The criminal case of Alisher Trifonov (Nazmiev), a false general of intelligence service, may cause a scandal involving the high ranking officials from the Russian special services. Having connections in the defense ministry, FSB and interior ministry, Mr. Trifonov managed to trick several capital businessmen for astronomic amounts of money. At the time being the sham-general is arrested being accused of fraud. The investigation believes he received $6 millions from Sergei Shpigotsky, the partner of Gazprom. Some enforcement agencies certificates, military decorations, and some FSB dossiers on the prominent home businessmen were found in the Trifonov’s apartment during the search made.  

Also there were other unexpected things, like a video of an awarding ceremony with the Red Star Order and Red Banner Order, where awarded were deputy FSB director, deputy chief of inner security of FSB, the head of military academy and other officials.  

Actually, the Red Banner Order used to be awarded for extinguished bravery performed during the country’s defense and the cases of decoration were rare in the post-war years. As for the Red Star Order, it was awarded for example to Afghanistan war veterans who performed feats or were wounded in the action. Officially, this Order has not been awarded to anyone since 1991.  

Alisher Trifonov appeared in Moscow in 2004. That time he introduced himself as a millionaire and a nephew of Uzbek president Islam Karimov. In that period Mr. Trifonov was often seen in restaurants being accompanied with businessmen and famous actors. He flushed with money and gave expensive presents. In that period he got acquainted with the Colonel Sergei Bogachev, a lecturer at the Military Academy after Frunze. Mr. Bogachev is an authority among militaries, as he developed the methodology of teaching the hand-to-hand fighting for interior ministry, intelligence service and FSB.       

We phoned to Mr. Bogachev’s mobile number, but he said he was busy. We failed to get in contact with him after that.

Coincidently, a new chapter began in Mr. Trifonov’s life after getting acquainted with the Colonel Bogachev. Now he began to introduce himself as an “intelligence service general” with great connections. Business people lined up to apply to him for getting his assistance in their matters.   

A businessman told to a Novaya Gazeta correspondent that Mr. Trifonov was introduced to him as a man able to give assistance in landing building contracts in the city of Khanty-Mansiysk.  

Six months later the businessmen called his new acquaintance and got invited to a banquet allegedly organized on the occasion of Mr’ Trifonov’s appointment to be the chief of security service of Gazprom. The businessman says there were a lot of officials, law enforcers and businessmen at that pompous banquet.     

But when on the next day he tried to find out the details of the appointment, it turned out that Gazprom had never heard of any Alisher Trifonov. 

We managed to get in touch with Andrei Bystrov, the head of Inter-agency Counter-terrorist Center, who was the first to call Alisher Trifonov to be the general. 

“He cheated us too” said angrily Mr. Bystrov. “It’s afterwards that we got to suspect Trifonov to be just a swindler. But how could we check that? Should we have called the intelligence service office?”  

It seems that false “Distinguished Service Orders” were received by Trifonov from generals awarded with same “false” decorations. Sensational details were found out during the investigation. A videocassette was found during the search in Trifonov’s apartment. It contains the report of celebration of 10th anniversary of a military patriotic organization BARS, where co-founder is Mr. Stanislaw Ten. The cam videotaped employees from the president’s administration, special service officers, generals and colonels and also some capital businessmen to be among the guests.    

On the videocassette, after the address made by Boris Gromov, the Moscow region governor, an awarding ceremony began on behalf of a certain “Military-People Council of the Community of Socialists Soviet Republics”. The decorations were the Orders of the Red Banner and Orders of the Red Star.  

Actually, the Military Council of the CSSR is just a public organization that instituted its own titles, appointments and decorations. But the problem is that the orders decorated at the ceremony turned out to be undistinguishable from real combat-deserved decorations, as they have the marks of the state mint and real registration numbers.  

Having learnt about our journalist investigation, colonel Anatoly Meshcheryakov, one of those decorated, brought his Order of the Red Star to the Novaya Gazeta office. 

“Only a couple of days after I got to realize something was wrong about those orders” said the former special unit officer.

We found out that his Order of the Red Star is registered in the data base of the defense ministry with the number 3522502. Novaya Gazeta will be insisting on getting the official explanations and expertise done. If it turns out that the orders are real, we shall require that a criminal case be started on this count.   

Stanislaw Ten said to a Novaya Gazeta correspondent “As a public organization, we have the right to communicate with everyone. The veterans, the heads and the members of other public organizations were invited. And we <…> were awarded with the decorations instituted by those organizations.”  

Stanislaw Ten failed to answer the direct question on which grounds passed were the real combat orders of the Red Banner and the Red Star. Instead, he suggested we get in touch with him a bit later. And later we failed to do that. 

Also several businessmen got decorated with the combat orders during that ceremony. Some really distinguished veterans of Afghanistan and Chechnya military operations being present in the hall, no one got indignant seeing that false show.

Alisher Trifonov was not present at that ceremony. However, there is the evidence proving that he is acquainted with BARS organization. On another video he can be seen sitting next to Stanislaw Ten in the jury of the youth sports competition.

Well, now Alisher Trifonov has been put in another place – that’s the pre-trial prison “Butyrka”.   

FSB has not responded yet to our enquiry if it was aware of those decorations made to its high ranking officials and about what exactly relates those officials to the public organizations and funds that decorate them like a New Year Tree. The Military Academy has not given any comment either. 

To follow is just a partial list of “holders of decoration” noticed on the mentioned video

The Order of the Red Banner was handed to 

- Vladimir Popov, the head of the military academy, Colonel General. 

The Order of the Red Star was handed to

- Sergei Shishin, deputy FSB director, Lieutenant General. This man was responsible for material security of FSB and he was given a sack after a scandal about contraband from China;   

- Nail Mukhitov, deputy chief of internal security department at FSB;

- Sergei Bogachev, Colonel, a lecturer at the Military Academy;

- BARS, military patriotic organization. The Order was handed to Stanislaw Ten, the head of the directors’ club “President”.  

P. S. The author of this material Sergei Kanev was threatened repeatedly at the stage of preparation of this article. He was also offered $50,000, a car of foreign production and assistance in registering a plot in the near-Moscow region for giving up this publication. Besides, one of the disks with the recorded video of pseudo-decoration ceremony was stolen from his flat. Luckily, it had been copied before that happened.