October 8, 2025 • 31 mins
Deep in the Siberian peninsula, a corrupt politician falls out of the window of his home and hits the ground hard. Eyewitnesses describe the scene, explaining how he plummeted to the concrete and died. By the time the news hits the government controlled media though, something has changed. The fall is now reported as a heart attack and the coroner declares no foul play before the body is even cold. Something doesn't add up...
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Something strange is going on. Another member of the Russian
elite has been found dead.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Reports suggests that he fell out of a window poisoned
with mushrooms.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Died of heart failure, the ed of carbon monoxide poisoning.
How comes you are they are? There?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Dozens of Russian oligachs, politically motivated millionaires have died in
the space of three years, most of them in suspicious circumstances.
Many have hidden links to the Kremlin. This is sad
Oligach Season two, an ongoing investigation into these recently dead
Russian power brokers. Sad Oligach is created by me jake
(00:39):
Hanrahan and my Ukrainian colleague Sergey Slipchenko. This is a
H eleven studio and Coolso Media production. December twenty seventh,
twenty twenty three. It's a freezing cold day and Tobolsk,
(01:00):
an ancient city in the east of Russia. The temperature
is as low as minus sixteen. Everything is frozen. The
rivers have a thick layer of ice on the surface
and a heavy blanket of snow covers the ground. This
is the Siberian region, a cold, harsh place that covers
(01:21):
over five million square miles of the Russian Federation. Tubosk
is considered by some to be the real capital of Siberia.
Founded in fifteen eighty seven, the city was at one
point an epicenter of early Russian colonization. Back then, the
detachment of Cossacks traveled through the rural mountains, attacking and
(01:43):
defeating the Muslim state of Seabit Canate. From thereon, all
helbroke loose in the modern Erado. Tobolsk is a peaceful,
if not isolated place for miles around. When the weather's bed,
there were green hills as far as the eye can see.
(02:04):
But today the frost is heavy, the ground is white
with snow, and the roads are thick with traffic stains slush.
So on this day that we zoom in on politician
Vladimir Igorov, forty six years old or of a weight, overpaid, corrupt.
(02:25):
He's stood by a window on the third floor of
his house on Kedrovoya Street.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
It's a rich.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Area, big cars and bigger houses. Igorov is the second
wealthiest politician in the region. His ill gotten gains have
built him a comfortable lifestyle, well until they didn't. Somehow,
of Vladimir Igorov falls clean out of the window of
(02:51):
his house around thirty five feet to the concrete his way.
He's free falling at a speed of about fourteen meters
per second. Takes him only one and a half to
hit the concrete. With a force like that, an energy
of roughly nine thousand duels. Your body breaks as it lands,
(03:11):
huge damage to your skeleton, shattered bones, limbs broken from
their joints, your organs blend up inside of you, internal bleeding, hemorrhaging.
Its game over. According to an eyewitness of Vladimir, Igorov
hit the ground hard in the courtyard of his house,
But then there were reports that said he died of
(03:33):
heart issues. It sounds like a bit of an understatement
for a man that fell out of his window. I mean,
if your heart bursts upon impact against hard cement from
a higher fall, technically that dying of heart issues. I
don't think that's how they meant it. The press was
essentially saying he simply had a heart attack and keeled
(03:56):
over and died. To add to the confusion, Russian newspaper
Commissant was first to report on Igorov's demise. They said
there was a quote no external signs of criminal death.
(04:16):
This was related to them for beatim by the Investigative
Committee for the twin Men Region, part of a government
agency that explores serious crimes. Not only is that a
pretty suspect sentence to come out with whilst the body
is still warm, it's also a very hasty conclusion. Both
(04:39):
Commercant themselves and state media tast News reported that investigators
were still establishing the cause of Igorov's death when this
quote was provided to Bolsk City Council then published an
obituary saying Igorov diet due to quote a result of
an accident. So let's try to get this straight. Vladim
(05:02):
Egorov fell out of a window and died of high issues.
Was the Russian authority said it was an accident just
after they told the media that they're still investigating. Sounds
to me like the right hand they didn't know what
the left hand was doing. So why the confusion and
why does it seem so fishy from the get go? Well,
(05:26):
in the words of the seventeenth century Sufi poet Rumy,
greed makes a man easy pray for death. Vladim Egorov
was a very greedy man on a scale of one
to ten. How corrupt would you say this ego of
(05:49):
fellow was one being like not corrupt at all and
ten being Joseph Muscat level corruption like that fellow from Malta, Like,
how corrupt was this guy?
Speaker 3 (06:00):
From what I can see like quite Crplet's say definitely
in the upper side, and we could say maybe like eight,
but I feel like if we knew everything, it would
definitely be a ten.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
That's journalist Sergei Slipchenko, my partner on this project. You
remember him from the first season together. We've once again
been working away researching these strange deaths of the Russian elite,
not because we particularly give a shit about them, many
have supported or profited from Putin's war on Ukraine, but
(06:30):
because to investigate these strange deaths is to better understand
the turmoil inside the Kremlin. That's my theory, at least
back to Sergi.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
You know, when I was initially looking into him, it
was like, oh, he passed away, and they're like, if
you remember in twenty sixteen he was charged for essentially
not charging businessmen like for the lens, you know, like
they're like renting like space. I don't know exactly what
it was, whether it was like farmland, or actual like
industrial space or something like that. But essentially he was
and charging people for the rent, like he wasn't collecting it.
(07:03):
He was working for the city of Taboysk and he's
working as the head of the committee for I believe
it translates to like land rights and forestry, so essentially
kind of overlooking the city's lands forests, and part of
his job was, you know, collecting rent. People are supposed
to pay him for using the land. And what he
was found guilty of was negligence of essentially not collecting
(07:25):
rent from several businessmen, allegedly his friends, right, so they
can run their business.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
They don't have to pay him.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
I mean, the thing is is like officially he didn't
collect it at all, and that's the city lost it.
If I had to guess, I would think he collected it.
He just didn't put it into the city's budget kind
of thing, right, which was supposed to. In these articles,
the ones that came out around his death, they just
mentioned like his sentencing, which was one point six million rubles,
which I looked up in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
That was about twenty thousand dollars like.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
American twenty thousand years d but actually found in our
article from the time when this is kind of happening,
like in twenty fourteen, is when he was accused of
this by deputies of Tubolsk City DUMO, so essentially like
local politicians. They sent a letter to the regional prosecutor
and they actually claimed he stole forty four million rubles.
They said that, like he caused forty four million in
(08:18):
damages to the city budget, which I again kind of
converted at the time that was one million and a
quarter when in a quarter million USD. So what they
kind of alleged was a lot higher than when he
was charged for, which you know could be depending on
the city, Like the city decided, okay, we can only
prove that one point six million rubles was the crime,
(08:42):
whereas in reality was much higher.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
And that's what those guys alleged.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Like that article that was reading kind of paints a
picture of what kind of personal Goo was because in
addition to the letter like claiming that he did this,
I guess you can say Besslumuan right fraud. They were
also those two deputies that reported him. They actually reached
out to the regional like a head of I think
it's an Investigative Committee essentially a regional like I guess
(09:07):
you could say FBI kind of comparative that they oversee
the region's security. They're mostly involved in like economic crimes
and criminal crimes prosecution on a federal level, they're in charge.
And they reached out to them saying that they were
concerned about threats from you Gotov.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
According to them, he would talk kind of openly like
they should be killed and buried. That's a quote that
they give to a newspaper.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
So the reports from this don't have much information. In Russia,
the press isn't free, and reporting on government corruption is
a bad idea for a journalist's career. On the twenty
twenty five Press Freedom Index, Russia was ranked one hundred
and seventy one out of one hundred and eighty, the
(09:50):
latter being the worst. All independent Russia news channels are banned.
If you try to criticize the state, you might end
up in serious trouble. Okay, now, with time for a
quick outbreak. All right, enough for that. Now back to
(10:13):
the shore. Still, we've deduced that Vladimir Igorov was up
to one of two things in regards to what he
was care and charged for one, he was allowing his
friends and associates to use state owned land for free,
abusing his position to likely court favor with other wealthy individuals.
(10:38):
Or two, he was saving state owned land for his
friends and associates, making sure they got.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
The plots they wanted.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Instead of putting the rent they then paid for these
areas back into the local council kitty as he was
supposed to, he simply kept all the rent for himself
put it in his pocket. Wam double corruption? Personally, I'm
with Surgery on this. I think option two is most
likely both pretty much.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
As bad as each other.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Though Igorov was happy to steal from his community and
threaten the people who weren't happy about it. This wasn't
just the discruntal public though. The people he threatened held
some way in the Toposka area.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
So they're the deputies right there. Essentially, It's like if
a politician came to the police and was like, Hey,
this other you know, bureaucrat or whatever is like embezzling
funds and then he was like openly talking about, you
know what, those guys should be killed. That that was
their concern. They reached out to the guy they're like, hey,
can you look into this, And interestingly, at the bottom
(11:43):
of the article, it's like, at least according to these politicians,
the head never heard about their complaint and they're not
looking into it. So allegedly nothing was done about those
threats or at least their concerns about those threats.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
But they're saying they're saying they didn't even hear about it.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
They said that, like, you know, they reported it, and
they said they didn't hear anything about it, that like
their that their concerns weren't hurt, and that they couldn't
file an official complaint kind of thing. That's according to them,
So I mean, it's kind of like he said, she said,
but yeah, they said that they weren't even heard that
there was no official you know, you can like file
(12:22):
like an official complain of the police basically, and nobody
took them in. Two years later, he again, he did
get prosecuted. They found kind of like negligence. I guess
that he just happened not to pay attention to collecting
those you know, millions, but he didn't even get punished
for it.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
So, as you can see, Vladimir Igorov should have been
prosecuted his crimes were not committed past the statute of limitations.
It was only two years before he was brought to court,
so we should have got.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
What was coming to right. We looked it up.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
He was supposed to be sentenced to two years correcttional labor.
This means he would have been allowed to continue working
in his position in the local government, but would have
been fined five to twenty percent of his wages. This
money was to be renumerated into the community k offfers
until Igorov had paid back all the money he'd stolen.
(13:18):
For some reason, though this didn't happen. They may Igorov
completely got away with it.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Even though it was just two years later.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
They said it was kind of too late to charge
him with it, and he never faced any punishment. There
was actually a similar incident in twenty eleven, so this
would be three years prior to that. Same thing happened
where he was kind of losing money for the city budget,
and allegedly nothing happened. Same two politicians complained to Well
apparently directly to putin like directly to him.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
He got some kind of punishment, but nothing changed.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Essentially, right, this was an open letter to Poot and
It wasn't like they kind of called him up, but
there was this public open letter as in, we've tried everything,
this guy is stealing for some reason. He's not really
being prosecuted. DEPO in please help was basically what was happening.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Yeah, like that's the idea, right that like nobody's above him.
So like if you're kind of I guess, like you
could say last resort and you know this has happened
in twenty eleven. Then again three years later they send
another letter to the they're like municipal our prosecutor, and
you know, clearly something came out of it in twenty sixteen,
but again they were claiming forty four million rubles in damage. Right,
(14:32):
all they found was one point six million. That's like
less than one tenth of what they claimed. And he
didn't even get punishment for It's like, yeah, you're guilty,
but oh well, we can't do anything about it. Essentially,
that's all that came out of it, right, not even
a slap on the wrist. It was just like, yeah,
you did that, but we can't do anything. And he
later on he becomes he went on to be like
(14:53):
part of the Federal Party and stuff. He became a
deputy of United Russia.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
It's complicated, but United Russia is Putin's party. Tawilauners himself
through politics and the media to be Russia's perpetual leader,
or you could say dictator. Putin uses the party to
maintain power by acting as it's the facto leader. He
actually ran as an independent in the last election, but
(15:25):
it's all smoke and mirrors. It simply allowed him to
keep power no matter what, whilst trying to present the
voting system as democratic and open, it's anything but. As
the man both behind the scenes and at the forefront,
Putin uses United Russia to secure legislative and political back
(15:46):
in for whatever he wants to happen. Through this broadly
popular political party, he can maintain his grip on the
government and push through his many murderous policies.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Throughout the world.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Everyone knows that United Russia is Putin's party. It just
has to go around the houses a little bit to
pretend like he's not actually running things with an iron fist.
So Igorov himself was a staunch supporter of Putins United Russia,
(16:19):
as Sergei said, he joined up and became a member.
It will probably be no surprise to learn then that
Igorov was a big fan of the twenty twenty two
Russian invasion of Ukraine. Award that has taken the lives
(16:39):
of over thirteen thousand civilians, almost eight hundred of them
being children. More than forty six thousand Ukrainian military have
been killed in that time and half a million wounded.
(17:02):
We found Vladimir Igorov's VK profile still up almost two
years after his death. VK is essentially just Russian Facebook.
Here's an idea of the sort of thing Igorov would
post up there. In the context of a twenty twenty
three Russian Victory Day post, he writes, quote, Dear Tobolsk residents,
(17:24):
our dear veterans, The memory of World War II unites
us today and makes us invincible in the face of
many new challenges one by older generations. Victory still inspires
us to new achievements, strengthens our spirit, helps us overcome
difficulties and move forward. Our fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers
(17:47):
defended our motherland. Now is our turn to stand as
a war for our country, to protect our honest historic memory.
Even today, every Russian is bitter to hear and see
attempts to rewrite history to take away the conquered peace
and freedom for humanity from our people.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
End quote.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Igorov also posted about his family who were training in
the Russian military in preparation for a deployment to Ukraine
to help with the invasion. In twenty twenty two, Igorov
posted up several pictures with said family with this caption quote, Today,
a significant event happened in our family. Having served his
military service in the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces,
(18:32):
our son, nephew, grandson, and brother, Yuri Igorov was demobilized
by the Federation. My older brother and I decided to
meet him at the checkpoint of the military unit. We
thank his commanders and officers for creating decent and comfortable
conditions for his service.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
End quote.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Now, whilst Igorov loved the war, as in he was
proud that his country invaded Ukraine, he didn't quite want
his family to actually serve in not properly anyway. As
is with any rich, corrupt politician, whether it be Russia,
England or America, it's never their kids who actually end
up on the front lines.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Not really.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Igorov posed as a man of the people but actually
he was a thieving glutton.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
Looking back on Vladimir segav life, we can already see
a picture of building up that which consists of the
local archetypal, corrupted magne that leaves a good life.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
That's Victor Mihail.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
He's a researcher on my team who's been working with
us on this season of sad Oligach. Victor's been looking
into Igorov's laviage lifestyle and how it allowed him to
circumvent the laws that normal people have to stick to.
Just as a quick reminder here, this is not just
a Russian thing. It's a politician thing. Okay, now it's
(19:56):
time for a quick outbreak or enough of that, now
back to the shore. So what kind of flash is stuff?
Was ego of up too?
Speaker 5 (20:12):
You know, meeting with influential people, partying, eating only the
good stuff, circumventing even pandemic restrictions to make insane megalomania celebrations,
all while constantly hitting news headlines and wile successfully by
passing the law and his conviction for an authoriosed selling
of land. This kind of flest also has benefits for
(20:33):
the people who are in your circle or around you
or in your family, and one such an example can
be illustrated by an event which happened on twenty eight
November twenty twenty two. One of his nephews, Yuryegorov, was
released as demobilized from his mandatory service in the Russian
Army on twenty eight November, being when Russian invasion of
(21:00):
Ukraine was still in full swing. It was the first
year one can guess that the son of a local
baron will have much trouble in such an environment and
he will have guests rights, since that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
He hasn't been deployed.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Or signing a contract to go in an active combat zone.
But asper the words of Vladimirgorov himself on his v
contact page, he had more than decent and even more
comfortable conditions in the army.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
So Igorov's nephew, who he wrote the glowing VK post
about how proud he is how he served the country,
actually did for court. He basically went in for some
Kushti training just to say he took part. Obviously it
was mandatory military service, but not the same kind of
military service that your average person has. This was again
(21:49):
facilitated by Igorov's connections that it built over the years.
Compiling his Empire of Dirt, we found out that Igorov
was also part of so called entrepreneur group named Opera Rossi.
This group is tied to the invasion of Ukraine, providing
economic and rehabilitation courses to Russian military. Perhaps these connections
(22:13):
are how he got his family through what is essentially
live action role playing the war.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
Looking at the profiles that commented on the post when
Vladimirgrov celebrated at the mobilization of his nephew, I also
found the people who give such comments. These comments consisting
of also parents who had their sons serving the same way,
and by checking the profiles you can see that they
are by no means of ordinary people. They are either lawyers, economists,
(22:41):
even civilian playing pilots who comment that their sons also
serve and they are already home while putting a lot
of laughing emogies. And some people just say that they
serve nearby and that there were no problems and so on,
that it was very comfortable to me. At least, it
seems like a nest of people who have it very
good in life. They even you know, use their influence
(23:03):
to just send their stance to a mandatory military service
just more like a symbolic approach, because they will not
be treated the same way as a regular conscript, So
this service is really symbolic.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
All this should give you an idea of what kind
of man Vladimir Igorov was. This was a politician who
stole from his own people, got fat off the theft,
and then acted like a member of the mafia. Remember,
he was telling anyone who'd listen that he wants the
people who discovered his corruption to be murdered and buried
in a shallow grave along with other rich folks in
(23:42):
the region. His family was sent to what is basically
a simulation of mandatory military service. You can start to
see how many people might have been sick of him.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Now, As I mentioned.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
At the start, the Russian newspaper Commissant was the very
first outlet to mention Egov's death. They reported very quickly
that there were quote no external signs of criminal death,
criminal death being an awkward way of saying murder. After
the initial talk of Igorov's fast relocation from window to pavement,
(24:19):
Commissant was quick to put the news out there that
he'd had a heart attack. You have to wonder, though,
did they know the cause of death before the official
word from the coroner. Let's look a little bit closer
at Commissant. So we dug around a bit, and basically
this newspaper is a pro Kremlin wreck, propaganda for Putin
(24:42):
and his regime. It's owned by a man named Alisha Usmanov.
According to the US government, not exactly trustworthy, but according
to them, Usmanov is quote one of Russia's most politically
influential oligachs with close ties to the Kremlin. Even believe
that he had a hand in a so called Russian
(25:04):
interference campaign in the twenty sixteen US presidential election. Now,
I personally rarely consider any politician to be a reliable source,
but it is certainly true that Usmanov has his fingers
in many different pies. According to the highly trustworthy OCCRP,
the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Usmanov has at
(25:27):
a minimum three billion dollars in assets. His overall wealth
is estimated to be even more than that, at sixteen
billion dollars.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
They said, quote.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
The Uzbek born multimillionaire is known to be close to
both Russian president Vladimir Putin, with whom he is alleged
to have financial ties, and former President Dmitri Medvedev, who
has reportedly benefit from the personal use of Usmanov's luxurious residences.
How Sweet, through USM Group, a holding structor Usmanov uses
(26:00):
for his business empire. His interests span telecommunications, media and mining.
A representative of Usmanov told the OCCRP that he has
never benefited from the Russian government nor the privatization of
state assets, and that his capital was obtained solely through
transparent investment and asset management. They added that the ownership
(26:24):
of most real estate and property long ago transferred to
his family and he can only use them on a
rental basis.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
End quote.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
I've got to say that last paragraph is extremely funny.
Who in their right mind believes that a man who
made sixteen billion dollars has to now rent out his
own properties from his family?
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Get real?
Speaker 2 (26:46):
The only real reason to do that would be some
kind of money laundering or tax dodging, hardly something he'd
mentioned to the OCCRP. In my opinion, that is just nonsense.
But still, how did Comma sank get the info about
the suspected heart attack. The Investigative Committee for the Tuman Region,
(27:08):
part of a government agency that explores serious crimes, apparently.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Gave it to them.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
They also said, though that they will be carrying on
an investigation into the death of Vladimir Igorov, but that
never happened. He just vanished. They stopped investigating. There's been
no more news, so I had a look to see
if there was anything else. The Investigative Committee for the
Toyman Region didn't investigate.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
There was.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Turns out they not only didn't but outright refused to investigate.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
A torture case.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
In twenty twenty two, a Russian anti fascist activist named
Yury Nesnimov was allegedly tortured in police custody. He said
had been beaten during an interrogation on September one and
tortured in the early hours of September two. He said
they threatened to shoot and rape him. He says he
(28:04):
was then suffocated with a plastic bag, tortured with electricity,
and water boarded. Novaya Gazetta Europe reported the following quote.
The investigators also interviewed two employees of Russia's Center for
Combating Extremism and detective Rimayov. All of them said no
(28:28):
torture had been used on Nesdamov and his testimony had
been given without coercion end quote, and so the case
was closed without an investigation. Basically, whatever the committee is
told by the state is what they say happened. So
I'm wondering did the government simply tell the investigative committee
(28:51):
for the Toyman Region the Vladimir Igorov died of a
heart attack and that was it. Oh, Considering that the
investigation then vanished without more official conclusion, it seems quite
possible to me. The info was passed to the Kremlin
friendly commissant, it was quickly reported as a high issue,
(29:12):
and that is that. One last thing. In the wake
of Igorov's death, there were many grieving messages on his
aforementioned VIK page. That's normal, Norme is completely bad. The
comments included quote my condolences to the family and the friends,
(29:33):
and at forty six years old, it's too early, creepy,
and my condolences to all the family. But two other
comments did catch my eye. Both are from now deleted users.
The first one says quote he was a very bad person.
(29:54):
The second one, the comment is completely deleted from the page.
We don't know what it said. It just says this
comment has been deleted by the user. The repliers are
still there though. Here's what they said. By your tongue,
this is how gossip is born. God is your judge,
and you are talking nonsense. You're drawing stupid conclusions. Calm
(30:16):
down already and let your tongue rest. And have you
been informed of anything personally? All in all, I think
it's safe to say this is another extremely suspicious death
of a wealthy Russian politician connected to the Kremlin. You've
(30:53):
been listening to sad Oliga At season two produced by
H eleven Studios for Cool Zone Media. Writing, editing, producing,
concept and recording by myself, Jake Hanrahan, Research and reporting
by Sergei Slipchenko, Me and Victim Mihail. Executive producing by
(31:16):
Sophie Lichtman. Music by Sam Black, artwork by George Jutefort,
Sound mixed by Splicing Block.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Seemo.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Of the projects at Hanrahan dot tv. Get me on
social media at Jake under School Hanrahan.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
That's h A N r A h A n
Something strange is going on. Another member of the Russian
elite has been found dead.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Reports suggests that he fell out of a window poisoned
with mushrooms.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Died of heart failure, the ed of carbon monoxide poisoning.
How comes you are they are? There?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Dozens of Russian oligachs, politically motivated millionaires have died in
the space of three years, most of them in suspicious circumstances.
Many have hidden links to the Kremlin. This is sad
Oligach Season two, an ongoing investigation into these recently dead
Russian power brokers. Sad Oligach is created by me jake
(00:39):
Hanrahan and my Ukrainian colleague Sergey Slipchenko. This is a
H eleven studio and Coolso Media production. December twenty seventh,
twenty twenty three. It's a freezing cold day and Tobolsk,
(01:00):
an ancient city in the east of Russia. The temperature
is as low as minus sixteen. Everything is frozen. The
rivers have a thick layer of ice on the surface
and a heavy blanket of snow covers the ground. This
is the Siberian region, a cold, harsh place that covers
(01:21):
over five million square miles of the Russian Federation. Tubosk
is considered by some to be the real capital of Siberia.
Founded in fifteen eighty seven, the city was at one
point an epicenter of early Russian colonization. Back then, the
detachment of Cossacks traveled through the rural mountains, attacking and
(01:43):
defeating the Muslim state of Seabit Canate. From thereon, all
helbroke loose in the modern Erado. Tobolsk is a peaceful,
if not isolated place for miles around. When the weather's bed,
there were green hills as far as the eye can see.
(02:04):
But today the frost is heavy, the ground is white
with snow, and the roads are thick with traffic stains slush.
So on this day that we zoom in on politician
Vladimir Igorov, forty six years old or of a weight, overpaid, corrupt.
(02:25):
He's stood by a window on the third floor of
his house on Kedrovoya Street.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
It's a rich.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Area, big cars and bigger houses. Igorov is the second
wealthiest politician in the region. His ill gotten gains have
built him a comfortable lifestyle, well until they didn't. Somehow,
of Vladimir Igorov falls clean out of the window of
(02:51):
his house around thirty five feet to the concrete his way.
He's free falling at a speed of about fourteen meters
per second. Takes him only one and a half to
hit the concrete. With a force like that, an energy
of roughly nine thousand duels. Your body breaks as it lands,
(03:11):
huge damage to your skeleton, shattered bones, limbs broken from
their joints, your organs blend up inside of you, internal bleeding, hemorrhaging.
Its game over. According to an eyewitness of Vladimir, Igorov
hit the ground hard in the courtyard of his house,
But then there were reports that said he died of
(03:33):
heart issues. It sounds like a bit of an understatement
for a man that fell out of his window. I mean,
if your heart bursts upon impact against hard cement from
a higher fall, technically that dying of heart issues. I
don't think that's how they meant it. The press was
essentially saying he simply had a heart attack and keeled
(03:56):
over and died. To add to the confusion, Russian newspaper
Commissant was first to report on Igorov's demise. They said
there was a quote no external signs of criminal death.
(04:16):
This was related to them for beatim by the Investigative
Committee for the twin Men Region, part of a government
agency that explores serious crimes. Not only is that a
pretty suspect sentence to come out with whilst the body
is still warm, it's also a very hasty conclusion. Both
(04:39):
Commercant themselves and state media tast News reported that investigators
were still establishing the cause of Igorov's death when this
quote was provided to Bolsk City Council then published an
obituary saying Igorov diet due to quote a result of
an accident. So let's try to get this straight. Vladim
(05:02):
Egorov fell out of a window and died of high issues.
Was the Russian authority said it was an accident just
after they told the media that they're still investigating. Sounds
to me like the right hand they didn't know what
the left hand was doing. So why the confusion and
why does it seem so fishy from the get go? Well,
(05:26):
in the words of the seventeenth century Sufi poet Rumy,
greed makes a man easy pray for death. Vladim Egorov
was a very greedy man on a scale of one
to ten. How corrupt would you say this ego of
(05:49):
fellow was one being like not corrupt at all and
ten being Joseph Muscat level corruption like that fellow from Malta, Like,
how corrupt was this guy?
Speaker 3 (06:00):
From what I can see like quite Crplet's say definitely
in the upper side, and we could say maybe like eight,
but I feel like if we knew everything, it would
definitely be a ten.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
That's journalist Sergei Slipchenko, my partner on this project. You
remember him from the first season together. We've once again
been working away researching these strange deaths of the Russian elite,
not because we particularly give a shit about them, many
have supported or profited from Putin's war on Ukraine, but
(06:30):
because to investigate these strange deaths is to better understand
the turmoil inside the Kremlin. That's my theory, at least
back to Sergi.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
You know, when I was initially looking into him, it
was like, oh, he passed away, and they're like, if
you remember in twenty sixteen he was charged for essentially
not charging businessmen like for the lens, you know, like
they're like renting like space. I don't know exactly what
it was, whether it was like farmland, or actual like
industrial space or something like that. But essentially he was
and charging people for the rent, like he wasn't collecting it.
(07:03):
He was working for the city of Taboysk and he's
working as the head of the committee for I believe
it translates to like land rights and forestry, so essentially
kind of overlooking the city's lands forests, and part of
his job was, you know, collecting rent. People are supposed
to pay him for using the land. And what he
was found guilty of was negligence of essentially not collecting
(07:25):
rent from several businessmen, allegedly his friends, right, so they
can run their business.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
They don't have to pay him.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
I mean, the thing is is like officially he didn't
collect it at all, and that's the city lost it.
If I had to guess, I would think he collected it.
He just didn't put it into the city's budget kind
of thing, right, which was supposed to. In these articles,
the ones that came out around his death, they just
mentioned like his sentencing, which was one point six million rubles,
which I looked up in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
That was about twenty thousand dollars like.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
American twenty thousand years d but actually found in our
article from the time when this is kind of happening,
like in twenty fourteen, is when he was accused of
this by deputies of Tubolsk City DUMO, so essentially like
local politicians. They sent a letter to the regional prosecutor
and they actually claimed he stole forty four million rubles.
They said that, like he caused forty four million in
(08:18):
damages to the city budget, which I again kind of
converted at the time that was one million and a
quarter when in a quarter million USD. So what they
kind of alleged was a lot higher than when he
was charged for, which you know could be depending on
the city, Like the city decided, okay, we can only
prove that one point six million rubles was the crime,
(08:42):
whereas in reality was much higher.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
And that's what those guys alleged.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Like that article that was reading kind of paints a
picture of what kind of personal Goo was because in
addition to the letter like claiming that he did this,
I guess you can say Besslumuan right fraud. They were
also those two deputies that reported him. They actually reached
out to the regional like a head of I think
it's an Investigative Committee essentially a regional like I guess
(09:07):
you could say FBI kind of comparative that they oversee
the region's security. They're mostly involved in like economic crimes
and criminal crimes prosecution on a federal level, they're in charge.
And they reached out to them saying that they were
concerned about threats from you Gotov.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
According to them, he would talk kind of openly like
they should be killed and buried. That's a quote that
they give to a newspaper.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
So the reports from this don't have much information. In Russia,
the press isn't free, and reporting on government corruption is
a bad idea for a journalist's career. On the twenty
twenty five Press Freedom Index, Russia was ranked one hundred
and seventy one out of one hundred and eighty, the
(09:50):
latter being the worst. All independent Russia news channels are banned.
If you try to criticize the state, you might end
up in serious trouble. Okay, now, with time for a
quick outbreak. All right, enough for that. Now back to
(10:13):
the shore. Still, we've deduced that Vladimir Igorov was up
to one of two things in regards to what he
was care and charged for one, he was allowing his
friends and associates to use state owned land for free,
abusing his position to likely court favor with other wealthy individuals.
(10:38):
Or two, he was saving state owned land for his
friends and associates, making sure they got.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
The plots they wanted.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Instead of putting the rent they then paid for these
areas back into the local council kitty as he was
supposed to, he simply kept all the rent for himself
put it in his pocket. Wam double corruption? Personally, I'm
with Surgery on this. I think option two is most
likely both pretty much.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
As bad as each other.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Though Igorov was happy to steal from his community and
threaten the people who weren't happy about it. This wasn't
just the discruntal public though. The people he threatened held
some way in the Toposka area.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
So they're the deputies right there. Essentially, It's like if
a politician came to the police and was like, Hey,
this other you know, bureaucrat or whatever is like embezzling
funds and then he was like openly talking about, you
know what, those guys should be killed. That that was
their concern. They reached out to the guy they're like, hey,
can you look into this, And interestingly, at the bottom
(11:43):
of the article, it's like, at least according to these politicians,
the head never heard about their complaint and they're not
looking into it. So allegedly nothing was done about those
threats or at least their concerns about those threats.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
But they're saying they're saying they didn't even hear about it.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
They said that, like, you know, they reported it, and
they said they didn't hear anything about it, that like
their that their concerns weren't hurt, and that they couldn't
file an official complaint kind of thing. That's according to them,
So I mean, it's kind of like he said, she said,
but yeah, they said that they weren't even heard that
there was no official you know, you can like file
(12:22):
like an official complain of the police basically, and nobody
took them in. Two years later, he again, he did
get prosecuted. They found kind of like negligence. I guess
that he just happened not to pay attention to collecting
those you know, millions, but he didn't even get punished
for it.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
So, as you can see, Vladimir Igorov should have been
prosecuted his crimes were not committed past the statute of limitations.
It was only two years before he was brought to court,
so we should have got.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
What was coming to right. We looked it up.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
He was supposed to be sentenced to two years correcttional labor.
This means he would have been allowed to continue working
in his position in the local government, but would have
been fined five to twenty percent of his wages. This
money was to be renumerated into the community k offfers
until Igorov had paid back all the money he'd stolen.
(13:18):
For some reason, though this didn't happen. They may Igorov
completely got away with it.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Even though it was just two years later.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
They said it was kind of too late to charge
him with it, and he never faced any punishment. There
was actually a similar incident in twenty eleven, so this
would be three years prior to that. Same thing happened
where he was kind of losing money for the city budget,
and allegedly nothing happened. Same two politicians complained to Well
apparently directly to putin like directly to him.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
He got some kind of punishment, but nothing changed.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Essentially, right, this was an open letter to Poot and
It wasn't like they kind of called him up, but
there was this public open letter as in, we've tried everything,
this guy is stealing for some reason. He's not really
being prosecuted. DEPO in please help was basically what was happening.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Yeah, like that's the idea, right that like nobody's above him.
So like if you're kind of I guess, like you
could say last resort and you know this has happened
in twenty eleven. Then again three years later they send
another letter to the they're like municipal our prosecutor, and
you know, clearly something came out of it in twenty sixteen,
but again they were claiming forty four million rubles in damage. Right,
(14:32):
all they found was one point six million. That's like
less than one tenth of what they claimed. And he
didn't even get punishment for It's like, yeah, you're guilty,
but oh well, we can't do anything about it. Essentially,
that's all that came out of it, right, not even
a slap on the wrist. It was just like, yeah,
you did that, but we can't do anything. And he
later on he becomes he went on to be like
(14:53):
part of the Federal Party and stuff. He became a
deputy of United Russia.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
It's complicated, but United Russia is Putin's party. Tawilauners himself
through politics and the media to be Russia's perpetual leader,
or you could say dictator. Putin uses the party to
maintain power by acting as it's the facto leader. He
actually ran as an independent in the last election, but
(15:25):
it's all smoke and mirrors. It simply allowed him to
keep power no matter what, whilst trying to present the
voting system as democratic and open, it's anything but. As
the man both behind the scenes and at the forefront,
Putin uses United Russia to secure legislative and political back
(15:46):
in for whatever he wants to happen. Through this broadly
popular political party, he can maintain his grip on the
government and push through his many murderous policies.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Throughout the world.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Everyone knows that United Russia is Putin's party. It just
has to go around the houses a little bit to
pretend like he's not actually running things with an iron fist.
So Igorov himself was a staunch supporter of Putins United Russia,
(16:19):
as Sergei said, he joined up and became a member.
It will probably be no surprise to learn then that
Igorov was a big fan of the twenty twenty two
Russian invasion of Ukraine. Award that has taken the lives
(16:39):
of over thirteen thousand civilians, almost eight hundred of them
being children. More than forty six thousand Ukrainian military have
been killed in that time and half a million wounded.
(17:02):
We found Vladimir Igorov's VK profile still up almost two
years after his death. VK is essentially just Russian Facebook.
Here's an idea of the sort of thing Igorov would
post up there. In the context of a twenty twenty
three Russian Victory Day post, he writes, quote, Dear Tobolsk residents,
(17:24):
our dear veterans, The memory of World War II unites
us today and makes us invincible in the face of
many new challenges one by older generations. Victory still inspires
us to new achievements, strengthens our spirit, helps us overcome
difficulties and move forward. Our fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers
(17:47):
defended our motherland. Now is our turn to stand as
a war for our country, to protect our honest historic memory.
Even today, every Russian is bitter to hear and see
attempts to rewrite history to take away the conquered peace
and freedom for humanity from our people.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
End quote.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Igorov also posted about his family who were training in
the Russian military in preparation for a deployment to Ukraine
to help with the invasion. In twenty twenty two, Igorov
posted up several pictures with said family with this caption quote, Today,
a significant event happened in our family. Having served his
military service in the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces,
(18:32):
our son, nephew, grandson, and brother, Yuri Igorov was demobilized
by the Federation. My older brother and I decided to
meet him at the checkpoint of the military unit. We
thank his commanders and officers for creating decent and comfortable
conditions for his service.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
End quote.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Now, whilst Igorov loved the war, as in he was
proud that his country invaded Ukraine, he didn't quite want
his family to actually serve in not properly anyway. As
is with any rich, corrupt politician, whether it be Russia,
England or America, it's never their kids who actually end
up on the front lines.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Not really.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Igorov posed as a man of the people but actually
he was a thieving glutton.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
Looking back on Vladimir segav life, we can already see
a picture of building up that which consists of the
local archetypal, corrupted magne that leaves a good life.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
That's Victor Mihail.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
He's a researcher on my team who's been working with
us on this season of sad Oligach. Victor's been looking
into Igorov's laviage lifestyle and how it allowed him to
circumvent the laws that normal people have to stick to.
Just as a quick reminder here, this is not just
a Russian thing. It's a politician thing. Okay, now it's
(19:56):
time for a quick outbreak or enough of that, now
back to the shore. So what kind of flash is stuff?
Was ego of up too?
Speaker 5 (20:12):
You know, meeting with influential people, partying, eating only the
good stuff, circumventing even pandemic restrictions to make insane megalomania celebrations,
all while constantly hitting news headlines and wile successfully by
passing the law and his conviction for an authoriosed selling
of land. This kind of flest also has benefits for
(20:33):
the people who are in your circle or around you
or in your family, and one such an example can
be illustrated by an event which happened on twenty eight
November twenty twenty two. One of his nephews, Yuryegorov, was
released as demobilized from his mandatory service in the Russian
Army on twenty eight November, being when Russian invasion of
(21:00):
Ukraine was still in full swing. It was the first
year one can guess that the son of a local
baron will have much trouble in such an environment and
he will have guests rights, since that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
He hasn't been deployed.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Or signing a contract to go in an active combat zone.
But asper the words of Vladimirgorov himself on his v
contact page, he had more than decent and even more
comfortable conditions in the army.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
So Igorov's nephew, who he wrote the glowing VK post
about how proud he is how he served the country,
actually did for court. He basically went in for some
Kushti training just to say he took part. Obviously it
was mandatory military service, but not the same kind of
military service that your average person has. This was again
(21:49):
facilitated by Igorov's connections that it built over the years.
Compiling his Empire of Dirt, we found out that Igorov
was also part of so called entrepreneur group named Opera Rossi.
This group is tied to the invasion of Ukraine, providing
economic and rehabilitation courses to Russian military. Perhaps these connections
(22:13):
are how he got his family through what is essentially
live action role playing the war.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
Looking at the profiles that commented on the post when
Vladimirgrov celebrated at the mobilization of his nephew, I also
found the people who give such comments. These comments consisting
of also parents who had their sons serving the same way,
and by checking the profiles you can see that they
are by no means of ordinary people. They are either lawyers, economists,
(22:41):
even civilian playing pilots who comment that their sons also
serve and they are already home while putting a lot
of laughing emogies. And some people just say that they
serve nearby and that there were no problems and so on,
that it was very comfortable to me. At least, it
seems like a nest of people who have it very
good in life. They even you know, use their influence
(23:03):
to just send their stance to a mandatory military service
just more like a symbolic approach, because they will not
be treated the same way as a regular conscript, So
this service is really symbolic.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
All this should give you an idea of what kind
of man Vladimir Igorov was. This was a politician who
stole from his own people, got fat off the theft,
and then acted like a member of the mafia. Remember,
he was telling anyone who'd listen that he wants the
people who discovered his corruption to be murdered and buried
in a shallow grave along with other rich folks in
(23:42):
the region. His family was sent to what is basically
a simulation of mandatory military service. You can start to
see how many people might have been sick of him.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Now, As I mentioned.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
At the start, the Russian newspaper Commissant was the very
first outlet to mention Egov's death. They reported very quickly
that there were quote no external signs of criminal death,
criminal death being an awkward way of saying murder. After
the initial talk of Igorov's fast relocation from window to pavement,
(24:19):
Commissant was quick to put the news out there that
he'd had a heart attack. You have to wonder, though,
did they know the cause of death before the official
word from the coroner. Let's look a little bit closer
at Commissant. So we dug around a bit, and basically
this newspaper is a pro Kremlin wreck, propaganda for Putin
(24:42):
and his regime. It's owned by a man named Alisha Usmanov.
According to the US government, not exactly trustworthy, but according
to them, Usmanov is quote one of Russia's most politically
influential oligachs with close ties to the Kremlin. Even believe
that he had a hand in a so called Russian
(25:04):
interference campaign in the twenty sixteen US presidential election. Now,
I personally rarely consider any politician to be a reliable source,
but it is certainly true that Usmanov has his fingers
in many different pies. According to the highly trustworthy OCCRP,
the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Usmanov has at
(25:27):
a minimum three billion dollars in assets. His overall wealth
is estimated to be even more than that, at sixteen
billion dollars.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
They said, quote.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
The Uzbek born multimillionaire is known to be close to
both Russian president Vladimir Putin, with whom he is alleged
to have financial ties, and former President Dmitri Medvedev, who
has reportedly benefit from the personal use of Usmanov's luxurious residences.
How Sweet, through USM Group, a holding structor Usmanov uses
(26:00):
for his business empire. His interests span telecommunications, media and mining.
A representative of Usmanov told the OCCRP that he has
never benefited from the Russian government nor the privatization of
state assets, and that his capital was obtained solely through
transparent investment and asset management. They added that the ownership
(26:24):
of most real estate and property long ago transferred to
his family and he can only use them on a
rental basis.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
End quote.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
I've got to say that last paragraph is extremely funny.
Who in their right mind believes that a man who
made sixteen billion dollars has to now rent out his
own properties from his family?
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Get real?
Speaker 2 (26:46):
The only real reason to do that would be some
kind of money laundering or tax dodging, hardly something he'd
mentioned to the OCCRP. In my opinion, that is just nonsense.
But still, how did Comma sank get the info about
the suspected heart attack. The Investigative Committee for the Tuman Region,
(27:08):
part of a government agency that explores serious crimes, apparently.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Gave it to them.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
They also said, though that they will be carrying on
an investigation into the death of Vladimir Igorov, but that
never happened. He just vanished. They stopped investigating. There's been
no more news, so I had a look to see
if there was anything else. The Investigative Committee for the
Toyman Region didn't investigate.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
There was.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Turns out they not only didn't but outright refused to investigate.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
A torture case.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
In twenty twenty two, a Russian anti fascist activist named
Yury Nesnimov was allegedly tortured in police custody. He said
had been beaten during an interrogation on September one and
tortured in the early hours of September two. He said
they threatened to shoot and rape him. He says he
(28:04):
was then suffocated with a plastic bag, tortured with electricity,
and water boarded. Novaya Gazetta Europe reported the following quote.
The investigators also interviewed two employees of Russia's Center for
Combating Extremism and detective Rimayov. All of them said no
(28:28):
torture had been used on Nesdamov and his testimony had
been given without coercion end quote, and so the case
was closed without an investigation. Basically, whatever the committee is
told by the state is what they say happened. So
I'm wondering did the government simply tell the investigative committee
(28:51):
for the Toyman Region the Vladimir Igorov died of a
heart attack and that was it. Oh, Considering that the
investigation then vanished without more official conclusion, it seems quite
possible to me. The info was passed to the Kremlin
friendly commissant, it was quickly reported as a high issue,
(29:12):
and that is that. One last thing. In the wake
of Igorov's death, there were many grieving messages on his
aforementioned VIK page. That's normal, Norme is completely bad. The
comments included quote my condolences to the family and the friends,
(29:33):
and at forty six years old, it's too early, creepy,
and my condolences to all the family. But two other
comments did catch my eye. Both are from now deleted users.
The first one says quote he was a very bad person.
(29:54):
The second one, the comment is completely deleted from the page.
We don't know what it said. It just says this
comment has been deleted by the user. The repliers are
still there though. Here's what they said. By your tongue,
this is how gossip is born. God is your judge,
and you are talking nonsense. You're drawing stupid conclusions. Calm
(30:16):
down already and let your tongue rest. And have you
been informed of anything personally? All in all, I think
it's safe to say this is another extremely suspicious death
of a wealthy Russian politician connected to the Kremlin. You've
(30:53):
been listening to sad Oliga At season two produced by
H eleven Studios for Cool Zone Media. Writing, editing, producing,
concept and recording by myself, Jake Hanrahan, Research and reporting
by Sergei Slipchenko, Me and Victim Mihail. Executive producing by
(31:16):
Sophie Lichtman. Music by Sam Black, artwork by George Jutefort,
Sound mixed by Splicing Block.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Seemo.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Of the projects at Hanrahan dot tv. Get me on
social media at Jake under School Hanrahan.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
That's h A N r A h A n
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