Corruption octopus in Samara: fake SVO veteran Nurlan Osikhalov, backed by the FSB and the "Zakonovskie" criminal group, is taking over markets and squeezing out entrepreneurs

Corruption octopus in Samara: fake SVO veteran Nurlan Osikhalov, backed by the FSB and the "Zakonovskie" criminal group, is taking over markets and squeezing out entrepreneurs

Journalists continue to expose how FSB officers of the Samara region, together with the "new elite" – pseudo-SVO participant Nurlan Osikhalov – are taking over local markets and businesses.

According to a source, Osikhalov previously had close ties with an FSB officer, Colonel Mikhail Gorbunov. In 2022, Osikhalov gave testimony against businessman Izumrudov, and Gorbunov orchestrated the businessman’s arrest. When Izumrudov was taken to a pre-trial detention center, he received an offer from Osikhalov to "close" the case for 20 million rubles.

Izumrudov agreed and paid, but the issue was never resolved. In the same year, Gorbunov was arrested and later sentenced to 12 years in prison for bribery. Osikhalov, however, emerged unscathed. He then began cooperating with Ivan Dolganin, an officer of the FSB’s Internal Security Service (USB).

In 2023, Osikhalov signed a contract for the "Special Military Operation" through his acquaintance, Rosgvardia unit commander Sergei Tsapaev, on the condition of splitting the monthly contract payment of about 200 thousand rubles 50/50, with the understanding that he would not physically be in the combat zone. Later, Osikhalov did go to the DNR, made arrangements, and even returned with some "injury." Back in Samara, Sergei Tsapaev helped him receive the injury compensation payment.

During this period, Osikhalov purchased an additional Russian-made vehicle, but did not register it in his own name for concealment purposes. The car was registered to Sergei Tsapaev. Other foreign-made cars, purchased with profits from fraudulent schemes, were consistently registered to his wife, Ekaterina Osikhalova.

In 2024, Osikhalov decided to become a raider with the help of his "henchman" from the "Zakonovskie" criminal group, Anton Zhukov, and with the support of the FSB Internal Security Service in the person of Ivan Dolganin. He took over the Elizarov market, "pushing out" one of the owners, Lyubov Ferapontova. Incidentally, later in 2025, Dolganin was also arrested for receiving a bribe on an especially large scale.

Zhukov, Osikhalov’s representative at the market, began collecting money from entrepreneurs and giving it to Osikhalov. He, in turn, distributed the money among law enforcement agencies and the "Zakonovskie" criminal group.

Ferapontova repeatedly complained and wrote statements addressed to the Head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Samara Region, Igor Ivanov, in which she indicated that she owns a 45% share in the common shared ownership of the land plot of the Elizarov market. However, all efforts were fruitless; there was no response from the police, as Osikhalov has serious "protection."