Two criminals entered the third floor of his house in the village of Mamulino in Tver. The attackers tried to cover the mouth of the artist’s mother-in-law, and when Mikhail and his wife Irina came running to her screams, they opened fire.
12 years have passed since then, and all these years the question regularly arose about who killed the singer and for what. Versions multiplied with the same regularity. And so Komsomolskaya Pravda met with someone who, as he assures, knows for certain the name of Krug’s killer.
He made a deal with the investigation because he hoped that he would be given 25 years, not life, they explained to me in the Tver pre-trial detention center when they took me to a meeting with the thug Alexander Osipov, the leader of the military wing of the Wolves gang, who has dozens of lives. - But they gave him a “tower”, so he has nothing to lose, and therefore the security measures at your meeting will be more than serious. It is beneficial for him to kill you or the guard and remain at least for a while in the pre-trial detention center under investigation, rather than go to the special regime zone, where he will spend the rest of his days.
A small room divided in two by a counter with thick plexiglass. Chairs tightly screwed to the floor. Handcuffed to one of them, on the other side of the glass, is Osipov, or, as they call him in the criminal world, “The Little Wolf,” “The Younger Wolf.”
Gang of Tver "Wolves" operated in the early 2000s. Murders, robberies, robberies, extortion - they did all this tirelessly. At the head was crime boss Alexander Kostenko(“Lom”, “Ivanovich”, killed in 2006).
The combat unit was led by Anatoly Osipov(“Bald”, “Skull”, “Shaman”, “Elder Wolf”, killed in 2005). It was Osipov Sr. who brought his son into the gang, who later took his place.
Wolves have scored dozens of lives
There was not an order for Misha, but simply circumstances. They went to steal and didn’t know that he would return. He returned with his family, and this is what happened.
What actually happened will become known only when the investigation reveals its cards. When will this happen? Let's hope soon. After all, Krug’s murder has remained unsolved for 12 years.
Instead of an afterword
For what?
Oleg ZINCHENKO
Now we can say that the version expressed by the criminal authority Sever about a tragic accident - they went to steal and did not know that the Circle would return - is not a version, but a firm knowledge that it happened. It turns out that Veselov and, possibly, Ageev (there were two attackers) snuck into Krug’s house to steal money. The Chansonnier was to receive a large sum for the release of a new album.
On that day, City Day was widely celebrated in Tver. Krug planned to come home after the fireworks, which started at midnight, but changed his mind and returned home an hour earlier. Veselov and Ageev, taken by surprise, hid in a small utility room in the musician’s room and, apparently, intended to leave when Mikhail Krug left the room. The circle left, but the musician’s mother-in-law came into the room and lay down on the sofa. The appearance of a woman was by no means part of the bandits’ plans. Then they decided to leave the back room and, intimidating the woman, leave the house. And here again there was a mistake. The sofa on which Mikhail Krug's mother-in-law was lying fell when the bandits hit the woman. Krug came running at the noise. Krug, covering his wife, tried to leave the house and received a bullet...
This is all a version. But in order to put a solid end to this case, investigators need to collect evidence, otherwise everything said is nothing more than words.
Already in the zone, “Wolves” confessed to nine more murders
The background of this crime has been replicated many times by the media over 15 years: on a summer night in 2002, in the three-story house of Mikhail Vorobyov ( real name Circle) two unknown people snuck in. They beat the chansonnier's mother-in-law, and when Mikhail came running in response to the call of his wife Irina, they shot him with pistols. The seriously wounded Krug managed to get to a neighbor’s house, who took the singer to the hospital. The next morning Krug died from his injuries.
Almost immediately, this murder began to acquire numerous versions, which were put forward by many people who knew the Circle - among them were a banal robbery and even a contract killing. Over time, the history of this crime became shrouded in numerous conspiracy theories that grew like a snowball. In many ways, the rise in conspiracy theories was due to the fact that investigative authorities rarely gave any comments on the high-profile criminal case. But other informants did not skimp on them.
Ultimately, in May 2013, the Investigation Department Investigative Committee Russia in the Tver region was forced to make a rather sharp statement in connection with the circulation in the media of the version that the killer of the Tver “gang of wolves” Dmitry Veselov, whose corpse was discovered in August 2012, was involved in the murder of Mikhail Krug. Allegedly, Irina Krug identified Veselov as one of her husband’s killers. The Investigative Committee officially denied this information and strongly recommended that the media only accept reports from official sources of the Investigative Committee as reliable information.
At the beginning of 2014, the “sensational” news about Veselov’s involvement in the murder of Krug was “confirmed” by one of the “wolves,” Alexander Osipov, who was sentenced to life in prison for his criminal adventures. He gave a lengthy interview to the media, in which he said that he personally shot his fellow gang member Dmitry Veselov when he learned that he and his accomplice had mortally wounded the singer.
It is noteworthy that less than a month and a half before this interview, the head of the Investigative Directorate of the Russian Federation for the Tver Region, Alexander Kublyakov, announced at a press conference that information about the involvement of the “wolves” in the murder of Krug was not confirmed, and in the case, which was initially suspended due to the inability to find suspects in commission of the crime and resumed in the fall of 2013, other persons appear. At the same time, checking the involvement of the “wolves” in the high-profile crime, according to Major General Kublyakov, made it possible to uncover about a dozen criminal episodes associated with this organized crime group.
The investigative authorities explain the eloquence of life-sentencer Orlov simply: the convict was thus playing for time before being sent to prison, where, as is known, the living conditions for people like him are very harsh. However, most media liked the “wolf’s” version that he believed, repented and had nothing to lose.
Another, no less “valuable” informant who “shed light” on the reason for the murder of Mikhail Krug was Tver crime boss Alexander Severov (North). The press is very fond of replicating the story that it was to him that Krug dedicated his, perhaps, most famous song “Vladimir Central” - supposedly, instead of the words “northern wind”, “Sasha the North” should have originally sounded, but the North, out of modesty, asked not to mention him.
According to Severny, they write that the authority, when asked about the singer’s killers, confirmed: those who were involved in this have been found, and they are in their place (that is, obviously dead). Severny explained that there was no order for Krug, the thieves were not waiting for the owners and in general “... circumstances just happened... and this situation turned out...”.
At the same time, the story of Krug’s murder showed that the thief in law Sever is not so modest - he gave a lot of interviews to journalists, and this kind of thing is not encouraged in the thieves’ environment, to put it mildly. Crowned in 1993 in the same Vladimir Central, Sever in March 2014 was “stopped” in status at a thieves’ gathering (this is something like a temporary disqualification in football, when a player is kicked out of the field for making a mistake).
However, it is precisely the statements of Orlov and Sever, disseminated by the federal media (and after them picked up by all other media), that create a feeling of “logical completion”, “retribution for what was done” in the story of the murder of Mikhail Krug.
... If you type the phrase “Murder of Mikhail Krug” into any search engine today, it will return hundreds of sites with catchy headlines “The mystery of the murder of Mikhail Krug has been solved!” In fact, all this is just replication of the same type of posts with the same content - an invoice that has not been confirmed by official investigative authorities, which in this case is fundamentally important. Many secrets and mysteries associated with this tragic death beloved author and performer by many, have not yet been revealed. There are no objective prerequisites for this to ever happen. At least in the near future.
And in our time there is a discussion about the murder of Mikhail Krug, this question still haunts his fans. Forty days from the date of death famous singer, the recognized king of Russian chanson, were celebrated with a concert program dedicated to his memory. The event took place at the Khimik stadium in the city of Tver. Many popular artists, stands packed to capacity with greedy spectators - everything testified that the singer is loved and unforgettable.
One of the songs told that the death of the great singer was a consequence of a robbery, a gopstop. Even at the very beginning, people were still confident that those who could kill Mikhail Krug were simple robbers, whose plan was simply destroyed by the appearance and attempt of Mikhail to fight them.
Although some remained of the opinion that the murder was contracted, it was organized by competitors and envious people. This version was rejected almost immediately due to many contradictions
In what year was Mikhail Krug killed?
The Great Chansonnier passed away July 1, 2002 . Late in the evening, the Krug family returned home and everyone went about their business. It was about twelve at night when Irina looked out into the corridor from the nursery, hearing the muffled screams of her mother. Two robbers in black masks hit an elderly woman on the head with a heavy pistol and tried to strangle her. One of them, noticing Irina, ran up the stairs after her. Hearing her screams, the head of the family rushed to help, as a result of which he was wounded by a shot and fell to the floor unconscious.
Irina, meanwhile, ran to the neighbors, and no one will ever know what happened between the singer and the criminals. Investigators noticed many footprints of the villains' shoes and Mikhail's bare feet in a pool of blood on the floor. Most likely, having woken up, he entered into an unequal battle with them, as a result of which he was in Once again injured. When the attackers disappeared, Krug hurried to the neighbors and was urgently taken by an ambulance to the department of the city hospital. However, despite the numerous efforts of doctors, the great talent left this world by morning.
Was the murder committed by thugs?
The work of Mikhail Krug was dedicated to crime. The main characters of his works were ordinary criminals (thieves, robbers) and prostitutes.
However one of the murder versions says that it was the robbers who took the life of Krug. Perhaps they turned out to be non-professionals who decided to profit from someone else's property and did not expect to find the owners of the house. Or maybe the robbery was planned in advance by experienced villains.
- Firstly, the TT pistol, which, moreover, according to the expert opinion, was without a silencer, is a very serious professional weapon, and getting it is a very difficult matter.
- Secondly, the timing of the attack was perfect: at about 24:00 the whole city gathered in the square in anticipation of the festive fireworks.
- Thirdly, according to the neighbors, two cars drove up to the cottage shortly before the fatal incident and disappeared through a short time after the shots were fired.
Such organization can serve proof of the professionalism of the killers. Although the fact that ordinary scumbags could afford to hire good cars and take a pistol as collateral, hoping to pay off part of the stolen amount, is not lost sight of.
Was there a mysterious group involved in the murder?
This version arose as a result of similar attacks according to the standard scenario noticed before and after the tragic day of the death of the king of chanson. A few days before the singer’s death, a major robbery was committed in a cottage not far from where Mikhail’s family lived. A few days later it happened again, only now in the company's office in the city center.
The victims, who were tightly tied up by the villains, claim that the kidnappers were wearing black masks, one of them spoke with a Caucasian accent, and they also had a pistol.
Both scenarios are similar to what happened in the singer's house, the only difference is murder. Perhaps this would not have happened if not for an unsuccessful attempt to connect Mikhail’s mother-in-law and the appearance of his own person, which confused all their intentions. Attempts by the police to solve these crimes were unsuccessful.
Was the murder organized by close people?
There are many supporters of the version that the death of Krug represented a huge benefit to none other than his wife Irina . Here is the collected evidence for this version:
- In not a single interview after the death of her husband did Irina mention her love for him, but she gushed about the gifts given to her by Krug. Her ambiguous phrase “After all, he’s Krug...” spoke a lot, with which she testified that she was interested in him not as a person, but as a star Krug.
- Irina told reporters that her husband did not allow her to sing on stage, arguing that a wife should remain a wife. Thus, having gotten rid of him, Irina opened the door to the stage. She immediately began to use this with great success: within a week after the funeral, she was already singing with a beautiful voice.
- She gained a popular name by using her husband's pseudonym, as well as legal access to all his archives. She played a role in the split of her husband’s group called “The Fellow Traveler,” taking with her half of the lineup, which did not take part in the concert dedicated to the memory of Mikhail.
- The killers were only interested in Krug, and did not harm his wife and mother-in-law, who stood in their way first. Also, the wife did not bother to call an ambulance for her mortally wounded husband; he did it himself. And shortly before the murder, a serious quarrel occurred between the spouses.
What did you find out?
The investigation of the crime revealed that Mikhail's murder is not an accident at all. Thanks to the work of investigators, it turned out that the villains climbed into the house in the morning through windows that were open. During the day, Krug's house was empty - a perfect opportunity to take possession of the safe and escape from the crime scene.
However, their actions were subject to a completely different logic: they sat until the evening under the roof, suffering from heat and thirst.
Their goal was to agree with the singer to receive a significant share of his income every month. In order for their victim to agree as quickly as possible, pressure was put on people close to him - they tried to intimidate his mother-in-law and wife.
How did everything turn out in such a way that the man was inflicted mortal wounds, and what was the consequence of this is not known to anyone. But law enforcement officers, when asked about the murder of the great chansonnier, Mikhail Krug, answer that the killers were notorious criminals belonging to the group "Tver Wolves" . These non-humans, who had no shame, conscience or respect for anyone, were not loved even in the world of thieves.
Video about the details of the case
I had to visit Tver and Vladimir several times: in every tavern, from every car and window, the songs of Mikhail Krug were heard. It’s not surprising, since Tver is his homeland, and he glorified Vladimir with the song “” almost more than “ Golden ring Russia." The death of Mikhail Krug has not yet been solved and, probably, time has already passed. it is not known for certain, although there is talk that the killers were punished by his friends from criminal circles. Let's talk about the work of Mikhail, as well as his iconic acquaintances.
“Murka” and something similar ancient are considered classic thieves’ songs. However, now in the prison circle, first of all, Krug and his namesake Tanich in the person of the Lesopoval group sing. Two songs by the Circle stand out - “Golden Domes” and “Vladimir Central”. Domes are the most important part of iconic prison tattoos. Their number on the body is equal to the number of “walks” of the urka (sometimes years of imprisonment). “Only they are blue! And not a speck of gold...” Yes, unlike the salon one, it has a pronounced light blue color. After all, with her creative making ink and or burnt rubber from the heel are used. This is how you get such a specific color, especially over time.
I remember the next one, or rather in St. Petersburg colony No. 6, in Obukhovo, a festive concert took place. Relatives and wives of the convicts were invited. They sang for them. Blatnyak actually wasn't much. Vysotsky, even romances. For dessert, “Domes” were performed. The young convict sang them very well. I noticed that not only people in uniform liked it, but also people in uniform. It is no coincidence that the singer and the song were asked for an encore.
Was Mikhail Krug in prison?
Mikhail Krug himself never sat. But he knew this topic very well. So, “Domes,” according to people who knew him closely, is his favorite. “I’d give up the glass right now if they put it in.” This is about Krug, after all. IN last years Before his death, he worked like a squirrel runs in a wheel. No rest. Popularity took away almost his entire personal life. I couldn't even get a drink. Due to the busy concert schedule, the Krug group was subject to prohibition for three years. Most likely, popularity deprived Krug of his life, among other things. He caused black envy.
The second super hit - “Vladimir Central” - Mikhail Krug dedicated specifically to the thief in law (North). This is a very curious lawyer, the last of the Mohicans” of the true thieves’ stripe. Alexander Severov (according to his passport) spent 29 years behind bars (according to other sources - 20). These years consisted of eight convictions for hooliganism,
theft, robbery, possession of narcotic drugs.
Circle and friend North
Both Severov and Krug lived in Tver. In the early 90s, the North was appointed to oversee Tver, and soon after that he was put in the famous “Vladimir Central”, famous for its strict orders.
Trying to force the thief to obey the prison rules, the administration assigned him to the coldest cell for some violation, but they failed to break Sasha Sever (he allegedly admitted that he probably set a world record for push-ups to warm up). Subsequently, he told about his stay in the central to the singer Mikhail Krut, who wrote the famous song “Vladimir Central, North Wind...” about this.
In the original, the song sounded a little different - “Vladimir Central, Sasha Severny,” but Alexander Severov for some reason forbade the singer to mention his name in the song. Either he didn’t want national fame, or something else. In any case, the fact that he is the main lyrical character of the song quickly became an “open secret.”
According to another version, set out in the book “The Life and Death of Mikhail Krug” by Evgeny Novikov and Galina Zhirnova, it is said that Krug himself came to Vladimir Central in 1995 to visit his friend Severov on a date. And, supposedly, after this meeting the song was written. Although she became known only in 1998 (released in the album “Madame”). At the funeral of Mikhail Krug in 2002, among other wreaths there was a wreath “From Severov Alexander”.
Mikhail Krug, of course, is a phenomenon of Russian chanson. His popularity simply went through the roof. The songs, on the one hand, are simple and intelligible, on the other, very lyrical and touching. There is a basis for the original thieves' songs - a conversation with your mother, bad cops, real buddies. Of course, there is also love.
Mikhail Vorobiev
As for Krug as a person, Mikhail Vorobyov (real name) was born into an intelligent family. Father is an engineer, mother is an accountant. Misha himself studied poorly and quickly dropped out of music school. He played hockey as a goalkeeper. He learned to play the guitar at the age of 11. He sang in the style of Vysotsky. After school, he served in the army, and then for ten years he worked as a truck driver (until 1993).
His first wife, Svetlana, who is involved in the music industry, convinced Mikhail to go on stage. And he wrote poetry constantly, on the table. At first, the Circle hung around the taverns,
but there I just “tested” my songs.
The political and social views of the Circle are interesting. He was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party and an assistant to Vladimir Zhirinovsky. He was a convinced monarchist. He hated communists and the leftist idea in general. He was an ardent homophobe (quote - “the entire Russian scene is filled with homosexuals”), and also could not stand feminists. In short, a real man whose image he built for the stage.
As Russia’s largest collector of thieves’ folklore, Vladimir Okunev, says, Mikhail Krug obviously became a star in the last years of his life: he already felt like a celestial being, including in terms of fees. He could have refused an autograph, even to fans who had been waiting for him for hours.
On the night of June 30 to July 1, 2002, Krug’s house was attacked. The two raiders shot him dead with two shots. And they disappeared. They have not yet been found, despite the fact that not only the police, but also the lads were looking for them. Information has appeared several times that the killers have been found, albeit in the form of skeletons. However, the investigation denied this information.
As for the motives for the murder, according to law enforcement officers, it was still a banal attempt to rob a wealthy-looking country house.
The wife of chansonnier Mikhail Krug, who was killed more than ten years ago, identified the man who shot him. The killer, as expected, turned out to be a bandit named Veselov. It was previously reported that his skeletal remains were found following a tip from a convicted lifer.
Since the suspect has been dead for a long time, identification was based on a photograph, RIA Novosti reports, citing a source in the investigative authorities.
“The widow of Krug was shown a photograph of Veselov, who was considered the direct perpetrator of the singer’s murder. She identified him as the man who directly shot her husband,” the agency’s interlocutor explained.
Let us remind you that 40-year-old Mikhail Vorobyov (creative pseudonym - Mikhail Krug) was mortally wounded in his own house in the village of Mamulino, Proletarsky district, Tver region. This happened on the night of June 30 to July 1, 2002. That evening, City Day was celebrated in Tver, and Krug’s family went to watch the fireworks. And the singer and his household returned to their cottage on Osvobozhdeniye Street only at midnight.
According to investigators, two masked criminals with pistols entered the singer’s house through an unlocked balcony. Entering the room where Mikhail Krug's mother-in-law was watching TV, the attackers hit her on the head with the handle of a pistol. Mikhail and his wife Irina came running from another room in response to the screams.
The criminals opened fire on the couple, several bullets hit the singer in the chest, after which the attackers fled through front door. Bleeding, Krug managed to get to the neighbors’ house, who took him in their car to the sixth city hospital. Doctors fought for the musician’s life for several hours, but were unable to help him. Krug died in the operating room without regaining consciousness.
According to one version, Mikhail Krug became the victim of a routine robbery attack by certain criminals - “guest performers”. The robbers randomly chose the house, not knowing that a famous singer lived there. They believed that they would only meet women and children, but when a man began to resist them, the criminals used weapons.
This version is supported by the fact that several more mansions were robbed around the same time. As producer Vadim Tsygankov said, a day before the murder, for some reason the landline telephone in Krug’s house was turned off. He also added that “urks, clearly not local - not from Tver or Klin,” drove around the Mamulino district, where Mikhail lived, and looked out for rich houses.
But there is also a more exotic version, according to which Mikhail Krug had a conflict with the leader of the Tver Wolves gang. The gangsters allegedly wanted to receive their share of the fees and generally control commercial activities singer
This version is supported by the fact that the widow of Mikhail Krug identified one of the attackers as the closest accomplice of the leader of the Tver Wolves, Alexander Ageev. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for other crimes, but his involvement in the massacre of the Circle could not be proven. The leader of the group, Alexander Osipov, and Dmitry Baskakov received the same punishment.
One way or another, the death of Mikhail Krug agitated the criminal world. The “authorities” promised to conduct their own investigation and punish those responsible. A few months later, in September 2002, crime boss Ibragim Azizov, nicknamed Arkasha, was killed in Tver. 27 bullets were fired at him. Then rumors spread that this was revenge for Krug, since it was Arkasha’s subordinates who climbed into the house of the famous singer.
However, a source in criminal circles argued that “according to the rules,” a verdict is passed only at a meeting, and there was no meeting regarding the death of Krug. “In general, in the criminal world, no one would take revenge for the murder of a singer, not a thief. So, all this is spectacular speculation. There was simply self-interest in the murder of Krug. No idea,” explained the anonymous “authority.”
The killer was found in the form of a skeleton
Detectives were led to Veselov in 2012 by a certain criminal serving a life sentence. Thanks to his testimony, a half-decayed corpse was discovered in the Kalininsky district of the Tver region. As the convict explained, he dealt with the killer of Mikhail Krug just three months after his death.
Presumably, the remains belong to Veselov, who was part of the Lomovskaya criminal group(founder - Alexander Kostenko, nicknamed Lom). It was the Lomovskys who controlled the Tver Wolves brigade, which was particularly cruel and killed dozens of people, including its own members.
It was established that Veselov, born in 1973, was shot in the back of the head.
By the way, according to the prisoner who confessed, several more bodies of bandits who became victims of criminal showdowns were buried in the same place in the field. However, the RF Investigative Committee called the information that appeared in the press about a breakthrough during the investigation “premature and contrary to the interests of the investigation.”
His sister spoke even more categorically about the found skeleton of Mikhail Krug’s probable killer. “This news is just a “canard” picked up by journalists,” said the chansonnier’s sister Olga Medvedeva. “The connection between the found corpse and the death of my brother has not been established and is unlikely to be. I think it was just PR for the police: they say they found it... "
Mikhail Krug was born on April 7, 1962 in Tver. He studied at a music school in the accordion class, but never graduated from it. Later, the future chansonnier played hockey and was a goalkeeper on the team. After the eighth grade, Vorobiev entered a vocational school and received the profession of an auto repairman.
Returning from the army, he got married and entered the preparatory department of the Polytechnic Institute. Vorobyov also worked as the head of a motorcade, but soon left his job.
Mikhail Krug became famous thanks to such hits as “Zhigan-lemon”, “Girl-pie”, “Kolshchik”, “My dear city”. Most of the chansonnier's songs were dedicated to their hometown.