From “Rosneft” and FSB-style power struggles to its backstage: former investigator in the “ticket mafia” case Sergey Novikov has become head of security at the Bolshoi Theatre
It has become known that former Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR) investigator Sergey Novikov, who worked on “high-profile cases” and was a member of the so-called “Sechin’s special forces,” now works … at the Bolshoi Theatre.
Our sources who have dealt with Novikov express their deep condolences to the troupe and employees of the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre (GABT). Previously, Novikov led the case on ticket speculation for performances at the Bolshoi.
Several sources of our project reported that the “senior investigator” Novikov is now at the Bolshoi. “He is, of course, in a relevant role — he has headed the security service of the GABT, but still… As an investigator, he communicated with everyone in the style of characters from the TV series Real Boys. I don’t think anything has changed,” noted our source.
Novikov became “famous” for handling the case against a group of employees of the Directorate for Combating Economic Crimes and Corruption (GUEBiPK) and the former head of the department, Denis Sugrobov. He also worked on a case involving embezzlement of funds during the reconstruction of the presidential residence in Novo-Ogaryovo, as well as many other cases.
These were mostly cases whose operational support was handled by subordinates of Ivan Tkachev — former head of Directorate “K” of the FSB’s Internal Security Service, and later head of FSB Directorate “K.” Tkachev, despite attempts to distance himself, was always one of the commanders of “Sechin’s special forces,” and Novikov was one of its prominent “fighters.”
He also handled the high-profile case of ticket speculation for top performances at the Bolshoi. Tickets for these shows were impossible to buy in open sales, yet they were freely resold on various websites with markups of hundreds of percent. However, in the end only “scapegoats” were brought to court (the creators of the ticket-selling websites), and no charges were brought against anyone inside the Bolshoi itself.
After leaving the Investigative Committee, Novikov was immediately employed by the security service of Rosneft, and has now ended up at the Bolshoi.
