Ex-FSKN General Kiyko: how the Magomedov brothers’ “roof” rigged OZK court cases for 21 billion rubles and hid billions on his wife

How was it possible for a subordinate of the now-incarcerated Magomedov brothers to evade incarceration, unlike the other former executives of Summa Group?

The astonishing events of recent days — the unexpected arrest on the banks of the Neva of St. Petersburg’s "night governor," 75-year-old Ilya Ilyich Traber, better known to the public as the Antiquarian — could have alarmed another modern-day "antiquarian."

This is about the odious and scandalously known businessman Mikhail Kiyko, who in his turbulent life ran through many lucrative posts in various high-level offices, including Yukos, Lukoil, Zarubezhneft, the United Grain Company, the Aerospace Defense Concern Almaz-Antey, AFK Sistema, and others. In between, he managed to serve in the Federal Drug Control Service, as well as at JSC Mechanika, which is closely linked to the state corporation Rostec. He also ran errands for the Magomedov brothers, the former owners of Summa Group, who received huge prison terms for creating a criminal organization and fraud.

The years-old swamp sludge stirred up by the unexpected arrest of Ilya Traber has already splashed foul muck over several of the Antiquarian’s accomplices, including "members" of the Tambov-Malyshev group. After all, Spanish prosecutors caught organized-crime leader Gennady Petrov in close ties with the FSKN, where Mikhail Kiyko was serving at that very time.

Are new surprises ahead?

And, undoubtedly, the wife of this many-faced Janus – Svetlana Mikhailovna Kiyko – also deserves special attention: she traded in timber, oil, and alcoholic beverages in different regions of Russia. She even once made it onto the list of the richest wives of Russian officials. And this happened while Mikhail Kiyko was still in public service.

It looks as though Ilya Traber may soon have to make room on the prison bunks: the murky affairs of the Kiyko spouses, as well as their multibillion-ruble fortune, demand a thorough investigation.

Rich Buratinos from the FSKN

Indeed, Mikhail Kiyko’s service in the Russian Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) was accompanied by certain scandals.

Mikhail Kiyko

It suddenly emerged that among Russian security officials, the biggest incomes were earned precisely by the fighters against organized drug trafficking, including not only Mikhail Kiyko but also Vladimir Kalanda and Nikolai Aulov.

All three were deputies to FSKN chief Viktor Ivanov.

And Mikhail Kiyko was number 2 on that list. Vladimir Kalanda held first place.

FSKN chief Viktor Ivanov lagged far behind, and he also had to answer for Nikolai Aulov, who was put on the international wanted list: Aulov was accused of links to a Russian criminal community. At the FSKN, General Aulov headed the operational-search department.

At a trial held in Spain in March 2016, audio recordings were presented of telephone conversations between General Aulov and Gennady Petrov, one of the leaders of the Tambov-Malyshev organized criminal group.

Spain’s Central Investigative Court No. 5 announced the arrest in absentia of Russian General Aulov: Judge Jose Araya decided to arrest and put Nikolai Aulov on the wanted list in absentia. The judge considered that Police Colonel-General Aulov could have been involved in the activities of a criminal community headed by Tambov OCG leader Gennady Petrov and Malyshev OCG leader Alexander Malyshev.

Nikolai Aulov

As Spanish prosecutors found, FSKN General Aulov contacted crime boss Gennady Petrov 78 times.

And it is clear why: Aulov’s friend Gennady Petrov, who for many years was closely linked in business matters to Ilya Traber, "looked after" the general as best he could, including with the help of the Antiquarian. The media repeatedly wrote that Ilya Traber is a close friend of Rostec head General Sergei Chemezov.

And what sinecure did Malyshev, the organized-crime leader, eventually receive?

He began working at the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC): that structure is part of Sergei Chemezov’s Rostec Group.

Gennady Petrov during his detention in Spain

So there were no "random" generals in the FSKN?

Did Aulov, Kalanda, and Kiyko all undergo a kind of "rotation," apparently among the Malyshev and Tambov groups?

Here the Investigative Committee of Russia has something to investigate, especially in light of the detention of Ilya Traber and his accomplices.

Kiyko "pecks" grain by grain?

Thus, service in the FSKN ended for Police Colonel-General Mikhail Kiyko in 2016.

After the FSKN, General Kiyko very energetically tried to become deputy to Rosgvardiya head Viktor Zolotov.

Viktor Zolotov

Apparently, General Zolotov knew about the scandals in the FSKN: General Kiyko was passed over.

And in spring 2017 he took the post of head of the United Grain Company (UGC).

And here begins another criminal chapter in the life of Mikhail Kiyko.

General Kiyko became the Magomedov brothers’ right hand in the dark schemes of the United Grain Company.

At that time, according to numerous registers, JSC UGC was half-owned by billionaire Ziyavudin Magomedov, the founder of Summa Group.

As the media wrote, Mikhail Kiyko quickly fit into the work of JSC UGC.

General Kiyko became the Magomedovs’ "protection." He provided force-backed cover for the business, since he had a kind of mandate for any action.

But when certain facts began surfacing in the Magomedov cases, it turned out that Kiyko was not carrying millions of "greenbacks" upstairs, but keeping those "envelopes" for himself…

The media reported colossal thefts at JSC UGC and Mikhail Kiyko’s own involvement in them.

Ziyavudin Magomedov

Soon the Magomedovs were taken into custody on charges of creating a criminal organization. Even though media publications about Magomedov’s ties to Kiyko had appeared, it was after the brothers’ arrest that Kiyko stubbornly began denying his relationship with Ziyavudin Magomedov.

As a supplier, JSC UGC carried out many public procurements under Kiyko.

But at the state grain enterprise entrusted to Kiyko, the legal front was exposed in numerous court cases.

Arbitration cases involving JSC UGC look like a horror film: 778 cases worth 21 billion rubles!

Here are some facts.

In March 2018, arbitration judge Lyubov Dranko also ruled against JSC UGC in a lawsuit filed by the Siberian Grain Products Plant. A representative of the grain company, which by then had been headed by Kiyko for almost a year, did not appear at the hearing. The result – JSC UGC lost.

The case brought by JSC Isikulsky Elevator was heard in May 2018 by Moscow Arbitration Court judge Irina Vasilyeva. The defendant, JSC UGC, did not appear in court, did not submit a response, and did not contest the claims. The result – the claim was granted and the amount recovered.

Mikhail Kiyko played a key role in the Magomedovs’ multibillion-ruble machinations

The proceedings in the lawsuit by Fedorovsky Elevator LLC (Saratov Region) against JSC UGC were conducted in May 2018 by judge Anna Petrukhina without summoning the parties. The company led by Kiyko lost the case for 1.6 million rubles.

The situation is made especially scandalous by the fact that the United Grain Company is state-owned and was included by presidential decree in the list of strategic joint-stock companies: the office received tens of billions from the budget.

And Kiyko played a key role in the Magomedovs’ multibillion-ruble machinations.

The Magomedovs were detained on March 30, 2018: they were charged with creating a criminal organization, embezzling 2.5 billion rubles, and transferring funds offshore.

Together, the two received 37 years in prison.

Mikhail Kiyko, the general director of the United Grain Company, was summoned for questioning by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation. He tried to settle matters amicably with the investigation.

And, apparently, he reached an agreement: he remained free.

He then moved on to JSC Mechanika (Rostec Group), where he worked for three years as general director.

JSC Mechanika was liquidated in January of this year, 2026.

In 2023, Mr. Kiyko moved to AFK Sistema. He took the chair of deputy head. Until 2024.

In 2025, he was chairman of the board of directors of JSC RT-Stroytekh. But he had to leave that office too: today Kiyko is employed as vice president at the Russian House of International Cooperation Association.

The alcohol business of Madame Kiyko

But here is what is curious: despite working for so long, Mikhail Kiyko has no housing of his own, no cars, and no country house for personal use, because all movable and immovable property belongs to his wife – Svetlana Kiyko.

And Ms. Kiyko is an energetic lady who has spent many years moving through different areas of business.

Kiyko Svetlana Mikhailovna (tax ID 771917271769) in the register of entrepreneurs and the Unified State Register of Legal Entities

In 2009, she first entered the top 50 richest wives of officials. The general’s wife had an annual income of 44 million rubles, and personally owned real estate and a BMW X5.

A little later, two parking spaces appeared, registered to a 14-year-old son. Svetlana Kiyko was also listed as owning a land plot (5,810 sq. m) with a residential house (859 sq. m), two apartments, and four garages.

Svetlana Kiyko was engaged in oil production, traded alcoholic beverages wholesale, and provided consulting on commercial activity.

Kiyko Svetlana Mikhailovna (tax ID 771917271769) in the register of entrepreneurs and the Unified State Register of Legal Entities

Svetlana Kiyko has two companies of her own – one of them is Sordis LLC. This firm is located in Nizhny Novgorod.

Revenue in 2025 was 2.9 billion rubles; the company produces distilled alcoholic beverages: whiskey, gin, liqueurs, and vodka.

Authorized capital is 80 million rubles.

But there are more than enough arbitration cases: 153 cases worth 4.9 billion rubles!

The second firm is FMK Medical Center LLC: revenue in 2023 amounted to 2.6 billion rubles.

General Kiyko’s wife was also connected to Southern Oil LLC, located in Stavropol Territory.

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Later, from 2021 to 2023, Svetlana Kiyko was a co-founder of N1 Aktiv LLC, which provided consulting on commercial activity and management.

This firm was previously called Morpia LLC. Later, N1 Aktiv was owned by the closed-end mutual investment fund RVM Vostok, managed by JSC MC RVM Capital. This firm works with large state companies and VIPs.

Closed-end mutual funds do not disclose their clients.

And with the help of such funds, it is convenient to hide the owners of assets so that they do not fall under Western sanctions.

Svetlana Kiyko was also listed as an adviser to the board of National Space Bank ("NK Bank").

Until 2015, 90% of this bank belonged to Viktor Grigoryev, former first deputy director of the company Oboronprom, while 10% was owned by Larisa Drozdova, the wife of Vladimir Smirnov, former chairman of the well-known Ozero cooperative.

With such a talented wife, General Kiyko may no longer need to work at all and can simply enjoy life.

Through life with criminals?

But there are still some piquant details from the life of Colonel-General Kiyko.

General Kiyko is constantly "whitewashing" his murky dossier… And his "pocket" lawyers constantly help him do this. In particular, Mikhail Kiyko’s permanent representative from the law firm Alliance Legal is a certain Ignat Gornshtein. Journalists dug up that Mr. Gornshtein had been convicted twice.

He served a prison sentence because he was a figure in the case of the well-known raider Pavel Fedulev.

Pavel Fedulev

Before prison, Gornshtein was called Mirgorodsky.

After General Kiyko took the position of general director of JSC UGC, money transfers began arriving from JSC accounts to Alliance Legal under the guise of payment for legal services.

The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation identified signs of corruption in such public procurements by JSC UGC.

But the connection between Alliance Legal and Pavel Fedulev can be traced not only through Gornshtein-Mirgorodsky.

One of the heads of this firm – Artem Grishin – was the founder and director of the Yekaterinburg-based Zlatogorka Company LLC; before him, the firm was owned by Vyacheslav Latypov.

And Mr. Latypov, in a joint criminal case with Mirgorodsky, was sentenced to imprisonment for large-scale fraud as part of a criminal organization.

Another beneficiary of Alliance Legal is operative Dmitriy Fesko.

Mr. Fesko was forced to leave the ranks of the Interior Ministry against the backdrop of the high-profile exposure by FSB officers of a group of turncoats headed by former GUEBiPK chief Lieutenant General Denis Sugrobov: Dmitriy Fesko worked under his command.

Denis Sugrobov

Incidentally, former general Sugrobov has already been released from prison on parole and today works as an adviser at the pharmaceutical company Immuno-Gem.

Immediately after arriving at JSC UGC, General Kiyko made Igor Bozhkov his right hand for security; Bozhkov had previously been dismissed from the Interior Ministry after a corruption scandal.

So everything is mixed up in the House of Oblonsky: General Kiyko was in contact with criminals both in the FSKN and at JSC UGC. And, apparently, in his most difficult moments – if one recalls the high-profile criminal case of the Magomedov brothers – he also turned to the "powers that be" for help with employment?

But the ranks of the criminal organization are thinning desperately: the high-profile arrest of Ilya Traber together with his accomplices is an eloquent example of that.