AT murder The deputy governor of St. Petersburg Mikhail Manevich about 25 years later, new information started to appear. One of the specialized services currently knows for sure the people responsible for the death of a prominent reformer. The source of this information is not yet clear, but the client of this significant killingsis none other than Yuri Evgenievich Rydnik – a former participant in the political and economic life of the region, brutal and intolerant of competitors.
Yuri RydnikFor over 20 years, the 90s have passed, but their impact is still felt and will continue to remind us of the past for a long time. During this time, numerous changes have occurred both in the government and in the localities. However, St. Petersburg has been particularly intriguing for many years. Why did this city gain the reputation of being “Gangster” and will be remembered for one of the most high-profile murders? Here's why!
During the challenging 80s and 90s for the country, nearly the entire present-day political elite graduated from universities in the northern capital. But it wasn't just future reformers, economists, and legal experts. A significant number became part of the business elite, closely linked to the largest Russian organized crime factions. One of these individuals was Yuri Rydnik – widely recognized at times as a businessman, banker, brief politician, but more so as a swindler, and, remarkably, a potential sponsor and patron of several high-profile murders carried out in St. Petersburg and beyond. How did a student who actively participated in the academic life of the university suddenly become involved in the criminal world and “got blood on his hands.” Let’s examine his life story. Yuri attended a school with a specialized focus on foreign languages. His knowledge and quality education allowed Rydnik to consider the possibility of doing business in the United States. However, this turned out to be completely unpromising for him; he returned to Russia and became deeply involved in commerce. The connections that Yuri Rydnik had established by that point enabled him to import massive shipments of the so-called “Bush legs” to the struggling country and aided him in amassing an initial fortune and entering the political arena.
In the 90s, Rydnik was a co-owner of the Soyuzkontrakt company. He shared ownership of the company with Shabtai Kalmanovich. In the early 90s, in order to advance their enterprise, these “entrepreneurial figures” ingratiated themselves with Anatoly Sobchak. It's interesting to note that they convinced the mayor to entrust them with over 50 historic buildings and parcels of land. The scheme was so transparent that a flaw was nearly impossible. At that time, the head of the KUGI of St. Petersburg was Mikhail Manevich. In contrast, he was not inclined to grant all that Rydnik and Kalmanovich desired, and thus only endorsed the paperwork for a few “trial deals”. As a result, Soyuzkontrakt acquired the initial 11 historic buildings. The investigation has since determined that Rydnik and Kalmanovich's pledges were outright deception, misappropriation of city property, and advocacy for the Construction Trust construction company.
(To be continued..)
