The $200 Million Shakedown: How Russia's Security Services Turned on Each Other Over Tech Giant Merlion

The 235th Garrison Military Court handed down sentences to former security officials accused of creating a criminal organization and extorting 15 billion rubles from Merlion's owners. Given the level and number of security personnel involved in the operation, they nearly succeeded. But at the last moment, Merlion secured support from National Guard chief Viktor Zolotov. The punitive machine then turned against the security officials themselves. Almost everyone connected to the case was caught. Only one FSB officer with the strongest connections managed to escape.

Today, with such powerful protection, Merlion controls the largest channel for supplying sanctioned technology to Russia.

The Verdicts

Not all defendants appeared in the dock. Some remain at large. Former Moscow Investigative Committee investigator Sergei Romodanovsky received the longest sentence: 19 years in prison. He is the last surviving son of Konstantin Romodanovsky, former chief of the Interior Ministry's Economic Security Service and deputy chief of the FSB's Economic Security Service. The general died under strange circumstances in autumn 2024. According to VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info, his body was found near the stairs of his Serebryany Bor cottage. The general had a broken cervical spine. However, the official version states he died instantly on the stairs and received injuries from falling after death.

Romodanovsky's friend, also a former Moscow Investigative Committee investigator, Rustam Yusupov, received one year less: 18 years in prison.

Former FSB Economic Security Service officer Alexander Bibishev and former FSB counterintelligence operations officer Pavel Krylov received 16.3 years and 16 years respectively. They are closely connected to Alexander Ushakov, a high-ranking FSB officer for Moscow and Moscow Region who oversees all Moscow courts. He was also arrested on charges of creating a criminal organization and receiving bribes. According to VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info, Ushakov was sent to pretrial detention with the aim of targeting even bigger security officials: Valery Popov, head of Department M of the Moscow FSB, and Sergei Natarov, deputy chief of the Moscow FSB. Ushakov was their trusted representative. But authorities decided not to escalate the investigation. Moreover, Ushakov was first released on his own recognizance, then criminal prosecution was dropped entirely. He continues working at the Moscow FSB.

Another case figure was Ushakov's friend and godfather Anton Kaurov, former FSB Economic Security Service officer and later Department M officer.

Moscow Investigative Committee investigator Andrei Zhiryutin received 17 years in prison. Lawyer Vadim Lyalin got 14 years. Upon hearing the sentence, he fainted.

The Escape

Lyalin previously managed to escape from custody. According to case materials, on September 2, 2022, FSB officers took Lyalin from Matrosskaya Tishina detention center at 10 AM. About an hour later, they brought him home to the Moscow suburb cottage settlement Russkoye Pole. At three PM, Lyalin called an acquaintance and asked to be driven to Smolensk Region. They agreed the friend would pick him up around seven PM near the settlement, between the village and a gardening association.

At seven PM, Lyalin entered the kitchen of his house, where his child and other relatives were, announced he was leaving, then disappeared. He climbed through the fence into a field. FSB officers had to file a report about the escape.

Meanwhile, shortly after seven, Lyalin got into a Ford Transit motorhome waiting at the prearranged location. He told his friend they would need to stop at Gorbushkin Dvor shopping center to buy a phone, SIM cards, and some technical device. They spent the night at the friend's place in Pervomaiskoe settlement near Vnukovo, then went to Gorbushka in the morning, where the friend bought him a Samsung phone. Then Lyalin went into the mall alone to buy something and returned about three hours later. They returned to the friend's home, and an hour later drove toward Belarus. Lyalin rode in the living compartment of the Ford, searching for someone to take him to Warsaw.

By the night of September 3, the friend dropped Lyalin somewhere on the highway in Smolensk Region and left. Lyalin headed to an address where someone named Artem was supposed to pick him up for further transport to Europe. But Artem did not show up at the appointed time and place. So Lyalin returned to the original location and was detained at 4:30 PM by FSB officers near a Lukoil gas station at kilometer 455 of the M-1 Belarus highway. About seven hours later, Lyalin was returned to his cell at Matrosskaya Tishina.

The Scheme

According to investigators, the criminal organization was created in 2019 by former Investigative Committee investigator Kirill Kachur and his father Vitaly. Both are internationally wanted. The Kachurs, together with security officials, developed a plan to seize the business of Merlion's owners. They organized fabrication of a criminal case against the major company's owners and their detention. Vadim Lyalin became one of the defendants' lawyers.

Vitaly Kachur then sent former investigator Kirill Kachur to Lyalin. Through Lyalin, Merlion's owners received a proposal: in exchange for release and termination of prosecution, sell companies DELTA, Citylink, and Tekta Group (the latter was sold) and transfer all proceeds—15 billion rubles—to the Kachurs and their security official partners.

However, Merlion's owners managed to find support from National Guard chief Viktor Zolotov in exchange for part of their business. The security officials' repressive machinery turned against the organizers of the grand extortion. As a result, Vitaly and Kirill Kachur fled abroad with several security official partners. Those who did not escape in time ended up in custody.

The Sanctions Channel

Recently, VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info published a major investigation showing that Russia continues operating a broad channel for supplying sanctioned electronics. It was organized in 2022 by the Merlion group, owned by Citylink owners Alexey Abramov, Oleg Karchev, and Vladislav Mangutov, through Moscow-based Marsala LLC.

Part of the scheme was shut down in early 2023 after the Financial Times exposed the connection to computer equipment supplies to Russia through MYKINES CORPORATION. However, companies from the UAE, Seychelles, and China replaced it.