Giant scandal in the election of the head of Primorye with Andrei Tarasenko became a sensation for anyone, but not for rucriminal.info. We predicted this development back in June 2018, when they reported that the Russian special services had taken up the activities of the company "Mercator Holding" and its head Stanislav Nikolaev, who are connected with the mafia. Tarasenko, having become a provisional governor, immediately began to closely cooperate with both the Mercator and personally Nikolayev. "It is not surprising that getting rid of the prefix of the crypt will be decided in question. Moreover, for most officials cooperating with Mercator in the regions, such relationships ended in criminal cases, "wrote in June rucriminal.info. So it happened. Tarasenko lost the election, but at the very end of the vote count, he unexpectedly went to the winners. It is clear that the necessary votes Tarasenko just "painted" and this story may end badly for him. Now in Primorye, several commissions from Moscow are working, the situation is studied by law enforcement agencies and special services. Why did not the residents want to support Tarasenko? Why did he not receive the necessary support in Moscow, unlike the other provincial governors? This happened, among other things, because of Tarasenko's connections with the mafia structure of Mercator.
Thus, the company "Mercator Holding" has become truly "radioactive" for officials. Each of them, who cooperates with her, immediately gets a "dose" of problems with the special services and jeopardizes her future career.
It can be assumed that a whole group of other officials who are open friends with Mercator and Nikolaev can also be in for trouble. For example, it is the head of the Moscow State Bank "Roads" Alexander Oreshkin, the governor of the Kaluga region Anatoly Artamonov, the vice-mayor of Moscow Petr Biryukov, and also a whole group of regional officials. Why is it dangerous to be friends with Mercator? Suffice it to recall how this company came into being. There is "authority" Semyon Mogilevich (Don Simeon), who in the 90s "thundered" in Europe. At the same time he had a "right" hand - Stanislav Nikolaev. As repeatedly told rucriminal.info, the latter was in charge of various Western firms controlled by Mogilevich, including the notorious YBM Magnex-once a money laundering center for the mafia.
In the 2000s, Interpol, including its Russian bureau, prepared a huge "Millennium" investigation, dedicated to Solntsevo OPG and in it the subchapter is dedicated to Nikolaev. A separate investigation into Mogilevich was conducted by the US FBI. As a result of the work, Don Simeon was put on the international wanted list. The name of Nikolayev in the investigation of the FBI certainly appears next to the name of Mogilevich.
Having escaped from Europe, Mogilevich and Nikolayev (who, by the way, has also Greek citizenship) settled in Russia, having created the company "Mercator". Initially, its founders were a longtime friend and partner of Mogilevich, a prominent businessman from Solntsevo, Sergei Mikhailov. Then, his name from among the founders fell out, but he, like Don Simeon, retained control over the Mercator.
"Mercator" is engaged in the fact that it supplies the equipment of the German-Swiss company "BUCHER" to Russia. When the Russian Federation imposed sanctions against Western producers, Mercator began to circumvent them using a simple scheme. Imported equipment is delivered without a pair of parts, they attach them, change the inscriptions, and then give out for manufactured in Russia. Despite the fact that there are many excellent domestic analogues in Russia, and the prices for Mercator's equipment are much higher, some officials prefer Nikolayev, Don Simeon and Mikhailov from year to year.
They do this not by chance, since Mercator, as rucriminal.info has already told us, organizes mass trips to Italy and Switzerland, on the pretext of studying how the allegedly manufactured domestic equipment is manufactured there. Among those who visited such a business trip from the "Mercator" is present and the governor of the Kaluga region Anatoly Artamonov. It is clear that only on trips to Zurich the friendship of officials and Stanislav Nikolaev is not limited. In exchange, officials one by one organize Mercator contracts for the supply of equipment for hundreds of millions, or even billions of rubles.
Andrei Tarasenko, only becoming a provisional governor, immediately began on behalf of the region to sign agreements with the "Mercator". Moreover, it went so far that the local authorities began to buy equipment from Stanislav Nikolaev, as from a single supplier.
And all this took place against the backdrop when the FAS Central Office passed the most important decision. It was recognized that officials are asking such conditions of the competition that only Mercator can win on them. Also, the FAS admitted that Mercator can not in any way confirm that his technique is of Russian origin.
Tarasenko, like other officials, did not yet know that Mercator is in the development of special services and officials who cooperate with it are also falling under their "hood." As a result, the provisional governor lost confidence and support from Moscow and totally failed the elections.
Now Tarasenko, most likely, can be safely written down as "shot down pilots". Who next rolls down because of friendship with the "Mercator"?
To be continued
Timofey Grishin