Greek bandit. Oh bragin

Akhat Khafizovich Bragin was born into a Tatar family on the outskirts of Donetsk near the airport, in the village of Oktyabrsky, Kuibyshevsky district. As a child, Bragin played football and was fond of boxing. Rinat Akhmetov and Viktor Yanukovych started with him in the ring.

In his youth he received the nickname "Alik the Greek". He began his career working as a butcher at the market near the Oktyabrskaya mine.

During the years of Perestroika, he took up entrepreneurship, gathered a group of like-minded people (Ryabin, Morozov, Bogdanov), and was engaged in operations on the foreign exchange market and the games market. Bragin, thanks to the help of Shamil Ivankov, got a job as a director at Donetsk store No. 41. This outlet was part of the structure of the Donetsk wholesale and retail trade base “Ukrtekstiltorg”, which was headed by Shamil.

At the end of the 80s, Bragin was already talked about as the largest entrepreneur in Donetsk. He began investing capital in various companies that bought and brought computers and video recorders from the West, and opened stores with cassette tapes and equipment.

When the OBKhSS detained the driver-forwarder of the Ukrtekstiltorg base, he reported that goods from the base, intended for stores, were sold at inflated prices in the markets of Donetsk and the region, and accused Akhat Bragin of forging documents. Bragin, having learned about the accusation, was forced to hide until the delivery driver refused to testify against him.

Until the early 1990s, a group of like-minded people under the leadership of Bragin was engaged in providing security services to other entrepreneurs in the Donetsk region. His associates were such well-known entrepreneurs in Donetsk as Fischuk, Dolidze, Dzhamalov, Galushkin, Dutko, Minailuk. In 1991, Bragin was hired in the meat department of a grocery store located in the Administrative Village of Donetsk.

At this time, entrepreneurial connections were developed with business people from Moscow. Akhat directed all his efforts to joint entrepreneurial activities with businessman Janos Efimovich Kranz, whom he was introduced to by Boris Kolesnikov. Janos Kranz was a major entrepreneur at that time, a partner of Evgeniy Kushnir, one of the most famous Lugansk entrepreneurs. Upon arrival from Moldova, Kranz conducted his business in Lugansk and lived there. In 1987, Kranz created in Lugansk one of the very first large cooperatives in the city for the production of consumer goods, but was forced to leave for Donetsk due to disagreements with entrepreneur Valery Dobroslavsky. Until mid-1992, Bragin also had fruitful cooperation with other major entrepreneurs of the Donetsk region - Frolov, Mazurkevich, Dribny, Avtsin, Braginsky.

Bragin also introduced the group of entrepreneur Givi Nemsadze into his business.

Akhatya's business generated a lot of income from the Central Market of Donetsk, which was managed by his business partner Kolesnikov.

Akhat Khafizovich settled in the Villa Lux mini-hotel on the territory of the Donetsk Botanical Garden.

He extended his influence to dozens of large enterprises in the region, including the Azovstal metallurgical plant and the Khartsyzsk Pipe Plant, controlled significant financial and business interests in Donetsk, and acquired the Shakhtar football club. Unofficially, he was considered the “master” of Donetsk.

In mid-1992, Akhat Hafizovich invited Janos Kranz to unite financially and conduct business together. But Krantz refused, citing the fact that a real businessman must be independent. Thanks to his approach, by the end of 1992 Kranz became one of the richest people in Ukraine. He owned several factories for the production of paints and varnishes in Donetsk and Lugansk, where new facilities were being built, a significant share in the authorized capital of the then flourishing Donuglecombank, a dry cargo ship for 3 thousand tons with a crew of 16 people, which had the right to enter foreign ports, two stores , as well as one of the best cafes in Donetsk at that time, “Chervoniy Kut” on Pushkin Boulevard. He also owned a rich office in the Kalininsky district of Donetsk.

But Krantz was turned against the Greek by Kushnir and Rowan. Akhat decided to dot all the i's, otherwise the strife and conflicts would still have destroyed the group, which the others would not fail to take advantage of. The Donetsk prosecutor's office found out that one of the co-founders of the Lux utility company is an official from the district executive committee. For this reason, local authorities terminated the hotel lease agreement with Kranz and transferred the facility to Akhaty Bragin. The Lux Hotel is a former government residence, built in the late 80s for the day of Mikhail Gorbachev’s arrival in Donetsk.

A quarrel between companions in October 1992 took place in the Chervony Kut cafe (Donetsk). After the hotel incident, Kranz ended his business relationship with Bragin. Akhat took the post of general director of the largest Donetsk company “Lux”, and also took up publishing and financed the newspaper “Donetsk News”.

On December 15, the Donetsk newspaper “Gorod” published an interview with the then head of the Donetsk Ministry of Internal Affairs Arkady Boldovsky. The interview was called “Mafia showdowns: the police are sorting it out.” In it, the city's chief police officer stated that there are several mafia clans operating in Donetsk, the most powerful of which is headed by a man nicknamed Alik the Greek. The general director of the Lux company, Bragin, wrote a letter to the editors of Gorod, in which he stated that he had been undeservedly enrolled in the mafioso, thereby insulting his honor and dignity. He argued that such statements damage his business reputation. The next issue of the newspaper “Gorod” published a letter from Bragin.

Bragin filed a civil lawsuit in court, demanding protection of his honor and dignity in the form of a public apology from the Gorod newspaper that insulted him. Bragin’s case was accepted for proceedings by the chairman of the Voroshilovsky court, Viktor Ivashura. He made a decision: to oblige A. A. Boldovsky to make a public apology to Akhatia, and to the newspaper “Gorod” to print a refutation on the same page on which the interview was published. The Presidium of the regional court sent the case on the protection of Bragin's honor and dignity for review.

On August 4, 1995, a group of employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Security Service of Ukraine arrived in Donetsk from Kyiv. A repeated search at Bragin’s residence, carried out with the sanction of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine V. Datsyuk, did not bring results, and after three days of detention in the SBU detention center, Bragin was released.

Assassination attempts

On March 19, 1994, an unsuccessful attempt was made on Akhatya near his dovecote in the village of Peski, Yasinovatsky district.

On May 8, 1994, a second unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Bragin took place - this time in Donetsk itself, using five grenade launchers. This assassination attempt had no precedents in the CIS in terms of technique and audacity of execution. Police officers found a GAZ-51 truck with five loaded grenade launchers mounted in the back on one of the streets. The weapon was supposed to be activated by a homemade radio-controlled device made from a children's toy.

Assassination in Piski

Russian citizen Vadim Bolotskikh, nicknamed Moskvich, according to one version, came to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office to confess himself; according to another, he was detained by Russian police in Moscow and secretly transferred to Ukraine. However, during the investigation, Bolotskikh insisted that he himself came to the law enforcement agencies of Ukraine and wrote a confession.

It was after his confession in the spring of 2000 and the similar appearance of another gang member, Sergei Kulev, who headed the Lugansk criminal group in the late 90s, that the investigation took a new turn. Many versions were confirmed and new facts about crimes committed by the gang since the early 90s became known.

Reference: At the end of 1993 and the beginning of 1994, two residents of Donetsk - former “thimblemaker” Evgeniy Kushnir (in 1997 died in a pre-trial detention center, according to the official version, of a heart attack) and small businessman Anatoly Ryabin (killed in 1996) organized a group of 16 Human. The gang's main role was robbery and murder, including on demand. Soon its leadership included a certain Magamed Aliyev, nicknamed Maga, who was responsible for “useful connections” with foreign countries: the gang received weapons from Chechnya and Yugoslavia. In the rented apartments, the police found a large number of Kalashnikov assault rifles, various submachine guns, pistols, grenade launchers, grenades, explosives, etc. - it was possible to arm the regiment.

Soon the gang became cramped within the controlled territory and its sphere of activity. However, the reason for starting a war with competitors was the murder of one of the Donetsk authorities, nicknamed Chirik, who was friends with Kushnir. In retaliation, another crime boss nicknamed Baraban, who was friends with the general director of the Lux company, Akhat Bragin (Alik Grek), was shot. It was he, Grek, Ryabin and Kushnir who were accused of involvement in the murder of Chirik. But in fact, the “Kushnirovites” did not like Bragin’s authority and his influence in the region. The conflict, judging by Kushnir’s stories, began back in 1990 - due to Alik’s reluctance to cooperate with Ryabin

Kushnir and Ryabin said that Grek’s people killed their friend, thief in law Chirik, Bolotsky said during the investigation. - Moreover, they allegedly took money from Chirik’s widow and took his business into their own hands, thereby violating the laws of thieves. For this, they say, the Greek should be killed. Kushnir planned to lure Bragin to Drum’s funeral and settle accounts there. But the idea failed. Then, having learned about Alik’s passion for pigeons and that he regularly visits his dovecote in the village of Peski, on the outskirts of Donetsk, Kushnir decides to remove Bragin there

The Donetsk press wrote how on March 19, 1994, having driven up close to Grek’s car, Kushnir’s people began shooting him with pistols with silencers. Bragin was saved by his beloved pigeons: Alik managed to hide from the bullets in the dovecote and waited there until the attackers disappeared. That day, two of Greek’s guards were killed, and three of his “comrades-in-arms” were wounded.

Assassination attempt near a meat processing plant

After the assassination attempt in Peski, Bragin became very careful, moved out of the apartment with his family and settled in “Lux”, surrounding himself with strong security. I started driving only an armored Mercedes. Therefore, for the next attempt, it was decided to use more powerful weapons than machine guns. On May 8, 1994, a second attempt to assassinate Bragin took place in Donetsk - this time using grenade launchers. But the kids told the police that near the meat processing plant, past which the armored Mercedes was supposed to drive, there was a GAZ-51 truck with five loaded grenade launchers in the back. The weapon was supposed to be activated by a radio-controlled device, converted... from a children's toy.

At the same time, a hunt was underway for one of Bragin’s business associates. Kushnir's group planted mine explosives in a car on the street along which the businessman was supposed to drive. When his car caught up with the “mined” car, an explosion occurred. However, the alleged victim was not injured, only the jeep was damaged

Elimination of the Samsonov brothers

Kushnir, who by that time already single-handedly dominated the gang, was also hampered by an authority nicknamed Samson (Bogdanov).

To develop plans to eliminate competitors, Moskvich was needed - it was with Kushnir and Ryabin that he figured out how to more reliably eliminate the eldest of the Bogdanov brothers (Samson). However, he himself did not participate in the operation: on the eve of the murder, he flew to Moscow.

And the plan was simple and daring - Samson was having lunch at the same time at the Teatralnoye cafe on Artema Street. And on April 12, 1995, Kushnir, having received information that Samson was heading for lunch, gave the command to begin the operation. A VAZ-2109 was stolen in advance and its license plates were replaced with fictitious ones. In this car, two gang members (who are no longer alive) drove up to the cafe and, seeing Samson on the threshold, shot him point-blank with pistols with silencers. At the same time, two accompanying Samson were killed. Having driven a couple of kilometers, the “shooters” got into a car that was waiting for them, and burned the stolen Zhiguli along with their weapons. This was the first of the gang's successful assassination attempts on competitors. But far from the last.

They decided to remove Samson Jr. when he left the entrance of the house on Ilyich Avenue in the morning. To do this, someone from the gang was constantly on duty nearby for several days and reported on the radio about all of Bogdanov’s movements. The murder was scheduled for August 10, 1995. Kushnir learned that the victim had been ordered a taxi for a certain time, and ordered him to act. Having allowed the taxi to drive away, the bandits cut off its path and began to “water” Bogdanov Jr., who was sitting in the front seat, with machine guns. He died on the spot.

But the most important “enemy” for the gang remained Bragin, who, as Kushnir and Ryabin expected, could not forgive them for the attempt on his life and the murder of his people

Fatal assassination attempt at Shakhtar stadium

Before the start of new hostilities, Kushnir did his best to “put pressure on the psyche” of Bragin’s business partners: they say that it is unsafe to deal with the Greek, you see, his people are being removed one by one. Along the way, rumors were spread about the presence of a group in the region capable of resolving any issues, including eliminating undesirable ones. Of course, this all-powerful group meant the “Kushnirovites.”

In the second half of 1995, Kushnir and Ryabin decided that the time had come to kill the Greek. Knowing that Bragin, being the president and an ardent fan of the Shakhtar football club, does not miss a single match of his favorite team, Kushnir proposed organizing a murder directly at the stadium. They decided to plant a bomb at the entrance to the guest stand. For this they needed Moskvich.

Later, the Russians conducted a search at the Bolotskys’ Moscow apartment. They found several notebooks in his possession in which he diligently kept notes on the explosive case.

For the operation, we purchased high-power plastic explosives for special purposes - with a fuse and an industrial remote control with four additional fuses and a remote control in the form of a key fob. At first, the plan was to plant a bomb in the guest box, but it was locked, and breaking the locks was risky. And in mid-September, members of the group A. Akulov and I. Filipenko (both no longer alive) over several nights hollowed out a niche in the concrete foundation at the entrance to the guest box, right under the wooden step, and planted about 5 kilograms of explosives, installing a remote fuse in Standby mode.

The bomb hole, which measured approximately 40x30x20 centimeters, was cemented by the “miners” so that nothing was noticeable. In addition, the stash site was covered with a wooden step.

It was planned that Bragin would be killed at Shakhtar’s match with some foreign team (with the Belgian Brugge). But for some reason he didn’t come. Ryabin and Kushnir had already begun to worry, fearing that the batteries would run out and the device would not work.

Yes, as experts explained, the batteries could very well be discharged. In addition, both during and after the planting of the bomb in Donetsk it was damp and raining (this was confirmed to the investigation by the hydrometeorological center). A carefully prepared operation could fail due to some batteries. Therefore, we decided to try again at the next game - this was the meeting between Shakhtar and Simferopol Tavriya on October 15, 1995

About 10 gang members took part in the operation at the stadium. The rest of the Kushnirovites dispersed along Bragin’s route and radioed about his movements.

I. Filipenko, wearing the uniform of a police captain, was in close proximity to the podium in order to detonate the bomb using a remote control. His candidacy was not chosen by chance: Filipenko, who had worked as a blaster in mines for several years, knew his job well. The imaginary captain at the stadium was covered by a real criminal major from one of the regional police departments of Donetsk (he went missing).

The bomber pressed the button at about 5 p.m., when Bragin and his entourage were going to the box. Together with Alik the Greek, five were killed, three were seriously wounded. As the bandits expected, in the panic that arose at the stadium, all participants in the terrorist attack managed to calmly “disperse” into the cars that were already waiting for them.

At the request of the Ukrainian side, the Israelis found this resident of Haifa (formerly from Donetsk), who spoke about Kushnir’s visit to him. The guest boasted that he had “overwhelmed” the Greek, and demanded from the owner 300 thousand dollars, which he allegedly owed to Chirik (who was involved in racketeering). The money, according to Kushnir, should go “to a good war” with the remaining competitors: he was very eager to take control of profitable areas of the economy and become “the most important” in the Donetsk region.

Kushnir's plans did not come true. Law enforcement agencies, and even “business” competitors, after the explosion at Shakhtar, forced the gang to go underground not for a month or a month and a half, as Kushnir thought, but for a whole year. The entry of the Kushnirovites into the arena became possible only in the spring of 1996

Investigation

Vyacheslav Sinenko

On December 10, 2009, the Donetsk Court of Appeal released from custody Major Vyacheslav Sinenko of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who is suspected of murdering the president of FC Shakhtar Akhat Bragin in 1995.

The court decided to send the criminal case for additional investigation, and change the preventive measure for 60-year-old Sinenko to a written undertaking not to leave the place. He suffers from coronary heart disease and is partially paralyzed.

Immediately after the announcement of this decision, Sinenko was carried out from behind bars in the arms of his lawyer and a journalist from a local publication. After the stroke, Sinenko cannot move independently. For the relatives and the accused himself, the court's decision to release came as a complete surprise. Out of joy, Sinenko could not utter a word.

The Prosecutor General's Office considers Sinenko involved in the murder of former Shakhtar owner Akhat Bragin.

Sinenko's lawyer said that witnesses were pressured to say that they did not see Sinenko at this concert. Sinenko believes that the case against him was fabricated by the former Prosecutor General of Ukraine Gennady Vasilyev.

Reference: In October 1995, as a result of an explosion during a football match, the president of the football team and 5 other people from his inner circle, including SBU Colonel Viktor Dvoinykh, were killed. In the spring of 2004, Sinenko was arrested in Greece, where he fled due to an attempt on his life. A year later, the suspect was extradited to Ukraine. On February 12, 2007, the Donetsk Court of Appeal sentenced Sinenko to life imprisonment for participation in the murder of Akhat Bragin and his guards. On September 4, 2008, the Supreme Court overturned this verdict as not motivated and not objective. The Donetsk Court of Appeal began to judge Sinenko again on October 29, 2008 - already with a new panel of judges.

In this criminal case, dozens of high-ranking officials were summoned to court as witnesses. Including people's deputy Rinat Akhmetov. But they never appeared in court

Akhat Khafizovich Bragin(Ukrainian Akhat Khafizovich Bragin, Tat. kht Hafiz uly Bragin); February 26, 1953, Stalino - October 15, 1995, Donetsk;) - crime boss Alik Greek(Ukrainian Alik Grek), president of the Shakhtar football club until October 15, 1995, was at the forefront of the creation of the largest financial and industrial group in Ukraine, which after his death became the main part of Rinat Akhmetov’s business conglomerate

Biography

Akhat Khafizovich Bragin was born into a Tatar family on the outskirts of Stalino near the airport, in the village of Oktyabrsky, Kuibyshevsky district. Brother - Rashid Evgenievich Bragin (born December 28, 1955), deputy of the Donetsk Regional Council. As a child, Bragin played football and was interested in boxing. Rinat Akhmetov and Viktor Yanukovych started in the ring with him. In his youth he received the nickname “Alik the Greek”. He began his career working as a butcher at the market near the Oktyabrskaya mine.

Akhat Bragin and Rinat Akhmetov controlled the Russian business of vodka products of Evgeniy Shcherban.

On March 19, 1994, an unsuccessful attempt was made on Bragin near his dovecote in the village of Peski, Yasinovatsky district.

This was not the first attempt. Someone named Bosun organized thimble makers in the city. One day they drove up to Akhat Bragin’s house and shot out Bragin’s windows. When Bragin found out who was shooting, they took the Bosun to Rinat Akhmetov’s home. Bragin was at home with Akhmetov. When the boatswain entered, Rinat shot him, but he was able to escape.

On May 8, 1994, a second unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Bragin took place - this time in Donetsk itself, using five grenade launchers. This assassination attempt had no precedents in the CIS in terms of technique and audacity of execution. Police officers found a GAZ-51 truck with five loaded grenade launchers mounted in the back on one of the streets. The weapon was supposed to be activated by a homemade radio-controlled device made from a children's toy.

On December 15, the Donetsk newspaper “Gorod” published an interview with the head of the Donetsk Ministry of Internal Affairs Arkady Boldovsky. The interview was called “Mafia showdowns: the police are sorting it out.” In it, Boldovsky stated that there are several mafia clans operating in Donetsk, the most powerful of which is headed by a man nicknamed Alik the Greek. The general director of the Lux company, Bragin, wrote a letter to the editors of Gorod, in which he stated that he had been undeservedly enrolled in the mafioso, thereby insulting his honor and dignity. He argued that such statements damage his business reputation. The next issue of the newspaper “Gorod” published a letter from Bragin.

On October 15, 1995, in Donetsk at the Shakhtar stadium during a football match, Akhat Bragin was killed as a result of the explosion of a powerful radio-controlled device. Five kilograms of plastic (about 11.5 kg of TNT) were used as explosives. Bragin's body was identified by the Rolex watch he was wearing. The head of his personal security, Viktor Dvoinykh, who previously served as a KGB colonel, also died with Bragin. Friend of Evgeniy Shcherban: “Zhenya was ordered by Lazarenko. I think it’s Bragina.” In the case of Bragin's murder, police major Vyacheslav Sinenko was sentenced to life imprisonment.

In 1996, Sergei Bubka, on the advice given by Akhat Bragin, created the Mont Blanc company.

Family

Akhatya Bragin’s daughter, Dilyara, born in 1985, died in 2009 from heart failure. Son Ravil, born in 1989, entrepreneur, lives in Donetsk.

Business of A. Bragin

A. Bragin owned a number of organizations, among them:

Bragin was the founder of the ARS company (co-founder of the Lemtrans company). The name “ARS” consists of the first letters of the names “Alik”, “Rinat”, “Samson”. Alik is Bragin, Rinat is Akhmetov, and Samson is Bogdanov.
Bragin was the founder and general director of the Donetsk company “Lux”.
"Ukrtekstiltorg"
A. Bragin was one of the five (together with Alexander Momot, Evgeniy Shcherban, Rinat Akhmetov) founders of the Industrial Union of Donbass (IUD) corporation.
The oil products sales company "Gefest" was created by Akhat Bragin together with Evgeniy Shcherban and Rinat Akhmetov.
Company "Lux". Subsequently, the company passed to Rinat Akhmetov.
System Capital Management (SCM).

Charity

Rinat Akhmetov believes that:

Alexander Sergeevich really was a patriot of the Donetsk region and loved his city very much. He was not in the business of deciding who was allowed into the region and who was not. It's just that people who came to him with bad intentions had no future here

Perpetuation of memory

The only mosque in Donetsk “Akhat-Jami” is named after Akhat Bragin

Bragin Akhat Khafizovich (aka Alexander Sergeevich Bragin, aka Alik the Greek)

President of the Shakhtar football club (until October 15, 1995), he was at the origins of the creation of the largest financial and industrial group in Ukraine, which, after his death, became the main part of Rinat Akhmetov’s business conglomerate.

Bragin was born into a Tatar family on the outskirts of Donetsk near the airport, in the village of Oktyabrsky, Kuibyshevsky district. In his youth, he received the nickname “Alik the Greek.”

BEGINNING OF THE WAR

Nevertheless, for some reason many experts in the fight against organized crime consider the day of this beginning to be March 19, 1994 - then there was an attempt on the life of Alik Grek in the village of Peski, Yasinovatsky district. But, as we already know, the shooting of prominent businessmen and bandits began earlier.

After Bragin refuses financial cooperation to Anatoly Ryabin, the situation becomes especially tense. As Vadim Bolotskikh testified during the investigation, Kushnir and Ryabin believed that Grek’s people also killed their friend, a thief in law nicknamed Chirik (this happened much later). In fact, the group, which later became known as the “Ryabin-Kushnir-Aliev” gang, and even later “the Kushnir gang,” grew up on the ruins of Chirik’s inheritance and gained its fame only because most of the crimes they committed were solved. Having learned that Alik the Greek regularly visits his favorite dovecote in Sands, they decided to remove Bragin there.

In Peski, near the reservoir, there is a children's pulmonology sanatorium. There were no children in the sanatorium at that time, and part of the building was rented for office space by the Lux company (the so-called “old Lux”).

Half an hour before the assassination attempt, three masked machine gunners stopped a white Moskvich driving along Mira Avenue. The raiders did not bother themselves with unnecessary conversations: they threw the driver out of the cabin and drove off in an unknown direction.

In the recreation area, Bragin’s car was ambushed - the exit from the sanatorium was blocked. It was only thanks to a lucky chance that Bragin remained alive then - due to unforeseen circumstances, those who were waiting prematurely opened fire from machine guns (according to another version - from pistols with silencers), used a live grenade.

Bragin remained alive - he was saved by pigeons: Alik the Greek took cover from bullets in a dovecote. Two “Lux” employees, who acted as the director’s security guards, died on the spot, four people were seriously injured, one of them, the sanatorium guard, died in the hospital. Bragin was also taken to Hospital No. 21. The doctor on duty reported the incident to the district police department. When the riot police arrived at the hospital, security from Lux was already stationed there. Both the police and Bragin’s people were on duty near the chamber itself.

After leaving the hospital, Alexander Sergeevich, as he was called in the world, moved to live in his office, located in the Donetsk Botanical Garden. His residence was the former Luxury Hotel of the Ministry of Coal Industry. The hotel rooms have been visited by many celebrities; members of the government and parliament have stayed in them. While in Donetsk, USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife Raisa Maksimovna also used the services of Lux. Since 1989, the respectable three-story building became the property of JSC "Lux". Touring Pugacheva, Kirkorov, Kobzon, Anastasia and other pop stars preferred to stay only in the Botanical Garden. “In the “Lux” it’s like in heaven,” Metropolitan Vladimir once remarked, blessing the hotel for many years. The hotel was guarded by the private security company Kodon. It was armed with pump-action shotguns. The territory of the company was carefully guarded; Bragin himself moved around the city exclusively accompanied by reliable security and in an armored Mercedes. The wife and children of the general director lived almost constantly on the territory of the Lux.

I only remember his grand entrance at some building not far from the arbitration court on Chelyuskintsev Street, when a small bulldog first jumped out of an anthracite Mercedes, and then a small, frail man appeared, who immediately disappeared, as if by magic. sticks - it was covered with about five umbrellas, painted to match the gelding. "It's from the snipers on the rooftops." - explained a colleague who is skilled in crime - from the memoirs of the author of the article.

Bragin Akhat Khafizovich - Alik Grek

Among the famous personalities of Donetsk one can highlight Bragin Akhat Khafizovich or simply Alik the Greek - a nickname that he received from his youth. This man is known as the president of the Shakhtar football club company until the fall of 1995. He was also lucky enough to begin the origins of the creation of a powerful industrial and financial group in Ukraine, which, after an assassination attempt, became the property.

Biography of Alik the Greek

Bragin was born on the outskirts of Donetsk in a Tatar family. As a child, I was interested in boxing and football. Alik the Greek received his nickname from a young age. He began his career with regular work as a butcher at the city market of Donetsk. During the period of perestroika of the country, he began to engage in entrepreneurship, creating a certain group of like-minded people. Alik the Greek also tried his hand at the games market and the foreign exchange market. And around the end of the 80s they began to talk about him as a major entrepreneur in Donetsk. At that time, he was investing capital in various corporations that organized the purchase of equipment from the West.

Givi Nemsadze (right)

In the 90s, Akhat Khafizovich opened the field of security services for other entrepreneurs in the Donetsk region. At that time, his circle included the following personalities: Dzhamalov, Fischuk, Dutko, Galushkin, Dolidze, Minailuk. Akhat Bragin developed connections with Moscow business people, and also directed all his efforts to work with Janos Krantsev, who later introduced him to Boris Kolesnikov, who later became a partner of the Donetsk authority. Akhat Khafizovich introduced into his group of entrepreneurs. The Central Market of the city brought good income to Bragin, but he extended his influence to other large points, such as the Khartsyzsk Pipe Plant, the Azovstal Combine, and later the Shakhtar Club. Due to the fact that Alik Grek controlled the business and financial interests of the Donetsk region, he began to be considered the “master of the city.”

Attempts on Alik's authority

Like other famous personalities, Alik the Greek did not go unnoticed by his ill-wishers, who made more than one attempt on his person. In 1994, two unsuccessful attempts were made to deprive the authority of his life: the first was carried out in Peski, Yasinovatsky district, where he often visited a dovecote, and the second took place in Donetsk using powerful weapons in the form of five grenade launchers. The last, third assassination attempt became fatal and was carried out in 1995 at the Shakhtar stadium.

The Kushnirovites, who were initially involved in petty robberies and murders, took part in the fatal assassination attempt. The group led by Evgeniy Kushnir and Anatoly Ryabin did not like the significant influence of Alik the Greek throughout the region - these guys did not like his authority. But the conflict between them began back in the 90s, when Grek refused to cooperate with Ryabin, and later they also accused Alik of involvement in the murder of Chirik, a Donetsk authority and friend of Kushnir.

The operation at the stadium was organized by all 16 members of the gang, 10 of whom were present directly at the scene of the assassination attempt. To kill Alik the Greek, the Kushnirovites used a high-power explosive device with a control panel, which was planted several weeks before the explosion. At 17:00 in the evening, Bragin and his entourage went to the box and were killed by planted explosives. As a result of the prevailing panic, all members of the Kushnirov gang successfully managed to escape in cars. After this incident, Kushnir’s allies had to “lay low” not for a few months, but for a whole year, because... Competitors in this area and law enforcement agencies were actively investigating the murder of Alik the Greek. In the future, the fate of Evgeny Kushnir and Anatoly Ryabin was not enviable - the first died in a pre-trial detention center a couple of years later, and the second was killed a year later.

Alik the Greek is a legend. No open source reports his date of birth. Even Wikipedia is modestly silent about this - as if we are talking about some mythical founder of the Han Dynasty. A Tatar by nationality, Akhat Khafizovich was born and raised in the village of Oktyabrsky. His coreligionists firmly settled here immediately after the war, creating a compact ethnic settlement. It was within this framework that Bragin’s talents were formed.

The Greek as a criminal character

Despite the reputation created by the press as the main Donetsk bandit, the Greek is officially credited with only two fairly innocent criminal episodes. In the mid-90s, the head of the city police, Arkady Boldovsky, who fiercely opposed Brain, described these episodes as follows: “The Kuibyshevsky District Court on November 24, 1971 sentenced him to suspended imprisonment with a correctional period of two years, and in the courtroom he was released from - in custody. On February 17, 1974, he and his brothers beat up a minor boy for hooligan reasons. The injured party calms down, since no serious consequences have occurred for her, and the case is dropped.”

Large-scale cheating business, the formation of an organized criminal group, connections with the Solntsevskaya organized crime group, extorting money from businessmen, provoking a gang war, shooting competitors - all this is attributed to the researchers of the Donetsk mafia to the Greek. The police documents do not contain any of this. In any case, no one has yet proven anything like this with a protocol in hand. Although, of course, arguments like “They don’t blow up anyone for no reason” are difficult to dispute.

Greek as a businessman

Young Akhat Bragin started in trade. Old-timers of the Oktyabrsky village love to tell legends about what an understanding butcher Alik was, how he did not regret throwing a bone to a poor pensioner grandmother. Before the reconstruction of the village market (under Soviet rule - one of the best for meat) there was even “Alik’s workplace” - a counter that some knowledgeable Donetsk residents even showed to city guests.

With the beginning of perestroika, store 41 in the Oktyabrsky village came under the management of Bragin. There they began to sell manufactured goods in short supply. The author, then a young employee of a large-circulation mine newspaper, once tried, while fulfilling an editorial assignment, to interview the director of a store whose activities caused serious resonance in the microdistrict. On the “back porch” (a powerful fortress wall), the yellow-haired journalist was stopped by guards and, after negotiations with the boss, they were escorted to him. Looking intently into the eyes of the incomprehensible alien (who forever remembered this unblinking frostbitten gaze), Akhat Khafizovich calmly, although somewhat tongue-tied, explained that there was nothing interesting for the newspaper in store 41, and just as dispassionately refused to answer other questions.

In the same style, he collaborated with the press and in the future - the bare minimum of information. Only at the very end of his biography, when he suddenly became a public figure (president of FC Shakhtar), did he make an attempt to get closer to the media. It was clear how difficult it was for him to communicate with journalists - the long-rooted rule “not to say too much” simply physically prevented him from articulating. This Bragin style was subsequently inherited by the majority of Donetsk businessmen - until 2005, they were extremely reluctant to communicate with the press, even if, like Boris Kolesnikov, they could express their thoughts quite coherently and sometimes figuratively.

Greek as a victim

The death of Akhat Bratin was the culmination of the “gangster war” in Donetsk. Unlike the date of birth, the day of his death is well known - on October 15, 1995, the president of FC Shakhtar was blown up at the entrance to the club stadium, where the match with Simferopol Tavriya had just begun. The remains were collected piece by piece...

Subsequently, the perpetrators were found - people from Yevgeny Kushnir’s group (from whom Bragin allegedly took away a profitable business) and a specially invited Moscow killer Vadim Bolotskikh. This was not the first attempt to remove the Greek - once he escaped literally by a miracle, taking refuge in the dovecote of his house in the village of Peski. His love for pigeons once almost led him to the monastery, but once saved his life...

Bragin was considered unsinkable. For many years, he very skillfully distanced himself from everyone - both from the “lawmakers”, the old guard of the criminal world, and from the “lawless men”, the new criminals represented by boxers, “jocks” and other specially trained guys. But historical Donetsk practice has shown: the one who is able to stop the shooting is truly unsinkable. Bragin could not do this - or did not understand that this was the key to success.

Greek as a myth

For Donetsk, Alik Grek is more than a businessman, the president of FC Shakhtar, or even an outstanding criminal character. He, like Odin in the Elder Edda, underlies all modern Donetsk myths. Any local phenomenon can be traced back to it in one way or another. The reason is clear: in the early 90s, when the latest Donetsk history began to take shape, the Greek was really able to take control of the main levers of managing people. The seemingly omnipotent “red directors” like Efim Zvyagilsky or representatives of the official authorities could pretend as much as they wanted that the Greek’s activities did not concern them in any way. Perhaps it was easier for them to perceive life this way.

In the Oktyabrsky village, a two-story house with a mezzanine, built by Bragin for his family, has been preserved intact. Cautious people still prefer to avoid it on cloudy days. Just in case. There is just such a sign...