When Vladimir Kolokoltsev removed his deputy Al…

When Vladimir Kolokoltsev removed his deputy Alexander Romanov with the help of a criminal case, he got rid of his competitor for the ministerial chair. Sources said that exactly the same competitor for Kolokoltsev was the former head of the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate, General Anatoly Yakunin. Having invited him to work in the capital from the outback, Kolokoltsev and his main “wallet”, the now deceased former head of the UEBiPK, General Vasiliev, were guided by the fact that Yakunin would not “meddle” anywhere, and would actually become the deputy chairman. In reality, everything turned out to be completely different. Yakunin, being very assertive and ambitious by nature, quickly established contact with Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and the heads of the presidential administration Chuichenko and Shkolov. The fight launched by Yakunin in the capital against ethnic crime, robberies against money carriers and night races with shootings immediately attracted the attention of all leading media to his personality. Unlike the minister, who appeared on the silver screen no more than once a year, Yakunin did not shy away from communicating with the press and did it weekly. The awareness of competition in the person of Yakunin came already in 2013 and full-scale development was launched by the head of the Main Directorate of Security, Alexander Makarov, and all the personnel who came from the regions with him. One of the most significant implementations in this direction was the detention of the head of the Internal Affairs Directorate of ZAO Rozhkov for corruption connections with Dionisy Zolotov. The apogee of this zealous confrontation was the detention initiated by Yakunin in the fall of 2016 of a group of Chechen collectors at the President Hotel for extortion and death threats to the family of a major businessman. All of them were part of Adam Delimkhanov’s inner circle. Kolokoltsev skillfully interpreted this implementation as Yakunin’s actions, undermining the “delicately” built relationship with the Chechen authorities. During a tough conversation on Zhitnaya, he forced Yakunin to leave his post.