Former politician suspected of organizing contract killings of Krasnoyarsk mobsters arrested hours after transfer to house arrest

During the afternoon of Thursday, October 22, businessman and former politician Anatoly Bykov was arrested in Krasnoyarsk, reports Interfax.

A court had released him from pre-trial detention on Thursday morning and transferred him to house arrest. Bykov is a suspect in an ongoing criminal case and stands accused of organizing contract killings in the 1990s. According to Bykov’s lawyer, Alexey Prokhorov, his most recent arrest is in connection with another case.

“Practically immediately after his release from the pre-trial detention center after the court’s decision, Bykov was arrested once again near the building of the pre-trial detention center and taken to a temporary detention facility. They say it’s regarding another criminal case, which one specifically is not yet known,” Prokhorov said.

Anatoly Bykov served as a deputy in the Krasnoyarsk Krai Legislative Assembly from 1997 until 2016. He gained prominence in the region in the 1990s, as the chairman of the board of directors of aluminum giant RUSAL’s Krasnoyarsk aluminum plant (KrAZ).

Bykov was arrested in May 2020 and remained in pre-trial detention until the court hearing earlier today. He stands accused of organizing contract killings in 1994. According to state investigators, Bykov “rallied the Krasnoyarsk Krai’s organized crime groups around himself” from 1993 to 1995, including gangs run by crime bosses Vilor Struganov (also known as Pasha Tsvetomuzyka) and Vladimir Tatarenkov.