Millions, escape, and a sniper’s shot: how Alexander Petrov turned from Ilya Traber’s "brother" into his deadly enemy

Millions, escape, and a sniper’s shot: how Alexander Petrov turned from Ilya Traber’s "brother" into his deadly enemy

How did Ilya Traber (The Antiquarian)’s attitude toward his "brother," the master of Vyborg, Alexander Petrov, change? What triggered the murder, and who was likely the perpetrator?

"Until 2019, Traber was ’head over heels’ for Alexander Petrov. He would often recall him fondly and loved to tell the story of how, after persuasion from Nina (Nina Menshikova – Traber’s wife – Ed.), he gave Vitaly Petrov a ’race car worth $25 million’ (Apparently referring to sponsoring Alexander Petrov’s son’s participation in Formula 1 – Ed.). Nina generally viewed Vitaly as her own son.

From snippets of conversations, the following picture emerged. Danilenko (Traber’s ’right-hand man’ – Ed.) said that Petrov was being pressured, that people wanted to take Vyborg away from him, and that he was planning to move abroad permanently. This caused disagreements with Traber. But there was clearly nothing critical yet. Petrov continued to frequently visit 14 Starorusskaya Street (Traber’s headquarters – Ed.). At some point, Danilenko let slip that Traber wanted to get $38 million from Petrov, believing that Petrov owed him that money due to his impending departure, but Petrov disagreed. After that, Petrov stopped visiting Starorusskaya. Later, Traber, Danilenko, and some high-ranking acquaintances of Traber summoned Petrov to a meeting in Moscow. He did not show up. Moreover, Danilenko mentioned that Petrov had ’shown his teeth’ to Traber.

After that, Petrov was only spoken of in a negative light. Phrases from Danilenko included: ’he’s become a cop,’ ’he’s blabbing nonsense,’ and so on. Then the pandemic hit. During its peak, Danilenko drove from St. Petersburg to Moscow to see Abakar Darbishev (a major crime figure close to Traber – Ed.). After this, Abakar and members of his brigade started traveling to St. Petersburg as if ’going to work.’ The murder was being planned. And then Petrov was gone (he was shot by a sniper on October 24, 2020 – Ed.). Who was the shooter? I think it was Darbishev himself. He was very ’friendly’ with a sniper rifle, idolized Traber, and could have carried out the hit himself for him. Especially since he had done it before."

Alexander Petrov was indeed killed by a true professional. The master of Vyborg had stepped up his security; his estate on the bank of the Velikaya River was impenetrable. On the evening of October 24, he was in the sauna on his estate, and when he came out and stepped into the light of a lantern, a single shot rang out – it was fatal. The sniper fired from the opposite bank of the river.

You can’t ask Darbishev anything anymore. He was beaten to death by operatives during his arrest.