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Speaker 1: Media.

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Speaker 2: Something strange is going on. Another member of the Russian

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Speaker 2: elite has been found dead.

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Speaker 3: Reports suggests that he fell out of a window poisoned

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Speaker 3: with mushrooms.

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Speaker 2: He died of heart failure, died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

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Speaker 2: How comesy are they?

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Speaker 1: Dozens of Russian oligachs, politically motivated millionaires have died in

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Speaker 1: the space for three years, most of them in suspicious circumstances.

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Speaker 1: Many have hidden links to the Kremlin. This is sad

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Speaker 1: Oligach Season two, an ongoing investigation into these recently dead

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Speaker 1: Russian power brokers. Sad Oligach is created by me jake

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Speaker 1: Hanrahan and my Ukrainian colleague Sergey Slipchenkov. This is a

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Speaker 1: H eleven Studio and Coolso Media production. September twenty fifth,

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. The region of Krishnodor Kray sits on

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Speaker 1: the shores of the Black Sea in the south of Russia.

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Speaker 1: It's the North Caucus region where men of fought tooth

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Speaker 1: and nail throughout history, bloodshed for the mountains and the soil.

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Speaker 1: It's here in a village called navarozdesk Venskaya. The municipal

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Speaker 1: lawmaker Vitali Kapustin is waiting. He's a local politician for

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Speaker 1: United Russia Putin's party.

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Speaker 2: He's pulled up.

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Speaker 1: To the side of the road near a forest, tall

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Speaker 1: oak trees, dense foliage. Kapustin is forty three years old.

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Speaker 1: He won't see forty four. He exits the car with

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Speaker 1: a cable in hand, likely a wound metal tyrope. He

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Speaker 1: attaches one end of it to the car itself, a

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Speaker 1: large suv. It's the end of the summer. There's a

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Speaker 1: cool breeze and the leaves are starting to change. An

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Speaker 1: otherwise peaceful final scene with a disintegrating hairline and a

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Speaker 1: somewhat bloated face. Kapussedin looks older than he is. He

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Speaker 1: could be late forties, maybe even fifties. He's broad, though,

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Speaker 1: and otherwise in decent shape. Not exactly athletic, but he's

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Speaker 1: no slob. This is handy because he heads a little

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Speaker 1: way into the forested area begins to.

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Speaker 2: Climb a large tree.

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Speaker 1: Some of them in this area are one hundred feet tall.

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Speaker 1: With the other end of the car cable in hand,

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Speaker 1: coapussed in, climbs up and up, so high, in fact,

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Speaker 1: that if he falls from this height he'll break his legs.

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Speaker 1: It still, copussed In manages climb, locking his feet into

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Speaker 1: the bend between.

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Speaker 2: Branch and tree trunk.

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Speaker 1: He grips hold of the oak and manages to pull

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Speaker 1: himself up with no external equipment, all whilst carrying a

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Speaker 1: thick cable that he's careful not to snack. From this

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Speaker 1: vantage point, he can see the forest sprawling out to

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Speaker 1: the more built up areas of novarodest Venskaya. Perhaps he

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Speaker 1: wants one last look at the region he governs from

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Speaker 1: up high to this point, many meters up in the

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Speaker 1: tree that Kapustin wraps the car cable around a branch

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Speaker 1: and forms a makeshift noose. He attaches one end to

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Speaker 1: the tree, pulls the other over his head, and braces

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Speaker 1: himself one last look at the trees. Then he jumps.

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Speaker 1: The cable snaps to Kapustin's neck is choked. His body

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Speaker 1: hangs dangling from a tree. His life slowly eeks away

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Speaker 1: into the nether as he dies asphyxiation. Another depressed politician

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Speaker 1: in Russia. This is the strange series of events of

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Speaker 1: Kapustin's suicide, if we're to believe the official narrative offered

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Speaker 1: up by the Russian State. If you think it sounds

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Speaker 1: a bit suspicious that a man would climb high up

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Speaker 1: into a tree to hang himself with a car cable,

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Speaker 1: wait till you hear what an eyewitness has to say

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Speaker 1: about Kapustin's body. A news agency close to the area

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Speaker 1: reported what eyewitnesses told their reporters people who are at

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Speaker 1: the scene. They saw Kapustin's body hanging from a tree.

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Speaker 1: They said, quote, his hands were tied behind his back.

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Speaker 1: You can't just climb those trees like that. Another said,

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Speaker 1: I saw how high it was. As far as I

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Speaker 1: could tell, his hands seemed to be bound behind him.

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Speaker 1: A person couldn't climb up there easily. The trees are

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Speaker 1: very tall. So somehow Capusstin climbed high up into a

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Speaker 1: hard tree to scale with a long cable that was

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Speaker 1: already attached to his suv, hanged himself, all with his

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Speaker 1: hands tied behind his back.

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Speaker 2: No, no, no, no no.

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Speaker 1: The police deemed this at first and already open and

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Speaker 1: shut case. They concluded it was a suicide. They said

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Speaker 1: that the death is quote not criminal. To reiterate, they've claimed,

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Speaker 1: quote no suspicion of criminal involvement. Now unless pushed in

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Speaker 1: was the next Houdini. I think it is highly unlikely

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Speaker 1: that the police have got this one right. How does

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Speaker 1: a man climb up a tree with his hands tied

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Speaker 1: behind his back? In general, it will be hard enough

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Speaker 1: if they were tied at the front, let alone with

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Speaker 1: a long cable in his hand. Now, the cable itself

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Speaker 1: is interesting to me. Reports suggests that it was quote

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Speaker 1: anchored to the suv. If that's why, my assumption is

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Speaker 1: that it's some kind of undercar tow cable.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: So I looked up all the car dealerships in the

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Speaker 1: local area. This took a minute, as there are almost

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Speaker 1: four hundred of them. Almost all of them sell SUVs

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Speaker 1: like the one could pushed him drave to his grim end.

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Speaker 1: Across all of the dealerships, as is the norm in Russia, generally,

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Speaker 1: they sell mostly Chinese cuts, Chiri, Giely, Haval or Moda.

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Speaker 1: Oh and of course they all sell the Russian make ladder,

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Speaker 1: the famous Soviet Iraka produced by state owned Autovas. Side note,

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Speaker 1: I absolutely love ladders. I once saw an old ladder

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Speaker 1: truck with snow chains on the tires in the mountains

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Speaker 1: of Armenia. An incredibly good looking machine. I don't know

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Speaker 1: what the engines are like, but it looked great anyway.

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Speaker 1: If we look at the sales of these three hundred

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Speaker 1: and fifty plus car dealerships, it seems the majority of

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Speaker 1: SUVs sold across all of them is the Chinese Haval

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Speaker 1: Jollian that's the most popular. It's a pretty standard suv

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Speaker 1: all in all, a petrol one point five leads to

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Speaker 1: turbo seven speed, dual clutch three and forty eliter boot

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Speaker 1: or trunk. If you're American, front will drive you get

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Speaker 1: the idea. In Russia they cost around two million roubles.

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Speaker 1: That's around twenty five thousand dollars US. Not a problem

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Speaker 1: for kapusting. So why do I give a fuck about

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Speaker 1: the car? Well, I want to know if any of

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Speaker 1: these come with a tow cable for obvious reasons copussed

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Speaker 1: in hanged metal cable car nearby anchored you get it.

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Speaker 1: I did some digging and I couldn't find a single

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Speaker 1: Haval Jollian in the region that has the cable as standard,

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Speaker 1: even the ones that are built in Russia, which do

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Speaker 1: sometimes have different specifications. The kresnaldor Kryer region of Russia

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Speaker 1: is actually a pretty mild one. If we're talking about

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Speaker 1: the weather, even in winter, you wouldn't need a tow cable,

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Speaker 1: perhaps as much as you might need one in Siberia,

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Speaker 1: for example, we're pulling cars out of the thick snow

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Speaker 1: is needed often. In fact, I had a look and

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Speaker 1: none of the top selling SUVs in the area come

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Speaker 1: with the tow cable. So by now you might be thinking, Jake,

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Speaker 1: why do you have a heart on for the tow cable. Well,

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Speaker 1: considering Kapustin's bizarre death, it adds another strange element to

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Speaker 1: all of this without one. To me at least, there's

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Speaker 1: a very little information on this one. So I've been

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Speaker 1: digging like a mole, as has Sergei Slipchenko, my partner

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Speaker 1: on this project, as well as Victor Mihaiel who's helping

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Speaker 1: us with research. Sergi found a video from the scene

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Speaker 1: of the death. It's only ten seconds long and it's

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Speaker 1: filmed by a passerby whilst driving, but it's something. It's

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Speaker 1: actually the first real glimpse we've got of a murder

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Speaker 1: scene or unusual death scene from any case in the

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Speaker 1: whole of season two of sad Oligarch so far. Okay,

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Speaker 1: all right, now it's time for a quick ad break.

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Speaker 1: All right, enough for that, Now back.

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Speaker 2: To the show.

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Speaker 1: If you listen to the previous episode, number six, you

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Speaker 1: will have heard me in surgery talking about how difficult

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Speaker 1: this season has been. Very little information is out there.

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Speaker 1: There are next to note breadcrumbs to follow, and almost

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Speaker 1: nobody is talking. So of course we were surprised that

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Speaker 1: there was actually a video for this one. As vague

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Speaker 1: as it is now, the video there's maybe three full

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Speaker 1: seconds on the footage that actually shows the full scene.

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Speaker 1: It's shot from a distance whilst moving, and the video

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Speaker 1: quality is potato tier. But we do see something. It's

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Speaker 1: a bright day, blue sky, no clouds. We see the

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Speaker 1: side road next to the forested area. It's a bit

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Speaker 1: hard to tell, but next to the trees there are

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Speaker 1: around nine to ten vehicles parked up on the side road,

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Speaker 1: a mix of SUVs, saloons, trucks, and what looks like

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Speaker 1: an ambulance. Strangely, none of the cars look like actual

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Speaker 1: police carts, no sirens on the roof, no checkered luminous

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Speaker 1: livery on the sides. The vehicles are a mix of

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Speaker 1: all black or all white. There's one white suv turned

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Speaker 1: in a different direction to the others. It's facing the trees.

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Speaker 1: At first glance, it looks like it could be a

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Speaker 1: haval Jollian, but on closer inspection, to me at least,

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Speaker 1: it looks like it could be a Ladder Neva, another

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Speaker 1: popular four x four urban suv. There's speculation online that

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Speaker 1: this white suv was Capustin's cat. We don't know, though

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Speaker 1: it's mostly assumption. What we do know is that the

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Speaker 1: ladder Neva doesn't come with a tow cable attached either.

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Speaker 1: A look at the driver's handbook shows that the vehicle does, however,

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Speaker 1: come with front and rear toelux. If the suv in

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Speaker 1: the video is a Ladder Neva and that was Kapustin's car,

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Speaker 1: it makes a bit more sense. But who brought the

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Speaker 1: tow cable and why did they kill Kapustin. If this

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Speaker 1: project is anything to go by, it quite possibly had

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Speaker 1: something to do with Kapustin's connection to Putin's United Russia

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Speaker 1: and Kapustin's previous businesses. Let's talk to sergery. So before

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Speaker 1: we go into Kapustin's venture into politics, maybe let's talk

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Speaker 1: a little bit about his business. I understand it was

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Speaker 1: quite weird, right, like not exactly conventional. He did construction,

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Speaker 1: and then he ended up with a snail farm. Like,

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Speaker 1: maybe let's start at the beginning. What happened with this

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Speaker 1: guy his business ventures?

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Speaker 2: Ah?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So it's kind of interesting that in a sense,

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Speaker 3: there's not that much information.

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Speaker 2: About his youth.

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Speaker 3: It's like he grew up, he went to high school,

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Speaker 3: he went to university, got an engineering degree.

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Speaker 1: Have you noticed how many of these guys went to

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Speaker 1: university for engineering and ended up doing something completely different.

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Speaker 1: It's almost like, I don't know, is it like just

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Speaker 1: a standard thing to do out there in Russia.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's pretty common. There's a lot of like polytechnic

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Speaker 3: universities I see. I see from the Soviet Union days, right,

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Speaker 3: a lot of universities were very focused on like engineering,

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Speaker 3: and you know across everything agriculture like tractors, tanks, everything.

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Speaker 2: So it's pretty common. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Right, So he does the engineering degree and then it's

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Speaker 1: kind of a black hole, right, Like there's not much there.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's kind of been focused trying to look at

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Speaker 3: it's kind of the more boring, kind of quieter details, right,

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Speaker 3: And I don't really see any kind of you know,

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Speaker 3: him starting anywhere or maybe getting like some kind of

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Speaker 3: first job. The first thing I see is that he

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Speaker 3: created a construction company, Kuban Spitztroyer, So it's for the

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Speaker 3: region of Kuban where he is. And yeah, it says

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Speaker 3: that like the company is doing pretty well. I mean, like,

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Speaker 3: I don't know there's the thing I can really find

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Speaker 3: when he started it or how long it's been around,

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Speaker 3: but several articles said that in twenty twenty four, so

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Speaker 3: kind of like the last reported revenue from the company

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Speaker 3: was like one billion rubles. Apparently he got quite a

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Speaker 3: lot of contracts with the state to build infrastructure and buildings.

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Speaker 3: So I imagine roads, et cetera, some roads, some buildings for

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Speaker 3: the state. I guess that's the thing. They don't really specify.

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Speaker 3: They just kind of say contracts.

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Speaker 2: Right, That's where he's kind of as far as I

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Speaker 2: can see.

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Speaker 1: I mean, again, we do not know fuck all about

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Speaker 1: these guy, which is quite interesting because of all the

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Speaker 1: cases of season two, there's kind of more about his

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Speaker 1: death than any of the others in this sense that

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Speaker 1: we got an eyewitness quote, I think at least two

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Speaker 1: eyewitness quotes saying what the fuck lake is? His hands

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Speaker 1: were bound. There's no way he could have climbed up

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Speaker 1: in that tree.

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Speaker 2: We've got the video that you.

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Speaker 1: Found where the person's driving past and they kind of

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Speaker 1: very briefly filmed the scene, and then we've got an

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Speaker 1: official police statement saying there's nothing criminal involved.

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Speaker 2: So in a way, there's like more about the.

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Speaker 1: Murder or suicide, but there's very little about his life,

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Speaker 1: whereas I feel like it's usually the other way around.

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Speaker 2: It's a weird one.

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Speaker 1: But as far as I can see, the construction business

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Speaker 1: and then the contracts with the government is kind of

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Speaker 1: his first major interaction with you know, working with the

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Speaker 1: state as it were.

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Speaker 2: That's the thing.

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Speaker 3: He became a deputy in twenty nineteen. They don't really

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Speaker 3: specify when he got the state contracts, but the point

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Speaker 3: is he is making a lot of money from these

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Speaker 3: state contracts right again, infrastructure, various buildings, and that sounds

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Speaker 3: like that's his kind of first and like main job.

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Speaker 3: The other things you mentioned sound like a bit more

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Speaker 3: of like maybe like a side hustle kind of thing,

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Speaker 3: or like a passion project. Especially with the snail farm.

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Speaker 3: It sounds like he has a couple of it says

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Speaker 3: like stores selling tobacco and food. I think they're referring

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Speaker 3: to like convenience stores basically. Again, the construction company sounds

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Speaker 3: like his kind of main endeavor and like his biggest

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Speaker 3: money maker again, like one billion in revenue it says

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Speaker 3: in twenty twenty four, so it sounds like he's doing

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Speaker 3: pretty well. Again, he's a deputy, so he also has

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Speaker 3: that going on. As you mentioned, the snail farm was

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Speaker 3: pretty recent. It sounds like maybe in the last.

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Speaker 2: Year or two.

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Speaker 3: He's kind of working on this for some reason. He's

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Speaker 3: very passionate. Like one article went into detail how he

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Speaker 3: has two types of snails, like one from Africa one

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Speaker 3: from Europe. He like apparently took time kind of learning

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Speaker 3: from farmers in Russia and like some other areas. So

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Speaker 3: it sounds pretty kind of devoted to the whole snail thing.

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Speaker 3: His other project was looking to develop like agritourism, so

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Speaker 3: kind of opening farms, petting farms. You know, you come

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Speaker 3: like feed some animals, maybe write them if that's the thing.

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Speaker 3: And I guess he was kind of trying to like

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Speaker 3: open multiple businesses.

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Speaker 2: He's a bit of an entrepreneur.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's kind of he has like his

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Speaker 3: hand on a lot of things, but even for the

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Speaker 3: snail farm, he got five million rubles, which isn't a

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Speaker 3: whole lot, but I mean even that they're considering like

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Speaker 3: a snail farm for context, like it's not very common

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Speaker 3: to kind of pretty weird for Eastern Europe.

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Speaker 1: So this guy I had this idea, right, like you know,

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Speaker 1: snail farm. As far as we know, it was fairly successful.

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Speaker 2: Right it doesn't.

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Speaker 1: I've not seen any kind of indication that it totally failed.

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Speaker 3: I think it was Again, it's I think it was

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Speaker 3: a twenty twenty two that he got funding for it,

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Speaker 3: So it sounds like he's kind of like was in

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Speaker 3: the process of making it work. Yeah, I didn't see

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Speaker 3: that it was you know, booming, nor did I see

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Speaker 3: that it failed. I think he was just kind of

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Speaker 3: in the process of like setting it up. Same thing

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Speaker 3: with his like agriturism idea of like opening petting zoos

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Speaker 3: and having like farm tours. It kind of sounds like

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Speaker 3: these were things he was working on. It sounds like

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Speaker 3: the construction company is quite like established, and same with

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Speaker 3: his stores, and then the other things were more like

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Speaker 3: like projects he was starting.

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Speaker 2: So how did he end up in politics?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, That's the thing. I don't really see much before that.

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Speaker 3: I just like, in twenty nineteen, he became a deputy

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Speaker 3: and that's it. I was trying to find like his

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Speaker 3: kind of rise or if he did anything before that.

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Speaker 3: I think you've seen like a lot of these folks

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Speaker 3: will join like a local committee or some kind of council,

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Speaker 3: you know, something more kind of lower level. But this guy,

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Speaker 3: I'm not really seeing much of that. It sounds like

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Speaker 3: he kind of had the construction company, then he just

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Speaker 3: became a deputy. Really don't see anything where he's he Like,

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Speaker 3: it kind of seems like this whole deputy thing is

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Speaker 3: his first step into politics. I mean it's not uncommon.

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Speaker 3: It's not like unseen, you know, not everybody starts off

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Speaker 3: in like some kind of smaller government and then moves up.

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Speaker 3: Something he decided to do and it worked. I mean,

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Speaker 3: becoming a deputy definitely has its financial benefits. I'm sure

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Speaker 3: a lot of these contracts work after he became a deputy.

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Speaker 3: You know, if if he's making one billion rubles in

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Speaker 3: twenty twenty four, sounds like he has enough contracts to

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Speaker 3: go around to kind of pay that much. It could

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Speaker 3: have been could have been a business decision as much

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Speaker 3: as it was some kind of passion to be a politician.

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Speaker 2: That was my thought.

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Speaker 1: I thought, like, probably business decisions. So I've got the notere.

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Speaker 1: It says he was elected to the public office in

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Speaker 1: the village of Otra Denskoya in twenty nineteen. Came in

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Speaker 1: as a municipal deputy for the t t Choresque district

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three, So essentially he kind of came

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Speaker 1: in as like a council member.

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Speaker 2: Is that is that right?

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Speaker 1: Like he was elected to the council as such in

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Speaker 1: the area. Okay, all right, now it's time for a

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Speaker 1: quick outbreak, all right, not for that.

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Speaker 2: Now back to the shore.

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Speaker 3: In Russia, how it works is like you can be

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Speaker 3: a part of United Russia, like Putin's party can be

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Speaker 3: at different levels, but kind of support the party and

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Speaker 3: be part of that party. The tekhotskis it sounds like

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Speaker 3: that's where he grew up and spent most of his life.

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Speaker 3: I don't really see him doing much outside of this,

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Speaker 3: of this Kuban area. From what I can see, he's

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Speaker 3: done everything there, Like all his businesses are set up there,

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Speaker 3: all his stores are within that region. It's it's kind

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Speaker 3: of like his hometown and he doesn't really go out

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Speaker 3: of there much.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I read it.

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Speaker 1: It said he was like really well known in the

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Speaker 1: area and he tried a district commission on agriculture and

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Speaker 1: land management, utilities, transport, communications, public communities. Basically his businesses.

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Speaker 1: He's a bit of an entrepreneur. From what I'm getting, right,

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Speaker 1: it seems like his fingers in many different pies. To me,

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Speaker 1: it seems like, yeah, this is a bit of a hustler.

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Speaker 1: He's a bit of an entrepreneur. You know, the Snell Farm.

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Speaker 1: I ready, his mother has the Snell Farm. Now it's

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Speaker 1: uncertain if she had one before or if she took

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Speaker 1: it over or whatever. It's just in her name maybe

350
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Speaker 1: who knows. But basically it's the thing I'm getting is,

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Speaker 1: I feel like he was a bit of an entrepreneur

352
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Speaker 1: and he's saw by getting involved with politics, specifically Putin's party.

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Speaker 1: Obviously you're not going to try and go into another

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Speaker 1: party that's kind of opposing him to move your business empire.

355
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Speaker 1: It feels like he looked at Putin's party, he ran

356
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Speaker 1: for it. He's well known in the area, seems pretty

357
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Speaker 1: well liked. From what I've found, and basically that would

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Speaker 1: have allowed him, I think, to really build up his business.

359
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Speaker 1: Even if we look here, he was the chair of

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Speaker 1: the District Commission on Agriculture and Land Management. We've seen

361
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Speaker 1: time and time again guys that get involved in this

362
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Speaker 1: politically tend to make money, but they also tend to

363
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Speaker 1: come a cropper. Like this is not an unusual pattern

364
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Speaker 1: for us, right.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, like you said, you know, he's getting into politics,

366
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Speaker 3: he's overseeing stuff that he's kind of already working on, right,

367
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Speaker 3: Like you said, agriculture, he's looking to develop essentially businesses,

368
00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:11,439
Speaker 3: right Like he's it doesn't really talk about like these

369
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Speaker 3: are his businesses kind of that he just almost like

370
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Speaker 3: working on.

371
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Speaker 2: The idea of agritourism.

372
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Speaker 3: But like he's on the agricultural board. He has all

373
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Speaker 3: these different companies that are, if not you know, straight

374
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Speaker 3: up and agricultural, it's just kind of adjacent to it.

375
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Speaker 3: And yeah, like I think they see it as like,

376
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Speaker 3: you know, I can make some like kind of like

377
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Speaker 3: a make an easy path to make his businesses work,

378
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Speaker 3: to kind of fund his businesses and profit from it

379
00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:38,719
Speaker 3: in that way. And yeah, it's pretty common. You know,

380
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Speaker 3: you're in charge of the funding. You're in charge of

381
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Speaker 3: what the policies are, so you just kind of do

382
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Speaker 3: as you please, and you're an entrepreneur.

383
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Speaker 2: On the side.

384
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Speaker 3: It is that simple, So why not.

385
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really weird this guy.

386
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Speaker 1: From what we've seen obviously what's available, there's just nothing

387
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Speaker 1: that indicates, Ah, that might be what happened, as in,

388
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Speaker 1: there's no clear sign of corruption. Not to say it

389
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Speaker 1: wasn't happening, It very much could have been. He was,

390
00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:11,640
Speaker 1: you know, as soon as he gets involved with politics.

391
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Speaker 1: It's only a couple years really later, and he's dead.

392
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Speaker 1: To me, this is one of the weirdest ones possible.

393
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Speaker 1: Like his hands were allegedly bounds. And I say allegedly

394
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Speaker 1: because you know it's an eyewitness statement.

395
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Speaker 2: Who knows.

396
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Speaker 1: But I really think there's a lot of merit in that.

397
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Speaker 1: If you're in Russia and someone dies in a weird

398
00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:35,040
Speaker 1: way like this, it's very easy to just shut your mouth.

399
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Speaker 1: The fact that someone was like Noah, I saw that

400
00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:39,840
Speaker 1: his hands were bound. He was way too high up

401
00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:42,960
Speaker 1: in the tree. To some degree, you're taking a little

402
00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:44,920
Speaker 1: bit of a risk really putting that out there. I'm

403
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Speaker 1: not saying that the government is going to come for

404
00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:49,960
Speaker 1: everybody and kick down the door immediately. You know, Russia

405
00:23:50,119 --> 00:23:52,760
Speaker 1: is bad enough, but it's not North Korea. But it

406
00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:57,000
Speaker 1: seems to me like someone wouldn't put themselves out there

407
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Speaker 1: to say that in the media direct lead to from

408
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Speaker 1: what I've got two different news agencies now locally, it

409
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Speaker 1: doesn't feel to me like they would just say that

410
00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:07,320
Speaker 1: for no reason.

411
00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:09,399
Speaker 3: You know, Yeah, I think I think part of it

412
00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:11,359
Speaker 3: is what you said, like he was liked, he was

413
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:14,760
Speaker 3: kind of well known, like for his parents are apparently

414
00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:17,080
Speaker 3: well known, if not in the entire like Coupon region,

415
00:24:17,119 --> 00:24:21,399
Speaker 3: definitely in the Tikhotski district. I think you saw that

416
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Speaker 3: they kind of adopted thirty eight I think it was

417
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Speaker 3: thirty eight teenagers.

418
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Speaker 2: Big foster parents.

419
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Speaker 3: Yeah, like foster parents. Yeah, it sounds like over like

420
00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:31,560
Speaker 3: their lifetime kind of thing, like they've they kind of

421
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Speaker 3: constantly always adopted to care of these teenagers. And then

422
00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:38,880
Speaker 3: apparently Capustin was like involved in that, helping with it

423
00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:41,720
Speaker 3: when he grew up. So I can imagine you know

424
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Speaker 3: a lot of people in the in the at least

425
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Speaker 3: the district, you know, knew them and knew of them positively.

426
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Speaker 3: That could have played a part in it right, if

427
00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:51,399
Speaker 3: you kind of don't care or don't like the person

428
00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:54,280
Speaker 3: you don't care to kind of, you know, put your

429
00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:56,520
Speaker 3: head out there and, like you said, kind of say something.

430
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Speaker 2: You know. I think what said you just is a

431
00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:01,080
Speaker 2: great point.

432
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Speaker 1: It's unlikely someone would potentially put their neck on the

433
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Speaker 1: line by giving the hanged with bound hand statement if

434
00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:12,439
Speaker 1: they didn't really see it. It's even more unlikely they

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00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:15,800
Speaker 1: would do this. If Kapustin was truly hated.

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00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:17,120
Speaker 2: In the area.

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Speaker 1: There could well be some secret deviancies were yet to discover,

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00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,840
Speaker 1: but generally, so far, it seems as if Kapustin was

439
00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:31,600
Speaker 1: pretty straightforward. He made money businesses, side hustles, politics, nothing

440
00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:36,840
Speaker 1: that unusual all things considered. What is unusual, though, is

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00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:42,120
Speaker 1: the police statement after Kapustin's body was found remember as

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00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:44,520
Speaker 1: he hanged from a high branch in a big tree,

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00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:49,040
Speaker 1: hands bound, neck attached to a cable attached to an suv.

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00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:56,960
Speaker 1: The cops said there was no suspicion of criminal involvement. Later,

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00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:00,640
Speaker 1: when the eyewitness statement was released in local media, they

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00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:05,399
Speaker 1: changed their tune and said they're still investigating. We've looked

447
00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:09,400
Speaker 1: far and wide, and there's been absolutely no follow up

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00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:15,720
Speaker 1: since Kapustin's corpse was found dangling. No indication locally that

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00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:22,400
Speaker 1: they're investigating anything. As I trooled through the Krasnodor cry

450
00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:29,960
Speaker 1: police communications and associated documents, I learned a bit about them.

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00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:34,240
Speaker 1: They've been very vocal in recent years about their anti

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00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:40,639
Speaker 1: corruption efforts under closer scrutiny, though those efforts seem to

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00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:46,320
Speaker 1: be completely useless if they existed at all. When it

454
00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:51,080
Speaker 1: comes to police bribery, Krasnodor Kry is the second worst

455
00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:56,880
Speaker 1: region in the whole of Russia. They trailed closely behind Moscow.

456
00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:02,960
Speaker 1: The cops in Kapustin's region are on the take big time. Actually,

457
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:07,119
Speaker 1: it seems like the whole region is giving and taking

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00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:14,920
Speaker 1: bribes is a normal occurrence. Municipal workers, local politicians, business owners,

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00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:19,399
Speaker 1: customs officers, even traffic cops have been involved in bribery

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00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:25,000
Speaker 1: and Krasnodor Kry it's a big problem there. There is

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00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:30,399
Speaker 1: absolutely no way that Kapustin didn't know about this. In fact,

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00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:33,000
Speaker 1: it seems to have gotten worse in the region since

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00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:37,679
Speaker 1: he started up in local politics. Now get this, The

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00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:41,359
Speaker 1: stats that this is all based on are calculated only

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00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:42,800
Speaker 1: from people who got care.

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00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:45,800
Speaker 2: These are prosecution.

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00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:49,040
Speaker 1: Stats that means it's just the tip of the iceberg.

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00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:52,000
Speaker 2: It's not just bribery thot.

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00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:57,520
Speaker 1: Corrupt officers are also reported as having protected large scale

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00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:01,160
Speaker 1: smuggling schemes in the area, go in as far as

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00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:04,919
Speaker 1: to block their own transport police from properly inspecting cargo,

472
00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:08,439
Speaker 1: ensuring smuggling goes smoothie.

473
00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:10,840
Speaker 2: Of course they get a fat kickback.

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00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:14,879
Speaker 1: It's not just money that oils the palms of the

475
00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:20,800
Speaker 1: police in Krasnodor Krydle, it's also blood. They assert their

476
00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:27,359
Speaker 1: power through torture. Human Riots Group Caucasian Not describes a

477
00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:32,000
Speaker 1: pattern of police brutality in the region. They say, quote

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00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:37,800
Speaker 1: the situation with torture of detainees in Krasnodor territory stands

479
00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:41,800
Speaker 1: out from many other Russian regions. In other words, it's

480
00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:46,240
Speaker 1: one of the worst. There are dozens of cases where

481
00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:48,640
Speaker 1: people in custodies say that they were beaten by the

482
00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:54,080
Speaker 1: police to force false confessions. There is statement of people

483
00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:58,280
Speaker 1: having their teeth punched out by officers, being electric shocked

484
00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:02,520
Speaker 1: in one case where a man was allegedly sodomized with

485
00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:08,040
Speaker 1: a crowbat. As you can probably imagine, these police act

486
00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:14,480
Speaker 1: with total impunity. They are almost never brought to justice.

487
00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:19,160
Speaker 1: Earlier this year, the website rue criminal dot info investigated

488
00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:24,680
Speaker 1: the Krasnodata Police. Rue Criminal publishers leaked dossier's and reports

489
00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:29,480
Speaker 1: of organized crime and corruption within the Russian elite. Their

490
00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:35,200
Speaker 1: investigation describes a quote power mafia inside the Krasnodarta Criminal

491
00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:40,520
Speaker 1: Investigation Department. According to their sources, there exists a parallel

492
00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:44,160
Speaker 1: power structure in the police, built up by a senior officer.

493
00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:49,200
Speaker 1: It completely sidelines the formal chain of command and acts

494
00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:50,600
Speaker 1: as a criminal enterprise.

495
00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:53,920
Speaker 2: Notably, it's said that for.

496
00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:57,800
Speaker 1: Around fifteen million rubles one hundred and eighty five thousand

497
00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:02,120
Speaker 1: dollars US, corrupt investig gators in this syndicate will either

498
00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:07,680
Speaker 1: open or close a criminal case for business rivals. Essentially,

499
00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:11,560
Speaker 1: one businessman can go to these corrupt police officers give

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00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:15,640
Speaker 1: them fifteen million rubles in exchange for the police launching

501
00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:19,280
Speaker 1: an investigation into a business rival with their aims of

502
00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:23,600
Speaker 1: shutting it down. They set up surveillance and plant fake

503
00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:29,680
Speaker 1: evidence if needs be, and everything gets shut down. Remember,

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00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:34,480
Speaker 1: Kapustin was a businessman, an entrepreneur with his fingers in

505
00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:38,840
Speaker 1: many different pies. He was also a municipal politician in

506
00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:43,480
Speaker 1: the area. With all this in mind, is it possible

507
00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:47,600
Speaker 1: he had dealings with what is basically a regional police

508
00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:48,480
Speaker 1: deep state.

509
00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:52,440
Speaker 2: If he did, perhaps.

510
00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:55,120
Speaker 1: Something went wrong and he was made an example of

511
00:30:55,320 --> 00:31:05,280
Speaker 1: by these Bandit costs. Considering the insane level of corruption

512
00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:10,360
Speaker 1: within the Kreisno Dark Police, their documented use of extreme violence,

513
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:14,560
Speaker 1: and their rapid claims of no criminal involvement in his death,

514
00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:18,960
Speaker 1: I think is not too crazy to say that maybe

515
00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:39,480
Speaker 1: the police killed Baitali Pustin. You've been listening to sad

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00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:43,480
Speaker 1: Oliga season two, produced by H eleven Studios for call

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00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:50,600
Speaker 1: Zone Media. Writing, editing, producing, concept and recording by myself

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00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:57,480
Speaker 1: Jake Hanrahan. Research and reporting by Sergei Slichenko, Me and

519
00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:04,760
Speaker 1: Victim Mihail. Executive reducing by Sophie Lichtman. Music by Sam Black,

520
00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:12,880
Speaker 1: artwork by George Zutpaul, sound mixed by Splicing Block. See

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00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:16,280
Speaker 1: my other projects at Hanrahan dot tv. Get me on

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00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:20,640
Speaker 1: social media at Jake Underscore Hanrahan. That's h A N

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00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:22,600
Speaker 1: R A h A n