How does a murder suspect with ties to Putin get out of pretrial detention within two months?

Source: Fontanka.ru

Businessman Ilya Traber has been released from Moscow’s Lefortovo pretrial detention center, the St. Petersburg-based news outlet Fontanka reported. An investigator ordered his release after his health declined sharply, according to the outlet.

Traber left the Moscow detention center on the evening of August 27 and headed to St. Petersburg, a source familiar with him confirmed to the independent Russian investigative outlet Agentstvo.

Traber is widely regarded as a businessman close to Vladimir Putin. He got his start in business in the 1980s trading antiques, and by the 1990s controlled the St. Petersburg port and its Oil Terminal.

In June 2026, investigators accused Traber and his business partner Vladimir Danilenko of involvement in organizing the 2020 murder of St. Petersburg entrepreneur and municipal deputy Alexander Petrov. Traber was taken to Moscow and sent to Lefortovo; Danilenko was also arrested.

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How does a murder suspect with ties to Putin get out of pretrial detention within two months?

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