Dossier of Dubiousness: Did Putin's Man in Crimea Have Mafia Ties?

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http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/dossier-suggests-crimea-prime-minister-aksyonov-had-crime-ties-a-960644.html



Secret documents provide new information about how Crimea's newly installed prime minister amassed his assets. They also suggest Sergei Aksyonov had ties to the mafia. To this day, he denies any links to organized crime.

Dossier of Dubiousness: Did Putin's Man in Crimea Have Mafia Ties?
By Benjamin Bidder
March 25, 2014 – 05:08 PM

Chandeliers hang from the ceiling of St. George Hall in the Grand Kremlin Palace. Gold stars evoke the glory of the past. Inscriptions extolling Russia's heroes of past and present engraved between them: "For service and bravery." In 1945, the victors of the battle of Berlin were honored in the hall and, in 1961, Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, was fêted. It's a hall for marking historical occasions.

Last Tuesday, a man stood in the limelight of St. George Hall who had previously attracted attention largely for lacking any scruples when it came to growing his private assets. Sergei Aksyonov, who was installed as Crimea's prime minister by pro-Russian forces and is known in mafia circles under the alias "Goblin," took a seat in the Kremlin in the very front row, next to the Russian prime minister.

He was there for an address by Russian President Vladimir Putin, a speech in which he lamented corruption in Ukraine and politicians who care about nothing but their own prosperity. Then he extended his hand to Aksyonov, who spent the last two decades amassing a vast business empire along the Black Sea.

A Perfect Puppet

Few know more about the career of Moscow's Crimean representative than officials within the Kremlin. And when Aksyonov read out a rather clumsy televized plea for Russian assistance on March 1, it is likely that Russia's intelligence services were somehow involved. Aksyonov, it was clear, hadn't written the call for help himself. With a past that leaves him open to blackmail, he's a perfect puppet.