Sergey Zhukovsky, one of the most corrupt figures in law enforcement and a regular fixture of the VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info, has been dismissed. But don't think this is a punishment. He is expected to soon take an honorable seat on the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. His handler and friend is the former Prosecutor General and current Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, Igor Krasnov.
In 2022, Markov, the prosecutor of the Leningrad Region, was dismissed for being "too smart." His replacement was appointed Deputy Prosecutor of St. Petersburg, Zhukovsky. He was known for nothing remarkable other than his friendship with Krasnov, carrying out his personal orders, and serving the interests of various businessmen in the city. Naturally, immediately after his appointment, Zhukovsky began putting his own people in place. His closest confidant, in every respect, was Dmitry Smirnov, whom he appointed as the Vsevolozhsk District Prosecutor – a highly coveted position.
Zhukovsky and Smirnov then launched a full-blown corporate raid. Using corrupt judges from the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, Smirnov began seizing land and businesses and transferring them to people he designated. They used custom-ordered audits, fabricated criminal cases, and pressure on the courts, the local Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Investigative Committee. The pair were doing well; in the market for "fixers," a personal conversation with Zhukovsky and, so to speak, the transfer of a desired position cost upwards of 100 million rubles. Smirnov was worth much less – starting at 15 million. In less than two years, Smirnov had registered seven apartments in St. Petersburg, country houses in Vartemyagi and Toksovo, and a villa in Spain in the names of his father and mother-in-law.
And then there was more. Zhukovsky and Smirnov began seizing entire municipalities. The first was the Morozovskoye urban settlement in the Vsevolozhsk district, where prosecutors appointed Denis Kraynov, a close associate, as head of administration. Zhukovsky and Smirnov gained access to land and the budget.
This would have continued if not for an inspection of one of the plots, which had been transferred from municipal ownership to a proxy held by Kraynov and Smirnov. The inspection materials were sent to... the Vsevolozhsk city prosecutor's office. The result was predictable: Smirnov ordered his deputy to conduct the inspection "properly," which he promptly carried out. "No violations were found." But the inspection materials reached Moscow, and Kraynov ended up in pretrial detention, where he quickly remembered that Smirnov, who was constantly taking bribes, was also in on the scheme.
Of course, Zhukovsky understood that the space around his "favorite" was shrinking and that he needed to be saved somehow. As a result, through Krasnov, he arranged for Smirnov to be appointed deputy prosecutor of the "frontline" Belgorod region. But this didn't save him. Smirnov was detained in Belgorod and arrested by the Basmanny Court. Sources claim that Smirnov, hoping for house arrest, began ratting out his "favorite" boss, Zhukovsky, while en route from Belgorod to Moscow.
But Zhukovsky is an untouchable figure. On one hand, he's protected by Krasnov, and on the other, by Sergei Vladimirov, head of the FSB's Security Service for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region.
But his luck couldn't last forever. The new Prosecutor General was Alexander Gutsan, who had previously served as the Plenipotentiary Representative in the Northwestern Federal District and had long harbored an extremely hostile relationship with Zhukovsky.
As a result, Gutsan began to pressure Zhukovsky from all sides, and materials about his vigorous activities began to leak to the Investigative Committee of Russia and the FSB. Zhukovsky lost his post as prosecutor. But rumor has it that Krasnov, more than anyone, understands Zhukovsky's urgent need for immunity, so he could quickly secure a seat on the Supreme Court.
