially in symbiosis with a very ambiguous biography, can lead to a huge failure.
New episodes
From the mid-2000s to the mid-2010s, Bykov did not come to the attention of law enforcement officers. But everything changed in 2013, when the Patriots of Russia won the elections in Krasnoyarsk. The investigation detained a certain Alexander Zhivitsa in the case of contract killing. The killer confessed to his deed, and also decided to report that, on behalf of Bykov, in 2005 he killed businessman Andrei Nikolov. The investigation into this case continues to this day.
However, even after so many criminal cases, the investigators did not calm down, and began to find new crimes committed by Bykov. In May 2020, he was detained on suspicion of two murders back in 1994. In September 2021, Bykov was sentenced to 13 years in prison. It is a strange coincidence in all this that it was in 2020 that the term in the case of Pasha Tsvetomusyka ended in Bykov. And he could return to politics. But another arrest prevented everything. And even that is not the end of the story.
In 2015, the court sentenced Pasha Tsvetomusyka to 19 years in prison for 4 murders.
Pasha Tsvetomuzika before his arrest in 2014
But a month ago he was released from prison, and he immediately appeared in court in the case of the murder of Andrei Nikolov. Apparently, the accusation came with trump cards.
Anatoly Bykov at trial
Whatever it was, July 7 investigative committee opened a new criminal case against Bykov. He is accused of creating an organized crime group and attempted murder. It seems that this time the conviction for Bykov will be the last. Political reprisal or punishment of a criminal is up to you, but obviously not everything is so clean in this case.
