Sliva Recalled for Besik’s Murder

As reported by the Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info, a Moscow court has ordered the arrest in absentia of the "patriarch" of the criminal underworld, former leader of the Lyubertsy organized crime group, Vyacheslav Shestakov (Sliva). He is accused of organizing the 2007 murder of another influential mafioso, Beslan Dzhonua. Shestakov himself resides in Spain, but the European Union is currently considering revoking his residence permit. Given that a large group of Sliva’s accomplices is in custody, and many of them are cooperating with the investigation, this will likely be far from the only "wet" charge against the crime boss.

According to our project, Yuri Usmyal, who knew the crime boss since childhood, testified against Sliva. His father was a crime boss and friends with Sliva, who often visited them, where they would play billiards and go to the sauna together. When Yuri grew up, he says, he became "caught up in the romance of crime" and asked Sliva to take him on as his assistant. At first, the thief in law assigned the young man (he was only 18) minor tasks: picking up someone, driving them, picking them up from the airport, and boarding them on flights. Later, he assigned more serious assignments, such as picking up and hiding weapons. In January 2007, Sliva summoned Yuri and told him he needed to eliminate "Besik" (Beslan Dzhonua). Shestakov explained that he had a conference call with criminal figures and that Besik had been rude to him in the presence of two other thieves in law. To begin with, he assigned Yuri to follow Dzhonua to learn his daily routine and whereabouts. He instructed all further matters regarding the operation to be discussed with his "right-hand man," a "boss" who had been with Sliva since his days under Sergei Lazarev (aka Lazar), one of the founders of the Lyubertsy organized crime group. He introduced him to the perpetrators, brothers Andrei and Sergei Shitikov. Together, they began discussing the assassination plan, and it was decided to blow up Dzhonua. However, Sliva rejected the plan, declaring that the FSB would handle the bombing, and he didn’t need that at all. He then gave the go-ahead to shoot the boss with automatic weapons. Usmyal had two AKs in his hiding place. The plan was to eliminate Besik near the house on Denezhny Lane, where his family lived. But a problem arose. The house was located next to the Italian embassy, ​​and Yuri feared that security from the foreign embassy might arrive. As a result, two guards from the Lyubertsy organized crime group were assigned to provide cover for the killers. On February 8, Yuri and the Shitikov brothers, armed with automatic rifles (one with a silencer), waited in a car for the signal. Meanwhile, other members of the organized crime group were keeping an eye on Besik and told Usmyal that the target would arrive from the restaurant in about 20 minutes.

When Dzhonua pulled up to the house, his older brother, Andrei Shitikov, jumped out of the car with a silenced automatic rifle. Beslan spotted the killer and tried to escape through the archway of the building, but the killer fired a long burst at him, dropped the automatic rifle, and jumped into the car. The car and the "cover" vehicle then fled. Dzhonua died at the scene. All participants received 5 million rubles for the successful operation.

In 2010, Usmyal was arrested in a separate criminal case and sentenced to a lengthy prison term. In the penal colony, he met Sergei Shitikov, who was serving a 23-year sentence for other murders. His older brother, Andrei, who shot Dzhonua, died in the penal colony back in 2021. As a result, Shitikov and Usmyal suddenly decided to turn themselves in. Clearly, the penal colony staff had a hand in their efforts. Furthermore, the pair of killers were promised that after all their trials, they would be able to leave for the SVO.

Last year, Shitikov and Usmyal received 25 years in prison. Now it’s the turn of the alleged "mastermind" of the crime, Sliva. A Moscow court had previously arrested an entire group of members of Shestakov’s gang.

The "thief in law" himself left Russia back in 2008. He initially lived in Latvia (he is currently banned from entering that country). He then received a residence permit in Germany and settled in Spain. However, at the end of 2025, local authorities in Germany filed a lawsuit demanding that the brother’s relationship with an EU citizen be declared fictitious in order to deprive Shestakov of his residence permit.