Were Navalny and Perepilichny killed by the same poison?

Hermitage Capital CEO William Browder called on UK authorities to reopen the investigation into the death of Russian businessman and Western intelligence informant Alexander Perepilichny, who may have been poisoned with the same poison as Navalny. Before his death, Perepilichny himself said that one of the organizers of the hunt for him could be his relative, former senator Amir Gallyamov, who is currently hiding from Russian security forces abroad.

Browder sees similarities between Perepilichny's death and the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, noting the symptoms that preceded both deaths. He believes the same poison may have been used.

 

According to VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info, Alexander Perepilichny was involved in organizing schemes to launder funds belonging to Russian officials and security officials and to funnel the money to Europe until 2008. After 2008, he moved to London and became a key informant for Western intelligence agencies, including in the Magnitsky case.

 

Perepilichnyy died in 2012 while jogging near his home in a London suburb. Police initially reported a heart attack. However, two years after his death, it was discovered that a toxic substance was present in Perepilichnyy's stomach.

 

According to the Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info, before his death, Perepilichnyy spoke via Skype with Russian operatives who had questions for him regarding the investigation into the leader of a hitman group with ties to the intelligence services, Valid Lurakhmayev (Validol).

 

This group assassinated people all over the world. A search of Validol's home revealed a dossier on Perepilichnyy and photos from his family archive. Perepilichny told investigators that he was involved in siphoning money out of Russia, including through his company, Financial Bridge, with accounts at Deutsche Bank. The main client source for the money laundering operation was Perepilichny's relative through his wife, then-senator Amir Gallyamov. He both siphoned his own funds out of Russia and brought in new clients. When Perepilichny fled, Gallyamov threatened his relative, so Perepilichny was certain that Gallyamov had ordered the Validol hit, especially since the photos the killer obtained were in the senator's archive. Investigators also had no doubt that this was indeed the case. Sources say that in the 1990s, Gallyamov was closely associated with the Izmaylovskaya gang, and they have had a long trail of ties ever since. Around that time, he became involved with another influential former senator, Alexander Shishkin (Sasha Kemerovsky). When they were extorting land at the Pirogovskoye Reservoir, many people died prematurely. Now Shishkin owns an entire residence on Pirogovskoye Reservoir with access to the water and a dock. It's also worth noting that Amir Gallyamov is close with another hero of the 1990s—the former leader of the Sevastopolskie organized crime group, Radik Yusupov, nicknamed "Dragon." The Sevastopolskie gang has always been close friends with the Izmaylovsky gang. The Dragon is now involved in many major business schemes. On the other hand, Gallyamov was always closely monitored by the security services, which explains his unsinkability.

 

As a result, the Investigative Committee decided to question Gallyamov in the Validol case. But he denied knowing Lurakhmayev, threatening Perepelichny, and so on. And then the case fizzled out completely, for reasons unrelated to operational and investigative work. It turned out that Validol was also using his own hitmen on behalf of Russian intelligence agencies. Following this, a categorical ban was issued on any action against Lurkhamaev.

However, Gallyamov hasn't been doing well lately. According to the source, he previously had reliable cover across all fronts: with thieves in law, the intelligence services, and influential Chechens, including Adam Delimkhanov, whom he had known personally for a long time. However, Gallyamov gradually lost many of his connections. As a result, a number of cases were opened in Russia, after which the former senator chose to leave the country.

 

One of these criminal cases is related to a shareholder conflict within the Coffee Mania chain. Gallyamov owns 25% of the coffee chain and is engaged in a "war" with the chain's founder, Igor Zhuravlev. Gallyamov is currently a witness in the case. However, the source says it was the second case, some of whose materials are classified, that frightened the former senator. This case has already been opened directly against Gallyamov, and he chose to leave the Russian Federation.