Sergei Kukura biography. Tatyana Kukura - one of the “gray mice”

About the fact that the first vice president oil company they kidnapped him for a reason, but took him hostage for ransom, it became reliably known a day later, when LUKoil security officers and police watched a videotape recording the address of the kidnapped man himself. The cassette was found at the grave of another vice president of the company, Vitaly Schmidt, who died mysteriously after a conflict within the corporation. It was this place at the Ankudinovsky cemetery in the Moscow region that unknown people called the security service. The video message confirmed the seriousness of the kidnappers' claims for three million dollars and three million euros in small denominations.

And then the games began between oil workers, operatives and analysts from various intelligence agencies around the ransom and the conditions for its transfer. The media has been used as a weapon in the information war. LUKoil announced a million-dollar reward for anyone who can help find the first vice president. Two were shown on TV travel bags with banknotes, supposedly prepared for the kidnappers, and the newspapers came to the conclusion that only a helicopter could lift such an amount of money. Versions flashed: internal squabbles, machinations of competitors from other oil giants, security racketeering. They haven't forgotten about the Chechens either. Even Spartak turned up under the hot hand - just in this football club, part of the LUKoil empire, a conflict broke out around Dmitry Sychev.

The official version seemed the most exotic - “kidnapping for ransom.” Even the amount of the ransom (three million dollars and the same number of euros) raised doubts. Meanwhile, journalists got it from somewhere that Kukura’s shares alone are worth at least $50 million. One newspaper reported that he earned almost two million dollars a month, drawing analogies with other famous hostages. Is it worth starting such a terrible case as kidnapping the “second man” of a powerful company just to intercept some cash? Therefore, they started talking about foreign accounts in the name of the top officials of the corporation, which Kukura, who oversaw all monetary transactions oil workers, should have known it by heart. They remembered Schmidt, who died just after an attempt to streamline the financial relations of LUKoil with offshore companies... They learned that it was on Kukura’s initiative that Nikolai Kulikov, who led the corporation’s subsidiary for Arctic tanker transportation, was removed the day before. In response, Kulikov disappeared with company documents that could relate to a new project to transport fuel from Murmansk to the USA, where LUKoil bought a network of gas stations.

Kitchen conversation

Just in those days - between the kidnapping and the return of Kukura - three people accidentally gathered at the tea table: an FSB officer with a doctorate in economics, a FAPSI officer with interests in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and a journalist. He began to bother competent people:

Strange affair! How is it that, in violation of all the rules, a security guard came out of the car to people wearing masks? Where does this come from? careful attitude to him and the driver? It looks like a re-enactment. Most likely, the task is not a ransom, but to pump out confidential information from Kukura. This may be necessary for both business colleagues and government officials, who right now, at a time of redistribution of property and oil companies entering the American market, want to obtain grounds for blackmail, for “biting off” pieces of LUKoil. In any case, you will see that there will be no operation to free him, the money will not be transferred, and Kukura himself will show up somewhere. His one temporary absence, uncontrolled by LUKoil, is already a blow to the company; it discredits all the developments that he could know about, and jeopardizes not only semi-shadow financial transactions, but also the stock exchange successes of the corporation.

As in the case of Belenko, who flew to Japan, when he had to change the entire army coding system for aircraft, now we have to redo the entire financial circulation system of the company. Who knows what they'll get out of Kukura on drugs.

Rather, there is intrigue here outside LUKoil, and not inside. Or nearby... - the officer-economist shared his thoughts. - Alekperov himself, the president of the company, does not need such a scandal; none of his deputies is yet capable of organizing such an operation. In addition, Alekperov and his company have reached the limit of development; it is increasingly difficult for him to guarantee the integrity of its organization and its funds. The kidnapping is further evidence that the state does not take on this function. And no one will allow him to create a “state within a state.” This means that in order to preserve those billions that he has already officially recognized as his property, he needs his own state. Azerbaijan, for example...

But there is both a khan and an heir?

Firstly, it is not known which of Aliyev Jr. will be the heir; there are serious doubts. And LUKoil means a lot for Azerbaijan. Like Azerbaijan for Alekperov, it was not without reason that a few years ago there was a rumor that he had built a mausoleum for himself in the sands there.

I don’t know about the mausoleum, but I think Alekperov has little chance of winning the Azerbaijani throne: the Aliyev clan will not leave him,” said an officer with police connections. - Another thing is that somewhere in the States there could be former Baku residents who stood at the financial and organizational origins of LUKoil, in other words, who served as its “roof”. No, not some petty “authorities”, but respectable people, back in Soviet time controlled the "guild workers". Do you think that without American support, LUKoil would have been able to purchase a thousand gas stations for East Coast? So, such people look at Alekperov, and even more so at Kukura, like “thieves in law” at a “cow”. Sergey Petrovich, there is information, he wanted to leave the company. In this context, his abduction is a signal to Alekperov: “Don’t try it!” from other, no less real owners with no less real, but not announced billions.

Let's say you're right. Let's summarize the forecasts? I say that Kukura will soon appear himself.

“And I,” the economist smiled ominously, “I think that Alekperov will soon begin a “dark streak.” He alone will not be able to manage such a closed colossus in all three spheres - political, economic and criminal. Despite the fact that the politicians surrounding the company are ready to tear it apart, the security forces are ready to snatch it, and the criminals are ready to bite it off.

“My forecast is the most primitive,” the journalist who provoked the conversation concluded with gloomy cynicism. - Perhaps these days some connection between the leaders of LUKoil and the shadow world will come to light. In addition, I think that the former president of LUKoil-Arctic will have very bad luck in the near future...

This, of course, is nothing more than idle talk. But I was still convinced that there really was an application by S.P. Kukura for employment in a private organization as a deputy general director on the scientific side.

According to him, at dawn on the 25th he was picked up, taken to a field and left with a bag over his head. At first he thought he was going to be killed, but then he discovered that the kidnappers had disappeared, leaving him with a neatly folded work suit and some money. Having wandered along rural roads, train stations and trains, he found out that he was in the Bryansk region (and he was apparently being held beyond the neighboring border, in his native Belarus). From there, Bryansk taxi driver Viktor Filin took him to his personal dacha near Moscow; on the way, Kukura did not call anywhere, but bought two buckets of apples and a bottle of beer. Owl, who became a star, then showed the empty container to curious television crews.

The first about the happy deliverance of his right hand Alekperov found out when he arrived at the vice-president’s official dacha, where he was immediately transported. Then the police, prosecutors and other serving public arrived. Sergei Petrovich did not say anything intelligible about the kidnappers. The next day, it was shown as a protocol on all channels. And everyone who could have anything to do with his search started talking about their own great success. The behavior of the oil workers, who most likely found ways to influence the invaders, looked most solid. But before telling what is known about their negotiations, it’s time to tell the parameters of the main negotiating party.

Gagik with Bogomol against LUKoil?

The oil company LUKoil employs about 120 thousand workers. Only RAO UES and Gazprom have more. In 2001, she paid taxes of 21 billion 190 million rubles. In August of this year, as newspapers reported on the day of Kukura’s abduction, she pumped 6.8 million tons of oil out of 32.831 million produced in Russia in a month. Most. For the first half of 2002, revenue amounted to $6,676 million, a decrease of $208 million compared to the same figures last year. Profits fell 46 percent. The investment attractiveness rating, which is difficult for economists to determine, still remained the highest among Russian companies fuel and energy complex.

And a gang of petty racketeers raised their hands against such a whale? And this is exactly what the representatives began to prove different levels internal affairs bodies and the prosecutor's office, while quarreling among themselves and putting each other in a funny position at press conferences. Shortly after the return of the hostage, portraits of the three suspects, found in the archives of the already disbanded Moscow region RUBOP, were even distributed through the media. A certain Alexander Vetlugaev, Sergei Melchakovsky and Gagik Bgdoyan, as it later turned out, were previously suspected of a kidnapping committed according to a similar scheme. And on this basis they were remembered and presented to the persistent public.

There was confusion. Because Gagik Bgdoyan, who was put on the wanted list, immediately appeared. Accompanied by journalists and under the gun of television cameras, he came to give evidence directly to the Prosecutor General's Office. There they could not present him with anything serious and on old matters he was sent to a unit near Moscow.

How the investigation is going now is unknown; only what comes to light is what is brought to the public for one purpose or another. In particular, the name of the intermediary appeared, whom Kukura named in the video message. This is a three-times-convicted native of Odessa, Gennady Bogomolov, 52 years old, who spent a total of twelve and a half years behind bars and was apparently crowned there as a “thief in law” nicknamed Bogomol. After liberation, he lived in Kogalym, the cradle of LUKoil. There he met its founders, among whom was the future hostage. He started his own business with the company, but soon broke away from it and renamed his company from LUKoil-Market to the Agrika company.

Petrovich and the owner from the high road

Due to the obvious “sloppiness” of the official version, the journalistic version about the staging of the kidnapping continued to live, confirmed both by the care of the kidnappers and the strangeness of his release. I needed one more conversation - with an old acquaintance of Sergei Petrovich Kukura. Naturally, on condition of anonymity.

Yes, he could not do this to himself! Not the kind of person to scare his family or ruin his reputation. Note that before his abduction he was little known, although his post and influence allowed him to “shine.” He avoided public fame. But this is precisely modesty, not secrecy. He shook hands with the workers at the construction of the dacha, and could tinker with them. All social structure He came from the very bottom of society and never forgot where he came from. Not a gentleman, let alone Ralif Safin - he doesn’t even know what’s in his refrigerator. Out of the same simplicity, he bought a bucket of apples and ate them on the way home.

Is it really possible for a person who earns two lemons to eat a bucket of apples?

What bucks! According to my ideas, Petrovich earns no more than two million rubles. The journalists got it wrong. He spends money on real estate and on children who study abroad with him. My son recently arrived from London to get married. In Russian. Although the family is afraid to live in Russia, as we see, it is not by chance. And it was not for nothing that he wanted to leave LUKoil - he felt uncomfortable there. I wanted to organize my own high school managers, he has after all scientific works. Alekperov did not let him go, and in a rather harsh manner... And Sergei Petrovich kept dreaming about social and scientific, and not production activities. He is a statesman in his worldview...

One can only guess what is happening inside LUKoil now. As well as what prompted Sergei Petrovich Kukura to ask to resign. But there is one case that sheds light on “their morals.” The case is old, but bright, since it was connected with the default of 1998, which worried everyone, when many depositors of many banks were cheated out. Among them are depositors of the Imperial Bank, attracted to it by advertising about world history.

I conducted this investigation four years ago, now I have only clarified some names and dates in it. It was not published: the newspaper where I worked at that time preferred not to quarrel with the rich and influential in difficult days. No, the main one had no complaints about the material, it was simply decided to direct all the post-default rage of the masses at the “boy” who said: “But the king is naked.” That is, to Kiriyenko.

So - evidence from the past.

It is clear when a gangster “roof”, having milked a bank organized specifically for money laundering, then makes it bankrupt. But here they let one of the first in the wind go modern Russia large commercial banks, which from the first day created for itself the image of a solid successor of conservative traditions. “Imperial” collapsed not because of state bonds, not because of budget shortfalls - it had little to do with state money. He fell precisely because of his obsessive desire to work with domestic industry. Its leaders, Gazprom and LUKoil, who are also the main shareholders of the bank, deliberately failed it. Obviously, the captains of our capitalist industry, being true communists at heart, considered that they had every right to solve all their problems by expropriation at the expense of the financial bourgeoisie. And the current heads of other banks who flew out of the Imperial nest and took their first banking lessons there, including the then head of the Central Bank Sergei Dubinin, were unable to help.

Gazprom, being the last holder of a blocking stake in Imperial before the 1998 default, was also one of its main borrowers. Rem Vyakhirev urgently needs to pay taxes - and the head of the concern, who is also the chairman of the board of directors of the bank, finds hard cash nearby. At one time, the idea of ​​holding banks that would service the accounts of our gas hope and support was even explored. But the proud “Imperial” did not want to go under the wing of its pupil Alexander Lebedev, who headed the National Reserve Bank, around which it was planned to rally the holding.

And then a proposal from another “blocker” arrived - LUKoil, which owned a 26 percent stake in Imperial. The oil giant bought another 7 percent of shares from the gas giant, and Vagit Alekperov replaced Rem Vyakhirev at the head of the board of directors of the bank. The bank was happy to lean against the new powerful shoulder. The new owner announced a plan for the sixth issue of shares of the bank, designed to form a controlling stake in Lukoil hands. The prospectus for the issue was even registered, but the initiator did not contribute money, and the new redistribution of shares somehow stalled.

But in June 1998, a press release to the whole world announced that LUKoil was linking its financial destiny with a new prestigious acquisition. They were supposed to move through "Imperial" cash flows, connecting oil empire with external and inner world. But LUKoil even preferred to formalize its relations with its subsidiaries through accounts in other banks. By this time, the concern was late in returning $33 million to the bank. The loan repayment period expired in early spring, and by the summer, the bank had to borrow 200 million rubles daily on the interbank short-term loan market just because of this, in order to plug the unplanned hole.

Let us recall that it was in February-March 1998 that the next round of the global oil crisis began. This is precisely how the new owners explained their debt. However, why then did Vagit Alekperov, speaking at all sorts of geopolitical seminars, advocate for ending the economic blockade of Iraq? He said that his company has a share in the deposits there, which, if canceled international sanctions will allow it to earn money from exports. But in this case, firstly, the price of oil on the world market would drop sharply, and secondly, who would then need Russian oil of worse quality? Obviously, Alekperov had some other goals than the survival of our industry.

The bank began to guess with horror about other goals that were not declared when seizing power at Imperial: Alekperov does not transfer the accounts of his subsidiaries, does not contribute money for a new issue, and does not pay for loans. Then Vagit Alekperov, together with First Vice President Sergei Kukura, paid a visit to the Central Bank. According to some reports, they appeared there more than once at the end of July - beginning of August 1998, just before the default. We met with Dubinin’s then first deputy, Sergei Aleksashenko. It is known for sure that they asked him for a stabilization loan of $100 million.

I can’t vouch for the literalness, but the Central Bank said something like this: it’s better to let LUKoil return the loans it took from Imperial - and it won’t need any stabilization from the Central Bank. It is quite possible to assume that the conversation continued like this: won’t you give it? Then I will deal with the bank differently! And Alekperov dealt with “Imperial” according to the principle of “push if you fall.”

On August 13 (four days before the default), LUKoil reissued its debt to Imperial into promissory notes for 161,904,200 rubles - maturing in three years and for 379,414,000 rubles - for a period of fifteen years. That is, the amount of his deferred debts - more than half a billion rubles - is almost equal, when converted into dollars at the then exchange rate, to the amount that Alekperov asked from Aleksashenko. And the bank collapsed under the weight of the owner's affection. On August 26, Imperial’s license was revoked, so in 15 years there will be no one to repay the debts.

But on August 26, another significant event took place for the world-historical bank. President of Imperial Vladimir Forosenko issued Order No. 45 “On the transfer of assets and liabilities of branches of JSB Imperial”. Wrote: "Submit Commercial bank"Petrocommerce" assets and liabilities of the balance sheets of branches of JSB Imperial in Perm, Astrakhan, Moscow, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Novorossiysk, Kirov, Berezniki of the Perm region as of 26 August 1998." Everything would be fine; businessmen have the right to make such decisions. But not on the day the license is taken away! According to the bankruptcy law, Forosenko could only make utility payments in his frozen bank.

As a result, he deprived the bank's depositors of assets rather than liabilities. Under the same bankruptcy law, depositors will try to get their money back, but it will turn out that the bank's property is their property! - transferred to some stranger “Petrokommerts”. By " hotline“One of Imperial’s private depositors called the Central Bank and complained that even to Sberbank (there was such a procedure then, in September 1998, that made it possible to receive at least something in the future) he could not transfer his account, since Imperial had the license was withdrawn before the general collapse.

But for the poor private owner, Petrokommerts is alien and little-known. Alekperov and Forosenko know him well: Forosenko headed it before Imperial, while Alekperov made the quiet and not world-famous bank the financial capital of his empire. Before latest story he transferred to Petrocommerce the branches of the Langepas and Kogalym banks serving oil workers. Again, capitalism with a Soviet face. A large, reputable enterprise should have its own everything: a state farm, social services, and a sports team. And a real red director has a faithful accountant. In modern times, the president of the company has his own bank with his own banker.

Under real capitalism, American capitalism, it also happened that the main shareholders, the owners of the bank, also became its main borrowers. It all ended with the Great Depression. Coming out of the systemic crisis of the first third of the twentieth century, American legislators decided that it was better to separate such ambiguous relations between the bank and the owner. And the combination was prohibited.

Returning to the new millennium, I report that today Petrocommerce Bank is in tenth place in the Izvestia rating, that is, approximately where the default stopped the Imperial Bank, whose depositors continue lawsuits, demanding the return of what was taken away. Alekperov continues to worry about the fate of Iraq, thereby pushing the price to fall Russian oil. However, this is a separate topic.

Big trouble

The cost of a ton of Lukoil oil is now 27 percent higher than that of YUKOS, and 40 percent higher than that of Sibneft. Maybe because of the state of the deposits, maybe because of the weight of social costs. Maybe because of the slowness and opacity of management. Most likely - from the combination of all these factors. In any case, LUKoil is more active than other Russian oil sisters in trying to escape from itself, from its Langepass-Kogalym dependence.

He invests in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, hoping to make money from offshore oil fields. He plans to extract fuel at the gates of a united Europe - from the shelf near Kaliningrad, build a deep-water terminal in Murmansk and pull a pipe to it from new fields in Yamal. And he actively goes abroad - to the Balkans, Central Europe, Iraq and America.

So, in many areas these days he is experiencing misfires (remember the forecast of the economist officer!). “Severnaya Neft” has won the favor of the governor of the Nenets Okrug Butov - and it has been entrusted to unpack the promising fields of “Gamburtsev Shaft”. Despite the PR campaign with the initiation of criminal cases and arbitration proceedings. In Murmansk you have to fight with your own former manager. Kaliningrad will not decide on its own status. The Federal Energy Commission is going to include the Caspian Consortium among natural monopolies, in order to then forcefully regulate its tariffs. The 5.9 percent of LUKoil shares, which the state has been planning for the second year to tear away from its stake in the company and sell into the hands of managers of LUKoil itself, the Ministry of Property is in no hurry to put up for auction, allegedly because of poor quotes. The story with SIBUR led to LUKoil losing undivided control at one of the gas processing plants.

The English partners, with whom the company went to tender for the purchase of 75 percent of the shares of the Gdansk Oil Refinery, refused to cooperate. And before that, Alekperov, barely convinced of the health of his first deputy, spent a lot of effort convincing the Polish government of his own loyalty. The Greek oil refining company won the competition for the privatization of the Montenegrin state-owned company, beating LUKoil, although before that the Russians had negotiated the purchase of 23.17 percent of the shares of the Greeks themselves.

Foreign partners are not satisfied with the level of transparency of the company, or, simply put, with the lack of transparency of its motives and mechanisms. Although LUKoil was ranked ninth in Russia by this integral indicator in the rating of the international agency Standard & Poor's, the degree of openness of information about its shareholders market capitalization, management and its remuneration are not even up to the average level. That is, most of the data is not available in open sources. True, Alekperov believes that direct investment, which any production so needs, depends more on the climate created by legislators and the government. But why then right now does he have so many “bummers”? Maybe, by the way, someone at the top is waging a war with him, one of the battles of which was the kidnapping of Kukura?

In any case, the secrecy applies to everyone who has ever touched LUKoil. I was unable to get comments on the “tea conversation,” even on condition of anonymity, from one of its former leaders. Let's be content with the opinion former president bank that once worked with the company. By the way, he defended his dissertation at the same time as Sergei Kukura.

Expert opinion

Are you saying that without help from inside the US it is impossible to get a network of gas stations there? This is not our capitalist jungle; their tenders are held openly. Paid half a billion dollars - get a thousand columns. I think that with your gasoline, you can recoup this amount in two years. Of course, no one will help our oligarchs infiltrate, but they won’t immediately become enemies either. The relationship between the oil giants can be described by the old term "frenemies."

But they have it. And we have?

We have more players: different groups at the top, in the security forces, in the shadows. And corporations enter into all kinds of relationships. Why should oil workers have anything to do with the TV-6 dispute? But there Berezovsky was handed over through the hands of LUKoil-Garant.

The strength of the attack on LUKoil indicates the closeness of the attackers to power. By the way, there is a version that Kukura was kidnapped by active police officers...

Don't know. But I see a problem within the company. It has reached the stage of a “corpuscular corporation” and now must move into a new quality. Or fall apart.

Alekperov and world history

The transition to a new quality is taking place before our eyes: Alekperov is forced to interfere in world politics. On the one hand, he has two concessions in Iraq, and he is interested in the entry of cheap oil there into the open market; on the other hand, he has an emerging business in America. In the Caucasus, he is interested in the political stability of post-Soviet authoritarian regimes (for uninterrupted pipes) and at the same time can fish in the muddy Caspian wave. He is participating in the complex division of the Caspian shelf, beating Iran and achieving the desired decisions from other Caspian countries. But if America doesn’t like all this, it will refuse to take into account the interests of LUKoil when changing the regime in Iraq. And cheap Iraqi oil, including from wells that LUKoil is still counting on, will push expensive Siberian oil out of the market. That's when the company will fall apart.

Alekperov decided alone, without the British, to join the tender for a controlling stake in the Gdansk plant, and intensified negotiations on the purchase of a network of gas stations in Germany from British Petroleum. He negotiated with Transneft to expand export opportunities, participated in the discussion of a project to create reserve storage facilities for domestic needs and for the uninterrupted supply of Russian oil to the American market. He was clearly looking for confirmation of his position from Russian and world oil sisters. And at this time they were solving their problems: those closer to current government TNK and Sibneft created an alliance on the eve of the privatization of Slavneft. This alliance will oppose LUKoil in the fight for the state-owned stake in the Russian-Belarusian company that is being put up for auction.

If Alekperov loses - and his chances of winning are slim - then further opportunities for the company's extensive development within Russia will be sharply narrowed. What remains is abroad with its demands to modernize the management system and obey its rules of the game. In general, today the giant corporation is going through a difficult period, and misterious story with the kidnapping and rescue of her vice president only crystallizes that multilateral difficult situation, where LUKoil is located.

Yesterday in the Smolensk regional court, where the case of local “authorities” Igor Ryabokon and Yuri Statsenko, accused of murder and kidnapping, is being heard, First Vice-President of NK LUKOIL Sergei Kukura gave testimony. He identified one of his kidnappers by his voice.

The vice-president of LUKOIL was expected on Tuesday, but he was unable to fly from Moscow due to bad weather and traveled to Smolensk by car.

For more than three hours, Sergei Kukura talked about how he was kidnapped and how he spent two weeks in a Smolensk village. He started with an episode on the highway, when he was stopped by strong guys in camouflage. When the kidnappers handcuffed the LUKOIL vice-president, one of them asked: “How much do you value your life now?” Sergei Kukura replied: “Now - not a single penny!” According to Sergei Kukura, immediately after the capture he was injected several times with some kind of drug, presumably morphine, after which he began to vomit violently and could not sleep for three nights in a row.

The victim told how the criminals treated him: they fed him potatoes and canned food, drank tea with him, but did not take off their masks. At night they took me to the toilet, which was located next to the house, but they forbade me to turn around. One of the kidnappers kept starting conversations with the prisoner, which always came down to money. Sergei Kukura privately nicknamed him a “moral sadist.” The kidnappers discussed among themselves what to do with the captured person: cut off fingers or ears. “Every morning I woke up and didn’t know if I would live until the evening,” Mr. Kukura said.

During the investigation, Sergei Kukura identified Igor Ryabokon as the “moral sadist” by his voice. “This man is sitting in this room now,” Sergei Kukura answered the prosecutor’s question. When Alexander Vasiliev, Igor Ryabokon’s lawyer, began to ask by what signs the LUKOIL vice-president “identifies the defendant’s voice,” Sergei Kukura replied: “I don’t analyze my wife’s voice by frequency. I can recognize the voice of my son in the same way. And I’ll talk to you three times and I’ll recognize your voice.”

Finally, Sergei Kukura said that before releasing him, the kidnappers poured him 50 grams of cognac and said: “Petrovich, don’t think badly.” But they immediately added: “If anything, you have a wife and children!”

Then Stanislav Izotov, head of the corporate security department of NK LUKOIL, testified. He said that during the negotiations it was possible to “lower” the ransom amount from $10 million to $3 million and €3 million, and then even to $1 million. Records of these negotiations, as well as video messages from Sergei Kukura, who asked to be bought out, are available in materials of the case, but have not yet appeared in court. In general, it is still unclear under what conditions the kidnappers released the captive.

ANDREY BALOV, Smolensk

The most high-profile crime Recently, the abduction of the first vice-president of LUKOIL, Sergei Kukura, did not have fatal consequences. The prisoner was released, and Vedomosti was the first to interview him. There are many mysteries in his case, but Kukura was able to clarify little on the merits - he is bound by a non-disclosure agreement. But the victim shared his human impressions of the experience.

Has anything changed in your perception of the world after the kidnapping experience?

Such extreme situations, of course, God forbid that they happen, somehow cleanse. They cleanse you of some pettiness and vanity. You begin to understand what is important in life and what is secondary. I seem to have a greater sense of love for people. Then, it is probably important for every person what they will think about him after death, when he can no longer change anything. Such thoughts had visited me before, but only now, it seems to me, have I fully felt this truth - whatever a person does, he should do it as if it were the last time in his life.

That is, in captivity you did not exclude the worst?

What do you mean didn't exclude? I knew. I knew until the last moment that they would kill me. I didn't think I'd survive.

Was this somehow made clear to you?

No, on the contrary. For the first three days I asked that the body be given to the relatives, and if no one is going to bother with the body, then at least they would give me the news in which ditch they buried it. They told me: “When the time comes, we’ll discuss it.” And to the question “When will you kill me?” they answered: “Come on, you will still live. As long as you behave normally, you fulfill the conditions, nothing will happen to you.” I believe this was only said because the victim, the hopeful life, is easier to manage. Therefore, there was no thought that I would be alive.

How were you treated?

Probably the only thing I was afraid of there was physical torture. Not that there was animal fear, but I wanted last minutes live without suffering. It is difficult to talk about the nobility of the kidnappers in such a situation, but they did not use any physical violence, except for such everyday trifles as handcuffing.

Were any drugs used on you?

Yes, they stabbed me during the capture, and then one more time. I don't know what it was. When they drove me, at first I tried to calculate the turns, but then a state of some kind of half-asleep, oblivion set in.

It was reported that you also arrived home under the influence of something. ..

It is not true. I was in absolutely normal condition. But while still in captivity, when on the seventh day I forbade myself to think about death, I decided: if I get out of here, I’ll immediately drink a glass of cognac at home. That's what we did with my wife and her friend - completely non-drinking people.

What demands did the kidnappers make of you?

Sorry, I signed a non-disclosure agreement with the investigative authorities about everything related to my detention, so I cannot answer.

You have been living under guard for many years and do not use public transport. In this regard, how did you manage to travel “on your own” from the Bryansk region to the Moscow region?

No problem. It is a misconception that people like me live in a vacuum. It is impossible to isolate yourself from the world. For example, on weekends I go to tennis in my personal car. I myself sit behind the wheel and often look away from the guards, which she is very unhappy with. My wife and I walk the dog in the forest and sometimes even talk to strangers. And on the way there was, perhaps, only one problem: in the clothes that I was wearing, I looked like a scourge. It seemed to me that everyone was looking at me, and this made me feel awkward.

But the kidnappers returned your suit. ..

Yes, but it was terribly wrinkled and dirty. It may seem strange, but I decided that my old clothes suited my unwashed and unshaven look better.

How was your return received by your colleagues, including those from other companies?

I did not meet colleagues from other companies, and in general my circle of contacts was very limited. Limited primarily by the correctness and delicacy of people. Nevertheless, I received a lot of calls - from classmates, governors, people from Western Siberia, with whom I previously worked. The first person I met from the company was our president Vagit Yusufovich Alekperov. We are friends for life, although we are ranked by position. I have a feeling that now we will be even closer.

- LUKOIL reported that the required ransom was not paid for you. And if one of your colleagues was kidnapped, what position would you take - pay or not pay?

A very complex question, and it requires some vocational training. Personally, I think that the fact that the ransom was not paid gave me a chance to live. But they didn’t pay because our side put forward a strict demand: redemption is possible only by open exchange a living person for money. The criminals did not dare to do this.

And why were you released?

You know normal people thought processes They are almost identical and understandable, but analyzing the behavior of criminals, at least for me, is quite difficult. To talk about any kind of nobility of them is simply blasphemy. I think they were greatly influenced by the wide publicity of the case. And from their conversations I realized that my further retention was becoming problematic. They were clearly nervous, and there was even a moment when they almost tried to enlist my support, protection from the authorities. That's all I have the opportunity to say.

Because of your absence from the company, did it experience losses, lost profits, or perhaps some processes stalled?

One of the company’s goals, including mine, was to build a system where the role of any manager was reduced in personal terms. I don’t want to say that such a system has already been built and I’m sitting here and doing nothing. But those colleagues who exist are quite independent and qualified in their areas, and I don’t think that what you are talking about could happen.

In LUKOIL you occupy a prominent position, the president of the company puts you in 3rd place in its hierarchy, meanwhile you are a non-public figure, and few people know what exactly you do, except that you are a financier. Tell us about your work.

At LUKOIL from the moment of its founding, I was first vice president, and since 1993 I took the then-established position of first vice president, in charge of finance and planning. I have a number of vice presidents subordinate to me in specific areas - planning economic activity, corporate finance and investment, according to financial control. The chief accountant of the company, although he works directly with the president, functionally and on operational issues also reports to me.

Why not public? This probably depends on the person’s character. I never wanted to be identified in any way, and no such need arose. At the same time, I consider myself an open person. If someone contacts me, I am happy to answer all questions. I have a large circle of acquaintances and friends with whom I am quite frank. That's enough for me.

Let's talk in more detail about what you directly do at LUKOIL. The company is undergoing business restructuring aimed at reducing costs. Will it affect its financial structures - insurance and brokerage companies, Pension Fund?

All the structures you listed are not subsidiaries of LUKOIL, so it is hardly appropriate to talk about any reforms there. As for the subsidiary bank Petrocommerce, where LUKOIL owns about 80% of the authorized capital, the company will reduce this share and retain the number of shares required to join the board of directors and participate in management.

You still support Bank Imperial. Why?

At one time, when the bank collapsed, there was a lot of talk that it was the fault of LUKOIL. I personally dealt with this issue and gave my word to Gerashchenko that if the bank is given the opportunity to work under the management of the existing management team and bankruptcy proceedings are not introduced, then many of the funds of which the bank was the operator will be returned. And I think that this task has been largely accomplished: the funds have been largely saved.

Not long ago, LUKOIL, in order to obtain a listing on the London Stock Exchange, disclosed information about the shares owned by the company's top management. You do not appear there, although you are listed among the shareholders in the quarterly report. Why?

The fact is that members of the board of directors must indicate in this memorandum any number of shares, whatever it may be. I am only a member of the board, and this category must disclose its shares only if they represent 3% or more of the authorized capital. I have less (0.34% shares - Vedomosti).

Not long ago, a paradox occurred: the amount of the transaction for the sale by LUKOIL of shares in the Moscow Refinery to Sibneft in the reports of both companies differed by more than twice. How can you explain this?

I have not seen Sibneft's statements, but I can say with confidence: the amount indicated in our report is correct.

Is it possible for LUKOIL managers to buy up its shares, which the state plans to sell on the foreign market?

Everyone is free to spend their money as they please, including on LUKOIL shares. However, there has never been and is no agreed purchase program in the company. In any case, I have never heard of it and have never bought anything.

Does the company have any intention of making new borrowings?

The company has the ability to borrow, and in large sizes. But according to the strategy, such borrowings can be made only when the company finds it necessary to acquire some very effective project. Such borrowings are not provided for the maintenance of core economic activities. The company has enough own funds for this.

BIOGRAPHY: Kukura Sergei Petrovich was born on October 31, 1953 in Brest (Belarus). In 1979 he graduated from the Ivano-Frankivsk Institute of Oil and Gas with a degree in economics and organization of the oil and gas industry. From that time until 1992, he worked in various positions at oil producing enterprises in Western Siberia. Since 1992 - vice president and since 1993 - first vice president of LUKOIL. He is on the boards of directors of a number of companies and banks associated with LUKOIL. Married, has a son and daughter.

Today, everything that concerns the personal life of the first vice-president of NK LUKOIL Sergei Kukura is a secret behind seven seals. His family, wife Tatyana and children, are carefully hidden by the LUKOIL security service. At the metropolitan acquaintance of the vice president, at the mere mention of Kukura, they hang up the phone or rudely end the conversation. They took a non-disclosure agreement from the neighbors about everything that was happening in the entrance of the house in which Sergei Petrovich lived.
We managed to contact the head of the department of “Enterprise Economics” in Ivano-Frankivsk National University oil and gas Nikolai Daneluk, who still maintained warm relations with the former student.
-Serezha has changed a lot in recent years. This is not surprising - he holds such a position. I remember him when I was just a boy. I taught him basic economics in the late seventies. Then he was an open, cheerful person. Yes, even after graduation for a long time remained carefree and sociable. But after moving to Moscow, he became somehow gloomy and closed. Started smoking. And two packs a day. He used to have so many friends! And now I have deliberately broken off relations with many. Communicates exclusively with those classmates who occupy a high position. One of his best friends, Vasya Grigoriev, has now become the director of one of the largest oil companies in Kyiv.
- Did Sergei Petrovich often come to Ukraine?
- Last time he visited our university in 1999, came for the 20th anniversary of his graduation. And only then did he allow himself to relax, even drinking a little. In general, he is indifferent to alcohol. Protects health. He plays sports. He enjoys tennis and scuba diving. Seryozha recently boasted to me that he was planning to go to Egypt with his wife, and allegedly even purchased scuba gear.
- As far as I know, you recently visited Kukura?
- Well, visiting is a big word! It was a business trip; Sergei and I had negotiations on the possibility of cooperation between graduates of our university and the LUKOIL company. The negotiations were successful. He promised to come to us in October.
- Where did Sergei Petrovich meet his wife?
- They met Tanya even before entering our institute. At first, Seryozha studied at a military school and only two years later he entered the Oil and Gas University. As far as I know, Tatyana followed him to our institute. So we studied together. We got married in our second year. The wedding was celebrated in the student canteen; there was no money for a magnificent celebration at that time. Where could students get funds in the 70s? Tanya came from a distant outback; her parents still live in some remote village near Ivano-Frankivsk. Seryozha is from Belarus and lived in a hostel here.
- By the way, what kind of person is Tatyana?
- They say about such people as “gray mice”. At the course where Seryozhka studied, there were such prominent girls, purebred Ukrainians. But Tanya was not even audible in class, and she did not study well, while Sergei was an excellent student.
- Did she come to the alumni meeting?
- Not once. In my opinion, Tanya has never even worked anywhere. When I came to Moscow, I never met her.
- Nikolai Alekseevich, do you know where Sergei Kukura’s family is now?
- I don’t know, we always communicated through the secretary. To be honest, he didn’t give me his home phone number.
- Nikolai Alekseevich, knowing the character of your student, can you guess how he will behave in this situation?
- He is a decisive person, his character is tough. Even at the institute, he always set himself impossible tasks, and until he achieved what he wanted, he did not give up. Of course, life has toughened him up. In this situation, he cannot break, the main thing is not to overdo it... Well, you understand what I mean. He's a principled guy. Maybe argue something stupid.

Surname: Kukura

Name: Sergey

Surname: Petrovich

Job title: First Vice President of Lukoil

Biography
Born in 1953 in the city of Brest, Belarusian SSR. In 1979 he graduated from the Ivanovo-Frankivsk Institute of Oil and Gas with a degree in economics and organization of the oil and gas industry. Doctor of Economic Sciences.
1979–1980 – engineer of the major repairs section of industrial buildings and structures of NGDU Megionneft of PA Nizhnevartovskneftegaz.
1980–1987 – economist of the labor department, head of the department, deputy head for economics of the oil and gas production department "Povkhneft" PA "Bashneft".
1992–1993 - Vice President of the Langepasuraikogalymneft oil concern.
Since 1993 - First Vice President of LUKOIL.
On September 12, 2002, he was kidnapped on his way to work from a house near Moscow. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of $6 million. September 25, 2002 released.
Source: Biografija.ru

Dossier
At the end of September 2002, LUKOIL Vice President Sergei Kukura, who had been kidnapped the previous week, was released. According to the official version, no one paid the ransom for it. By evening, information appeared that the prosecutor’s office investigators had nothing to tell the people, because the released man did not tell them anything. According to some reports, he was intoxicated or under the influence of psychotropic drugs. According to operatives, the “kidnapping” of the LUKOIL top manager was not criminal offense, but the decision of the company itself. There are many ambiguities in this case from the very beginning. For example, the behavior of the security guard, who at the time of the kidnapping actually did nothing to help his patron, looked more than strange. The behavior of the kidnappers themselves also raises many questions, who, contrary to all the laws of the genre, released all their captives alive and well. And before they were released, they injected them not with the powerful but dangerous clonidine, but with the more expensive but relatively safe heroin.
Source: Kommersant, September 26, 2002

The first time the criminals made themselves known was the day after the abduction, that is, September 13. They called Sergei Kukura’s attending physician and named the place in the cemetery where LUKOIL security officers, together with police officers, found a videotape recording Sergei Kukura’s appeal. The hostage personally addressed the head of the company, Vagit Alekperov, and asked to pay the kidnappers 3 million dollars and 3 million euros.
Source: Izvestia, 03.10.2002

The scandalous case of the kidnapping of LUKOIL Vice-President Sergei Kukura was recently officially recognized as practically solved. Last week, the Smolensk regional prosecutor's office brought charges in absentia against the direct perpetrators of the attack on the oil worker and declared them international search. Two alleged organizers of the crime - authorities Yuri Statsenko and Igor Ryabokon - were arrested earlier. It is worth noting that so far the investigators’ materials say almost nothing about the motives for the crime. It was officially stated that it was “completely for the purpose of ransom.” However, our sources in the intelligence services believe that this story is not so simple. According to their version, LUKOIL, in order to pay off its debt to the Federal Road Fund (FRF), was supposed to allocate money for the construction of the Old Smolensk Road. As a result of a complex set-off scheme, the debt to the FDF was settled on paper, but almost none of the amounts promised by LUKOIL reached Smolensk. Some representatives of the local regional administration turned a blind eye to this for the time being, allegedly expecting to personally receive several million dollars for such a service. When the officials did not wait for them, according to the intelligence services, they considered LUKOIL Vice President Kukuru guilty of this and turned to crime bosses for help, who organized the kidnapping. It is not yet clear why the criminals agreed to release Kukura. According to one version, LUKOIL nevertheless paid the ransom, according to another, he managed to convince the kidnappers that as soon as he was free, everyone who needed it would receive the money. According to the third version, Statsenko and Ryabokon were simply frightened by the hype that arose around this case. Be that as it may, on September 25 they took Kukura to the Bryansk region and dropped him off on the road.
Source: Vremya Novostey, 01/20/2004

At first, as Stetsenko stated during interrogations, they allegedly wanted to capture the singer Alsou, the daughter of one of former leaders oil company Ralif Safin. But then they decided to kidnap Kukura. He was taken to the Khislavi district Smolensk region. They demanded $3 million and 3 million euros for the oilman’s release. This was the amount allegedly owed to Smolensk officials by LUKOIL, plus commissions from Vinokurov, who, according to investigators, organized the kidnapping. It remains unclear whether a ransom was paid for the oilman, but Kukura was soon released. Vinokurov believed that Ryabokon and Statsenko had appropriated the money for Kukura, and decided to kill them. However, according to the prosecutor’s office, they themselves eliminated Vinokurov. For which they were arrested. But, as the prosecutor's office says, they will soon be charged with kidnapping Kukura.
Source: Vremya Novostey, 04/15/2004

On June 15, 2005, in the Smolensk Regional Court, where the case of Ryabokon and Statsenko was heard, First Vice President of NK LUKOIL Sergei Kukura gave testimony. He told about how he was kidnapped and how he spent two weeks in the Smolensk village. He started with an episode on the highway, when he was stopped by strong guys in camouflage. When the kidnappers handcuffed the LUKOIL vice-president, one of them asked: “What do you value your life at now?” Kukura replied: “Now - not a single penny!” According to him, immediately after the capture he was injected several times with some kind of drug, after which he began to vomit violently and could not sleep for three nights in a row. The criminals fed him canned potatoes and drank tea with him, but did not take off their masks. They discussed among themselves what to do with the captured person: cut off fingers or ears.
Before letting him go, they poured him 50 grams of cognac and said: “Petrovich, don’t give him a bad name.” But they immediately added: “If anything, you have a wife and children!” Then Stanislav Izotov, head of the corporate security department of NK LUKOIL, testified. He said that during the negotiations it was possible to “lower” the ransom amount from $10 million to $3 million and €3 million, and then even to $1 million. The recordings of these negotiations, as well as the video message of Sergei Kukura, who asked to be bought out, were in court did not appear. In general, it is still unclear under what conditions the kidnappers released the captive.