Why was the director of the Eliseevsky grocery store shot? Yuri Sokolov: the first "scapegoat". case about the director of the Eliseevsky grocery store Berkutov grocery store director biography

Participant of the Great Patriotic War, had awards. It is also known that in the 50s he was convicted “by slander.” But after two years of imprisonment, he was completely acquitted: the one who actually committed the crime was detained. From 1963 to 1972, Yuri Sokolov was deputy director of grocery store No. 1, and from 1972 to 1982 he was director of the Eliseevsky store.

Arrest and sentence

In 1982, Yu. V. Andropov came to power in the USSR, one of whose goals was to cleanse the country of corruption, theft and bribery. He knew the real state of affairs in trade, so Andropov decided [source not specified 289 days] to start with the Moscow food trade. The first person arrested in this case was the director of the Moscow store “Vneshposyltorg” (“Beryozka”) Avilov and his wife, who was Sokolov’s deputy as director of the “Eliseevsky” store. Moscow grocery store No. 1 (“Eliseevsky”) was called an oasis in the food desert of the USSR. He regularly supplied the party elite and the creative, scientific, and military elite of the country with selected delicacies. As it turned out, huge bribes passed through the hands of the grocery store director, which he shared with the powers that be. The details of the investigation, the people involved in the case are interesting, and the verdict is striking in its severity. If the custom of public execution had been preserved in Russia until 1983, then hundreds of thousands of people could have gathered to carry out the sentence to Eliseevsky director Yuri Sokolov, who after his arrest demanded “to punish the presumptuous trader to the fullest extent of the law.” But did his crime warrant the death penalty?

The case of Yuri Sokolov "got lost" in the three General Secretaries of the CPSU Central Committee

A criminal case on charges of Yu. Sokolov, his deputy I. Nemtsev, heads of departments N. Svezhinsky, V. Yakovlev, A. Konkov and V. Grigoriev “of theft of food products on a large scale and bribery” was opened by the Moscow prosecutor’s office at the end of October 1982 - ten days before the death of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev.

The investigation into this case continued under the new leader of the USSR, Yuri Andropov. And the meeting of the Supreme Court of the RSFSR, at which Yuri Sokolov was sentenced to death, took place under Konstantin Chernenko, who replaced Andropov as head of the party and state. Moreover, Chernenko survived the executed trade worker by only three months.

The arrest of Sokolov was presented by the Soviet press on command from above as the beginning of the decisive struggle of the CPSU against corruption and the shadow economy. Could the kaleidoscopic succession of elderly general secretaries have to some extent softened the fate of the defendant and saved his life? At one point, Yuri Sokolov, who was in Lefortovo, began to feel hope for leniency, which we will discuss below.

He had already been on trial once and spent 2 years in prison. But it turned out - for someone else’s crime...

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Yuri Sokolov was born in Moscow in 1925. He participated in the Great Patriotic War and was awarded several government awards. It is also known that in the 50s he was convicted “by slander.” But after two years of imprisonment, he was completely acquitted: the one who actually committed the crime was detained. Sokolov worked in a taxi fleet, then as a salesman.

From 1963 to 1972, Yuri Sokolov was deputy director of grocery store No. 1, which Muscovites still call “Eliseevsky”. Having headed a trading company, he proved himself, as they would say now, to be a brilliant top manager. In an era of total shortage, Sokolov turned the grocery store into an oasis in the middle of a food desert.

Who needed to execute a 58-year-old front-line soldier who managed to ensure an uninterrupted supply of goods to the store in the rotten system of co-trade?

This perplexed question is asked today by those who believe that if there had been more “Falconers” at that time, all Soviet people would have eaten black caviar with spoons. But it's not that simple. It must be emphasized that the fruits of Yuri Konstantinovich’s labors were enjoyed exclusively by the highest nomenclature and cultural elite of Moscow.

In grocery store No. 1 and its seven branches “under the counter” there was abundance: imported alcoholic drinks and cigarettes, black and red caviar, Finnish cervelat, ham and balyki, chocolates and coffee, cheeses and citrus fruits... All this could be purchased (using the ordering system and from the “back door”) only high-ranking party and state bosses, including members of the family of the ruling General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev, famous writers and artists, space heroes, academics and generals...

How did delicious, rare, or even simply exotic products end up in Soviet grocery store No. 1?

Here are the lines from the verdict that drew a line under the life of the director of “Eliseevsky”: “Using his responsible official position, Sokolov for personal gain from January 1972 to October 1982. systematically received bribes from his subordinates for the fact that, through higher trade organizations, he ensured an uninterrupted supply of food products to the store in an assortment favorable to the bribe givers.”

In turn, Yuri Sokolov, in the last word of the defendant, emphasized that “the current order in the trade system” makes inevitable the sale of unaccounted for food products, weighting and shortchanging of buyers, shrinkage, shrinkage and re-grading, write-off according to the column of natural losses and “left sale”, as well as bribes. In order to receive the goods and fulfill the plan, it is necessary, they say, to win over those at the top and those at the bottom, even the driver who carries the products...

So who, after all, needed the life of a quick-witted and resourceful “breadwinner” of the Moscow elite, who observed the basic “laws” of the Brezhnev era - “You give me, I give you” and “Live yourself, and let others live”?

During the arrest, Sokolov remained calm and refused to answer questions in Lefortovo

Eyewitnesses testify that during the arrest, Sokolov outwardly remained calm; during the first interrogation in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center, he did not plead guilty to taking bribes and categorically refused to testify. What was the arrested man counting on, what was he waiting for?

For a long time, Sokolov was out of reach of the long arms of Lubyanka and Petrovka. Among the high patrons of the director of the self-assembled grocery store were the head of the Trade Directorate of the Moscow City Executive Committee and deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR N. Tregubov, the chairman of the Moscow City Executive Committee V. Promyslov, the second secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU R. Dementyev, the Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs N. Shchelokov. At the top of the security pyramid stood the owner of Moscow - the first secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee and member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee V. Grishin.

And, of course, the party, Soviet and law enforcement agencies were aware that Sokolov was friends with the Secretary General’s daughter Galina Brezhneva and her husband, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yuri Churbanov.

Yuri Sokolov, of course, counted on the fact that the “security system” he built on the principle of mutual responsibility would work. And there was a moment when she seemed to begin to act: it is known that Viktor Grishin, after Sokolov’s arrest, said that he did not believe that the director of the grocery store was guilty. However, as subsequent events showed, the leapfrog with the change of general secretaries deprived not only Sokolov of untouchability, but also his high-ranking “roof.”

Sokolov began to testify only after the election of a new Secretary General of the CPSU

The defendant began to confess immediately after he learned about Brezhnev’s death and that Yuri Andropov had been elected General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. Sokolov knew his way around the corridors of power well enough not to come to the disappointing conclusion: he had become one of the pawns in Andropov’s game to discredit possible rivals to replace the seriously ill Brezhnev. And the owner of Moscow, Viktor Grishin, as was well known then, was one of the most likely contenders for the Kremlin “throne”.

Sokolov could not calculate one thing at that time: he got into the development of the KGB even when this all-powerful department was headed by Andropov. Starting a multi-step game for supreme power, the Chairman of the Committee had already designated the director of Eliseevsky, to whom intelligence reports about bribery were received, as the fuse that was supposed to detonate the bomb...

Sokolov's first confession was recorded in the second half of December 1982. KGB investigators made it clear to the defendant that he must, first of all, reveal the scheme of thefts from Moscow food stores and testify about the transfer of bribes to the highest echelons of Moscow power. Cooperation with the investigation will count, they told him. And a drowning person, as you know, clutches at straws...

For what purpose did the KGB create a short circuit in the Eliseevsky building?

The expert assessment of the former KGB supervisory prosecutor Vladimir Golubev on the Sokolov case has been preserved. He believed that the evidence presented against Sokolov was not thoroughly examined during the investigation and trial. The amounts of bribes were named based on the savings in the norms of natural loss, which were provided for by the state. And the conclusion: from a legal point of view, such a severe punishment of the director of Eliseevsky is illegal...

It is significant that the KGB conducted the Sokolov case without the participation of its “younger brother” - the Ministry of Internal Affairs: Minister of Internal Affairs Shchelokov and his deputy Churbanov were on Andropov’s “black list” even when he was Chairman of the KGB, and then Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. (In December 1982, 71-year-old N. Shchelokov was removed from his post as Minister of Internal Affairs and committed suicide).

A month before Sokolov’s arrest, the committee members, choosing the moment when he was abroad, equipped the director’s office with operational and technical means of audio and video control (they caused an “electrical short circuit” in the store, turned off the elevators and called “repairmen”). All branches of Eliseevsky were also put under the cap.

Thus, the security officers of the KGB department in Moscow literally came to the attention of many high-ranking persons who were in “special” relations with Sokolov and were in his office. Including, for example, the then all-powerful head of the traffic police N. Nozdryakov.

Audio and video surveillance also recorded that branch managers came to Sokolov on Fridays and handed envelopes to the director. Subsequently, part of the money raised from the deficit that did not end up on the counter migrated from the director’s safe to the head of the Main Trade Directorate of the Executive Committee of the Moscow City Council, Nikolai Tregubov, and other interested parties. In short, a serious evidence base was collected.

One Friday, all the “postmen”, after handing over envelopes with money to Sokolov, were arrested. The four soon confessed.

The committee member who arrested Sokolov first exchanged a firm handshake with him

The head of one of the departments of the KGB, who was assigned to lead the operation to arrest Sokolov, knew well that there was a security alarm button on Sokolov’s desktop. Therefore, upon entering the director’s office, he extended his hand to greet him. The “friendly” handshake ended with a seizure, which prevented the owner of the office from raising the alarm. And only after that they presented him with an arrest warrant and began a search. At the same time, searches were already underway in all branches of the grocery store.

Why Politburo member Viktor Grishin interrupted his vacation and flew to Moscow

Even before the investigation into the Sokolov case was completed and the indictment was submitted to the court, arrests of directors of large metropolitan trading enterprises began.

In total, in the capital's Glavtorg system, since the summer of 1983, more than 15 thousand people have been brought to criminal liability. Including the former head of Glavtorg of the Moscow City Executive Committee Nikolai Tregubov. His patrons tried to get him out of harm’s way and shortly before that, they transferred him to the chair of the manager of the Soyuztorg mediation office of the USSR Ministry of Trade. However, the castling did not save the official, as, by the way, many of his new colleagues - high-ranking employees of the ministry.

Interesting fact: having learned about the arrest of N. Tregubov, Politburo member V. Grishin, who was on vacation, urgently flew to Moscow. However, there was nothing he could do. The career of the patron of the Moscow “trade mafia” was already at its end - in December 1985, he was replaced as secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU by Boris Yeltsin.

The directors of the most famous Moscow food stores were behind bars: V. Filippov (Novoarbatsky grocery store), B. Tveretinov (GUM grocery store), S. Noniev (Smolensky grocery store), as well as the head of Mosplodovoshchprom V. Uraltsev and the director of the fruit and vegetable store base M. Ambartsumyan, director of the Gastronom trade I. Korovkin, director of Diettorg Ilyin, director of the Kuibyshev district food trade M. Baigelman and a whole number of very respectable and responsible workers.

The investigation will establish that in the Glavtorg case, 757 people were united by stable criminal ties - from store directors to heads of trade in Moscow and the country, other industries and departments. Based on the testimony of only 12 defendants, through whose hands more than 1.5 million rubles worth of bribes passed, one can imagine the overall scale of corruption. According to the documents, the damage to the state was estimated at 3 million rubles (a lot of money in those days).

Sokolov: an underground millionaire or an unmercenary who slept on a soldier's bed?

The party press started talking coherently about the new NEP - establishing basic order. The propaganda campaign was accompanied by reports of searches in apartments and dachas of the “trading mafia.” Large sums of rubles, currency and jewelry found in hiding places flashed by.

The editorial offices of central newspapers, the Central Committee of the CPSU, and the KGB, starting from the moment of Sokolov’s arrest, continued to receive letters from all over the country demanding that the presumptuous traders be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

Information about how much “stuck” to the hands of Yuri Sokolov is very contradictory. A dacha where 50 thousand rubles in cash and bonds for several tens of thousands more, jewelry, a used foreign car were found - this is according to some sources. According to others, the former front-line soldier took bribes and sent them “upstairs” to ensure the normal supply of the store, but did not take a penny for himself. They even claimed that Sokolov had an iron bed at home. True, they kept silent about the fact that the director of the grocery store lived in an elite house next door to the daughter of the former head of state Nikita Khrushchev.

The death sentence for the director of "Eliseevsky" amazed even the KGB investigators

The meeting of the Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the RSFSR in the case of Sokolov and other “financially responsible persons of grocery store No. 1” was held behind closed doors. Yuri Sokolov was found guilty under Articles 173 Part 2 and 174 Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (receiving and giving bribes on a large scale) and on November 11, 1984 he was sentenced to capital punishment - execution by execution with confiscation of property. His deputy I. Nemtsev was sentenced to 14 years, A. Grigoriev - to 13, V. Yakovlev and A. Konkov - to 12, N. Svezhinsky - to 11 years in prison.

At the trial, Sokolov did not recant his testimony; he read out to the court from a notebook the amounts of bribes and the names of high-ranking bribe-payers. This was expected of him, and in order to avoid disclosing incriminating evidence on major party and government functionaries, the court hearing was closed. Sokolov repeated several times at court hearings that he had become a “scapegoat”, “a victim of party strife.”

They say that the KGB officers involved in this criminal case were amazed at the death sentence against the defendant, who actively cooperated with the investigation and the court. Sokolov finds it hard to believe in the public expression of sympathy from the committee members. It is more plausible to assume that it was for Sokolov’s detailed testimony that he paid with his life.

When the former head of Moscow trade, Nikolai Tregubov, through whom the main “tranches” of bribes passed, later appeared in court, he pleaded not guilty and did not name any names. As a result, he received 15 years in prison. Remember, this is almost the same as an ordinary department manager at the Eliseevsky grocery store!

Two directors were executed, one sentenced himself to death

Before the shock from the execution of Yuri Sokolov had passed in the trading industry, a new execution sentence was heard - for the director of the fruit and vegetable base M. Ambartsumyan. The court, in the year of the 40th anniversary of the Victory over Nazi Germany, did not find mitigating circumstances such as Mkhitar Ambartsumyan’s participation in the storming of the Reichstag and in the Victory Parade on Red Square in 1945. And he also testified.

Another shot, the last in this criminal-political story, was heard outside the prison - without waiting for the trial, the director of the Smolensky grocery store, S. Noniev, committed suicide.

For a long time there was a rumor: Sokolov was shot immediately after the verdict - in a paddy wagon on the way from the court to the pre-trial detention center

It was officially announced that the sentence against Yuri Sokolov was carried out on December 14, 1984, that is, 33 days after its announcement. Where did the unlikely version come from that Sokolov did not make it to the pre-trial detention center alive after the last court hearing? Let us remember that the investigation into other criminal cases against Glavtorg employees was already in full swing. And many high-ranking officials were interested in ensuring that such a dangerous witness as Sokolov was “neutralized” as soon as possible. Most likely, this is where the rumor originated: Sokolov was supposedly rushed to be removed so that he would not have time to submit a request for pardon...

The government has changed, demonstrative “floggings” for political reasons remain

Sokolov is certainly a criminal. However, the court had sufficient grounds to choose a non-death penalty for the almost 60-year-old sales worker. But in this case, crime was in the background - the agile director became one of the pawns in the political struggle for supreme power. Literally a few months after the death of the former director of Eliseevsky, the rules of the game began to change on this field. The investigation into the “trade mafia” case began to wind down; a group of OBKhSS investigators, formed from specialists from many regions, was sent home.

Today we live under different, Russian laws, which replaced the Soviet ones. But, as before, political motives can sometimes be discerned behind many high-profile criminal cases - the struggle for power, rivalry between “clans” and powerful security forces for proximity “to the body,” the elimination of rivals and the “exemplary flogging” of oligarchs with the help of the courts...

In the 80s, a difficult food situation developed in the USSR. People literally had to go out hunting for food, stand in long lines, hoping that the coveted sausage would not run out. And grocery store No. 1 in those difficult times simply amazed with the abundance of scarce goods. There you could get everything: from “doctor’s sausage” and coffee, to balyk and caviar. Locals called the grocery store “Eliseevsky”, because before the revolution, this building housed an equally luxurious store of the wealthy merchant Eliseev.

From taxi driver to director

The life of Yuri Konstantinovich Sokolov was not easy. After the war, when the question of family wealth became acute, he began working as a taxi driver. But after some time he was arrested and sent to a colony for 2 years. The investigation found that he was cheating clients. True, it later turned out that Sokolov was convicted in vain - the denunciation was false. But this did not break Yuri Konstantinovich. Upon his release, he realized that he needed to go into trade. Thanks to his intelligence and cunning, Sokolov first became the deputy director of a grocery store on Tverskaya, and then rose to the position of manager. The peak of his career was the position of director of grocery store No. 1, the largest grocery store in the capital.

Line for bread

The situation in the country at that time was tense and nervous. The Brezhnev era was coming to an end, and the moment of a fierce battle for power was approaching. KGB Chairman Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov stood out especially strongly from his competitors. In the early 80s, he began an open war with the most corrupt layer of the Soviet elite - representatives of trade. The main goal is to remove the first secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU, Grishin, who was involved with the Moscow trade mafia. Therefore, Andropov, having become Secretary General, ordered the directors of all the largest stores in the capital to be put on the hook. Sokolov stood apart. He was the biggest fish, because the party elite and the creative and scientific elite of the USSR shopped in his grocery store.

"Falcon hunting"

The security officers, choosing the moment when Sokolov went on a business trip, equipped his office with bugs. Then they took control of all branches of his store. Thus, Yuri Konstantinovich found himself surrounded by red flags on all sides.

Black caviar

A month later he was arrested for bribes. Whether he gave it to someone or to him was no longer so important. The main thing is that the security officers found out that on Fridays, branch directors came to Sokolov’s carpet and handed him envelopes. Part of the money went to the head of the Main Trade Directorate, Tregubov, the rest - to less important persons. In general, there was enough evidence. The flywheel spun. In total, more than ten thousand people who worked in the Moscow Glavtorg system, including Tregubov, were brought to criminal responsibility.

First Secretary Grishin could not do anything. He himself was under surveillance, so he did not take any particularly active actions. According to Sokolov’s wife, he was betrayed by one of his subordinates, the deputy head of the sausage department. Her husband, who worked at the Berezka currency exchange, was caught. The investigation revealed that they were selling delicacies from Eliseevsky to the left for foreign money. But this couple was too small prey. The authorities promised them a reduced sentence if they handed over Sokolov.

Yuri Sokolov

It is clear that in the grocery store customers (even such high-ranking ones) were constantly deceived. Body kit and shortcuts were the norm. The bulk of the money was made from shrinking, shaking, spoiling and writing off gourmet goods. And although grocery store No. 1 had the latest refrigeration units, products there were written off in the same way as everywhere else. That is, at high interest rates. And the difference went to bribes to patrons and suppliers.

It is curious that Sokolov himself lived very modestly by the standards of the position he held. When law enforcement officials came to his house to take an inventory of his property, they were greatly surprised. The director had no antiques, no expensive paintings, nothing luxurious. Even the refrigerator was not bursting with an abundance of delicacies. Therefore, they had to take away the most common furniture and dishes for the USSR.

Trial

In the hall of the Baumansky District Court (now Basmanny) were the directors of most of the large stores in Moscow. Apparently, they were “invited” for the purpose of intimidation. The judge announced the verdict for about an hour and at the end said the word “execution.” After which applause rang out in the hall. They say that Sokolov got it right.

Sokolov case

This was followed by a series of arrests. The leaders of the largest Moscow grocery stores, a regional food store and a fruit and vegetable base were taken into custody. Soon, the head of the Main Department of Trade of the Moscow City Executive Committee, Nikolai Tregubov, was also convicted. By the way, he was given 15 years.

Sokolov denied everything until the very end. But then he decided to reveal the details of the fraud and the names of those who had to pay bribes. Apparently, he was promised a reduced sentence.

Yuri Konstantinovich declassified his notebook in which he conducted commercial affairs. At the trial, he tried to prove that the Soviet trading system was too archaic and no longer viable. And the plans that came from above were simply impossible to implement without breaking the law. But the judge was not impressed by this speech. The sentence was not commuted. Sokolov was found guilty and sentenced to death with complete confiscation of property.

Yuri Konstantinovich himself called himself a “scapegoat” who was simply unlucky. After all, he became the first victim in a high-profile “corruption case.” These events formed the basis of several documentaries and feature films. The most famous of which is the series “Deli Business No. 1” with Sergei Makovetsky in the title role.

The last years before Perestroika were remembered by Soviet citizens as a time of total shortage. All stores in the USSR could only display empty shelves, at best decorated with stacks of canned goods. For any food and industrial goods, Soviet citizens had to literally “hunt”, stand in kilometer-long lines, or establish mutually beneficial friendships with store managers.

Cornucopia

Under these conditions, Moscow Gastronome No. 1 on Gorky Street at No. 14 amazed the imagination with its luxury. It had such scarce goods that unspoiled Soviet citizens could only dream of: “Doctor’s” sausage, chocolate, coffee, herring, etc. From the back entrance they sold balyk, caviar, fresh fruit, etc. Muscovites called Deli No. 1 “Eliseevsky "in memory of pre-revolutionary abundance (until 1917, there was a chic store of the merchant Eliseev in its building).

The fame of the grocery store thundered throughout the country. People came to Moscow from the most remote corners of the Union especially for him. It was shown to foreigners. Eliseevsky's director, Yuri Sokolov, was person No. 1 for the capital's elite. A former front-line soldier and war hero, he unexpectedly successfully managed the business of supplying a grocery store in conditions completely unsuited to business. Distributing bribes, he negotiated with suppliers. By paying unofficial “bonuses” to store staff, he achieved a high level of service.

War on corruption under Andropov's leadership

The arrest on suspicion of embezzlement and bribery came as a bolt from the blue for Sokolov. This happened in 1982, literally a few years before Perestroika. A month before his arrest, video surveillance and wiretapping equipment was installed in his office. The KGB carried out these actions as part of the war against corruption launched by Yuri Andropov in those years. In 1983-1984, more than 15,000 trade workers were convicted.

A month of surveillance of the director of the First Moscow grocery store gave the “authorities” colossal material for future business and revealed Sokolov’s extensive connections with very high-ranking officials. The director was arrested while receiving a bribe (300 rubles). During the arrest, he was absolutely calm, confident in the intercession of many officials who at one time used his services.

Bribery case

A huge evidence base of his criminal activities was collected against Yuri Sokolov: from telephone conversations with the “right people” - to the “postmen” who testified (people who carried him envelopes with bribes). At the trial, such amounts of theft were announced and such names surfaced that the case acquired an all-Union scope. Articles on the topic of “stealing traders” appeared in all newspapers.

The exact amount of money Sokolov stole is not known. It could be equal to several thousand or several hundred thousand rubles. In general, the case involved huge sums of money that went towards bribes to various officials (something like 1.5 million rubles). The director of the grocery store himself did not plead guilty. He claimed that he resolved supply issues to the store through bribery.

"Scapegoat"

At the height of the war against corruption, such a large “catch” played into the hands of Andropov and his supporters. According to some reports, Sokolov was promised leniency in court if he revealed all the names of his accomplices. The defendant did this, taking out a notebook from the secret archive with the names of all his accomplices.

This step did not help Sokolov. On November 11, 1984, a death sentence was read out to him with confiscation of all property. Other defendants were also sentenced to different terms - from 11 to 14 years in prison: Nemtsev I., Yakovlev V., Konkov A., etc. The death sentence was a shock for Yuri Sokolov himself and for everyone who knew him.

As the convict himself said, he became a “scapegoat” in behind-the-scenes wars in the highest echelons of power. Perhaps it was precisely for this statement, which cast a shadow on Andropov, that the KGB treated the former director of Gastronome No. 1 so harshly. He was shot on December 14. After this scandalous case, persecution of high-ranking and ordinary trade workers continued for a long time.

Moscow grocery store No. 1 (“Eliseevsky”) was called an oasis in the food desert of the USSR. He regularly supplied the party elite and the creative, scientific, and military elite of the country with selected delicacies. As it turned out, huge bribes passed through the hands of the grocery store director, which he shared with the powers that be. The details of the investigation, the people involved in the case are interesting, and the verdict is striking in its severity...

If the custom of public execution had been preserved in Russia until 1983, then hundreds of thousands of people could have gathered to carry out the sentence to Eliseevsky director Yuri Sokolov, who, after his arrest, demanded “to punish the presumptuous trader to the fullest extent of the law.” But did his crime warrant the death penalty?

The case of Yuri Sokolov “got lost” in the three General Secretaries of the CPSU Central Committee

Criminal case against Yu. Sokolov, his deputy I. Nemtsev, heads of departments N. Svezhinsky, V. Yakovlev, A. Konkov and V. Grigoriev " in theft of food products on a large scale and bribery", was initiated by the Moscow prosecutor's office at the end of October 1982 - ten days before the death of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev.

He had already been on trial once and spent 2 years in prison. But it turned out - for someone else’s crime...

Sokolova Yuri Konstantinovich

Who needed to execute a 58-year-old front-line soldier who managed to ensure an uninterrupted supply of goods to the store in the rotten system of co-trade?

In grocery store No. 1 and its seven “under the counter” branches there was abundance: imported alcoholic drinks and cigarettes, black and red caviar, Finnish cervelat, ham and balyki, chocolates and coffee, cheeses and citrus fruits...

All this could be purchased (through the order system and from the “back door”) only by high-ranking party and state bosses, including members of the family of the ruling General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev, famous writers and artists, space heroes, academics and generals...

How did delicious, rare, or even simply exotic products end up in Soviet grocery store No. 1?

Here are the lines from the verdict that drew a line under the life of the director of Eliseevsky: “ Using his responsible official position, Sokolov for personal gain from January 1972 to October 1982. systematically received bribes from his subordinates for the fact that, through higher trade organizations, he ensured an uninterrupted supply of food products to the store in an assortment favorable to the bribe givers».

In turn, Yuri Sokolov emphasized in the defendant’s last word that “ current order in the trading system“make inevitable the sale of unaccounted for food products, weighting and shortchanging of buyers, shrinkage, shrinkage and re-grading, write-off according to natural losses and “left selling”, as well as bribes. In order to receive the goods and fulfill the plan, it is necessary, they say, to win over those at the top and those at the bottom, even the driver who carries the products...

During the arrest, Sokolov remained calm and refused to answer questions in Lefortovo

Several thousand trade workers of the capital visited this wall

Sokolov began to testify only after the election of a new Secretary General of the CPSU

Yu. V. Andropov

For what purpose did the KGB create a short circuit in the Eliseevsky building?

Thus, many high-ranking officials who were in “special” relations with Sokolov and were in his office literally came to the attention of the security officers of the KGB department in Moscow. Including, for example, the then all-powerful head of the traffic police N. Nozdryakov.

One Friday, all the “postmen”, after handing over envelopes with money to Sokolov, were arrested. The four soon confessed.

The “friendly” handshake ended with a seizure, which prevented the owner of the office from raising the alarm. And only after that they presented him with an arrest warrant and began a search. At the same time, searches were already underway in all branches of the grocery store.

Why Politburo member Viktor Grishin interrupted his vacation and flew to Moscow

Even before the investigation into the Sokolov case was completed and the indictment was submitted to the court, arrests of directors of large metropolitan trading enterprises began.

His patrons tried to get him out of harm’s way and shortly before that, they transferred him to the chair of the manager of the Soyuztorg mediation office of the USSR Ministry of Trade. However, the castling did not save the official, as, by the way, many of his new colleagues - high-ranking employees of the ministry.

Interesting fact: having learned about the arrest of N. Tregubov, Politburo member V. Grishin, who was on vacation, urgently flew to Moscow. However, there was nothing he could do. The career of the patron of the Moscow “trading mafia” was already at its end - in December 1985, he was replaced as secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU by Boris Yeltsin.

The directors of the most famous Moscow food stores were behind bars: V. Filippov (Novoarbatsky grocery store), B. Tveretinov (GUM grocery store), S. Noniev (Smolensky grocery store), as well as the head of Mosplodovoshchprom V. Uraltsev and the director of the fruit and vegetable store base M. Ambartsumyan, director of the Gastronom trade I. Korovkin, director of Diettorg Ilyin, director of the Kuibyshev district food trade M. Baigelman and a number of other very respectable and responsible workers.

Sokolov: an underground millionaire or an unmercenary who slept on a soldier's bed?

Yuri Sokolov

Information about how much “stuck” to the hands of Yuri Sokolov is very contradictory. A dacha where 50 thousand rubles in cash and bonds worth several tens of thousands more, jewelry, a used foreign car were found - this is according to some sources.

According to others, the former front-line soldier took bribes and sent them “upstairs” to ensure the normal supply of the store, but did not take a penny for himself. They even claimed that Sokolov had an iron bed at home. True, they kept silent about the fact that the director of the grocery store lived in an elite house next door to the daughter of the former head of state Nikita Khrushchev.

The death sentence for the director of Eliseevsky surprised even KGB investigators

Yuri Sokolov was found guilty under Articles 173 Part 2 and 174 Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (receiving and giving bribes on a large scale) and on November 11, 1984 he was sentenced to capital punishment - execution by execution with confiscation of property. His deputy I. Nemtsev was sentenced to 14 years, A. Grigoriev - to 13, V. Yakovlev and A. Konkov - to 12, N. Svezhinsky - to 11 years in prison.

Two directors were executed, one sentenced himself to death

Another shot, the last in this criminal-political story, was heard outside the prison - without waiting for the trial, the director of the Smolensky grocery store, S. Noniev, committed suicide.

There was a rumor for a long time: Sokolov was shot immediately after the verdict - in a paddy wagon on the way from the court to the pre-trial detention center

Let us remember that the investigation into other criminal cases against Glavtorg employees was already in full swing. And many high-ranking officials were interested in ensuring that such a dangerous witness as Sokolov was “neutralized” as soon as possible. Most likely, this is where the rumor originated: Sokolov was supposedly rushed to be removed so that he would not have time to submit a request for pardon...

The government has changed, demonstrative “floggings” for political reasons remain

Literally a few months after the death of the former director of Eliseevsky, the rules of the game began to change on this field. The investigation into the “trade mafia” case began to wind down; a group of OBKhSS investigators, formed from specialists from many regions, was sent home.

Alexander Sergeev

Lenta.ru continues the series of publications about brilliant swindlers Soviet Union, who managed to make millions of fortunes under the nose of the Soviet regime, despite the death penalty threatened for this. In the previous article, we told how Berta Borodkina, nicknamed Iron Bella, made a fortune in restaurant scams in the 70s. She was shot because she knew too much and too many people, just like Yuri Sokolov, director of the legendary Eliseevsky grocery store. He supplied exquisite delicacies to the Soviet party nomenklatura, was friends with Brezhnev's daughter and became richly rich in an era of shortages. But when at the trial Sokolov tried to tell who from the country’s leadership was involved in the fraud, he was sentenced to death without even being allowed to finish...

The history of the main Moscow grocery store began in 1898: the building on Tverskaya Street, where it was destined to open, was purchased by the merchant Grigory Eliseev. Three years later, a chicly decorated store opened on the ground floor, which in the capital was quickly nicknamed “Eliseevsky” - in honor of the owner.

Already in the first years after its opening, it turned into one of the attractions of Moscow. Visitors happily walked under the crystal chandeliers and the ceiling of Eliseevsky decorated with gilded stucco and rarely left without shopping. But then the revolution intervened in the successful enterprise of the merchant Eliseev: he had to flee to France, the signs of the famous store were scrapped, and trading floors remained empty until the end of the New Economic Policy (NEP) era.

In the 30s of the 20th century, Eliseevsky opened under a new name - grocery store No. 1. The name of the street where it was located also changed: in 1932, Tverskaya turned into Gorky Street. But Muscovites still called the famous store after the merchant Eliseev. It also retained its elite status - scarce goods like pineapples were sold there. Of course, the position of director of Eliseevsky was very prestigious, and many wanted to take it. One of them was a native of Yaroslavl, Yuri Sokolov. He managed to become, perhaps, the most famous director of the legendary store, but he did not become famous for his hard work...

Little is known about Sokolov's origins: his mother was a professor at the Higher Party School, his father a scientist. In his youth, Yuri did not stand out among his peers, but the Great Patriotic War changed everything. 18-year-old Sokolov went to the front, showed himself to be an excellent fighter and, with the rank of junior lieutenant, became the commander of a mortar battery platoon on the 2nd Baltic Front.

Fellow soldiers said that Sokolov was distinguished by absolute fearlessness and demanded the same from his subordinates. This bore fruit - the young commander's platoon destroyed more than 100 enemy soldiers, several heavy machine guns and cannons. For his numerous services in 1945, Sokolov received eight awards, the most honorable of which were the Order of the Red Star and the medal “For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.”

However, front-line merits did not help Sokolov get a good job in the post-war period - he did odd jobs until the end of the 40s. Tired of such a life, the front-line soldier moved to Moscow, entered one of the capital’s universities, where he began to study with a degree in Commerce, and quite quickly got a job as a taxi driver.

But his quiet life did not last long: in 1950, one of the clients suspected taxi driver Sokolov of cheating. The police confirmed the passenger's guesses - he was a victim of deception; Sokolov received two years in prison. He served his sentence from bell to bell.

Having been released, the former prisoner again began to look for work, but now he was barred from becoming a taxi driver. And Sokolov decided to go into trade: he got a job as a salesman in one of the Moscow stores and quickly began to acquire acquaintances. All this helped Sokolov get into the famous Eliseevsky in the early 60s. By the way, his wife with the unusual name Florida worked in an equally prestigious place - the Main Department Store (GUM) on Red Square.

Sokolov did not remain an ordinary salesman at Eliseevsky for long, and in 1963 he became deputy manager of the store. Nine years later, already a member of the bureau of the district party committee, he headed grocery store No. 1. Sokolov’s first decision in his new post was to replace the equipment: refrigerators that did not really hold the temperature were sent to scrap. They were replaced by Finnish refrigerators.

Thanks to new technology, food that previously spoiled in a couple of days can be stored for much longer. But this was not reflected in the documents - the goods were written off in the same volumes, and the money for the unaccounted for sale went under the counter into Sokolov’s pocket. Contributions from subordinates and accomplices were also received there - the director received 150-300 rubles from department heads and branch managers.

But the shadow funds did not stay with the director of Eliseevsky - Sokolov used them for bribes. He was not greedy and generously shared, including with employees of the Main Department of Trade of the Moscow City Executive Committee, headed by Nikolai Tregubov. They say that it was he who contributed to Sokolov’s employment at Eliseevsky.

Thanks to Sokolov’s great and not always legal efforts, his store received a lot of high-quality and scarce goods. But even half of what ended up on the tables of the party elite, bohemians and high-ranking scientists was not available to ordinary buyers. Thanks to the director of Eliseevsky, they did not need black and red caviar, chocolates, sausages and cheeses, fish delicacies, coffee and high-quality alcohol.

Sokolov was a talented manager: during the time he was in charge of grocery store No. 1, the store’s revenue tripled - from 30 to 90 million rubles a year. Of course, thanks to his high position and talents, he was included in the highest party circles. Among his patrons, in addition to Nikolai Tregubov, were the second secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU Raisa Dementyeva and the Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR Nikolai Shchelokov. But the most influential among them was the secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee, Viktor Grishin; According to some reports, it was the connection with him that played a fatal role in Sokolov’s fate.

Grishin had an enemy - the head of the KGB, Yuri Andropov. The chief security officer of the Union not only suspected Grishin of corruption, but also understood that he was one of the right candidates for the post of First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, which Andropov himself was aiming for. The rival had to be eliminated, and the best way could be to discredit his entourage. Therefore, law enforcement officers began to dig under Sokolov.

By the way, fate gave the director of grocery store No. 1 a chance to evade criminal liability. In the late 70s, a journalist from one of the central newspapers conducted his own investigation and found out that Eliseevsky sellers often cheated and shortchanged customers. The article was already being prepared for release, when suddenly the editorial office received a call from “above” and persistently asked not to let the incriminating evidence proceed. The material was removed from print. But then Sokolov could simply have been fired - and he most likely would not have fallen under the millstone of the political struggle. But it turned out differently.

Law enforcement agencies dealt with the director of Eliseevsky wisely. Taking advantage of Sokolov’s departure abroad, they equipped his office with listening equipment and hidden cameras. For the maneuver to succeed, the operatives created a short circuit in the Eliseevsky building and, under the guise of repairmen, entered Sokolov’s office. Returning from a business trip, he did not even suspect that he was workplace stuffed with spy equipment, and calmly continued working according to the usual pattern.

Now, operatives daily witnessed the giving and receiving of bribes by the head of grocery store No. 1 from various individuals, one way or another connected with trade. Just in time, the police caught one of Sokolov’s accomplices - the head of the sausage department, who was trying to sell vodka and caviar to foreigners for foreign currency. At the very first interrogation, the detainee split and handed over her boss “without giblets.”

Sokolov was detained on October 30, 1982. Before entering the office of the director of Eliseevsky, KGB officers received operational information - the suspect had just received a bribe of 300 rubles. But the security officers knew that Sokolov was not so simple: under his table there was an alarm button to call the security, which could complicate the arrest. Therefore, when one of the operatives entered Sokolov’s office, he immediately extended his hand to greet him. The director mechanically shook it - and they immediately tied him down, preventing him from reaching the button.

In addition to Sokolov, his deputy and three department heads of grocery store No. 1 were in the dock. At first, the main defendant remained silent and did not give any evidence. True, after the death of Brezhnev and Andropov’s rise to power, Sokolov, who was sitting in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center, became much more talkative. Having learned that the party was headed not by his powerful patron Grishin, but by his most dangerous enemy, Sokolov decided to make a deal with the investigation and began to repent, having previously made the investigators promise to cut his sentence short.

Sokolov was tried under Articles 173 and 174 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR - on receiving and giving bribes on a large scale. At the hearing, the accused did not give up and tried to prove that he was forced to accept the rules that reigned in the trading system. Those who considered Sokolov a victim of the regime argued: he did not show off, led an ascetic lifestyle, slept on the most ordinary bed.

However, the home of the director of “Eliseevsky” did not fit into this image in any way: his house was adjacent to the dacha where Galina Brezhneva, the daughter of dear Leonid Ilyich, lived with her husband. And the milk can, in which bonds worth 67 thousand rubles were stored (operatives found it during a search in Sokolov’s house), did not fit well with a modest lifestyle.

At the time when Sokolov was the director of grocery store No. 1, Galina Brezhneva was very favorable to him, and he sent her baskets of delicacies. Sometimes Brezhneva herself visited Eliseevsky: she came there in her car, and on the way back the car’s trunk was bursting with expensive food. As you might guess, the daughter of the USSR Secretary General got it absolutely free.

At the trial, Sokolov tried to prove that he was just playing by the rules that reigned in the world of trade. But, revealing all the secrets of his gastronomic schemes, the defendant did not even realize that he was drowning himself. At some point, Sokolov presented the court with a secret notebook where he recorded all the shadow operations and their participants, and began to read out the entries. But the court unexpectedly interrupted the defendant and hastened to pronounce a verdict. It was rumored that they were in a hurry for a reason: the names of the top officials of the USSR flashed in Sokolov’s notes, for whom the defendant’s frankness was very inappropriate.

Despite all the promises of the investigation, Sokolov’s cooperation with him did not save him - he was sentenced to capital punishment. The “execution” sentence handed down on November 11, 1983 was unexpectedly greeted with applause. This was rejoiced by the KGB officers, posing as onlookers, and the directors of the capital's stores, who were invited to the process. With their violent reaction, trade workers, many of whom could give Sokolov a run for their money in their machinations, tried to appease the authorities and show that they were clean before the law. The remaining defendants in the “deli case No. 1” received sentences ranging from 11 to 15 years in prison.

The death sentence against Sokolov was carried out on December 14, 1984. Although there is still a version that the convict was shot in the head right in the police car that was taking him to the pre-trial detention center after the trial. And all because the very existence of the formerly beloved director of “Eliseevsky” became extremely undesirable for those whom he never managed to mention in his last word.