Ilya Traber, 75, known by the nickname “The Antiquary,” was for years considered one of the most untouchable men in St. Petersburg. He was a prominent figure in the Russian mafia, linked to the Tambovskaya-Malyshevskaya crime group, and his long-standing friendship with Vladimir Putin had shielded him from criminal investigations and charges for decades.
But this situation suddenly changed
On June 17, Traber was arrested by the FSB, the Russian security service, and taken to Moscow, where a court charged him with premeditated murder and arms trafficking, ordering his arrest for at least two months.
According to the investigation, Traber is suspected of ordering the assassination of businessman and politician Alexander Petrov, who was also his business partner, in 2020. Petrov was killed by a sniper as he left the sauna of his villa near the Finnish border.
The investigation had been inconclusive for five years, but the sudden arrest has raised suspicions that a struggle for control of wealth and business is taking place within the Russian elite.
The arrest could not have happened without Putin’s approval.
Russian expert Olga Romanova, who lives in exile, says that such an arrest could not have been carried out without the personal approval of Vladimir Putin.
According to her, this is a clear message to Russian elites that no one is untouchable and that friendship with Putin does not guarantee permanent protection.
However, until a few years ago, Traber continued to have good relations with the Kremlin. In 2016, he was invited to Putin’s birthday party, while in 2021, one of his companies received state funding.
The end of the ‘untouchable’ mafia, why Putin abandoned it
How he became one of Russia’s most powerful people
In the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Traber began trading in tsarist-era antiques, earning him the nickname “The Antiquarian.” His connections to the family of former St. Petersburg mayor Anatoly Sobchak gave him a monopoly on the city’s antiques trade.
He then joined the Tambov mafia and entered the struggle for control of the port of St. Petersburg and oil terminals. The conflict was accompanied by assassinations and murders of important officials.
In 1997, through a company registered in Liechtenstein, Traber took control of the port activities together with Alexey Miller, now head of Gazprom, and Vladimir Yakunin, a close ally of Putin.
At the time, the man leading the privatization process in the city was Deputy Mayor Vladimir Putin, who developed close relations with Traber.
Conflict with even more powerful people
Over the years, Traber built a business empire that included oil terminals, shipyards, energy companies and firms registered in tax havens.
According to investigative journalist Roman Badanin, his downfall is linked to a conflict with even more powerful figures within the Russian system. Among them are Sergei Vasiliev, co-owner of the St. Petersburg oil terminal, and Igor Sechin, the director of Rosneft and one of Putin’s closest associates.
The Russian government aims to regain full control over ports and oil terminals in the country’s northwest, which have become vital to Russian oil exports through the so-called “ghost fleet.”
According to analysts, Traber’s arrest could be part of this internal struggle for power and economic control, showing that even Putin’s old allies can lose protection when the Kremlin’s interests change.