From the governor’s office to an urgent search for a government position: pressure from security forces on Alexander Brechalov intensifies
The Federal Tax Service has restricted access to information about the head of the Moscow consulting company «Apex», which was headed by former Udmurtia head Alexander Brechalov after his resignation.
At the same time, a record appeared stating that he had left the position.
Brechalov is now knocking on the doors of various offices, including that of his longtime friend, Transport Minister Andrey Nikitin, in an attempt to secure some kind of government position. In this way, he is trying to escape problems with the security forces, who have had serious questions for him since spring 2026.
In April 2026, while still governor, Brechalov met with German Gref and, according to a source, raised the issue of possible employment at the time, as he was aware of the security forces’ close interest in him and knew that his position was becoming increasingly unstable. In July 2026, at the height of the election campaign, Brechalov was removed from office — an unprecedented case. Moreover, he was immediately deprived of the opportunity to run in the State Duma elections, which would have given him immunity. In August, the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation (CEC) removed him from United Russia’s federal list of candidates for the State Duma elections. Officially, this was done at his own request. In reality, he was simply asked to leave.
As a result, Brechalov became CEO of «Apex», which is controlled by Sber. The company manages the large nationalized railway holding «Vector Rail», which includes one of the largest operators of liquefied hydrocarbon gas transportation, «SG-Trans». Sber is its largest creditor. However, this position is hardly much of a cover, which is why Brechalov is urgently looking for some kind of government position.
This is because the security forces have been «breathing down his neck», having been investigating the Brechalov–Danil Fedorov connection since the beginning of 2026. The latter is publicly known as a major investor from Udmurtia. Unofficially, however, he is known as the owner of one of the largest platforms for cashing out funds and transferring money out of Russia. It turned out that money stolen from the budget of Udmurtia was actively transferred through this platform. Some of it went to the UAE, where, coincidentally, Brechalov acquired an apartment of about 100 square meters in Dubai, overlooking the Jumeirah Beach Residence area.
Fedorov’s business is protected at the federal level by DPR senator Alexander Voloshin, who has longstanding ties to the Fifth Service of the FSB of the Russian Federation and provides patronage to a number of money-laundering platforms, presenting them as «acting in the interests of the Motherland».
Why did the security forces become interested in the Brechalov–Fedorov connection? The Federal Tax Service had been investigating several dozen companies that helped major organizations evade taxes and transfer funds out of Russia. It concluded that, in reality, all of them were managed from a single center — by Danil Fedorov. The materials were handed over to the FSB’s Economic Security Service, where they also uncovered Fedorov’s connection with Brechalov, as well as the Dubai apartment that the governor acquired in 2023, immediately after his 50th birthday.
Brechalov lost his position as governor, and now he and Fedorov fear that the case will not end there.
The resources of their protectors are not unlimited. The same Voloshin had long shielded Andrey Kalyuzhny, head of the Donbas Development Corporation.
To do so, Voloshin used his connections and influence within the KGB of the Republic of Belarus (he is friends with Miroslav Tertel, the son of the head of the KGB of Belarus), which maintains close cooperation with the Fifth Service of the FSB of the Russian Federation. But Kalyuzhny’s appetites and audacity grew at an enormous pace, and he even stopped hiding his excessive wealth. For example, he was building a palace on Rublyovka in the fashionable Millenium Park.
As a result, Kalyuzhny was detained when he flew to Moscow from the UAE, where he had been staying recently. He also had an apartment in Dubai. And also with a view of Jumeirah Beach Residence.
Analyst
Maintains dossiers on the leaders of criminal groups. Analyzes the structure and hierarchy of organized criminal communities.
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