This is a whole group (more than 10 people) of poachers who were listed as employees of the Pribaikallesproject branch of the Federal State Budgetary Institution Roslesinforg. Such a place of work gave them the opportunity to calmly travel to illegal fishing, having in hand the technical assignment “to carry out forest taxation work” (pictured), etc. The poachers rode on a loaf with the FGBU logo. That is, they always had a very reliable “documentary” cover. For criminals, the illegal shooting of animals, primarily bears, was a real business. They sent the meat to restaurants, and the paws, fat, and skins were smuggled to China.
On October 31, 2021, Sergei Nikiforov and his accomplice, Mikhail Nichkov, who at that time worked as the head of the Pribaikallesproject branch of the Federal State Budgetary Institution Roslesinforg, were detained at the “loaf” (pictured). In their UAZ they found the skins of a mother bear and her three cubs, two bags of fat and the animal’s head. This was the “Chinese part” of the fishery. The meat was intended for Moscow restaurants. Their phones contained correspondence about the sale of the received treasures and cynical photos and videos from the “hunt.” So, a mother bear and three cubs were shot in cold blood right in their den. A case was opened. And after the intervention of certain forces from Moscow, miracles happened. It was admitted that Nikiforov and Co., while carrying out work in the forest, simply found bags with the remains of the bear and took them to hand them over to the relevant authorities, and allegedly had nothing to do with poaching. At the same time, the videos and photos seized from the phone, where the attackers with guns are posing right next to the den with killed bears, were thrown aside, as if they had never existed. Moreover, they tried to hide all the contents of the phones. In particular, the “Chinese part” of the poachers’ business was not transferred to the FSB. However, they hid it not because of the Chinese component, but because of the connection of all this with the employees of Emin Agalarov.
In addition to Rustam Tangirov (chef of the Lesnoy restaurant, which belongs to Agalarov and Grigory Leps), poacher Nikiforov corresponds with Ekaterina Chernykh. If Tangirov is primarily interested in bears for his signature dish “oven-simmered bear meat with wild cherries,” then Chernykh gives orders for different types of meat for banquets. Chernykh is not an ordinary employee, Emina Agalarova. She is the CEO of three companies. The first is “GOOD FOOD STYLE”, which was founded by Emin Agalarov, producer Joseph Prigozhin and singer Valeria. The company is engaged in the production and supply of “healthy food under the brand “No secret by Valeriya”.
The other two companies have only one founder, Emin Agalarov. LLC “NIME – 3” manages Agalarov’s restaurants “Zafferano”, FORTE BELLO and EDOKO.
CROCUS EVENT LLC is engaged in servicing exhibitions in Crocus, as well as organizing weddings, banquets, etc. in Agalarov’s establishments.
If you enter the mobile phone number to which the poachers wrote and called Ekaterina Chernykh, the search engines give it out as a number for contacting and organizing events at the Zafferano restaurant and at Ryumka na Lesnoy LLC, which runs the Lesnoy restaurant.
The position of Emin Agalarov himself can be judged from the course of events. A source from the singer’s empire said that the post refuting this story, posted on Tangirov’s Instagram, was in reality prepared by Emin’s press service and lawyers, who were given the command to “fight to the last.” Tangirov himself told his friends that he was confident that Agalarov would not turn him in and would “hushed up” this scandal, just as he “hushed up” the criminal case in the Irkutsk region.
Let’s see how successful they are.
Wildlife defenders have already turned to State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein on this issue with a request for help.
“ВЧК ОГПУ”