Early 90s of the last century. Ukraine is a powerful criminal center. The Odessa mafia group, led by Alexander Angert, nicknamed "Angel", controls the export of oil from the port of Odessa, trades in weapons, takes away other people's business and even organizes the murder of political opponents and enemies. It turned out that members of this gang invested in London real estate.
Early 90s of the last century. Ukraine is a powerful criminal center. The Odessa mafia group, led by Alexander Angert, better known as "Angel", controls the export of oil from the port of Odessa, trades in weapons, takes away business from local entrepreneurs, and even organizes the murders of political opponents and enemies.
Subsequently, the mafia disappeared. Almost the only obvious trace of it was the political career of Gennady Trukhanov, a former member of the "Angert group", and today the mayor of Odessa. Over time, the crimes of the Odessa group began to be forgotten, and the loot they had, according to general ideas, disappeared.
So far it has been considered.
Drawing on documents from the massive data breach known as the Paradise Papers, Sledstva.Info and OCCRP, in collaboration with colleagues from BBC Panorama, launched a new investigation. It turned out that members of the Odessa gang invested their money, obtained in a dubious way, in London real estate. Journalists have found 12 luxury apartments, located mainly in the center of London, in which over the past 22 years, residents of Odessa have invested millions of dollars. Four of these apartments have already been sold, eight continue to be owned by people associated with the Angert group.
The Ukrainian mafia worked through a trusted person in London who opened and serviced their offshore companies. This helped to hide information about the owners and the origin of funds.
Despite the fact that both Ukrainian and foreign media wrote about the activities of members of the Odessa group, the purchase of real estate was carried out without hindrance. This proves once again that London is still unable to adequately monitor the flow of dirty money.
daddy cool
Three porters in traditional English top hats greet residents and guests at the entrance to the luxury building at 199 Knightsbridge Road in central London. The building overlooks the famous Hyde Park. Just a few steps from home is the department store Harrods, which is so loved by the rich. Inside the building there is a huge lobby with luxurious sofas. Next - a 20-meter pool, spa, sauna and gym.
At the entrance to the house on Knightsbridge Road, 199 residents and visitors are greeted by porters
- How can I help? the man in the top hat asks us politely.
We are looking for a person who lives here. You can help?
- What is his name?
— Anya Angert.
- Yes. Do you have an agreement with her?
“I can't let you in without her permission.
In a few seconds, two concierges in the lobby of the house assured the reporters of Slidstva.Info that Anya Angert did not live here. The concierges were not convinced even by documents from the UK real estate registry, which testify to the opposite - Anja Angert owns three apartments in the building. The men insisted that they did not have an owner with that name. It is not known for sure whether Mrs. Angert really lives in her three apartments, because the concierges, despite her photo, shook their heads negatively. One of them even assured that he had been working here for six years and knew for sure if Anya Angert was the owner of an apartment in their house. Despite this, building workers still allowed the reporters to leave an envelope with a notice for Madame Angert.
Documents from the registry, which reporters showed to concierges, show that in 2015, then 22-year-old Anja Angert bought an apartment on the 4th floor of the building for more than $ 1.7 million and owns two neighboring apartments, although the price for them is unknown .
Anja Angert, 25, has three apartments in this house near Hyde Park.
Anja Angert and her dog Monkey. Photo from her Instagram
The girl never mentions the names of her parents in the posts. She sometimes publishes old photos with her father, which she simply signs as daddy cool (“cool dad”).
Anja Angert with her father. Photo from her Instagram account
The real name of the "cool dad" is Alexander Angert, he is 62 years old. Outside the family circle, he is better known as a crime boss who controlled the Odessa port in the 90s and had a huge influence on the city, along with another key member of the mafia group - Gennady Trukhanov, the real mayor of Odessa.
Back in 1939, having learned that the Germans would soon occupy Paris, a 23-year-old young woman in a hurry left her apartment in the capital. She headed south, where it was safer.
All these years, the woman regularly paid utility bills, but she never returned back. When in 2010, after her death, the heirs found out about the apartment, they were simply shocked, barely crossing its threshold.
In 1939, the owner of the apartment, Madame de Florian, was forced to leave Paris in fear for her life, because the city was threatened with capture by German troops. She took with her only the essentials, and locked the apartment with a key.
After the end of World War II, the woman had the opportunity to return, but for some reason did not. For 70 years, Madame de Florian paid the rent of the apartment, but none of her relatives knew about her. The woman died at the age of 91, and only then did her relatives become aware of the inheritance.
Auctioneer Olivier Chopin-Janvry was invited to evaluate the items inside the apartment. The specialist and his team were incredibly excited, because they understood that the apartment had not been opened since 1939.
With trembling hands, Olivier Chapin-Jenvry turned the key in the keyhole, opened the door, and what he saw took his breath away.
Time seemed to freeze in the apartment. Antique furniture from the 1900s, cutlery, paintings taken off the walls. Perhaps Madame de Florian planned to take them away, but she failed to do so.
On the carved dressing table were many cosmetic jars, hair brushes, an alarm clock. All this is covered with a layer of dust and cobwebs.
The most valuable item in the Parisian apartment was a painting depicting a lady in a pink dress. As it turned out later, it was a portrait of the previous owner of the apartment, Madame de Florian's grandmother, Martha de Florian. In the 1880s, she shone on the stage, was known as a socialite and had admirers among the highest-ranking officials, including prime ministers and the president.
The portrait belonged to the brush of the Italian artist Giovanni Boldini. There, in the apartment, a letter was found from the painter with a declaration of love to Marthe de Florian. This painting went under the hammer for $3.4 million. So she became the most expensive canvas of the artist. (higher)
In many Soviet films of the era of stagnation about a civil war, an almost obligatory element was the counterintelligence of the whites, who fought the Bolshevik underground in the occupied territory. Everything seems to be simple, but at the same time, it is immediately necessary to clarify the matter.
In the vast expanses of what was then Russia from the Urals to Pacific Ocean White did not have counterintelligence! A specialized secret department was called ... Military control, just like the Reds before the appearance of special departments of the Cheka. In the years civil war a large army garrison was stationed in Novonikolaevsk, so it was impossible to do without military control. Judging by the films, the secret office of whites should have occupied a huge mansion or one of the best houses in the city center. Everything is possible in the cinema, even miracles, but in life everything was sometimes different, or even completely different. Everything was the opposite!
The Novonikolaev military controllers could not boast of royal mansions, and they received the premises for the office a few weeks after the organization. On February 18, 1919, the military control point received the long-awaited "apartment", which was located on Kuznetskaya Street, now Lenin Street, at number 14. Before that, the building belonged to citizen Zilberg, but after two sins (not clearing snow from the house) at the end of 1918, the house was requisitioned by the city government for the secret service. The apartments of the secret department were a very, very modest house, consisting of two rooms. This can be judged by the size of the living space. The first room measured 2.4 by 2.2 sazhens. Fathom - a measure of length, 2 meters with a little. The second room was a little smaller: 3.35 fathoms by 1.4. The total area of the “choir” of the Novonikolaevsky military control was only 33 square meters. Interestingly, the dungeon for torture and imprisonment of prisoners was completely absent. The apartments had only one Dutch stove and three windows. Unlike other houses, there were as many as two light bulbs - one in each room. Neighboring houses were lit with kerosene lamps.
The most surprising thing was that after the requisition, the house was not transferred to new owners for a long time and was not guarded. This circumstance was quickly taken advantage of by nimble Novonikolaevites, who quickly "privatized" the glass from the window frames, the latch from the stove and the door to the small room. But all this was a trifle. Here is what the head of the military control point wrote in the report: “The building in question was in disrepair. On the floor in a large room, a large pile of garbage and all sorts of rubbish was found, and near the entrance there were frozen horse and human excrement. After some time, the apartments of the secret department were brought into proper condition.
The fighters of the secret white front worked in cramped conditions, but this fact was not advertised for a very long time. By the way, the house itself has not survived to this day, in its place is now the "Universum". We plan to talk about the apartments of the Novonikolaev Cheka, but a little later.
Seeing your apartment in a dream portends cash receipts.
Changing your apartment to another means cheating in love.
Someone else's apartment suggests that the person with whom you are in an intimate relationship is cheating or intends to cheat on you with your closest friend.
If in a dream you rent an apartment, in reality this portends a wedding.
Not having an apartment - you will become interested in a dangerous business, tempted by big profits.
If someone is arrested in your apartment, this is a surprise and pleasant surprise.
Taking a tenant to an apartment is a sign that you will be initiated into the Don Juan list of your fan.
If the tenant moves out of the apartment without paying you off, you will be in trouble with men on the basis of financial settlements.
To find yourself in the hallway of someone else's apartment, waiting until the owner deigns to come out to you, is to be humiliated in reality.
Seeing yourself in someone else's bedroom - to the jealousy of a husband or lover.
To dream of a rich and tastefully furnished apartment with an office and a large library - such a dream portends that your desire to live better is realized.
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Dream Interpretation - Apartment
To have her in a dream in good condition and with a decent environment means that your business will go well.
Finding a new apartment or changing in a dream is a sign of a change in occupation;
To rent an apartment in a dream means the beginning of a new business;
To give a "corner" to someone in a dream is a harbinger of obstacles in business;
Paying rent in a dream is a sign of retribution for something. Sometimes such a dream means separation from a loved one and deep emotional experiences.
Accepting rent in a dream is a sign that the past will remind you of itself. Sometimes such a dream means that you will have to do something that you left a long time ago.
It is possible that after such a dream you will meet a person whom you have not seen for a long time and who repents of his mistakes.
See interpretation: tenant, house, dwelling.
Interpretation of dreams fromWhy, before leaving for England, the girl and her young man feared for their lives
The poisoning of ex-GRU colonel Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia remains one of the main mysteries of this year. What is happening to them now is a mystery that the British are in no hurry to reveal. In the meantime, we continued our mini-investigation in Russia: we found the last accommodation before leaving for Salisbury and Yulia's abandoned car. And they found out that she and her young man were afraid of something: Skripal's car was hung with icons, and the door to the vestibule on the floor was not left open for a second.
When Yulia Skripal came to her senses after being poisoned, according to our information, she became hysterical - the girl could not get through to her beloved. It seems that Stepan did everything to disappear not only from her life, but also from the field of view of others ...
The apartment on the 6th floor of the house, a stone's throw from Mozhayskoye Highway Yulia, her boyfriend Stepan Vikeev, was rented in early January. In the “kopeck piece” of Yulia on Davydkovskaya Street (15 minutes drive from here), repairs began, so young people rented housing for a while. The owner of the apartment is businessman Aleksey (he owns several shopping centers and other companies). The entrepreneur himself lodges on Bolshaya Yakimanka, and, as the neighbors say, he constantly rents out his dwelling and makes repairs after each guest.
Julia and Stepan settled in with two dogs (the girl has a mongrel named Noir, whose fate we have already talked about, the gentleman has a black dog of the diver breed). Here is what the neighbors on the floor say - Oksana lives nearby, who also keeps a dog:
- Usually they walked the dogs together - either very early in the morning or late in the evening, at 22.00. They will walk near the trees and go home. Although Stepan's dog is big, it needs to be chased properly. Once he told me that my dog is a very evil breed, but I replied that he was kind at heart.
Was it clear what the relationship was between them?
They did not share the details of their lives. When meeting Yulia, she was silent all the time, Stepan is more sociable. They dressed like ordinary people, they preferred a sporty style of clothing. We noticed such a feature - Stepan kept closing the door to the vestibule, as if he was afraid of something.
- Did the guests come to the couple?
- Stepan's birthday on February 26 they celebrated here, they were friends. And Stepan's mother Tatyana Vasilyevna often appeared here (she closely took care of her son, this was confirmed to us by family friends and neighbors at the address in Podolsk, - Auth.). She also had a fad about closing the door - about a month ago I went out with a bucket of garbage to take out to the stairwell, she immediately clicked the lock. And I'm without keys, in slippers. I began to call the neighbors, she went out. I reproached - they say, well, what are you, I'm for two seconds. And she answered sharply that the door should be closed.
The concierge of the entrance - a strict pensioner Vladimir, by whom not even a mouse will slip, swears that he saw Stepan a week and a half ago. Apparently, after that, the guy quietly moved out. According to some reports, before that, on March 20 (the Skripals were poisoned on March 4), Stepan took away his belongings and the dog.
- The apartment is still closed, the investigators did not come, - says the concierge. - And Yulia was remembered as a taciturn person, often shuttled back and forth with shopping bags. A large woman (we are talking about Stepan's mother) often visited them.
Meanwhile, the fate of Yulia's car, the Ford Kuga SUV, became clear. Yulia used the car on the eve of her flight to London, March 2, when she went to work at a food ingredients company in Krasnogorsk. By the way, she occupied a solid position there - an assistant to the founder of the company. And then the trace of a foreign car disappeared.
"Ford" we found parked near the house, opposite the entrance. Julia got her driver's license a little over a year ago. And, it seems, she was wary of driving - we saw several icons in the cabin. The car itself is locked (not sealed and has no signs of burglary), and the keys may be kept by Stepan.
Where does Vikeev live now? There is no one in the apartment at the place of registration in Podolsk near Moscow. Presumably, the guy, along with his mother Tatyana Vasilyevna (recall, she heads the NGO Institute of Contemporary Security Problems) and his father, restorer Vladimir Stepanovich, moved to the dacha. The family in every possible way evades communication with journalists.
We managed to find out new details of the Vikeevs' biography. Stepan was born in the city of Donskoy, Tula region, where Tatyana Vasilievna is from. Stepan's maternal grandfather, WWII hero Vasily Iosifovich Piraev (born in 1919), was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War II degree. Another paternal grandfather, Red Army soldier Stepan Fedorovich Vikeeev (born in 1917) had the Order of the Patriotic War, I degree.
Stepan's father is from the Abkhazian village of Lechkop. As a local district police officer explained to us, the Vikeevs left Abkhazia before the start of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict of 1992-1993, no relatives remained there. It becomes clear why Tatyana Vasilievna treated her future daughter-in-law with some coolness - with such and such heroic ancestors, Yulia's father would always remain for her, first of all, a traitor.
Stepan himself, however, did not achieve much career success by his 30s. In 2010, he began his career as a sales and customer service manager in a grocery company, moved to the position of an assistant manager in a financial firm, and then became a leading researcher at the Department of Economic Sociology at the Institute of Senior Management Personnel (the institute is now unregistered). However, the guy’s knowledge of Spanish is in the piggy bank (in 2006 he did an internship at the University Balearic Islands) and defending a dissertation at Moscow State University. Lomonosov.
Recall that the role of Stepan Vikeev in the story of the poisoning of Yulia Skripal and her father has not been fully clarified. In theory, the officers of the ICR should have interrogated him long ago - after all, Russian investigating authorities opened a criminal case on the fact of the attempted murder of Yulia. And Vikeev is the last person Skripal spoke to before leaving for London. Two options remain: either Stepan was interrogated and advised to lie low (Yulia also cannot contact him), or he is hiding not only from journalists, but also from law enforcement officers. And this already raises questions.
Lev Speransky, Ekaterina Sveshnikova
