Bortnikov Alexander Vasilyevich, Russian FSB Director

Chaika Yuri Yakovlevich, General Prosecutor

Fradkov Mikhail Efimovich, Foreign Intelligence Service Director

Fursenko Andrei Alexandrovich, Minister of Education and Science

Ivanov Victor Petrovich, head of Federal Drug Control Service

Ivanov Sergei Borisovich, Deputy Chairman of RF Government

Khristenko Victor Borisovich, Minister of Industry and Trade and Golikova Tatyana, Minister of Health and Social Development

Kudrin Alexei Leonidovich, ex-Minister of Finance

Levitin Igor Yevgenievich, Minister of Transport and Communication

Murov Evgeny Alexeyevich, Federal Protective Service director

Mutko Vitaly Leontievich, Minister of Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy

Nabiullina Elvira Sahipzadovna, Minister of Economic Development

Patrushev Nikolai Platonovich, Security Council Secretary

Serdyukov Anatoly Eduardovich, Defense Minister

Shoigu Sergei Kuzhugetovich, Minister of Civil Defense, Emergency Situations and Disaster Relief

Shuvalov Igor Ivanovich, Government’s First Deputy Chairman

Skrynnik Elena Borisovna, Minister of Agriculture

Stepashin Sergei Vladimirovich, Accounts Chamber Chairman

Trutnev Yuri Petrovich, Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology

Zhukov Alexander Dmitrievich, Deputy RF Prime Minister

Zubkov Victor Alekseyevich, First Deputy RF Prime Minister

«Russia's Power Families - 2011» / Chaika Yuri Yakovlevich, General Prosecutor

Employed at: RF General Prosecutor’s Office

Positions held: 1995-1999: First Deputy RF General Prosecutor, Acting RF General Prosecutor; 1999-2006: RF Minister of Justice; since 2006: RF General Prosecutor.

Business involvement: as civil servant, Chaika is barred from business involvement.

Business influence: according to the media, Yuri Chaika may have been involved in the ad campaign for Khoper-Invest Group, later recognized as a financial pyramid. In 1998, individuals close to Nikolai Nebudchikov (former Irkutsk Region inter-regional prosecutor and head of Partner Ltd. law firm) were arrested on charges of organizing contract killings and racketeering. Nebudchikov had worked with Yuri Chaika in Irkutsk and was believed to be Chaika’s personal friend. Starting in 1995, Chaika held high-level positions at the RF General Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of Justice.

In 1996, Yuri Chaika oversaw a case involving $500,000 found in possession of Boris Yeltsin’s election campaign organizers Arkady Evstafyev and Sergei Lisovsky, who were arrested. The money was found to “belong to no one,” and the case was closed. Yuri Chaika initiated a criminal case against First Deputy RF Finance Minister Vladimir Petrov, charged with receiving a $610,000 bribe from Escado commercial bank in order to wire 160 Bln. Rub. to the Bank. The case was closed.

Yuri Chaika played a significant role in investigating criminal cases against former Yukos oil company owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky and former Group Menatep director Platon Lebedev.

 
Family:

Wife Elena Grigorievna Chaika, former daycare counselor and teacher, currently retired. According to the Unified State Registry of Companies, Elena Chaika was the registered owner of Stalactite M LLC and Artikul 2001 LLC in 2001 while Yuri Chaika was RF Minister of Justice. Both companies were listed at 5-1 Mashkov St. in Moscow, the same address where Yuri Chaika’s older son was registered as sole proprietor. According to the media, Elena Chaika owns the Siberian Element-Renta company, although the funding source for this company purchase is unknown. According to his tax return, Yuri Chaika’s 2009 annual income was 2.26 Mln. Rub., while his wife’s was 6.36 Mln. Rub. The RF General Prosecutor and his wife co-own a 203.6 m² apartment and two automobiles: GAZ-13 and GAZ-69. Elena Chaika owns a 0.43 ha. land lot, a 175.3 m² non-residential space, and a Mercedes-Benz E350 4M automobile.

Younger son Igor Yurievich Chaika is a student. On October 2, 2010, journalist Polina Gvozdeva was involved in a traffic incident with a group of individuals headed by Igor Chaika, with Igor Chaika allegedly posing as Federal Protection Service officer. Gvozdeva said that a three-car motorcade (a traffic police car and two civilian Mercedes-Benz automobiles) attempted to pass her on Rublevo-Uspensky Highway. The Mercedes-Benz (license plate No. A011MM97RUS) passenger was unhappy with how slowly Gvozdeva yielded the right of way, and followed her home. There, he asked her: “Are you trying to be smart or something?” and threatened to use his security service contacts to revoke her driver’s license.

According to the Unified State Registry of Companies, a person named Igor Yurievich Chaika owns Moscow-based Light Innovations LLC and Visual Technologies LLC.

Older son Artyom Yurievich Chaika is lawyer and entrepreneur, graduate of Irkutsk State University Law School.

In 1996, local businessman Bashir Kodzoyev was arrested and charged with fraudulently embezzling a 15.861 Bln. Rub. loan, while his brothers Magomed and Murad Kodzoyev were declared wanted. There was evidence of embezzlement of large shipments of granulated sugar and oil products, but the investigation soon ended.

According to the media, Irkutsk Regional prosecutor’s son Artyom Chaika was Kodzoyev’s partner in Laena CJSC. After Irkutsk Baikal Open Newspaper’s numerous criticisms of Chaika family’s business links with the Kodzoyevs, the newspaper editor was arrested on charges of pornography production and sale. However, the case fell apart. Laena CJSC subsequently obtained the assets of Verkhnelensk River Shipping, whose director Nikolai Palenny was found dead.

Officially, Pallenny committed suicide, yet the media alleged Palenny’s conflict with Artyom Chaika. Two days prior to his death, Palenny gave an interview to the “Our Version. Top Secret” TV program where he openly accused those responsible for the takeover of his River Shipping company: Artyom Chaika, Bashir Kodzoyev, Yuri Chaika, Irkutsk Region governor Boris Govorin, Yuri Chaika’s former Irkutsk Region prosecutor deputy Anatoly Merzlyakov, and Albina Kovaleva (RF General Prosecutor’s Office advisor for the Siberian Federal District. Kovaleva’s son Dmitri Berdnikov is allegedly (although not confirmed) Artyom Chaika’s business partner).

Through Kodzoyev, Artyom Chaika got close to other Ingushetia natives, such as the infamous racketeers Ibragim Evloyev and Syzyr Chumakov, who, according to the media, were criminals and were arrested while in Artyom Chaika’s car in 1999. In their possession were weapons and a special pass issued by Yuri Chaika that exempted the automobile from inspections. Chaika Sr. admitted that his son knows Ibragim Evloyev. Artyom Chaika was interrogated as witness and apparently tried, unsuccessfully, to alibi Evloyev. According to Novaya Gazeta, Evloyev and Chumakov were convicted and sentenced to 6 years for robbery, narcotics sales and extortion of Odintzovo’s Forpost Company. Artyom Chaika was not criminally prosecuted as accomplice and perjurer. After the Ingush extortionists were detained, Yuri Chaika retired as Acting RF General Prosecutor but was soon appointed RF Minister of Justice. Allegations of Artyom Chaika’s Irkutsk business ties with Ibragim Evloyev, Syzyr Chumakov and Bashir Kodzoyev were not looked into.

In subsequent years, the RF General Prosecutor’s son was involved in a number of traffic incidents. In one instance, Artyom Chaika and individuals accompanying him had a conflict with a traffic police patrol car that was passing by. As a result, three patrolmen were discharged from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and prosecuted for disorderly conduct.

Since 1998, Artyom Chaika is listed as lawyer at Chaadayev, Heifetz & Partners law firm. He is also founder of: Russian Asset GK LLC; Legal Consulting law offices LLC; Electron MKB LLC; and Elbrus Equestrian Club LLC.

In 2011, Yuri Chaika was involved in a notorious criminal case investigated by the Russian Investigative Committee. The case alleged Moscow Regional Prosecutor’s Office links with a chain of underworld casinos. There is no documentary evidence that Yuri Chaika had personal interest in the illegal criminal business. His son Artyom is a witness in the case. According to a secret witness nicknamed “Nikolayev,” Artyom Chaika’s people acted as go-betweens between the regional prosecutor’s office staff and the alleged illegal casino organizer Ivan Nazarov.

Another witness in the case was found strangled to death. His last name was Prilepsky; he had been the driver of Marat Mamyev, named in the case as Nazarov’s alleged assistant. It is uncertain whether Prilepsky was in fact the secret witness nicknamed “Nikolayev” who testified against Chaika. Lifenews theorized that former Deputy Moscow Regional Prosecutor Stanislav Buyansky testified against Chaika’s son.

RF General Prosecutor’s Office leadership intervened on behalf of its subordinates on numerous occasions, trying to discredit the heads of the Russian Moscow Region Investigative Committee’s Main Investigative Administration. According to Kommersant newspaper, Yuri Chaika complained to RF President Dmitri Medvedev personally about his son Artyom Chaika’s prosecution in connection with the Moscow Region casinos.

Between 1997 and 1999, Laeta CJSC co-founder Bashir Kodzoyev was Irkutsk Ceramic Works deputy general director and Ingushetia’s representative to Irkutsk Region. From 1999 to 2007, Kodzoyev was State Duma member involved with Edinstvo (Unity) and Edinaya Rossiya (United Russia) factions. In 2001, Bashir Kodzoyev survived an attempt on his life: he was seriously wounded and his driver was killed. His brothers Magomed and Murad Kodzoyev were named in an embezzlement case. Another brother, Timur Kodzoyev, former Irkutsk Ceramic Works LLC director, was killed in 2001.

Aside from Kodzoyev, Artem Chaika’s other famous partner was Solidarity LLC owner Nikolai Kulgayev, who allegedly bought Irkutsk’s Tyret Salt Mine OJSC from the government on behalf of Chaika.