But then, when the murder occurred, he was an influential, handsome gangster who maintained close relations with a group of Moscow operas. Unlike Malakhov, they are all alive and well and in business – they own private security companies, head security services, and are “fixers.” And the main ones, of course, are ex-MUR employee Alexei Darkov (who is now a lawyer, in particular representing the interests of Eduard Budantsev) and Sergei Lomov. Lomov was a friend of Igor Malakhov. They knew each other from the sports boarding school where they studied together. It was Lomov who, in his car, hiding behind a police car, took Igor Malakhov out of St. Petersburg after he shot Talkov.
The singer was shot dead on October 6, 1991 under absolutely obvious circumstances. “Authority” Igor Malakhov burst into Talkov’s dressing room at the Yubileiny Sports Palace in St. Petersburg and demanded that he concede the final performance to his mistress, singer Aziza. During a fight with Talkov’s guards, the “authority” pulled out a pistol. A struggle ensued, during which Malakhov fired two shots. One of the bullets hit Talkov in the chest. He died from his wound. Malakhov fled the crime scene and was put on the wanted list. And then MUR officer Alexey Darkov unexpectedly came to the fore in the investigation. He wrote a report to his superiors that Igor Malakhov was his secret agent, helping to expose members of various organized crime groups, and was not involved in Talkov’s murder. At the same time, Darkov promises to organize the detention of Malakhov and asks other services not to interfere. Next, Darkov finds witnesses who allegedly saw Talkov’s producer Valery Shlyafman in Yubileiny with a weapon in his hands. In reality, the frightened Shlyafman, after the shooting, picked up the pistol from the floor and took it to Aziza’s dressing room. And she threw him into the Fontanka.
However, Darkov intimidated Shlyafman so much that he would be accused of involvement in the murder that he chose to flee to Israel. Darkov immediately brings Igor Malakhov, who came from nowhere, to the investigator. As a witness, he tells the version constructed with the help of Darkov. They say he fired one shot at the floor. And then the weapon was taken from him by the frail Shlyafman, who accidentally shot Talkov. It was no longer possible to ask anything from the escaped Shlyafman. As a result, he was accused in absentia of Talkov’s murder. And Igor Malakhov received only two years for illegal possession of weapons. Malakhov died in 2018. And Darkov is still “on horseback”, working for big businessmen, “resolving” issues with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB.
Why did operas need Malakhov so much? “Authority” was a participant in many schemes to enrich security forces, and this cooperation only expanded every year. For example, after the murder of Talkov, towards the end of the 90s, veterans and active employees of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs created the private security company “Alternative”. And then the classic scheme began to work. Rambo was pointed at the company, he and the militants organized a raid on its owners. And then representatives of “Alternative” appeared and supposedly successfully solved the problem with gangsters. After this, the company came under the “roof” of the private security company. The rise of Darkov and his former colleague Lomov in the security services market occurred when they began to resolve thorny issues for the then co-owners of Metalloinvest, Vasily Anisimov and Alisher Usmanov.
“ВЧК ОГПУ”
