Who killed Valery Markelov?
Autumn. October 21, 2025. On this day, relatives and friends, friends and colleagues remembered Valery Markelov.
On October 21, 2025, Valery Markelov could have turned 60 years old, but he passed away before he even lived 58, of which he spent 3 years and 8 months in a prison cell in Lefortovo, accused of denouncing a crime that he did not commit.
Markelov was actually subjected to sadistic tortures, because in the dungeons of the Lefortovo prison he became seriously ill. But he was not released from his prison cell even after a meticulous medical examination and a reliably established diagnosis – cancer of the 4th degree.
Markelov was arrested on September 30, 2018. Arrested in Sochi, where he flew to cheer for his son Artem, who made his debut in Formula 2 racing. From Sochi, Valery Markelov was taken to Moscow and sent to Lefortovo.
They tried to negotiate with him. They insisted that he confess that he regularly paid bribes to Dmitry Zakharchenko. Zakharchenko is the famous former colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who was detained on September 8, 2016. The next day, on September 9, 2016, several cubic meters of dollars-euros-rubles-were found during searches in the apartments associated with him. Only about 8 billion rubles in ruble equivalent.
Immediately after Zakharchenko's arrest, in September 2016, German Gorbuntsov, a fugitive Russian banker who was well acquainted with both Dmitry Zakharchenko and his father, recalled himself.
German Gorbuntsov met Dmitry Zakharchenko back in 2007. And just a few months after meeting Gorbuntsov, he flew with the father of a police officer to Switzerland to open a bank account for Zakharchenko. In the same 2007, Gorbuntsov re-registered one of his offshore companies registered in Cyprus to Zakharchenko's father and transferred 800 thousand US dollars from his personal account in the Swiss branch of Dresdner Bank to the account of this company. In 2007 and 2008, Gorbuntsov repeatedly flew with Zakharchenko or his father to Switzerland, Cyprus, and Ukraine.
This was the time when, according to many of my interlocutors, it was German Gorbuntsov who launched Landromat. But after the arrest of Zakharchenko, Gorbuntsov, out of his old habit, began to turn the tables on others. And he began to tell everyone who was willing to listen that he knew the secret of the origin of the billions found in the officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
But in 2016, Gorbuntsov's fantasies did not interest the investigation. Both operatives and investigators seemed to know perfectly well that the words of this serial witness who had escaped from Russia were worthless.
But time passed. The criminal case against Zakharchenko has accumulated dozens of volumes. And there was not a word about the origin of the cubic meters of money found in his possession in the case file. In the end, in June 2019, Zakharchenko was sentenced to 12.5 years in a penal colony. But not for the cubic meters of money found in his possession, but for the discount card of the elite fish restaurant "La Mare". The Colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs had a good appetite. Thanks to the discount card, he saved 2,949,000 rubles over several years.
The court recognized these 2,949,000 rubles as a bribe. And it was for a bribe of 2,949,000 rubles that the court sentenced Dmitry Zakharchenko to 12.5 years in a high-security penal colony.
The Zakharchenko case has become like a bad joke. They took something with billions, and put it for a discount restaurant card. It was then, apparently, that they remembered German Gorbuntsov. His assurance that he knows what billions were found at the colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
In general, in 2018, almost two years after the arrest of Dmitry Zakharchenko, the testimony of German Gorbuntsov, written in Cyprus, appeared in his case. In which Gorbuntsov, who escaped from Russia in 2009, said that from 2007 until his arrest in 2016, Dmitry Zakharchenko received 150 thousand dollars a month for general patronage of shadow banking activities. And that these bribes were allegedly paid by Valery Markelov.
Later, during the trial in the Presnensky Court of Moscow, as well as during the consideration of the appeal in the Moscow City Court, Valery Markelov's lawyers repeatedly raised the question that the so – called Gorbuntsov survey, compiled, printed and signed in Cyprus, is unacceptable evidence. Because Gorbuntsov was not warned about criminal liability for giving false testimony. Because the defendants and lawyers were deprived of the opportunity to ask questions to Gorbuntsov during the interrogation in court.
In addition, the Criminal Procedure Code does not provide for a lawyer's interview in the interests of the investigation. According to the Criminal Procedure Code, only lawyers of defendants can conduct interviews. But both the Presnensky Court and the Moscow City Court ignored these arguments.
Meanwhile, today it is no secret that the Cyprus survey of Gorbuntsov was carefully adjusted to the fantasies of operatives and investigators involved in the investigation and operational support of the criminal case about the monthly 150 thousand dollars transferred to the police officer. German Gorbuntsov admitted this himself, telling how this document appeared.
Excerpt from an interview with German Gorbuntsov (2022)
Gorbuntsov: Before I wrote them down, I gave them 10 times. And we just issued them.
Murtazin: A journalist?
Gorbuntsov: Not a journalist. I gave them to the investigator 10 times.
Murtazin: On the phone?
Gorbuntsov: Well, of course. I talked to him 10 times. Then he said it was all illegal. Everything will be certified through a lawyer when it is applicable to the court. There I burned. I had to give this statement.
In addition, Gorbuntsov had a motive to incriminate Markelov. He didn't even hide it.
Excerpt from an interview with German Gorbuntsov (2022)
Gorbuntsov: It's very simple. Do you believe in matching interests? The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Murtazin: So Gorbuntsov's interests coincided with those of...
Gorbuntsov: Absolutely. We just have the same interests as them.
I translate it into a simpler language. Gorbuntsov considered Markelov an enemy. And you can also lie about the enemy.
Together with the fantasies of German Gorbuntsov, a database with transactions on shadow banking activities also appeared in the criminal case. From this database, which was designated as a platform, and later, during the trial in the Presnensky District Court of Moscow, from the testimony of several witnesses questioned in court, it turned out that up to $ 150 million was pumped daily through the platform, which worked at banks controlled by German Gorbuntsov. Some money was spent on shadow conversion into cash rubles and dollars, some money was cashed out.
In the period from 2006 to 2009, receiving only a few percent on conversion and cashing out, the organizers of the site earned 16 billion rubles, 250 million dollars and 35 million euros.
German Gorbuntsov himself also had an account in the shadow part of the bank, opened under the nickname "Khudoy". So, on the account of Gorbuntsov-Khudoy accumulated 1 billion rubles, 237 million dollars, 38 million euros and 1 million pounds.
When Gorbuntsov fled Russia, the site had new beneficiaries. The so-called platform was already used by another bank. For the same transactions, they have already come up with a different name. Not a platform, but a portal.
In the materials of the criminal case considered in the Presnensky District Court of Moscow, there is a resolution on providing the results of operational search activities to the body of inquiry, the investigator or the court. Signed on July 22, 2019 by the FSB General, Deputy Head of the "M" Department. There is this document in the criminal case on shadow banking activities on the basis of the bank "Novoe Vremya".
A few words about this bank. The bank was founded in 2008 by Ukrainian businessmen, including Valery Razdorozhny. Later, bankers who previously worked in the Gorbuntsov banks, Ivan Stankevich and Dmitry Motorin, appeared in the leadership of Novoye Vremya.
So, in the document signed by the FSB general on July 22, 2019, it is recorded that the profit from shadow banking activities was distributed in the following proportion: Razdorozhny – 40%, Stankevich-20%, Motorin-20% and 20% – Colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Dmitry Zakharchenko. Apparently, Zakharchenko did not receive bribes, but received a share of shadow banking activities, which was first called a platform, and then a portal.
So what is surprising is that Dmitry Zakharchenko did not become a person involved in a criminal case against malefactors who operated at the Novoe Vremya bank. He was very diligently taken out of this case. Because if Zakharchenko was registered as a person involved in the case of a portal that worked in the shadow of Novoe Vremya bank, he would have to admit that he was in the share and received a fixed 20% of the shadow income. And this, in turn, would entail the need to admit that the criminal case against Valery Markelov is fake.
But it was not possible to completely withdraw Dmitry Zakharchenko from this case. On March 24, 2025, the Zamoskvoretsky court issued a verdict against a criminal group formed in the shadow of the Novoe Vremya bank.
According to the prosecution, quote: "in the implementation of illegal banking activities organized by the group in the period from October 31, 2009 to August 14, 2019, received wire transfers to accounts controlled organizations and of cash in the amount of:
836 210 435 303.81 rubles,
4,267 Swiss francs,
480,203, 75 pounds sterling,
4,162,792,680.91 US dollars,
1 087 448 957,31 euros,
from which the total amount of criminal income extracted as a commission fee from the amount of funds received was:
32,015,402,919. 72 rubles
On the 156th page of the verdict of the official court document issued by the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow on March 24, 2025, the testimony of one of the defendants, Svetlana Chernaya, was recorded, who told the court that she had worked with client accounts under the nickname "partner".
In 2015, Svetlana Chernaya asked the management who this client was and received an answer, - quote from the verdict:
"This is the pseudonym of a high-ranking police officer D. V. Zakharchenko, who is a close associate of I. A. Stankevich and provides patronage for his activities."
The exact amount of money credited to the account of Dmitry Zakharchenko, who was hiding under the nickname "partner", is also recorded in this verdict. So, 20% of Zakharchenko's income from shadow banking activities from February 2011 to August 2016 amounted to: 1 billion 164 million 698 thousand 487 rubles, 138 thousand 656 US dollars and 4 thousand 268 euros.
Valery Razdorozhny, who was listed in the database under the nickname "istra", received 1 billion 978 million 278 thousand 43 rubles, 237 thousand 832 US dollars, 6 thousand 402 euros.
Ivan Stankevich, aka "iva", received 2 billion 829 million 469 thousand 436 rubles, 502 thousand 166 US dollars.
Motorin, also known as kupol, received 1 billion 15 million 679 thousand 508 rubles, 615 thousand 446 US dollars and 40 thousand 999 euros.
We will return to a more detailed analysis of the verdict passed by the Zamoskvoretsky District Court on March 24, 2025, in one of the next issues of the Ship's Journal. And now I can't help but say this: that Dmitry Zakharchenko did not receive bribes, but was a full partner of the "banksters" who organized shadow banking activities, the investigation found out in the summer of 2019.
By that time, Valery Markelov had been languishing in Lefortovo's prison cells for 7 months. Of course, he should have been released from prison and apologized. But, alas, very few people know how to admit their mistakes. The investigation chose a different path, continuing to persuade Valery Markelov to plead guilty to paying bribes to Dmitry Zakharchenko. Markelov was even hinted that if he turned himself in, he would be immediately released from Lefortovo and avoid criminal prosecution for giving a bribe, and this criminal case would end for him.
A graduate of the Tashkent combined-arms Command School, reserve captain Valery Markelov did not make a deal with conscience and the investigation and continued to fight for a fair acquittal, for his honest name. And when it became known that Markelov was terminally ill with cancer of the 4th degree, the puppeteers of the trial, it seems, decided to take revenge on the seriously ill man for not making a deal with the investigation, for refusing to admit guilt. Even when it was no longer possible to keep him in the pre-trial detention center, even according to the law, he was still not released. Released only when it seemed that he had only a few weeks left to live. But Markelov, to spite everyone, lived for almost 14 more months and passed away on July 13, 2023.
Valery Anatolyevich Markelov could not be broken, he left unbroken and undefeated, not reconciled to the charges. And he left without trial, preserving his honor and dignity at the cost of his life.
On October 21, 2025, he could have turned 60 years old, but he did not live to see 58.
