1
00:00:01,760 --> 00:00:06,400
Speaker 1: CAUs Media. Something strange is going on. Another member of

2
00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:08,039
Speaker 1: the Russian elite has been found dead.

3
00:00:08,760 --> 00:00:11,160
Speaker 2: Reports suggests that he fell out of a window poisoned

4
00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:12,080
Speaker 2: with mushrooms.

5
00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:15,480
Speaker 1: He died of heart failure, died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

6
00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:16,919
Speaker 3: How comes you are they?

7
00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:22,880
Speaker 4: Dozens of Russian oligachs, politically motivated millionaires have died in

8
00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:27,960
Speaker 4: the space of three years, most of them in suspicious circumstances.

9
00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:32,080
Speaker 4: Many have hidden links to the Kremlins. This is sad

10
00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:37,880
Speaker 4: Oligach Season two, an ongoing investigation into these recently dead

11
00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:42,800
Speaker 4: Russian power brokers. Sad Oligach is created by me jake

12
00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:47,839
Speaker 4: Hanrahan and my Ukrainian colleague Sergei Slipchenko. This is a

13
00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:58,320
Speaker 4: H eleven Studio and Coolso Media production. June seventh, twenty

14
00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:03,640
Speaker 4: twenty five, fifty three year old Russian oligarch Roman Stovoid

15
00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:12,240
Speaker 4: is having a very bad day. Storovoid is the Minister

16
00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:17,920
Speaker 4: of Transport, a prestigious position in Putin's regime. Well, he

17
00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:22,039
Speaker 4: was the Minister of Transport. Stovoid has just been fired.

18
00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:28,480
Speaker 4: Allegedly he's been involved in dodgy dealings in Kursk, a

19
00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:32,319
Speaker 4: region of western Russia. The Ukrainian forces attacked during a

20
00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:34,440
Speaker 4: cross border raid in twenty twenty four.

21
00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:37,520
Speaker 1: Lord.

22
00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:44,720
Speaker 4: This was completely humiliating for Putin and his ongoing invasion

23
00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:45,440
Speaker 4: of Ukraine.

24
00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:48,200
Speaker 1: Ukraine had seized parts of the Western Russian region in

25
00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:49,440
Speaker 1: a surprising cursion.

26
00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:53,200
Speaker 4: Imagine that you invade a country with what was then

27
00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:56,360
Speaker 4: known as the second most powerful military in the world,

28
00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:01,240
Speaker 4: and they invade you right back. The joke at the

29
00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:04,320
Speaker 4: time was that Russia was now only the second best

30
00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:11,680
Speaker 4: army in Russia, Ukraine being the first. How embarrassing. Starovoid

31
00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:14,359
Speaker 4: is being blamed for a lot of this commotion by

32
00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:19,320
Speaker 4: a deputy in Kursk. He's hardly innocent himself, as he's

33
00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:23,480
Speaker 4: been arrested on embezzlement charges, but he is singing like

34
00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:29,720
Speaker 4: a canary, corruption, fraud, theft, he says. Starovoid is involved

35
00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:33,200
Speaker 4: in all of it, and so he's fired from his

36
00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:36,880
Speaker 4: role as the Minister of Transport and sent home back

37
00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:48,680
Speaker 4: to his sprawling Moscow mansion. Later that day, Starovoid gets

38
00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:50,600
Speaker 4: in his car and goes for a drive without its

39
00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:55,960
Speaker 4: security detail. He brings with him a commemorative Makarov pistol.

40
00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:01,960
Speaker 4: It's a very nice looking weapon. The Soviet Union's official

41
00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:06,320
Speaker 4: standard military sidearm. The Macarov is a semi automatic that

42
00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:10,240
Speaker 4: holds eight rounds in a detachable box magazine. It's a

43
00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:14,680
Speaker 4: specifically reliable and accurate pistol. Some call it the Ak

44
00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:16,840
Speaker 4: forty seven of handguns.

45
00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:20,120
Speaker 1: At some point on.

46
00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:24,080
Speaker 4: His journey, Starovoid pulls up to malovich Pak, what looks

47
00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:27,359
Speaker 4: like a manufactured nature reserve for the rich and powerful,

48
00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:31,880
Speaker 4: started with corporate art installations that think they're far too

49
00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:35,800
Speaker 4: clever than they are, perhaps the perfect location for a

50
00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:42,200
Speaker 4: now unemployed Russian oligarch. Parked up in his tesla, Stovoid

51
00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:46,680
Speaker 4: takes the Macarov in his hands, slight weight less than

52
00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:50,440
Speaker 4: a kilo. The barrel is short and smooth. It's got

53
00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:53,400
Speaker 4: a burgundy bake light handle grip with the red Army

54
00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:58,160
Speaker 4: star embossed in the center. Sterovoid puts the macroov to

55
00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:03,800
Speaker 4: his head, steadies his and and pulls the trigger. He

56
00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:07,880
Speaker 4: blows out his own brains inside the car, or at

57
00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:13,960
Speaker 4: least that's the official story one of them. So who

58
00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:19,080
Speaker 4: was Roman Starovoid? Well, as is the norm inside oligarch,

59
00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:24,080
Speaker 4: he was an extremely wealthy individual with many different properties

60
00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:29,599
Speaker 4: across Russia. Tracking his true fortune is difficult, as he

61
00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:33,279
Speaker 4: basically funneled his money through several different avenues. But put

62
00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:36,120
Speaker 4: it this way, Sterovoid made his hay while the sun

63
00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:40,440
Speaker 4: shined during the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russian oligarchs

64
00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:43,080
Speaker 4: who did that when they were young men are usually

65
00:04:43,279 --> 00:04:47,320
Speaker 4: filthy rich by now. Sergei explains the come up for

66
00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:50,560
Speaker 4: Stovoid and unusually young oligarch.

67
00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:55,600
Speaker 3: He graduated in nineteen eighty five from Baltic State Technical University,

68
00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:59,200
Speaker 3: Saint Petersburg. So nineteen eighty five, you know, putting sun period.

69
00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:03,400
Speaker 3: But he he is quite a significant figure in Saint Petersburg,

70
00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:06,800
Speaker 3: and he's already a kind of uh Sagary is consolidating

71
00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:11,600
Speaker 3: power Starovoids straight out of university. He did essentially an

72
00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:15,520
Speaker 3: engineering degree, but he goes straight into asset management firm

73
00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:17,159
Speaker 3: from nineteen eighty five thousand and one.

74
00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:19,320
Speaker 1: So this I find interesting.

75
00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:23,839
Speaker 4: Starovoid studied engineering, but as soon as he left university

76
00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:27,920
Speaker 4: he went straight into asset management. Now that can mean

77
00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:32,400
Speaker 4: many things. Officially, it enables an organization to examine the

78
00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:36,920
Speaker 4: need for and performance of assets and asset systems at

79
00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:37,880
Speaker 4: different levels.

80
00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:38,599
Speaker 1: Whatever.

81
00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:41,600
Speaker 4: Many oligauchts in Russia and the rest of the world,

82
00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:46,000
Speaker 4: specifically the West, find asset management to be an industry

83
00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:50,320
Speaker 4: in which they thrive. Personally, I think the obduse nature

84
00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:53,599
Speaker 4: of it all is perfect for people look into either

85
00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:58,679
Speaker 4: hide or divert funds. Sterovoid worked for a company called

86
00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:03,520
Speaker 4: First Industrial Alliance, a non state pension fund. On page

87
00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:07,240
Speaker 4: seventy five of a report by the Koc Institute titled

88
00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:11,520
Speaker 4: Action Plan on Strengthening Sanctions against the Russian Federation, it's

89
00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:15,360
Speaker 4: detailed how the company was designated a Russian defense entity

90
00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:18,240
Speaker 4: that we're hit with sanctions due to their role in

91
00:06:18,279 --> 00:06:21,640
Speaker 4: the Ukraine War. We'll hear more about that in a bit,

92
00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:25,800
Speaker 4: but needless to say, Starovoid was involved with entities that

93
00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:29,560
Speaker 4: would later prop up Putin's war from back back back

94
00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:34,200
Speaker 4: in the day, favors are always called in back to surgery.

95
00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:37,240
Speaker 3: There's not much information about this time period, but I mean,

96
00:06:37,279 --> 00:06:41,200
Speaker 3: even the fact that he's just graduating and then straight

97
00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:43,400
Speaker 3: into an asset management firm, I assume he has some

98
00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:47,640
Speaker 3: kind of connections. His father doesn't seem very notable. All

99
00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:50,760
Speaker 3: I have I could find was just brief mentions that

100
00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:55,039
Speaker 3: you know, Starovoids was born in Kursk, and then his father,

101
00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:58,640
Speaker 3: who worked at a nuclear power plant in the course,

102
00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:01,400
Speaker 3: was transferred to Petersburg, and that's kind of how he

103
00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:06,320
Speaker 3: got there and why he grew up there. So all

104
00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:09,440
Speaker 3: we really know is asset management firm nineteenninety five thousand

105
00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:13,120
Speaker 3: and one. Then he is the owner of a stroy Invest,

106
00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:16,600
Speaker 3: a construction company. This is between thousand and two thousand

107
00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:20,480
Speaker 3: and five. I'm sure, as you've seen in this as

108
00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:24,160
Speaker 3: we've been reresearching in construction firms, really good way to

109
00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:25,040
Speaker 3: earn money.

110
00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:27,360
Speaker 4: It's a really good way to hide money and.

111
00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:31,840
Speaker 3: Wash yeah, yeah, you know, you make deliveries. He specifically

112
00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:36,680
Speaker 3: sold materials, but also was involved in some building projects

113
00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:39,560
Speaker 3: by cheaper material than you promised or you know, delivered

114
00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:42,480
Speaker 3: cheaper or less keep the money and things like that.

115
00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:43,840
Speaker 3: It'll come up later.

116
00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:48,920
Speaker 4: This is what we call foreshadowing. Trust me, Storoboids messing

117
00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:53,040
Speaker 4: about with building works led to serious catastrophe for him

118
00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:54,320
Speaker 4: and Russia as a whole.

119
00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:57,800
Speaker 3: This is where he probably learned the ways of the trade,

120
00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:02,040
Speaker 3: and then after two thousand and five he enters the government. Basically,

121
00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:04,280
Speaker 3: it's kind of interesting that he goes straight from the

122
00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:09,200
Speaker 3: company to leading the investment in strategic projects for c

123
00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:12,760
Speaker 3: Saint Petersburg, so like the municipal job. At the same time,

124
00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:16,880
Speaker 3: he's studying, from my understanding, kind of like government administration,

125
00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:19,600
Speaker 3: and he graduates in two thousand and eight. This is

126
00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:23,320
Speaker 3: simultaneously as he's working for the city, he's studying, and

127
00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:26,239
Speaker 3: he keeps this job until twenty twelve when he becomes

128
00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:29,680
Speaker 3: a deputy director of the Department of Industry and Infrastructure.

129
00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:31,280
Speaker 3: This is for the federal government.

130
00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:33,680
Speaker 1: He only works there briefly from.

131
00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:36,480
Speaker 3: My understanding, just like a few months, until he becomes

132
00:08:36,800 --> 00:08:40,400
Speaker 3: the head of rosof door. It's basically a federal agency

133
00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:44,520
Speaker 3: which oversees construction of roads, bridges, et cetera, like anything else.

134
00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:46,040
Speaker 1: Related to federal roadwork.

135
00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:49,959
Speaker 3: He's in charge of it and he works for quite

136
00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:54,680
Speaker 3: some time. He allegedly got sanctioned because he was part

137
00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:58,400
Speaker 3: of the project building the Crimea bridge back in after

138
00:08:58,440 --> 00:08:59,559
Speaker 3: twenty fourteen.

139
00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:02,000
Speaker 4: So he would have been he would have been sanctioned

140
00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:05,719
Speaker 4: for that because he was essentially building a bridge.

141
00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:08,120
Speaker 1: On occupied territory.

142
00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:12,439
Speaker 4: Russia invaded even back then, okay with little Green men,

143
00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:17,240
Speaker 4: but we all know annexed and essentially took Ukrainian land

144
00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:20,640
Speaker 4: i e. Crimea, and he was part of construction. I

145
00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:24,160
Speaker 4: think this is where he first for what I can see,

146
00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:26,319
Speaker 4: this is the way he first kind of ends up

147
00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:30,320
Speaker 4: involved in the Ukraine War essentially from day one.

148
00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:33,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is where he kind of becomes more notable

149
00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:37,520
Speaker 3: in that whole thing. Right before that, he's kind of

150
00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:41,280
Speaker 3: off the raidar doing doing his thing first in Saint Petersburg,

151
00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:43,880
Speaker 3: then on a thal level, but still just you know,

152
00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:46,840
Speaker 3: deputy directors are pretty high role, but also not entirely

153
00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:49,880
Speaker 3: you know, involved in kind of the the whole like

154
00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:53,880
Speaker 3: on a global scale kind of thing. But here after

155
00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:56,720
Speaker 3: Russia invade, you know, annexed to Crimea.

156
00:09:57,400 --> 00:09:59,040
Speaker 1: The I don't know.

157
00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:02,160
Speaker 3: If people remember there's once was pretty look warm, but

158
00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:03,720
Speaker 3: there were some sanctions and stuff.

159
00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:13,120
Speaker 4: Okay, now it's time for a quick adbreak. All right,

160
00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:19,400
Speaker 4: enough of that, now back to the shop. Let's talk

161
00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:23,040
Speaker 4: about Crimea in twenty fourteen. It's the catalyst as to

162
00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:25,960
Speaker 4: why Roman Starovoids ended up with a bullet in his

163
00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:31,960
Speaker 4: head eleven years later in twenty twenty five. Crimea is

164
00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:35,760
Speaker 4: almost an island to the south of Ukraine. It sits

165
00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:38,600
Speaker 4: on a peninsula stretching out between the Black Sea and

166
00:10:38,679 --> 00:10:42,680
Speaker 4: the Sea of Azov. This area is called the Kirk Straight.

167
00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:47,200
Speaker 4: Crimea is attached to Ukraine by a small seven kilometer

168
00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:51,520
Speaker 4: strip of land and now to Russia via the Kirk Bridge.

169
00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:54,920
Speaker 4: That bridge was not always there, and Crimea was not

170
00:10:54,960 --> 00:11:00,240
Speaker 4: always occupied. For now at least, it's currently part of Russia.

171
00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:05,600
Speaker 4: So towards the end of February twenty fourteen, whilst Ukraine

172
00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:10,000
Speaker 4: was in the throes of the Midan Revolution, unidentified military

173
00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:14,880
Speaker 4: men entered Crimea and surrounded the airports. They were all

174
00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:18,559
Speaker 4: dressed in green military fatigues, masked up and with no

175
00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:26,000
Speaker 4: identifying chevrons, patches or IDs on their uniform. They quickly

176
00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:30,160
Speaker 4: became known as the Little Green Men. They were, of course,

177
00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:35,360
Speaker 4: Russian forces. Within a month, the Crimean Autonomous Assembly was

178
00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:39,520
Speaker 4: seized by pro Russian separatists with the help of Russian

179
00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:45,160
Speaker 4: forces in the skies. The new makeshift administration declared independence

180
00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:50,199
Speaker 4: and held a shotgun referendum to make Crimea part of Russia.

181
00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:54,440
Speaker 4: According to the Kremlin, ninety five point five percent of

182
00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:58,080
Speaker 4: voters supports the union with Russia, and so they annexed

183
00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:02,880
Speaker 4: the area. The results of this referendum are obviously not

184
00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:09,480
Speaker 4: recognized internationally. Whilst the region is majority Russian speaking, many

185
00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:13,320
Speaker 4: people there identify it as Ukrainians. They did not and

186
00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:16,959
Speaker 4: do not want to join Russia. Many either fled or

187
00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:19,840
Speaker 4: went into hiding. But to this day there are pro

188
00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:25,280
Speaker 4: Ukrainian underground militant groups in Crimea. They launched clandestine sabotage

189
00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:29,600
Speaker 4: attacks on the occupying Russian forces. Some even sneak into

190
00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:33,880
Speaker 4: Russia proper. The most recent attack happened in September of

191
00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:37,720
Speaker 4: this year when Tatar rebels burned down a Russian air

192
00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:42,040
Speaker 4: defense plan in the Russian city of Tula. They're unseen,

193
00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:47,880
Speaker 4: but they're active. Others left Crimea for mainland Ukraine and

194
00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:51,720
Speaker 4: joined the armed forces to fight against Russia. I spoke

195
00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:53,720
Speaker 4: to one of these people last year as she fought

196
00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:57,040
Speaker 4: on the front lines in the east. Her name is Kafa.

197
00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:01,040
Speaker 4: She was there on the ground when Russias wept into Crimea.

198
00:13:01,559 --> 00:13:04,200
Speaker 4: I think it's important to hear her first hand account

199
00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:08,960
Speaker 4: to fully understand the bloodshed. Starovoid later profited.

200
00:13:08,559 --> 00:13:13,760
Speaker 5: From I am from Crimea. I was born in Crimea,

201
00:13:14,679 --> 00:13:18,080
Speaker 5: and for me and my family, it started way back

202
00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:24,600
Speaker 5: then in twenty fourteen. I am in my twenties, so

203
00:13:24,679 --> 00:13:29,240
Speaker 5: I was a teenager back then, and it was really

204
00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:33,360
Speaker 5: messy at the time, during the so called Russian Spring

205
00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:39,720
Speaker 5: in Crimea and witnessing it all and everything that came

206
00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:43,640
Speaker 5: after you. For the record, I lived, me and my

207
00:13:43,679 --> 00:13:48,160
Speaker 5: family lived under the occupation until twenty fifteen. It was

208
00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:53,000
Speaker 5: a shit show. Everyone was really scared. It's our family

209
00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:56,640
Speaker 5: home and we had like elderly grandparents, so we stayed.

210
00:13:57,440 --> 00:14:04,240
Speaker 5: And Russia just started immediate politicizing the children, so basically

211
00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:08,400
Speaker 5: us like we had to sing Russian and them, I

212
00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:12,720
Speaker 5: mean we didn't sing. It was it was funny, like

213
00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:16,480
Speaker 5: political resistance started there because me and some other kids

214
00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:23,080
Speaker 5: had a small resistance group. We were speaking Ukrainian, so

215
00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:28,080
Speaker 5: we were doing that and then some Cigare police came whatever,

216
00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:32,120
Speaker 5: and then later we decided that it's a better idea

217
00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:35,640
Speaker 5: to flee because it did not look good.

218
00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:38,400
Speaker 4: What was it like when like the day Russia just

219
00:14:38,480 --> 00:14:41,840
Speaker 4: arrived in Crimea. Was it like instant everything started to change.

220
00:14:42,280 --> 00:14:48,560
Speaker 5: No, it was first really unclear. Everything just got shut down,

221
00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:53,920
Speaker 5: so no transport, no infrastructure working. We didn't go to school.

222
00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:58,120
Speaker 5: Some armed men are around. You are not supposed to

223
00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:03,880
Speaker 5: leave your homes, like lockdown kind of situation. Then some

224
00:15:04,360 --> 00:15:09,000
Speaker 5: like armed riots kind of things, protests in front of

225
00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:13,960
Speaker 5: the Parliament building, people being killed and shipped. Then at

226
00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:16,960
Speaker 5: some point it got very clear there is no help

227
00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:22,160
Speaker 5: coming at the Ukrainian military basis. Well, basically Ukrainian military

228
00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:28,680
Speaker 5: were either captured or shot dead by Russian military, some

229
00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:32,360
Speaker 5: of them decided to switch sides, some of them managed

230
00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:34,920
Speaker 5: to evacuate, So I guess it was also crazy for

231
00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:40,960
Speaker 5: military personnel, but for civilians it was messy. I don't know.

232
00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:48,120
Speaker 5: When the full scale invasion started. I very quickly realized

233
00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:52,880
Speaker 5: I just can't stay where I am. I started to

234
00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:56,240
Speaker 5: train some friends of mine who are already serving in

235
00:15:56,280 --> 00:16:01,760
Speaker 5: the ninety third on different positions drown pilots, engineers. Then

236
00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:07,800
Speaker 5: I just got in because I already was a qualified person.

237
00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:14,080
Speaker 5: I very quickly passed all this documents military stuff, and

238
00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:18,880
Speaker 5: I finished the drone pilot course, so I was ready

239
00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:19,200
Speaker 5: to fly.

240
00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:38,560
Speaker 4: Basically, Russia needed a way to ferry its military back

241
00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:42,760
Speaker 4: and forth into occupied Crimea from the mainland. Remember, the

242
00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:47,560
Speaker 4: country isn't actually connected physically to the peninsula, and so

243
00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:53,000
Speaker 4: in twenty sixteen a huge construction project began. The Kirch Bridge,

244
00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:58,040
Speaker 4: also known as Crimea Bridge. As Sergei says, this is

245
00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:00,920
Speaker 4: more than just a way to get for a to B.

246
00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:03,720
Speaker 3: The point of the bridge isn't just to connect Russia

247
00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:07,840
Speaker 3: and Crimea. It's almost like a symbolic thing showing like, well,

248
00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:10,080
Speaker 3: we're connected. This is a part of Russia.

249
00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:11,040
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of.

250
00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:14,080
Speaker 3: Symbolism in there, and even from the technical kind of

251
00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:18,120
Speaker 3: logistics point, you know, it's important to have that connection.

252
00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:23,920
Speaker 4: According to the Environmental Science and Technology Journal, the Kirch

253
00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:26,680
Speaker 4: Bridge is a seriously heavy duty project.

254
00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:27,720
Speaker 1: Quote.

255
00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:30,800
Speaker 4: The Kerch Bridge consists of a bridge structure for a

256
00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:34,280
Speaker 4: four lane highway and a separate structure for a parallel

257
00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:37,800
Speaker 4: double track railway line. The shipping canal in the Kirk

258
00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:41,040
Speaker 4: Straight spanned by two two hundred and twenty seven met

259
00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:44,879
Speaker 4: along tied arch bridges with a clear height of thirty

260
00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:50,280
Speaker 4: five meters. The motorway bridge is sixteen point eight kilometers

261
00:17:50,359 --> 00:17:54,919
Speaker 4: long and has two lanes separated by guardrails. Each carriageway

262
00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:59,760
Speaker 4: has a structurally separate superstructure made of an orthotropic slab

263
00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:04,680
Speaker 4: on two load carriers. The railway bridge is eighteen kilometers

264
00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:07,639
Speaker 4: long and its tracks lie on ballast beds and a

265
00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:13,200
Speaker 4: superstructure made of steel two cell hollow girders with orthotropic plates.

266
00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:17,040
Speaker 4: The bridge stand on five hundred and ninety five pillars

267
00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:20,600
Speaker 4: with a spacing of fifty four to sixty four meters,

268
00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:25,840
Speaker 4: which are founded on around seven thousand piles. This makes

269
00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:29,840
Speaker 4: the bridge structure the longest in Europe. The construction period

270
00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:35,280
Speaker 4: was four years and it cost three point six billion dollars.

271
00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:38,840
Speaker 4: You need to know this information to get a full

272
00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:43,719
Speaker 4: picture of the sorts of resources and involvement Roman Starovoid

273
00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:49,439
Speaker 4: brought to Putin's largest project, the War on Ukraine. Starovoid

274
00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:52,359
Speaker 4: played a significant role in the construction of the Kerch

275
00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:56,119
Speaker 4: Bridge with his direct help. It was his company that

276
00:18:56,200 --> 00:19:01,399
Speaker 4: provided money, assistance, materials. As you can see, that is

277
00:19:01,520 --> 00:19:08,160
Speaker 4: no small feat. Storovoid was eventually internationally sanctioned for his involvement.

278
00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:12,280
Speaker 4: He didn't realize at the time, but his part in

279
00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:15,399
Speaker 4: all of this the Crimean Bridge lined him up for

280
00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:17,959
Speaker 4: his eventual downfall in Kursk.

281
00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:19,360
Speaker 1: Remember.

282
00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:23,159
Speaker 4: Kursk is where Roman Starovoy is originally from. He was

283
00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:26,399
Speaker 4: born there in nineteen seventy two, when the Soviet Union

284
00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:30,080
Speaker 4: was still up and running. From humble beginnings to having

285
00:19:30,119 --> 00:19:34,040
Speaker 4: properties all over the place. The boy done well. From

286
00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:38,160
Speaker 4: what we can see, Starovoy owned at least five apartments,

287
00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:42,280
Speaker 4: including luxury real estate, in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. He

288
00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:45,439
Speaker 4: also had a big country mansion on a plot of

289
00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:49,720
Speaker 4: almost twenty acres. It looks like going straight into asset

290
00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:56,560
Speaker 4: management having studied engineering was the right move for Starovoid. Okay,

291
00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:04,640
Speaker 4: now it's time for a quick adbreak. All right, enough

292
00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:10,400
Speaker 4: for that. Now back to the show. So let's fast

293
00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:14,520
Speaker 4: forward to October eleventh, twenty eighteen, seven years before the

294
00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:18,320
Speaker 4: gunshot in the Tesla. By decree of the President of

295
00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:22,960
Speaker 4: Russia put in himself, Roman Starovoid was appointed as the

296
00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:26,600
Speaker 4: acting governor of the Kursk Region. Everything he'd done in

297
00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:30,320
Speaker 4: Crimea had kept his profile in favor with the dictator

298
00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:33,800
Speaker 4: as a local lad. This appointment was, of course a

299
00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:38,399
Speaker 4: big deal for Starovoid, probably a dream come true. A

300
00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:42,200
Speaker 4: year later, he completed what is arguably the most ironic

301
00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:46,200
Speaker 4: training he could have taken, part in an anti corruption program.

302
00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:50,080
Speaker 4: This was part of the Higher School of Public Administration,

303
00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:53,960
Speaker 4: a sort of finishing school for governors to ultimately make

304
00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:56,520
Speaker 4: sure they don't come out as corrupt as many of

305
00:20:56,560 --> 00:21:00,960
Speaker 4: their predecessors. Following this, he fully entered in a circle

306
00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:05,720
Speaker 4: the Kremlin power structure. What I fin an interesting is

307
00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:11,480
Speaker 4: how he was being directly promoted by Putin. You don't

308
00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:15,760
Speaker 4: really end up working your way into that position unless

309
00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:19,840
Speaker 4: you're ready to do essentially whatever the state wants you

310
00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:20,159
Speaker 4: to do.

311
00:21:20,359 --> 00:21:21,440
Speaker 5: Right, Yeah, like.

312
00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:24,840
Speaker 3: Being handpicked by Putin is a pretty big deal.

313
00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:25,280
Speaker 1: Oh.

314
00:21:25,359 --> 00:21:28,280
Speaker 3: Additionally, in twenty twenty, he became a member of the

315
00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:32,400
Speaker 3: State Council. It's sort of like the minister's cabinet where

316
00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:37,280
Speaker 3: they're essentially they advised Putin and they decided all the policies, etc.

317
00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:40,600
Speaker 3: They're basically the ones deciding what's going to happen in Russia,

318
00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:44,400
Speaker 3: what the laws are with the policies it says internal

319
00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:48,440
Speaker 3: and for it. So they essentially oversee everything. And it's

320
00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:53,240
Speaker 3: basically like the cabinet, right, they oversee various parts of

321
00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:55,600
Speaker 3: the country and they make all the rules and start

322
00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:58,080
Speaker 3: of what it was part of this cabinet. From my understanding,

323
00:21:58,119 --> 00:22:00,000
Speaker 3: who's just a member and he wasn't the head or anything,

324
00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:03,399
Speaker 3: but still even being the member is quite a big deal.

325
00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:08,320
Speaker 3: And this cabinet or this council was created by Putin himself,

326
00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:12,200
Speaker 3: they're essentially handpicked by Putin to be in this cabinet,

327
00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:15,360
Speaker 3: and from my understanding, they're like a step down from

328
00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:18,800
Speaker 3: Putin in terms of power in Russia, like there's no

329
00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:22,600
Speaker 3: going higher than that. In a sense, that's kind of

330
00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:26,640
Speaker 3: I'd say that the highest position he could probably reach.

331
00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:32,439
Speaker 4: Storovoid fully embraced his new role. He wanted to be

332
00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:36,439
Speaker 4: the governor of Kursk almost indefinitely. He said in August

333
00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:39,159
Speaker 4: twenty twenty two that he wants to rule the region

334
00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:42,800
Speaker 4: for at least the next eight years until twenty thirty.

335
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:49,640
Speaker 4: In the UK we call this brass neck, extremely brazen behavior.

336
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:53,720
Speaker 4: This is the kind of guy he became. Storovoid was

337
00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:56,880
Speaker 4: all up from his admittance into Putin's in a circle.

338
00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,879
Speaker 4: He felt big, important. He became a man about town.

339
00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:05,040
Speaker 4: He even received a Putin sponsored award from one of

340
00:23:05,119 --> 00:23:13,080
Speaker 4: Russia's internal ministries. The trophy a commemorative Makarov pistol, the

341
00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:18,440
Speaker 4: very weapon he shot himself with. Around twenty twenty three,

342
00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:22,040
Speaker 4: Star of Wick got involved in the war again. Russia

343
00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:26,000
Speaker 4: invaded Ukraine a year previous, and the bloodshed was extreme.

344
00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:31,880
Speaker 4: Whole cities were flattened by Russian warplanes, ten ninety tanks

345
00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:36,240
Speaker 4: rolled through Ukrainian streets. Young men and women took up arms,

346
00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:41,080
Speaker 4: military battalions, volunteer units, clandestine saboteurs.

347
00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:43,240
Speaker 1: The war has been brutal.

348
00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:48,399
Speaker 4: I've seen it myself firsthand, reporting on the ground in Boradanka.

349
00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:52,000
Speaker 4: As an air raid siren, Basically it means there's Russian

350
00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:54,240
Speaker 4: jets in the sky where a rocket's been fired nearby.

351
00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:59,280
Speaker 4: Apartment blocks were blown to bits, the children's toys strewn

352
00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:03,359
Speaker 4: amongst the rubber. Dozens of civilians were handcuffed here and

353
00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:07,680
Speaker 4: shot in the back of the head by Russian forces, executions,

354
00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:13,800
Speaker 4: war crimes, and nightmare. It's amongst this chaos that Stovoids

355
00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:17,480
Speaker 4: saw an opportunity. When the war kicked off in full,

356
00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:21,840
Speaker 4: when Russian armor moved into Ukraine, volunteer units formed on

357
00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:25,240
Speaker 4: the border. These were Russians who won't in the military

358
00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:27,800
Speaker 4: but still wanted to play a role in the conflict.

359
00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:32,919
Speaker 4: Sterovoids seemed to have a similar desire. He consolidated the

360
00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:37,440
Speaker 4: patrolling volunteer units and became their de facto leader. The

361
00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:41,399
Speaker 4: Russian media referred to him as being the general of

362
00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:46,040
Speaker 4: these factions. Now bear in mind that Stovoid had never

363
00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:49,960
Speaker 4: served a day in his life. He'd always worked behind desks,

364
00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:53,280
Speaker 4: not on the front lines. But still he sought an

365
00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:56,480
Speaker 4: opportunity to act the tough guy and show Pootin that

366
00:24:56,560 --> 00:25:00,480
Speaker 4: he was fully committed. He took control all of a

367
00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:05,440
Speaker 4: group called the Voluntary People Squad began recruiting many new fighters.

368
00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:09,560
Speaker 4: This put him firmly into the sludge of the Russian

369
00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:14,000
Speaker 4: war underbelly. It's here where he came into proximity with

370
00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:19,240
Speaker 4: p MC Wagner, the far right Kremlin backed mercenary force.

371
00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:24,280
Speaker 4: Wagner is known for its rampant brutality. They've even filmed

372
00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:28,560
Speaker 4: themselves executing their own members with a sledgehammer to the head.

373
00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:35,120
Speaker 4: Let's hear from journalist John Lekner. He's been documenting Wagner

374
00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:37,720
Speaker 4: for years. He wrote a whole book about them called

375
00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:39,680
Speaker 4: Death is Our Business.

376
00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:47,360
Speaker 2: Essentially, Wagner Group was a Russian private military company PMC

377
00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:52,479
Speaker 2: that very much had very close ties to the Russian

378
00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:57,119
Speaker 2: state itself, but ultimately it was founded by Yevgeny Pregosian,

379
00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:01,520
Speaker 2: a guy who was sort of a small time gangster

380
00:26:01,600 --> 00:26:06,080
Speaker 2: in Saint Petersburg who managed to raise himself up to

381
00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:09,600
Speaker 2: being a restauran tour and then moved his way up

382
00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:12,880
Speaker 2: through the Russian elite to eventually get the gig of

383
00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:17,879
Speaker 2: providing meals to the Russian military and schools, and ultimately

384
00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:24,280
Speaker 2: came together with a former Russian military intelligence officer, Dmitri

385
00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:30,480
Speaker 2: Utgen in twenty fourteen to provide mercenaries for the Russian

386
00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:34,320
Speaker 2: State to support rebels in eastern Ukraine and dnbas as

387
00:26:34,359 --> 00:26:37,840
Speaker 2: the war was cooking off there in twenty fourteen and

388
00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:42,399
Speaker 2: twenty fifteen, and then eventually back in Ukraine in twenty

389
00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:46,399
Speaker 2: twenty two during the full scale invasion, where Wagner played

390
00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:52,240
Speaker 2: an outsized role, especially in Bachmut In the meat Grinder,

391
00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:56,359
Speaker 2: when Progosion recruited up to fifty thousand convicts to fight

392
00:26:56,440 --> 00:27:00,160
Speaker 2: for him to try and take the city from Ukrainian four.

393
00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:03,400
Speaker 1: PMC.

394
00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:07,639
Speaker 4: Wagner recruits act like maniacs on the front lines. There

395
00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:11,200
Speaker 4: were dozens of videos of them committing war crimes, chopping

396
00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:16,280
Speaker 4: off people's limbs, heads, all sorts. It's grim. It's this

397
00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:19,480
Speaker 4: group that Roman Starovoid chose to fall in with. He

398
00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:22,080
Speaker 4: made his way to a Wagner training base after hearing

399
00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:25,879
Speaker 4: about their infamy. He stayed for almost a week, he

400
00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:29,359
Speaker 4: shot assault rifles and grenade launchers. He drove around in

401
00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:32,680
Speaker 4: an armored personnel carrier. He was shown how to properly

402
00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:36,800
Speaker 4: throw hand grenades. We found an image from this time

403
00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:41,200
Speaker 4: where Starovoid is dressed up in full military fatigues. He's

404
00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:44,119
Speaker 4: acting like a soldier. He's wearing a helmet and a

405
00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:47,600
Speaker 4: plate carrier with a PMC Wagner patch stuck on the

406
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:51,560
Speaker 4: front of his chest. Behind him are four Wagner recruits

407
00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:57,400
Speaker 4: with rifles simulating some kind of frontline scenario. The now

408
00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:02,399
Speaker 4: incinerated leader of Wagner Getny Progosion confirmed at the time

409
00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:05,520
Speaker 4: that Starovoid trained with the fighters and slept in their

410
00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:08,440
Speaker 4: barracks as far as we can see, though he did

411
00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:10,879
Speaker 4: not actually go out to fight on the front lines.

412
00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:15,520
Speaker 4: Dued up off the back of his ghoulish adventure holiday,

413
00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:18,639
Speaker 4: Starovoid began running his mouth about the strength of his

414
00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:24,240
Speaker 4: regent Kursk. He bragged officially about how well fortified the

415
00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:29,160
Speaker 4: area was. Ukrainians could never get in. Kursk is solid.

416
00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:31,120
Speaker 4: He'd had the barriers built up.

417
00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:32,720
Speaker 1: Since twenty twenty two.

418
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:36,040
Speaker 4: In fact, Starovoid went as far as to say that

419
00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:41,120
Speaker 4: the territorial defenses and voluntary units he'd taken over were

420
00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:52,000
Speaker 4: the most powerful in Russia. On August six, twenty twenty four,

421
00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:56,280
Speaker 4: Ukrainian forces launched a daring cross border raid into Kersk.

422
00:28:56,960 --> 00:28:59,640
Speaker 4: The troops smashed through the border and began taking out

423
00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:03,080
Speaker 4: any armed resistance from the Russians. It was the biggest

424
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:06,240
Speaker 4: foreign attack on Russia since World War Two and was

425
00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:09,440
Speaker 4: at the time one of the biggest battlefield gains for

426
00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:16,680
Speaker 4: Ukraine since twenty twenty two. How embarrassing for Starovoid. Russian

427
00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:19,840
Speaker 4: reservists were hurried to the area and nearly two hundred

428
00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:23,720
Speaker 4: thousand civilians had to flee their homes. In an official statement,

429
00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:27,240
Speaker 4: Putin said that the Kersk operation was an attempt to

430
00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:32,680
Speaker 4: undermine Russia's stability. Not shit, we will deliver a worthy response.

431
00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:33,240
Speaker 1: He said.

432
00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:37,480
Speaker 4: Things got so bad that by August thirteenth, Russia had

433
00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:41,880
Speaker 4: to launch rockets, armed drones and even airstrikes on Kersk,

434
00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:50,400
Speaker 4: its own land. They were trying to dislodge the Ukrainian

435
00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:54,560
Speaker 4: forces by any means necessary. It made Putin look silly

436
00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:58,160
Speaker 4: and even harm the economy. As a result of this chaos,

437
00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:02,920
Speaker 4: the value of the ruble ten month low. Ukrainian forces

438
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:06,080
Speaker 4: controlled parts of Kursk for up to half a year.

439
00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:10,760
Speaker 4: The battle was drawn out and costly. The Kremlin was humiliated.

440
00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:15,480
Speaker 4: The curse grade was a total catastrophe. And who was

441
00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:21,959
Speaker 4: meant to prevent this from happening? Roman Stovoid? So what

442
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:26,360
Speaker 4: went wrong? Was this just an unstoppable crisis, a freak

443
00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:29,160
Speaker 4: event that no one could have truly prepared for. Well,

444
00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:32,880
Speaker 4: I imagine that's what Starovoid argued when summoned to answer for

445
00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:35,920
Speaker 4: the raid. But as I said at the start, there

446
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:41,440
Speaker 4: is more at play here. In April twenty twenty five,

447
00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:46,640
Speaker 4: two of Stovoid's curse deputies were arrested. The criminal case

448
00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:49,840
Speaker 4: was opened into the theft of state funds that were

449
00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:54,280
Speaker 4: allocated to the construction of the Kursk border with Ukraine.

450
00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:58,960
Speaker 4: It turns out that one too four billion Russian rubles

451
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:03,680
Speaker 4: were stolen. That's a maximum of fifty one million dollars.

452
00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:08,160
Speaker 4: The deputies were not going down on their own for this.

453
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:12,280
Speaker 4: They snitched on Roman Starovoid, saying he was part of

454
00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:15,239
Speaker 4: the raquet. How could he not be, He was the

455
00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:20,320
Speaker 4: head governor of Kursk. He'd apparently stolen the millions. Whilst

456
00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:24,680
Speaker 4: bragging about how strong the defenses of his region were. Remember,

457
00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:28,440
Speaker 4: Starovoid was part of Putin's inner circle. He was running

458
00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:32,400
Speaker 4: around curse playing action man with Wagner, telling everyone how

459
00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:35,960
Speaker 4: strong his oblast was whilst stealing so much money from

460
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:40,040
Speaker 4: the coffers. That the fortifications weren't constructed properly.

461
00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:42,640
Speaker 1: That's a big deal, and who knows.

462
00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:45,800
Speaker 4: Had Storovoid kept his hands clean, Ukraine might not have

463
00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:50,000
Speaker 4: been able to breeze through the border. There were some

464
00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:54,800
Speaker 4: reports that Putin personally fired Starovoid in July. After that,

465
00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:57,320
Speaker 4: his card was punched, his brain was shot at the

466
00:31:57,360 --> 00:32:01,040
Speaker 4: back of his head. It's quite pos that the case

467
00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:05,320
Speaker 4: of Roman starovoids mysterious death is actually some sort of

468
00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:09,840
Speaker 4: murder by proxy, as in, he understood, if you fuck

469
00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:13,440
Speaker 4: up this badly, you're gonna get taken out anyway. Don't

470
00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:16,680
Speaker 4: make it difficult for them, it will probably be worse

471
00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:20,240
Speaker 4: for you. He knew what was coming. Perhaps that's why

472
00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:25,880
Speaker 4: Roman Starovoid put the gun to his own head, or

473
00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:30,720
Speaker 4: maybe it didn't happen like that at all. Stay with me,

474
00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:36,560
Speaker 4: this is where things get weird. Russia's official State Investigative

475
00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:40,520
Speaker 4: Committee says that Starovoid was found in his card July seventh,

476
00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:42,520
Speaker 4: shot in the head, gone.

477
00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:43,200
Speaker 1: We know this.

478
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:48,280
Speaker 4: However, there are reports from Russian media that contradict this.

479
00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:53,520
Speaker 4: Some say Starovoid was actually found in the bushes slightly

480
00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:56,320
Speaker 4: away from his car. Okay, maybe he got out and

481
00:32:56,360 --> 00:33:03,040
Speaker 4: shot himself outside. Whatever, But then there is a bigger claim.

482
00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:08,160
Speaker 4: There's footage filmed from a distance that shows Starovoid's corpse

483
00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:12,560
Speaker 4: being retrieved from a ravine. A young woman can be

484
00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:17,240
Speaker 4: seen identifying the body. Here's a quote from Russian site

485
00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:22,600
Speaker 4: Business Gazetta explaining this footage. A girl moves away from

486
00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:26,360
Speaker 4: a ravine, accompanied by several men. She refuses their help,

487
00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:29,680
Speaker 4: squats down, covers her face with her hands, and cries.

488
00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:33,240
Speaker 4: Perhaps the recording shows either a girl or an assistant

489
00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:36,320
Speaker 4: to the former head of the Ministry of Transport Starovoid.

490
00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:39,920
Speaker 4: According to some reports, the girl is twenty five years

491
00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:44,680
Speaker 4: old and once graduated from Kursk State Medical University. Judging

492
00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:48,800
Speaker 4: by the reaction she identified the body, That twenty five

493
00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:53,960
Speaker 4: year old woman was Paulina Korneva, Stovoid's girlfriend. The policeman

494
00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:57,320
Speaker 4: for her to come and identify his body for what

495
00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:01,640
Speaker 4: is going on here? Initially on the state press release,

496
00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:05,840
Speaker 4: Starovoids shot himself inside his tesla. But actually it seems

497
00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:08,719
Speaker 4: he was pulled out of a ravine and identified by

498
00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:11,719
Speaker 4: his girlfriend. Maybe we could just chalk this up to

499
00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:13,800
Speaker 4: confusion and press hastiness.

500
00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:15,840
Speaker 1: Details got confused.

501
00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:18,520
Speaker 4: Due to reports that came out in the immediate aftermath

502
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:21,240
Speaker 4: of Stoboid's death July seventh, Right.

503
00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:22,840
Speaker 1: Well, maybe not.

504
00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:26,040
Speaker 4: It turns out that day is not even certain now.

505
00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:29,920
Speaker 4: Some reports say that his death was actually either July

506
00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:34,399
Speaker 4: fifth or July sixth. Some say he was already dead

507
00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:38,680
Speaker 4: by the date of the official statement. Perhaps someone with

508
00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:42,879
Speaker 4: previous knowledge of a plant hit on sterovoids accidentally put

509
00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:46,560
Speaker 4: out the info too soon. Who knows. None of it

510
00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:52,360
Speaker 4: makes any sense. Starovoid left no suicide notes. He exited

511
00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:55,360
Speaker 4: his office without saying by to anyone after his firing.

512
00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:58,839
Speaker 4: He then either shot himself in his car or in

513
00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:02,200
Speaker 4: a ravine. How the fuck do you shoot yourself into

514
00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:05,680
Speaker 4: a ravine. That's a Looney Tunes death. Things don't happen

515
00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:11,719
Speaker 4: like that. It does not add up. Due to the

516
00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:14,600
Speaker 4: grip the Kremlin has on most of the Russian media,

517
00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:18,719
Speaker 4: Russian dissidents, anyone against them, we don't have all the

518
00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:25,080
Speaker 4: answers but one thing is for sure. This case stinks,

519
00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:31,400
Speaker 4: and there's one more thing. Turns out, Starovoid wasn't the

520
00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:35,760
Speaker 4: only oligarch type to die on July seventh. It wasn't

521
00:35:35,800 --> 00:35:38,759
Speaker 4: even the only one to die within his industry on

522
00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:43,719
Speaker 4: that day. A man named Alexi Cornychuck also died on

523
00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:47,880
Speaker 4: this date. He was the deputy head of Property Management

524
00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:53,879
Speaker 4: of the Railway Transport Agency. In an extreme coincidence, he

525
00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:57,600
Speaker 4: died in the office building of the Ministry of Transport,

526
00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:05,640
Speaker 4: Starovoid's workplace. Apparently, corny Chuck died during a meeting. Sources

527
00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:09,360
Speaker 4: say he stood up first, then collapsed and died.

528
00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:18,840
Speaker 1: What are the chances you've been listening to?

529
00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:22,960
Speaker 4: Sad Oliga Season two Produced by H eleven Studios for

530
00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:30,360
Speaker 4: Cool Zone Media. Writing, editing, producing, concept and recording by myself,

531
00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:37,239
Speaker 4: Jake Hanrahan, Research and reporting by Sergei Slipchenko, Me and

532
00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:44,520
Speaker 4: Victim Mihail. Executive producing by Sophie Lichtman. Music by Sam Black,

533
00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:53,120
Speaker 4: artwork by George Jutful. Sound mixed by Splicing Block. See

534
00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:56,560
Speaker 4: my other projects at Hanrahan dot tv. Get me on

535
00:36:56,600 --> 00:36:59,440
Speaker 4: social media at Jake Underscore Hanrahan.

536
00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:02,840
Speaker 1: That's h A n i a h p n