Trial of Russian Mobster to Begin

He faces charges of money laundering and the illegal takeover of businesses and properties.

Preliminary hearings are scheduled to begin Thursday. Citing threats to Barsukov's safety, prosecutors filed a motion to have the trial moved from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Barsukov's attorney, however, has fought the move, calling it illegal. Local media have suggested that the reasons behind the relocation could involve an attempt on the part of authorities to shield the trial from public scrutiny.

Group Survived Bloody Gang Wars

Throughout the '90s, Barsukov oversaw the Tambov group, which emerged from the chaos surrounding the collapse of the Soviet Union and the bloody gang wars that ensued as the preeminent organized crime syndicate in St. Petersburg. At its height by the end of the decade, the group had parleyed its control of the underground fuel trade into a gas station chain and fuel distribution firms. The group also took over several major Russian ports, controlling transit and collecting taxes on timber exports and alcohol and tobacco imports.

Over time the group acquired an air of legitimacy, forging powerful political connections with high ranking officials in Moscow. Barsukov himself became legal of vice president of the Petersburg Fuel Company (PTK). Current Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's involvement in St. Petersburg politics at the time of the Tambov group's ascent, as well as the common involvement of Putin and Barsukov in a German firm suspected of money laundering, have aroused speculation of strong connections between the two. In 1994, as Deputy Mayor of St. Petersburg, Putin awarded PTK a monopoly on supplying gasoline to the city.

Whether or not Barsukov's arrest was politically motivated, the possibility of increased secrecy surrounding the trial, including moves to hold it within a detention facility in Moscow, effectively hindering press coverage, suggest a lack of transparency consistent with the pattern of selective state prosecution in Russia. See more - Russia: Abuse of Criminal Prosecution   

--Michael Mehen