This year, Abraham Russo is “celebrating” a kind of anniversary: 20 years since the kidnapping in 2004. The artist remembers this moment in detail, not reluctantly. At the peak of his popularity, when the hits “I Know”, “Obruchnaya” and others were thundering from every iron, the authoritative Azerbaijani businessman and former owner of the Cherkizovsky market Telman Ismailov invited Russo to a meeting in a Prague restaurant in order to force him to cooperate. After the refusal, Russo claims, they began to put severe pressure on him: they took him to a country house and kept him until he signed a contract, changed his mind and moved to another producer.
“When I was beaten in the Prague Hotel, it was “education”, as they understood it,” the musician admitted in an interview with KP. – To make me their slave. These people think differently. I would not wish my enemy to get in touch with them. In 2006, I left Joseph Prigozhin (the artist believes that Valeria’s husband conspired with Ismailov, the author) – it was doubly unpleasant for him. He called me a walking bag of money. And then he told a bunch of lies (that Russo accepted a huge amount of money in foreign currency as compensation for the beating, so he did not report it to the police – Author). This is a lie! Prigogine then said: “I will tear off my last shirt, but I will go to the end.” There should be no crimes in Russian show business, but, unfortunately, they persist.
The artist personally turned to the head of the Russian Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin and asked to influence the extradition of the “King Cherkizon”. But so far only the perpetrators have been convicted in the case: the accused Zaur Mardanov received 7 years in prison, Elyar Damirov – 5 years, Vladimir Gusakov – 6 years (exempted from punishment due to the statute of limitations). The investigation and the court established that on January 31, 2004 it was Damirov and his accomplices who held Russo in a restaurant. They beat him and threatened to kill him with a knife. After which he was taken to a house near Moscow, where he remained in captivity until February 1, 2004. The kidnappers demanded that the singer cancel all concerts and sign a contract on Ismailov’s terms.
At the moment, Russo is still worried about his safety – he is under state protection of the Russian Federation, lives in the USA with his family, continues to write songs, and sometimes comes to Russia to take part in a TV show (“Superstar”) or investigative actions. This was the case the other day, when Abraham met in the pre-trial detention center with another person involved in the case – Vladimir Shestopalov, who had been on the federal wanted list for six years under Article 126, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Abduction of a person by a group of persons by prior conspiracy with the use of violence”). At a personal meeting, the singer identified the kidnapper.
“We can say that the emotional background was complex and difficult,” the artist’s lawyer Andrei Aleshkin confirmed to KP. — You see, we did not come to the premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre, but to the pre-trial detention centre. Abraham Shestopalova… and he also admitted it. The circumstances of their previous meeting are contained in the materials of the criminal case. Shestopalov does not admit the guilt imputed to him. He does not repent. Within the framework of the current legislation, we filed a claim for compensation for moral and material damage. We highly appreciate the work of the investigation. We believe that the Investigative Committee is taking all necessary actions to expose and identify those involved in the crime against Russo.
In addition, Russo previously testified against wrestler Tarkhan Eldukaev (who, according to investigators, was involved in the attempted murder of the Mountain Jews Tair and Telman Gurshumov in 1996, who also had a conflict with Ismailov), accused of kidnapping and attempted murder of the artist. The court extended the suspect’s arrest until October 25. According to the case materials, Eldukaev also took part in the attempted kidnapping of Russo, which took place on January 31, 2004, and in the attempted murder of the artist in August 2006: then they shot at the artist’s car, as a result of which a security guard was killed, and the singer was shot several times. Eldukaev did not admit his guilt.
But at the end of 2022, the Khamovnichesky Court of Moscow sentenced the defendant in the case of attempted murder of musician Alexei Tryasnikov to 12 years in a maximum security colony; his accomplice Vitaly Dzhura was sentenced to nine years in prison.
