‘Get me a passport, then I’ll tell you what I know’ How a former United Russia lawmaker wound up on Moscow’s ‘foreign agents’ list
Russia’s Justice Ministry made an unlikely addition to its “foreign agents” list last week: former lawmaker Magomed Gadzhiyev, who once represented the ruling United Russia party in the State Duma. Besides being one of the deputies who voted for the original “foreign agents” law in 2012, Gadzhiyev has supported a number of the Kremlin’s other initiatives, including the annexation of Crimea and the “Yarovaya Package” (legislation that requires telecoms to store six months of clients’ calling and texting records and Internet history — and to share the data with police, no questions asked). Gadzhiyev served a total of three terms in Russia’s federal parliament. After Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, Gadzhiyev expressed support for the war and sent humanitarian aid convoys to the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics.” Meduza special correspondent Andrey Pertsev explains how such a loyal figure became a “foreign agent.”
‘First the tickets, then the movie’
“They brought down the hammer on him so that others wouldn’t even think about it,” a source close to the leadership of the United Russia party told Meduza, referring to former State Duma deputy Magomed Gadzhiyev’s appearance on the Justice Ministry’s “foreign agents” list. Gadzhiyev was ousted from the party almost immediately following the designation, and Dagestan Governor Sergey Melikov called him a “coward and a traitor.”
A source close to the Kremlin told Meduza that the decision to add Gadzhiyev to the list was made by the Putin administration’s political bloc and Russia’s intelligence services in response to videos showing Gadzhiyev’s phone conversations that leaked on Telegram in April. The clips show the former deputy offering to divulge secrets about the Russian authorities to a person who appears to be linked to Western intelligence agencies in exchange for a European passport. “I know a lot, but I don’t want to say it. When I have a passport, then we can discuss a lot. First the tickets, then the movie — you can’t watch the movie until you have the ticket,” the voice in the video explained.
In the video, the former deputy also admits that he’s currently located in the U.S. and assures the person on the other end of the line that he supports Ukraine, claiming he was involved in organizing a meeting between President Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak and the crown prince of Dubai (Meduza was unable to find public information about this meeting). He also claims to “support” Ukrainian businessman Rinat Akhmetov.
Please, read this message from Meduza’s team:
Dear readers! For nearly a decade, Meduza has delivered reliable information about Russia and the rest of the world. Our reporting is vital for millions of people in Russia, Ukraine, and beyond. In January 2023, the Russian authorities outlawed our work outright, but Meduza’s news coverage continues thanks to support from international readers like you. Don’t let “undesirable” status in Russia silence us. Please, support our work.
In one of the videos, Gadzhiyev allegedly said he was ready to denounce his Russian citizenship, and in another, he emphasized that he’s “not Russian.” “We fought against Russia for 25 years; we’re Dagestanis. Over these 25 years, they captured us,” he said, adding that he was referring to tsarist Russia. Finally, when asked, “You don’t like Islam?” Gadzhiyev, who ran for the State Duma in 2003 under the slogan “With love to the Motherland and faith in Allah,” responds that he doesn’t.
In 2022, Gadzhiyev received a certificate of appreciation from “DNR” head Denis Pushilin for his “comprehensive support and participation in the fate of the Donbas.” Around the same time, Dagestani media aired a segment about the humanitarian aid Gadzhiyev sent to the occupied region. The trucks carrying it featured a portrait of the former deputy with his political slogan on the side. “I want to send a huge ‘Salam’ to Magomed Gadzhiyev! We heard that you’re selling your yacht in Turkey in order to help us. We’re ready to blow up those ukrops in any situation,” a Russian soldier wearing a mask said in the video.
“A criminal case [against Gadzhiyev] will follow, and then, most likely, his property in Russia will be confiscated,” a source close to the Kremlin told Meduza.
‘He clearly didn’t have the resources’
Magomed Gadzhiyev was first elected to the State Duma as a United Russia member in 2003, after holding leadership positions in the local and then regional tax inspectorates for several years. Ukrainian and Dagestani media outlets have referred to him as a “crime boss,” but Meduza was unable to find any proof that Gadzhiyev has a criminal past.
A source close to United Russia’s leadership told Meduza that it’s fairly common for local officials to become parliamentary deputies in the North Caucasus. “A municipal official could move to a federal agency. A federal agency employee could become a Duma deputy. It all depended — and depends — on arrangements between clans, on the negotiations of a specific person or his backer with regional authorities or with the presidential administration,” he explained.
Two sources close to the Putin administration and a source close to United Russia’s leadership told Meduza that Dagestani Senator Suleyman Kerimov served as a “backer” to Gadzhiyev in the early 2000s.
In 2010, Magomed Gadzhiyev’s brother Akhmed became the general director of the Makhachkala Commercial Sea Port on the western coast of the Caspian Sea. Journalists reported then that Senator Kerimov was exercising control over the port through the Gadzhiyevs, although the port legally belongs to the government. In 2013, politician Ramazan Abdulatipov became Dagestan’s governor, and Gadzhiyev’s influence in the republic grew. He was acquainted with Abdulatipov’s son-in-law, Magomed Musayev, having been raised in the same district of Dagestan. Under Abdulatipov, three natives of that district, including Akhmed Gadzhiyev, became deputies in the republic’s parliament.
Kerimov and Abdulatipov’s relationship was initially full of conflict, but Magomed Gadzhiyev managed to smooth things over. This helped resolve a dispute surrounding the Makhachkala port. In 2016, the port terminated its contract with Akhmed Gadzhiyev. News reports at the time linked the cancellation to the fact that the Magomedov brothers, powerful businessmen who were close to then-Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, sought control of the harbor.
In response to the termination, workers declared a strike and threatened to boycott the upcoming State Duma elections. They spoke out in defense of Akhmed Gadzhiyev and accused the port’s newly appointed director, Andrey Gormakh, of incompetence. Akhmed Gadzhiyev ultimately asked them to end the strike. Abdulatipov said control of the port should be transferred from the federal authorities to the regional ones. This didn’t occur, but, according to the Dagestani media, Kerimov maintained control of the port.
Sign up for The Beet
Underreported stories. Fresh perspectives. From Budapest to Bishkek.
One source close to the State Duma’s leadership and another close to United Russia told Meduza that Gadzhiyev was a “completely unremarkable deputy.” “There are a lot of people like that who get elected from the national republics and go on to serve on minor committees. [Gadzhiyev was a member of the State Duma’s Religious Organizations Committee.] A seat [in the Duma] is necessary for status in the region — and for legal immunity. They always provide the votes [that the Kremlin needs],” said the source close to the parliament’s leadership.
In 2014, Gadzhiyev voted for Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and in 2018, he voted for the “Yarovaya Package” (legislation that requires telecoms to store six months of clients’ calling and texting records and Internet history — and to share the data with police, no questions asked). In early 2020, Suleiman Kerimov and Magomed Gadzhiyev had a falling out, according to a source close to United Russia’s leadership (though the source could not explain why): “So, in 2021, Gadzhiyev didn’t make it to the Duma. While he did come in second place in the [United Russia] primaries, his name wasn’t included on the list. There was nobody to help him, and he clearly didn’t have enough resources on his own.”
The source added that Gadzhiyev also had trouble “forging a special relationship” with Sergey Melikov, a former official in the North Caucasian Federal District who became the head of Dagestan in October 2021. This was confirmed by a source close to the Putin administration who said Magomed Gadzhiyev fled Russia in 2021 out of fear of criminal prosecution, among other things. “There are anti-corruption purges going on in the republic right now. A former deputy with a dark past without parliamentary immunity is a good target. And [Senator] Kerimov may have remembered the conflict,” he said.
Meduza was unable to reach Magomed Gadzhiyev for comment.
Reporting by Andrey Pertsev