{{Short description|Russian criminal (born 1956)}} {{use dmy dates|date=May 2024}} {{Infobox criminal | name = Vladimir Kumarin | image_name = | image_caption = | birth_name = Vladimir Vladimirovich Kumarin | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1956|2|15}} | birth_place = [[Leningrad]], [[USSR]] | death_date = | death_place = | charge = [[Fraud]], [[Money laundering]] | conviction_penalty = 24 years | occupation = Businessman, [[Gangster]], boss of [[Tambov Gang]] | religion = | spouse = | children = | nickname = }}
'''Vladimir Kumarin''', aka '''Vladimir Barsukov,''' aka "Kum"{{cn|date=May 2024}} is a Russian businessman, former deputy president of the [[Petersburg Fuel Company]] (PTK) between 1998 and 1999, and the boss of the criminal [[Tambovskaya Bratva]] (Tambov gang) of [[Saint Petersburg]].
==Biography== Kumarin was born in [[Tambov]], after compulsory military service he came to [[Leningrad]] to study. In the 1980s he served his first sentence for possession of arms and forged documents. Thereafter he met a compatriot from Tambov, Valery Ledovskikh with whom he founded a gang. The gang initially invited only persons from Tambov region (thus its name, Tambovskaya). Being not yet strong enough to operate independently, the gang merged into the large criminal group Velikolukskaya (from [[Velikiye Luki|Velikie Luki]], [[Pskov]] region) and was engaged mostly in commercial [[racketeering]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://russian7.ru/post/tambovskaya-opg-kak-oni-podmyali-pod-s/|title="Тамбовская" ОПГ: как они подмяли под себя весь Петербург?|website=russian7.ru|date=11 February 2017|language=ru-RU|access-date=2019-05-29|archive-date=29 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190529092743/https://russian7.ru/post/tambovskaya-opg-kak-oni-podmyali-pod-s/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In 1989 multiple members of Kumarin's gang were convicted for the bloody firefight with another criminal gang, Malyshevskaya. The verdict was rather mild, supposedly because the state prosecutor was severely injured by unknown persons during the investigation. After having completed a short sentence, Kumarin's gang swiftly took over all across the northwestern region of Russia – Leningrad, Pskov, [[Veliky Novgorod|Novgorod]], and [[Republic of Karelia|Karelia]] – challenging the business affairs of his former 'host gang'. A bloody skirmish with the Velikolukskaya gang caused Kumarin to fall into a month-long coma.<ref name=":0" /> His right arm had to be amputated at the shoulder and bullets pierced his stomach, chest and lungs. To this day he still has bullet fragments in his heart.<ref name=autogenerated1>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6395870.ece The Times - Russia's 'Al Capone' sneers at his trial]{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
During the mid-1990s Kumarin attempted to legalize the criminal earnings of his gang using extensive contacts with the government of the City of St. Petersburg headed by mayor [[Anatoly Sobchak]] (1991–1996), to whom the current Russian president [[Vladimir Putin]] served as assistant.<ref>Jürgen Roth, ''Die Gangster aus dem Osten'', Europa Verlag Publishers</ref> Kumarin was an investor to the [[Kirishinefteorgsintez]] ({{Lang|ru|Киришинефтеоргсинтез}}) oil refinery and member of the Board of [[Petersburg Fuel Company]] (PTK) controlled by Kumarin. PTK became the sole supplier of [[gasoline]] to the municipal transport of St. Petersburg.<ref name=":0" />
Since the late 1990s a few senior members of Kumarin's structures as well as of its adversaries were killed and a list of investigations of his past criminal affairs was published. In June 2003, the magazine ''[[Der Spiegel]]'' mentioned that, according to the [[Germany|German]] ministry of criminal affairs, the German firm St. Petersburg Real Estate Holding Company ({{langx|de|St. Peterburg Immobilien und Beteiligungs AG}}) (SPAG) had fallen under suspicion of being involved in a money-laundering scheme through the [[Cali Cartel|Cali cocaine cartel]] with connections to Kumarin.<ref name=SpiegelJune2003>{{cite news |url=https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-27163314.html |title=Spuren in den Kreml? Die deutsche Immobilien-Firma SPAG soll der russischen Mafia als Geldwaschanlage gedient haben. Jetzt schlugen hiesige Ermittler erstmals zu. Das Netzwerk zieht sich bis nach Moskau. |trans-title=Traces in the Kremlin? The German real estate company SPAG is said to have served the Russian mafia as a money-laundering system. Now local investigators struck for the first time. The network extends to Moscow. |work=[[Der Spiegel]] |date=June 2003 |access-date=16 January 2020 |archive-date=18 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418000616/https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-27163314.html |language=de}}</ref><ref name=Newsweek02092001>{{cite news |url=https://www.newsweek.com/stain-mr-clean-152259 |title=A Stain on Mister Clean |work=[[Newsweek]] |last=Hosenball |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Hosenball |date= 2 September 2001 |access-date=16 January 2020 |archive-date=21 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221162604/https://www.newsweek.com/stain-mr-clean-152259 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=Jamestown27082001>{{cite news |url=https://jamestown.org/program/newsweek-details-putins-alleged-organized-crime-ties/ |title=Newsweek Details Putin's Alleged Organized Crime Ties… |work=[[Jamestown Foundation]] |date=27 August 2001 |access-date=16 January 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=PutinCorrupt>{{cite web | editor-last1 = Milov | editor-first1 = O. | editor-last2 = Nemtsov | editor-first2 = B. | editor-last3 = Ryzhkov | editor-first3 = V. | editor-last4 = Shorina | editor-first4 = O. | title = Putin. Corruption. An independent white paper | url = http://www.putin-itogi.ru/putin-corruption-an-independent-white-paper/ | translator-last = Essel | translator-first = Dave | website = putin-itogi.ru | date = 2011 | access-date = 16 January 2020}}</ref> The Russian co-owner of the SPAG's joint venture was the government of St. Petersburg, and Vladimir Putin, then the municipal official, was a member of the board from 1992 to 2000.<ref name=SpiegelJune2003/><ref name=PutinUnderworld07102003>{{cite news |url=http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=11164 |title=New Book Poses Question of Putin's Links with Underworld |work=[[The St. Petersburg Times (Russia)|The St. Petersburg Times]] |last=Belton |first=Catherine |author-link=Catherine Belton |date=7 October 2003 |access-date=16 January 2020 |archive-date=30 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930185317/http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=11164}}</ref><ref name=KuchmaParallelCabinet12102007>{{cite web | url=http://www.ukrainianstudies.uottawa.ca/pdf/P_Koshiw_Danyliw07.pdf | author=J.V. Koshiw | date=12–13 October 2007 | access-date=16 January 2020 | title=Kuchma's 'Parallel Cabinet' – The center of President Kuchma's authoritarian rule based on the Melnychenko recordings | pages=17–20 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120052247/http://www.ukrainianstudies.uottawa.ca/pdf/P_Koshiw_Danyliw07.pdf | archive-date=20 January 2012 }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://lenta.ru/lib/14203528/|title=Барсуков (Кумарин), Владимир|website=lenta.ru|access-date=2019-05-29}}</ref> In April 2004 German police interrogated Kumarin but no indictments were made.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=Kommersant24072003>{{cite news |url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/398799 |title=Новый передел. Что делать? |trans-title=New redistribution. What to do? |script-work=ru:[[Коммерсантъ]] |trans-work=Kommersant |last=Березовский |first=Борис |date=24 June 2003 |access-date=16 January 2020 |volume=129 |issue=2732 |archive-date=16 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616091335/https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/398799 |language=ru}}</ref> It has been suggested that Kumarin maintained good relations with Russian politicians Mikhail Glushenko and [[Alexander Filatov]]. Allegedly after refusing to back down from a business deal in favour of a politician close to Vladimir Putin, Kumarin was raided and arrested by 300 special forces officers on August 24, 2007.<ref name="autogenerated1" /> Prosecutor General [[Yury Chaika]] accused him of banditry and organizing a gang.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rian.ru/defense_safety/investigations/20070827/75211130.html |title="Эрмитаж отдыхает": в Петербурге изъяли 50 антикварных предметов |access-date=2007-08-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070830162854/http://www.rian.ru/defense_safety/investigations/20070827/75211130.html |archive-date=2007-08-30 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://spb.rbc.ru/freenews/20070827165115.shtml |title=Ю.Чайка: Преступная группировка под руководством арестованного в Петербурге В.Барсукова действовала около 10 лет |access-date=2007-08-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725123706/http://spb.rbc.ru/freenews/20070827165115.shtml |archive-date=2011-07-25 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://www.fontanka.ru/2007/08/27/093/ Генпрокурор Чайка: «Перед Кумариным все делали «Ку»]</ref> He was also accused of the murder attempt on businessman Sergei Vasiliev, a rival in the oil business. In 2006, two men with automatic rifles sprayed Vasiliev's car with gunfire, wounding him and killing one of his bodyguards.<ref name="autogenerated1" />
Kumarin sought to clean up his image via donations to charities and the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] of which he was a devout follower as well as securing the release of two kidnapped children of Sergey Borodulin, Russian businessman.<ref name="autogenerated1" /> During this period his fame grew as well; dozens of celebrities and politicians attended his 50th birthday party in 2006.<ref name="autogenerated1" /> Kumarin was interviewed by Andrey Konstantinov, author of book ''[[Bandit Petersburg]].''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mk.ru/social/2019/03/20/vladimir-barsukovkumarin-vstretil-specnaz-rasslablenno.html|title=Владимир Барсуков-Кумарин встретил спецназ расслабленно|website=www.mk.ru|date=20 March 2019 |language=ru|access-date=2019-05-29}}</ref> Since 2004 Kumarin-Barsukov served as assistant to the St. Petersburg municipal MP, [[Alexander Nevzorov]], well-known Russian journalist, who endorsed Kumarin as a "perfectly clean person" and invited Kumarin to play the role of [[King Louis XIV]] in his film.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.svoboda.org/a/409861.html|title=Почему арестовали "ночного губернатора" Санкт-Петербурга|website=Радио Свобода|date=31 August 2007 |language=ru|access-date=2019-05-29 |last1=Резунков |first1=Виктор }}</ref> During the 1990s, however, Nevzorov covered multiple raids on Kumarin's gang on prime-time TV shows, making the gang notorious among the public.<ref name=":0" />
After the 2007–2009 investigation Kumarin was sentenced to 14 years in prison plus a fine for the episodes of racketeering, fraud, money laundering and a murder attempt. The verdict was challenged in the [[European Court of Human Rights]] and by 2011 his sentence was reduced by 2.5 years. In 2012 another long investigation into Kumarin's affairs started. Kumarin was accused of contracting the killing of [[Galina Starovoytova|Galina Starovoitova]]. The main witness against Kumarin was Mikhail Glushenko, a.k.a. Misha-Khokhol, who in turn was sentenced to 17 years in prison in 2015 for arranging of the murder of Starovoitova.
In March 2019, he was sentenced by the Court of St. Petersburg to 24 years in prison for founding [[Tambovskaya Bratva|The Tambov Gang]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fontanka.ru/2019/03/20/020/|title=Четверть века для Кумарина. До встречи в 2030-м, ночной губернатор|date=2019-03-20|publisher=www.fontanka.ru|language=ru|access-date=2019-04-08}}</ref>
==See also== *[[Russian mafia]] *[[List of crime bosses convicted in the 21st century]]
==Notes== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumarin, Vladimir}} [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Businesspeople from Saint Petersburg]] [[Category:Russian gangsters]] [[Category:Russian crime bosses]] [[Category:Russian fraudsters]] [[Category:Prisoners and detainees of Russia]] [[Category:Criminals from Saint Petersburg]] [[Category:Russian Orthodox Christians from Russia]] [[Category:1956 births]]