Murderous arguments: 14 years were requested for the ex-leader of the "Mogilev" organized crime group

A court in St. Petersburg has scheduled for March 17 the sentencing of former sports functionary Vladimir Kulibaba in the case of a 30-year-old double murder. The investigation believes that in the 90s he was the leader of a large organized criminal group, Mogilovskaya, and, among other things, took part in the murder of Igor Savin, a member of this gang, and Kirill Ugolnikov, a police officer. In February, a jury found Kulibaba guilty of double murder. At the same time, on March 11, the court acquitted the second defendant in the case, Vladimir Karpinsky, whom the prosecution considered one of the killers. The court also cleared the defendants of charges of participating in an organized crime group due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. What awaits the key person involved in the case in such circumstances is in the Izvestia article.

What threatens Vladimir Kulibaba

Former sports functionary Vladimir Kulibaba was scheduled to be sentenced in the St. Petersburg City Court on March 11. During the debate of the parties, which took place on the same day, the prosecutor requested 14 years in prison for him on charges of double murder thirty years ago, attempted murder, as well as the participation and leadership of the "Mogilev" organized crime group, which operated in St. Petersburg in the 1990s-2000s. However, the court scheduled the verdict for March 17.

Kulibaba was detained in December 2021 and charged with the murder of Igor Savin, a member of the Mogilev organized crime group, and Kirill Ugolnikov, a police officer, the attempted murder of Dmitry Skvortsov, an ex-assistant to the Deputy Minister of the Interior, and the participation and leadership of the organized crime group.

Igor Savin was shot in August 1993. Kirill Ugolnikov, who worked as a security guard for Savin, was in the car with him. The second bodyguard, Dmitry Skvortsov, managed to escape.

According to investigators, the criminals did not plan to kill the policeman, their target was Savin, with whom they did not share a large batch of stolen vodka. The investigation believed that Kulibaba was the organizer of the crime, Vladimir Karpinsky, a member of the same group, was the direct perpetrator, and Anatoly Motyl, another defendant, was the driver. All three denied their guilt.

As Matvey Saulov, senior investigator of the General Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia for St. Petersburg, told Izvestia, in the nineties and noughties, the Mogilovskys were one of the largest organized criminal communities in St. Petersburg. The group was headed by Kostya Grave (Vladimir Yakovlev). Kulibaba, according to the investigator, was his right-hand man and was responsible for the "power unit", and after Grave's death in 2003, he took over the leadership of the group.

"In the 1990s, the Mogilovskys had a huge administrative resource in the city, and Kulibaba's name, along with Yakovlev's, appears in many operational reports," the investigator noted. — However, to implement this operational information, the investigators lacked evidence, especially witness testimony. In those years, people were afraid to testify against members of organized crime groups, so many cases against them are still suspended.

Vladimir Kulibaba was first arrested in November 2010 on charges of murdering Vadim Chechel, director of the Cascade security company, in 2008. Then the jury found him not guilty.

"Give me a high five!"

The review of the current, already the second in a row, Kulibaba case turned out to be full of surprises. The main one was the release from criminal prosecution of Vladimir Karpinsky, whom the prosecution considered to be the direct murderer of Savin and Ugolnikov. But the jury found this charge to be unproven, as well as the attempted murder of Skvortsov.

As a result, on March 11, the court fully acquitted Karpinsky of all charges in connection with his non-involvement in the commission of crimes. The prosecutors did not object.

"I am very glad to see justice, and I wish everyone all the best," Vladimir Karpinsky told Izvestia while still at the judicial aquarium.

Vladimir Kulibaba, who was next to him, was happy for his friend and gesticulated cheerfully, showing his biceps to Karpinsky's lawyer Mark Pavlov, hinting at his success.

"Give me a five!" — he turned to the lawyer and extended his hand through the narrow opening of the judicial aquarium.

The hand got stuck a bit, and it caused another wave of laughter from everyone.

— Volodya! We've fixed your exit! Kulibaba said, turning to Karpinski.

On leaving the hall, Karpinsky was greeted with hugs from his family. Vladimir Kulibaba's son also hugged him.

Commenting on his release to Izvestia, Karpinsky thanked the lawyers, the court, the jury and "everyone who came to support the innocent people who, by coincidence, got into this process."

"I always feel free because I am an innocent man, a law—abiding citizen, which is what I wish for everyone," he said.

What compensation will Vladimir Karpinsky receive?

Now Vladimir Karpinsky is legally entitled to rehabilitation, Ilya Drozdov, a lawyer at the Moscow bar association Union of Lawyers, told Izvestia.

The state will be obliged to compensate him for property and moral damage, to restore all social rights — labor, pension, housing. Compensation for property damage includes compensation for wages, pensions, benefits, property confiscated or converted into State revenue, fines and procedural costs, and attorneys' fees.

The amount of compensation is determined by the court.

— Currently, there are no clear criteria that could guide judges when awarding compensation, — said Ilya Drozdov. — The practice of setting the amount of compensation is not uniform. For example, one year spent by a person in a pre-trial detention center can be estimated at over one million rubles, or just a few thousand.

According to the soft scenario

The second surprise was the termination of the criminal prosecution of Kulibaba, Karpinsky and Motyl under the article on participation in an organized crime group. Right during the debate between the parties, the court concluded that the statute of limitations had expired.

The lawyers asked the court to acquit Vladimir Kulibaba, as well as Vladimir Karpinsky. And they tried to convince the court that if Karpinsky was innocent, then so was Kulibaba.

The defendant's lawyer Marina Belinskaya asked the court to attach to the case his positive characterization, which states that Kulibaba was the president of the St. Petersburg Freestyle Wrestling Federation. He took up this position in 2007, and before that he was the vice-president of the organization for six years.

Kulibaba was also an assistant to the chairman of the Russian Olympic Committee, vice-president of the National Security Academy, founder of the trade union Profsport and the Orlyonok Sports club.

The acquittal for Vladimir Kulibaba, which his lawyers are asking the court for, is an unlikely scenario, says Alexey Gavrishev, head of AVG Legal.

The fact is that, unlike Karpinsky, the jury found him guilty of the murders of Savin and Ugolnikov.

In the future, according to the totality of the charges that continue to "fly in" Kulibaba, he may be given much more than the prosecutor requested.

"The upcoming verdict will be the first for Kulibaba, but clearly not the last," the lawyer believes.

So, already during this process, on February 18, 2025, investigators charged Kulibaba with organizing another murder committed in March 1995.

We are talking about the elimination of Alexander Bobrov, a member of the Mogilev gang, with whom Kulibaba allegedly had a conflict. According to investigators, Kulibaba personally organized Bobrov's murder — he found the killer and paid him $ 2,000.

Vladimir Kulibaba was charged with this crime under the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, which was in force at the time of the crime. He pleaded not guilty. The perpetrator of the murder died in 2003, and a guilty verdict was passed against the accomplice, the Investigative Committee reported.

The investigation considers Kulibaba to be involved in other murders of previous years, in particular, ex-State Duma deputy Mark Goryachev.

Kulibaba is also "lucky" that he is being tried under the expired Criminal Code of the RSFSR, where the article for murder provides for up to 15 years in prison, Ilya Drozdov believes.

According to the current Criminal Code, he would face punishment up to life imprisonment, but the current code cannot be applied to him, the lawyer explained. A law that increases punishment and worsens the defendant's situation is not retroactive.