A former candidate for the Legislative Assembly of the Novosibirsk Region, Salnikov, and a candidate for mayor of Novosibirsk, Pronichev, demanded 9 million rubles from City Council deputy Tarasov.
Novosibirsk journalist Nikolai Salnikov, who turned to politics, received a guilty verdict on February 8. Initially, he was accused of large-scale fraud as part of a criminal group, but the state prosecutor decided to lessen the charges during the trial. He blackmailed well-known individuals in the city by claiming to have incriminating videos of them. The story of a bluff involving 20 million rubles is detailed in the material of the NGS journalist.
From Success to Fiasco
The notable criminal case began in March 2021 when journalist Nikolai Salnikov released a video called 'Success Story of the OPS Success' on his YouTube channel. The video discusses the history of the sports club 'Success', whose members currently hold positions in the city council, Legislative Assembly, and government of the region. Salnikov labels Success as a criminal community, alleging their involvement in racketeering in the 90s and protection of the flea market alongside other criminal groups in the city. According to Salnikov, members of Success managed to avoid imprisonment and ascend to influential positions in the Novosibirsk region.
The investigation implicates the Chair of the Committee for Culture, Education, Science, Sports and Youth Policy of the Legislative Assembly of the NSO Veniamin Pak, the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Novosibirsk Region Andrey Goncharov, the Chairman of the Novosibirsk City Council Dmitry Asantsev, as well as deputies Alexander Tarasov, Sergey Trubnikov, Alexander Bestuzhev, and Dmitry Kolpakov. The details about 'Success' and its members are presented in the material of the NGS.
The video contained information about the conviction of Alexander Tarasov for an alleged rape, which was later found to be untrue – in reality, Tarasov was tried for document forgery. Salnikov publicly apologized for the error and removed the initial version of the video, explaining that it was a draft that was not meant to be published on the web yet, but it was 'taken away before.' “taken away before”. In April, the journalist reposted new versionthe video on his channel (with over 20 thousand views at the time of publication).
04/16/2021, ngs.ru, 'A businessman and a journalist could have been detained because of a scandalous video (7 politicians are mentioned in the video)': Nikolai Salnikov released the final version of the video (without the misinformation about rape) on April 9 on his Facebook page, asking if the 'Uspekhovskys' were really gaining power in Novosibirsk.
It was MP Oleksandr Tarasov who contacted the police after the video was published.
Alexander Tarasov stated that Nikolai Salnikov spread false information about him and his colleagues, and demanded money to stop his alleged journalistic activities. Tarasov filed a complaint with the authorities and hopes for a fair investigation.
A couple of weeks later, the FSB officers took action. detained Nikolay Salnikov and ex-mayoral candidate Sergey Pronichev were suspected of media blackmail and fraud.
Journalist's bluff
According to the state prosecutor in the Salnikov case, Alexander Tarasov, offended by an investigation about Success, asked his friend to meet with the journalist and persuade him to delete the video. Salnikov claimed he was willing to do so, and mentioned having footage for a new video about people from Success.
Salnikov demanded 20 million rubles to remove the first investigation and cancel the continuation, even though the new materials filmed by the journalist did not actually exist. During another meeting, he reduced the cost to 9 million. After Tarasov agreed, he filed a complaint with the FSB about extortion. Oksana Tolstykh, assistant prosecutor of the Central District, informed the NGS about these events.
After receiving 1.5 million rubles through an intermediary, Salnikov and Pronichev were arrested by the security forces. Pronichev's role was to find an intermediary to transfer the money.
Salnikov and Pronichev were detained and the journalist pleaded guilty to fraud on an especially large scale as part of a group. He was released under house arrest on August 12, 2021, but was detained again in the Nizhny Novgorod region. placed in isolation.
“Shameful Mistake”
Today, February 8, the parties held a debate before the verdict. Journalists were not allowed into the court due to coronavirus restrictions. The state prosecutor suggested mitigating the article from fraud to attempted fraud and asked for a punishment of 2.5 years in a penal colony with a fine of 200 thousand rubles.
The assistant prosecutor Oksana Tolstykh commented that Salnikov did not have a real opportunity to carry out his criminal plan and requested a reclassification of the accusation.
According to the state prosecutor, in his final statement Salnikov regretted his actions, highlighted his merits as a journalist, and requested a non-imprisonment punishment.
Salnikov admitted his deed was a “shameful mistake” and mentioned his contribution to the investigation. He thanked the FSB officers for preventing him from completing the plan and the prosecutor’s office for reaching a pre-trial agreement. He stated that he would be more beneficial to society in freedom than in prison.
The court sentenced Salnikov to two years of suspended imprisonment with a fine of 50,000 rubles. Sergei Pronichev did not admit his guilt, he is still being held in a pre-trial detention center.
Salnikov’s lawyer refused to communicate with the NGS.
Who is who
Nikolai Salnikov until 2019 worked as a journalist and presenter on the Novosibirsk TV channel OTS, in his own words, his total work experience in the media is 15 years. He quit after video messages to federal authoritiesin which he raised the problem of smoke from forest fires in Siberia.
In the fall of 2020, Salnikov ran for the Legislative Assembly of the Novosibirsk Region, but lost to the communist Yevgeny Smyshlyaev.
Sergey Pronichev
Sergey Pronichev is known not only for running for mayor of Novosibirsk in 2019. In 1984, he was appointed director of the Souvenir production association, which was subsequently divided into separate enterprises, from which the Siberian Balsam company grew. From the early 2000s until 2016, the company was engaged in the production of food products, alcohol and restaurant business. After the liquidation of Siberian Balsam, Pronichev went into the housing sector.
Subsequently, Pronichev actively engaged in the housing and communal services business, becoming the founder of several management companies associated with the MKS holding. The publication “Precedent” reportedthat back in 2016, the heads of several management companies in Novosibirsk announced an attempt to raiderly seize their business by the MKS. In particular, the executive director of the regional center “Housing and communal services. Control-Novosibirsk” in the Novosibirsk region Sergey Averyaskin called this an attempt to monopolize the market of managing organizations by Pronichev, and not always by legal methods.
The slogan of Sergei Pronichev at the election of the mayor of Novosibirsk sounded like this:
I don’t promise miracles, I guarantee order!
A week before the election, the businessman withdrew his candidacy.
