FSB Detains St. Petersburg Criminal Mastermind Ilya Traber, Close Associate of Putin

On the morning of June 17, officers from the Central Office of the FSB detained businessman Ilya Traber in St. Petersburg, who is known by the nickname “the Antiquarian” in the city’s criminal underworld. Searches were conducted in connection with Traber’s case. Traber’s partner, Vladimir Danilenko, was also detained.

Fontanka reports that the case is connected to the murder of entrepreneur and municipal deputy Aleksandr Petrov in the Vyborgsky District of Leningrad Oblast in 2020. He was shot by a sniper. Petrov was considered Traber’s right-hand man and the “owner of Vyborg.” Petrov’s son, Vitaly, is the first Russian Formula 1 driver to compete in world championships.

The Telegram channel VChK-OGPU, citing sources, writes that shortly before his murder, Petrov allegedly began selling off assets in Vyborg and wanted to move abroad to join his son, which led to a conflict with Traber. The case has been transferred to the central office of the Investigative Committee, and Traber and Danilenko will be questioned in Moscow.

Along with Traber’s detention, law enforcement also conducted searches at the home of Gennady Petrov, the leader of the Petrov-Malyshev organized crime group, a source in the Ministry of Internal Affairs specializing in criminal organizations told IStories. This was also reported by the VChK-OGPU. Details of the search are unknown.

Who is Ilya Traber

Traber has known Vladimir Putin since the 1990s, during Putin’s time working at the St. Petersburg mayor’s office. According to Novaya Gazeta, in the 1990s, St. Petersburg Vice Mayor Vladimir Putin helped Traber with the privatization of the St. Petersburg seaport, which was the subject of fierce competition among several criminal clans.

Ilya Traber is a former submarine officer who went into business in the 1990s. In retirement, he was involved in the antiques business in St. Petersburg, which is how he got his nickname. His company, Antiquary, quickly became a monopoly on the city market with the support of Mayor Anatoly Sobchak.

During the redistribution of property in the 1990s, Traber gained control over St. Petersburg’s port infrastructure, including seaport terminals, logistics structures, land assets on the Baltic Sea, and projects in the oil and gas sector.

This includes the St. Petersburg Fuel Company (PTK), the St. Petersburg seaport, and the aircraft refueling service at Pulkovo Airport. Traber was involved in the expansion of ports in Primorsk and Ust-Luga and participated in the creation of the Northern Sea Route. Among his subordinates was the current head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller. Traber was also considered the “shadow owner” of Vyborg.

Spain declared Traber internationally wanted in connection with the Malyshev organized crime group case. He is suspected of ties with its leaders, Gennady Petrov and Aleksandr Malyshev (both were detained during a major operation in Europe).

Traber’s former bodyguard, Sergey Gess, claims that before becoming president, Vladimir Putin would visit Traber’s office “for advice.”

“He’s still incognito. He never showed off: in the ’90s he drove a Zhiguli [cheap Soviet and Russian car model based on the Fiat 124]. And I didn’t understand why he drove [such a cheap car]? And once we’re driving, he’s behind the wheel, and coming toward us is a BMW, a Mercedes… And the Antiquarian says: ‘It’s too early to buy foreign cars, 1937 could still start again,’” Gess recalled about his boss’s habits.

• As IStories reported, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Traber, together with Leningrad Oblast Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko, created “the Leningrad Frontier” foundation to support the Russian military. In the eight months of 2022, the foundation collected 56 million rubles in donations, but a significant portion of these funds ended up with the family of businessman Oleg Barzinsky, who is close to Drozdenko and Traber. A co-founder of the foundation is Traber’s charity foundation, “Starorusskaya, 12.” This is the address of Ilya Traber’s mansion, known in St. Petersburg’s criminal chronicles of the 1990s. According to official reports, in 2025 this foundation allegedly spent 46.1 million rubles on donations.

Who is Gennady Petrov

Petrov is known as one of the leaders of the Malyshev criminal organization. He is acquainted with high-ranking Russian security officials, for example with FSB First Deputy Director Sergei Korolev. Petrov also called Vladimir Putin his friend, and a Spanish intelligence officer described Petrov as an acquaintance of Putin from the KGB days.

In the early 1990s, Petrov was listed as a member of the Malyshev organized crime group. By the mid-1990s, companies associated with Petrov acquired stakes in the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal and the St. Petersburg Fuel Company. These businesses were also linked to Ilya Traber.

Petrov also became a co-owner of Bank Rossiya, which brought together Putin’s friends from the Ozero cooperative: Yury Kovalchuk, Nikolai Shamalov (his son Kirill is the former husband of Putin’s daughter Yekaterina), and developer Viktor Myachin. At the same time, Petrov became a neighbor to Putin’s friends in the famous house on Kamenny Island.

In 1996, Petrov moved to Spain, where he became the target of surveillance by local law enforcement. The Spanish investigation found that Petrov discussed appointments of senior officials and heads of state companies with leaders of the Investigative Committee, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the FSB. Petrov claimed that he had worked with Putin in the KGB. Former FSB officers told Novaya Gazeta that he could have been a KGB informant.

In 2008, Petrov and Aleksandr Malyshev were detained in Spain, but the case eventually collapsed. In 2010, Petrov was released on bail and later returned to Russia.

• As IStories found out, recently Petrov has been involved in two Russian projects worth hundreds of billions of rubles. These include the construction of the Tavrida highway in Crimea and the Scandinavia highway between St. Petersburg and Finland, as well as the supply of coal, pig iron, and iron ore raw materials across Russia and abroad through the largest trader that emerged on the market after Evraz was included in the sanctions lists.