The former American intelligence officer made a career in the St. Petersburg police. No one has carefully checked the biography of the lieutenant colonel for several years. Missed: an American intelligence officer in the Russian police. Have you served in the US Army?
In St. Petersburg, a court sentenced police officer Sergei Kulakov to two years in prison, who served several years in the US Army and also participated in hostilities as an American soldier. This was reported to Interfax on Monday, October 2, in the joint press service of the city courts.
The police officer was found guilty of abuse of power. The court deprived him of the right to hold public office for two years. In addition, Kulakov was fined 10,000 rubles for failure to comply with the obligation to notify a Russian citizen of the citizenship of a foreign state.
The convict was taken into custody in the courtroom.
Criminal case on fraud in particular large size gave an unusual by-effect. Understanding the problems that arose during the supply of a batch of powdered milk from Belarus to Russia, the investigation reached Fort Bragg, North Carolina, USA.
One of those accused of fraud, Igor Khotin, surprised the investigator even more. He stated that one of the suspects in this crime, Police Lieutenant Colonel Kulakov, is a US citizen, and in the recent past, a military man. elite unit US Army Intelligence.
"I personally saw his American passport and even photographed this document. This photo is stored on my computer, which was seized during the search and is now with the investigator," Khotin said.
In the American social network myspace.com has a page of the user Sergey Kulakov. On the page are many photographs of Kulakov, whose appearance is indistinguishable from that of Kulakov from St. Petersburg. Photographed by Kulakov in an environment that is clearly not St. Petersburg or even Russian. The architecture is more similar to the American one, the license plates of the cars caught in the frame are registered in North Carolina.
In many photos by Sergey Kulakov - military uniform. Judging by the photo captions, most of them were taken at Fort Bragg in 2007-2008.
“The photographs show a man in the uniform of the 525th brigade military intelligence(Battlefield Surveillance Brigade), with specialist insignia (US Army rank equivalent to corporal). Judging by the "flash" on the beret, he is serving in the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion (519th Military Intelligence Battalion). In one of the photos next to him - a soldier of the forces special operations(Special Forces),” the expert determined.
The 525th US Military Intelligence Brigade is stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The task of the military intelligence battalion, which is part of the brigade 519, judging by open sources, is the interrogation of prisoners, the translation of documents, counterintelligence activities, electronic warfare. The unit participated in the operations of the American army in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2002-2003, members of the battalion were mentioned in connection with allegations of ill-treatment of prisoners in Bagram (Afghanistan) and in Abu Ghraib prison (Iraq).
On the same page there is also a photo of a man, indistinguishable from Sergey Kulakov, in a different camouflage - a familiar camouflage with stripes of the St. Petersburg OMON. In the background - the detachment's yard and a "Hammer" in the service coloring "OMON St. Petersburg".
According to the St. Petersburg Internet newspaper Fontanka.ru, Kulakov has worked in the police since the 1990s. In the early 2000s, he served in the organized crime department. In 2004 or 2005, Kulakov retired from the police at the age of 32.
In 2009 or 2010, Kulakov again returned to the service in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of St. Petersburg, working as a detective. In an interview with the publication, he categorically rejected living in the United States and serving in the American army. Kulakov claims that he was the victim of an acquaintance's slander.
FSB officers check a lie detector lieutenant colonel of the St. Petersburg police. The state security has suspicions that the brave policeman is part-time brigade corporal airborne intelligence US army. It is reported by news agency "Data" with reference to "Fontanka".
Investigators of the Main Investigative Directorate of the St. Petersburg Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and FSB operatives compare amusing photographs. It can be seen with the naked eye that one person is captured on them, and if not one, then two are similar as two drops of water. However, the shape on the hero of the pictures is different. In some shots he is in uniform Russian police. Others wear field camouflage with patches from the elite brigade of the United States Airborne Forces. The hero himself assures that this is a provocation of scammers, and he has never been to America. Documents refute it.
An ordinary criminal case on fraud on an especially large scale turned into unheard-of consequences. Understanding the ups and downs on the way of a consignment of powdered milk from Belarus to Russia, the investigation reached Fort Bragg, North Carolina, USA.
According to law enforcement officers, in 2014 Orion LLC, headed by citizen Blinova, received a batch of powdered milk. However, they did not pay for the goods under a far-fetched pretext. According to investigators, Blinova is just a zits-chairman. In fact, the firm is run by a businessman with a police background, Igor Khotin.
The victim's complaint was filed with the economic security and fight against corruption of the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Moskovsky district of St. Petersburg. The criminal case is being investigated by the sixth department of the GSU of the head office, Blinova and Khotin are the defendants.
Oddities began one after another, when Blinova, accused under the fourth part of Article 159 of the Criminal Code, where the sanction is up to 10 years in prison, began to testify. According to Blinova, she is not only not guilty of anything, but also worked at Orion as an agent of the St. Petersburg police, infiltrating the criminal community. Police Lieutenant Colonel Sergey Kulakov allegedly acted as its curator.
Questions about why Kulakov, who at that time served in the criminal investigation department of the Vasileostrovsky district, introduced an “agent” into a commercial structure, why this “infiltration” was not formalized and opened only after a criminal case in another district, so far they hung in air. More interesting question about who he is - Lieutenant Colonel Kulakov.
Accused of fraud, Igor Khotin, who has known Kulakov for almost 15 years, surprised the investigator even more. According to Khotin, police lieutenant colonel Kulakov is a US citizen, and in the recent past, a soldier in the elite intelligence unit of the US Army.
“I personally saw his American passport,” Khotin assures, “and even photographed this document. This photo is saved on my computer, which was confiscated during the search and is now with the investigator.”
Indeed, in the American social network myspace.com there is a page of the user Sergey Kulakov. On the page are many photographs of Kulakov, whose appearance is indistinguishable from that of Kulakov from St. Petersburg. Photographed by Kulakov in a clearly non-Russian setting. The architecture is more similar to the American one, the license plates of the cars caught in the frame are registered in North Carolina.
In many photos on Sergey Kulakov - a military uniform. Judging by the photo captions, most of them were taken at Fort Bragg in 2007-2008.
The editors turned to the uniform expert, deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine "Old Arms House" Alexei Stepanov.
“The photographs show a man in the uniform of the 525th military intelligence brigade (Battlefield Surveillance Brigade), with specialist insignia (the rank of the US Army, equated to a corporal. - Approx. ed.). Judging by the "flash" on the beret, he is serving in the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion (519th Military Intelligence Battalion). In one of the photos next to him is a Special Forces soldier,” the expert determined.
The 525th US Military Intelligence Brigade is stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The task of the military intelligence battalion, which is part of the brigade 519, judging by open sources, is the interrogation of prisoners, the translation of documents, counterintelligence activities, and electronic warfare.
The unit participated in the operations of the American army in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2002-2003, members of the battalion were mentioned in connection with allegations of ill-treatment of prisoners in Bagram (Afghanistan) and in Abu Ghraib prison (Iraq).
On the same page there is also a photo of a man indistinguishable from Sergey Kulakov, in a different camouflage - with stripes of the St. Petersburg OMON. In the background - the detachment's yard and a "Hammer" in the service coloring "OMON St. Petersburg".
Having familiarized with the photo story with surprise, the editors inquired about the biography of the Russian Kulakov. It turned out that a cunning career turn is not excluded. In the police Kulakov since the nineties, at the beginning of the 2000s, he served in the Organized Crime Department, in the ninth department, which undermined the economic basis of crime. Quit unexpectedly at the age of 32 in 2004 or 2005. After that - a gap in the information.
Again, Kulakov appears in the police in 2009 or 2010, already in the economic security department of the Kirovsky district. Over the next six years, he manages to serve in the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Pushkinsky District, in the OMON, in the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Vasileostrovsky District. On Vasilyevsky Island, he changes positions like gloves - the detective of the criminal investigation department, the detective of the OEBiPK, the inspector for the investigation of the traffic police department, again the detective of the criminal investigation department in the territorial police department.
Hoping to find out the story of an officer who at the age of 32 changed the police and the rank of lieutenant colonel to a paratrooper battalion in America with the rank of corporal, and then returned to his native law enforcement system, the editors contacted Sergey Kulakov. The answer was not easy. The lieutenant colonel assumes a large-scale operation to discredit him, provocation and falsification. And he claims that not only did he not serve in the American landing force, but he had never been to the United States in his life.
Sergey Yuryevich, have you ever been to the USA, do you have American citizenship?
No, I have never been to the US.
Have you served in the US Army?
I'll tell you this: yesterday the investigator interrogated me about this, and today I went through a polygraph at the FSB. I understand what's the matter. On myspace.com, this is not my profile and not my photos.
The page was created several years ago, the photos were taken against a different background, obviously not in Russia.
This question has been lingering for four or five years, I do not pay attention to it.
But the face in the photo in the American uniform is yours. What do you think this is, a doppelgänger, a photomontage?
Most likely a photo montage. Why are we talking about the same thing again.
Who can prepare such a provocation for several years?
These are scammers. I think this is Khotin, he is procrastinating this story.
The last question was about what Sergey Kulakov was doing during those few years that passed after his dismissal from the Organized Crime Control Department until his reinstatement in the militia of the Kirovsky district. Kulakov did not answer the question.
If Lieutenant Colonel Kulakov is right, and the social network page is indeed the result of some kind of criminal operation directed against him, then the possibilities of attackers are wider than one can imagine. As far as the editors know, Sergei Kulakov's flights from Russia to New York's John F. Kennedy Airport have been documented. Moreover, if the departure from Russia is marked on the Russian foreign passport, then the service of the American border and customs service does not see this passport. This is possible in two cases: either an error in the computer database, or in New York, an arriving person presented a passport of a US citizen.
The level of falsification of photographs with a Russian police lieutenant colonel as an intelligence battalion specialist airborne troops readers can judge for themselves.
In St. Petersburg ended a loud trial in the case of police officer Sergei Kulakov. He was found guilty of abuse of power and concealment of information when applying for a job in law enforcement agencies. The case of Kulakov received publicity due to interesting biography the protagonist: having retired from the police with the rank of lieutenant colonel, he left for the United States, where he served in the army - moreover, in military intelligence, in the 525th brigade of the US ARMY and even participated in hostilities, and then the US military intelligence officer returned to Russia and, hiding his American past, got a job in the St. Petersburg police, gaining access to information containing state secrets. The details of the high-profile case were found out by Lenta.ru.
American dream
The story of the adventures of policeman Sergei Kulakov, nicknamed the "prodigal lieutenant colonel" and "American intelligence officer" in the media, began in the spring of 2006: he learned that he had won the US green card, which allows him to legally live and work overseas.
It cannot be said that Kulakov had an unsettled life in his homeland: he worked in the "economic" department of the police and at the age of 34 had the rank of lieutenant colonel. Many people build such a career for years. In addition, Kulakov was happily married. But cherished American dream did not let him go for several years, and Sergey applied three times on the website of the US Consulate. On April 20, 2006, Kulakov resigned from the internal affairs bodies, and on April 29, together with his wife, he went on a flight through France to the city of Boston, Massachusetts.
“During interrogations, Kulakov said that at first he got a job as a truck driver, delivering vegetables and fruits to catering establishments. His wife worked as a carer for a disabled care company. Gradually, relations between them went wrong, the spouses quarreled and began to live separately, ”the investigator told Lente.ru for a special important matters of the first investigative department of the first department for the investigation of especially important cases of the Main Investigative Committee of the ICR in St. Petersburg Boris Smirnov.
Sergei’s account still exists on the My space social network, where he posted his photos: posing against the backdrop of an icy car (“my trip to Boston in the early morning after a snowfall, December 2007”), drinking Czech beer in a T-shirt with the inscription “South Carolina ” (“There was a party, May 2008”) and showed off in a US Army uniform with weapons in his hands (“May 2007”). Judging by the photographs, after the delivery of food, Kulakov served in the reconnaissance brigade of the airborne troops.
Didn't take root
Sergey Kulakov returned to Russia in 2010, breaking his contract with the American army. Life overseas did not work out. He divorced his wife already in Russia - she preferred to stay in America. But at the same time, Kulakov did not refuse US citizenship.
At home, Kulakov decided to return to the police. Realizing that an officer with dual citizenship would not be able to access the official materials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Kulakov prudently concealed information about his second citizenship and years of service in American intelligence. And even, as he later stated during interrogation, he burned his foreign documents, with the exception of a photocopy driving license, accidentally preserved in a stack of old papers. She came in handy in a criminal investigation.
First, Kulakov entered the OMON, from there he transferred to the economic security department of the Kirov regional police department, then to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Vasileostrovsky district, but already as a detective, and then as a senior detective of the criminal investigation department.
It would seem that everything has returned to normal. The page on the social network My space was replenished with photographs: now the policeman posed in the camouflage of the Russian OMON, with a rifle and against the backdrop of an official Hammer.
Agent named Tamara
In the St. Petersburg police, Sergei Kulakov has an assistant. Tamara B., as follows from her testimony, was not indifferent to the police service and willingly helped out employees when they needed “infiltrators”. Having met a stately brunette with a solid experience and an “American” past, the woman decided that now she would only cooperate with him.
While Kulakov worked in the department of economic security of the Kirovsky district, Tamara helped him to identify bribe-takers.
“They acted according to the developed scheme: the woman “infiltrated” the desired object, then the recipient of the bribe was caught red-handed, detained, a criminal case was initiated against him and subsequently transferred to court. Tamara, depending on the situation, acted as a witness or a victim, ”investigator Boris Smirnov explained to Lente.ru.
So the employee Kulakov improved the statistics of the department, and the initiative "agent T" received a portion of adrenaline, honor and respect of employees law enforcement, and the special attention of his "curator". And Kulakov would work like other policemen, and american history, perhaps, would not have surfaced if it were not for his next adventure. In 2013, the operative came up with the idea to carry out an illegal complex of operational and search activities: to “introduce” Tamara into the business of his good friend.
Beyond the foul
The business belonged to Andrei from St. Petersburg (his name has been changed), with whom Kulakov had been in contact since the 90s, when he worked in the “economic” department of the police. It was to him (according to the testimony of Andrei himself - approx. "Lenta.ru") Kulakov, upon returning from America, ran to borrow money, boasted of his service in intelligence, showed medals and the gray uniform of the US Air Force stored in the closet. And in 2013, Kulakov decided to “close” it with the help of Tamara.
On an August evening, Kulakov turned to the faithful "Agent T" with an important conversation: he explained that his department plans to conduct operational-search measures against a certain entrepreneur. Allegedly, he is engaged in fraud - he receives large consignments of goods through front companies, then either returns money to suppliers at a minimum, or does not return at all - they say, the product turned out to be of inadequate quality.
The operative told Tamara that the businessman had vacancies for the heads of two new companies. The first operative offered Tamara, and for the second he asked to find the same enthusiast, ready to play the “sweet fool”, and in the meantime give him copies of documents and records of conversations with superiors.
"Agent T" became interested in the offer and quickly found a partner, a friend with economic education. Kulakov assured the women that "introduction" into business is carried out legally, they will not face any criminal liability even "in the event of illegal actions." And then he asked to sign the consent to participate in the operational experiment in order to register it with the management.
“The operative did not tell his girlfriends that he was collecting incriminating information about Andrey in his own interests. The “experiment” had nothing to do with the operational-search activity, since it could not be carried out without a basis - the material of the check, ”continued the investigator Smirnov.
In addition, Andrey's firm was located in the Kirovsky district, which was not controlled by Kulakov's department (he worked in Vasileostrovsky). And he himself was an employee of the criminal investigation department, and the disclosure of economic crimes was not part of his duties.
Pressed agentess
At first, everything went according to plan: Andrey registered LLC “O ...” controlled by him for Tamara, and LLC “G ...” for her friend. During registration, he explained to the ladies that their positions would be nominal, he would distribute funds and sign the necessary papers himself, there was nothing to worry about.
In December 2013, Kulakov flew on a business trip to Sochi, where, as part of a combined group of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he kept order and fought crime during the Winter Olympics. While he was gone, Tamara's friend became disillusioned with the "dummy" work and quit. But "agent T" remained in the position of general director and did not leave the post even when the situations expected by the operative related to payments to suppliers arose in "O ...".
The "curator" reassured her on the phone, arguing that she, as a participant in the operational experiment, was not in danger. Meanwhile, a large Moscow company, having not waited for the money for powdered milk from "O ...", complained about the St. Petersburg partners to the police. Tamara, as a leader, was suspected of fraud.
After searches were carried out in her apartment, the indignant woman turned to the returned Kulakov for protection, and then it turned out that he did not register any documents on the conduct of "operational-investigative actions". As if while he was in Sochi, repairs were carried out in his office, and the papers were simply lost. So no guarantees federal law"On operational-search activity" does not apply to Tamara.
Being accused in the case of fraud, Tamara did not remain silent and named the name of her "curator". She told during the interrogation how he offered her participation in the “experiment”, promising protection and complete immunity. Well, and what I knew about Kulakov in general: how he returned to St. Petersburg five years ago from America, where he served in the intelligence brigade, how he left his wife there, and brought with him only photographs and an army uniform - as a keepsake ...
In 2016, the “American” became a defendant in criminal cases under two articles: “Failure to comply with the obligation to notify a citizen of the Russian Federation of the citizenship of a foreign state” and “Excess of official authority.” The victim in the second case is Tamara, who at the same time is accused of another - about fraud in the company "O ...".
“As a result of Kulakov’s intentional abuse of his official powers, on December 16, 2014, Tamara B. was recognized as a suspect in the framework of an initiated criminal case on fraud, a preventive measure was chosen against her in the form of a written undertaking not to leave and proper behavior. And on December 24, 2014, Tamara B. was ordered to be charged as a defendant,” the materials of the criminal case say.
An investigation is still underway, and the fate of Tamara, who was deceived by the policeman, is still unknown. But Kulakov has already appeared before the court. For malfeasance, which resulted in a violation of the agent's constitutional rights and "discrediting the authority of law enforcement agencies and the rank of a police officer," he was sentenced to two years in prison. Hidden from the FMS, American citizenship cost him ten thousand rubles a fine.
The lieutenant colonel of the St. Petersburg police was suspected of hiding several years of service in the elite units of the US Army. The officer himself denies the suspicions, although there is an account of him in social networks with photographs in American uniform. It all started with an ordinary, it would seem, criminal case of fraud. According to law enforcement officers, in 2014 a certain Orion LLC, headed by Tamara Blinova, received a batch of powdered milk, but did not pay for it under a far-fetched pretext Bad quality goods. According to investigators, Blinova is only a nominal head of the company, but in fact, behind her back is a businessman with a police past, Igor Khotin. The statement of the affected merchants was submitted to the department for economic security and the fight against corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Moskovsky district of St. Petersburg, the criminal case initiated by the results of the check is being investigated by the 6th department of the GSU of the head office, Blinova and Khotin are the defendants, Fontanka reports.
The unusual began when Tamara Blinova spoke in the investigation office, accused under the fourth part of Article 159 of the Criminal Code, where the sanction is up to 10 years in prison.
According to Blinova, she is not only not guilty of anything, but on the contrary, she tried for the benefit of justice. The defendant stated that she worked at Orion as an agent of the St. Petersburg police, carrying out an operation to infiltrate the criminal community. Call the curator. So, police lieutenant colonel Sergei Kulakov appeared in the case file.
The question of why Kulakov, who at that time served in the criminal investigation department of the Vasileostrovsky district, was engaged in the introduction of an "agent" into a commercial structure that seemed to have nothing to do with either ordinary crime or Vasilyevsky Island, why this "introduction" was not was not documented in any way and was revealed only after the initiation of a criminal case in another district, we will leave the initiative policeman to the leadership. More interesting is the question of who he is - Lieutenant Colonel Kulakov. Igor Khotin, accused of fraud, who has known Kulakov since the 2000s and considered him a good friend before the criminal case, surprised the investigator even more. According to Khotin, police lieutenant colonel Kulakov is a US citizen, and in the recent past, a member of the elite intelligence unit of the US Army.
“I personally saw his American passport,” Khotin assures, “and even photographed this document. This photo is saved on my computer, which was confiscated during the search and is now with the investigator.”
Photographed by Kulakov in an environment that is clearly not St. Petersburg or even Russian. The architecture is more similar to the American one, the license plates of the cars caught in the frame are registered in North Carolina.
In many photos on Sergey Kulakov - a military uniform. Judging by the photo captions, most of them were taken at Fort Bragg in 2007-2008.
Judging by the photo, the owner of the account served in the 519th battalion of the 525th US military intelligence brigade (Battlefield Surveillance Brigade) with the rank of specialist (the rank of the US Army, equated to corporal).
The 525th US Military Intelligence Brigade is stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The task of the military intelligence battalion, which is part of the brigade 519, judging by open sources, is the interrogation of prisoners, the translation of documents, counterintelligence activities, and electronic warfare. The unit participated in the operations of the American army in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2002-2003, members of the battalion were mentioned in connection with allegations of ill-treatment of prisoners in Bagram (Afghanistan) and in Abu Ghraib prison (Iraq).
On the same page there is also a photo of a man, indistinguishable from Sergey Kulakov, in a different camouflage - a familiar camouflage with stripes of the St. Petersburg OMON. In the background - the yard of the detachment and the "Hummer" in the service coloring "OMON St. Petersburg".
Fontanka writes that officially in Kulakov's career from 2005 to 2009. In an interview with the publication, he claims that he has never been to the United States, and the photos on the social network are someone's falsification. However, he refused to tell what he did in those years.
According to the publication, Sergei Kulakov's flights from Russia to New York Airport. John F. Kennedy is documented. Moreover, if the departure from Russia is marked on the Russian foreign passport, then the service of the American border and customs service does not see this passport. This is possible in two cases: either an error in the computer database, or in New York, an arriving person presented a passport of a US citizen.
The lieutenant colonel of the St. Petersburg police is being checked by the FSB on a polygraph - whether he is a corporal of the reconnaissance brigade of the Airborne Forces of the American army.
Collage "Fountain"
Chief Investigators investigative department Petersburg Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and operatives of the regional FSB are busy comparative analysis photos. They appear to be the same person. In some frames, he is in the form of the Russian police. Others wear field camouflage with patches from the elite brigade of the United States Airborne Forces. The hero himself assures that this is a provocation of scammers, and he has never been to America. Documents refute it.
The criminal case of fraud on an especially large scale had an unusual side effect. Understanding the problems that arose during the supply of a batch of powdered milk from Belarus to Russia, the investigation reached Fort Bragg, North Carolina, USA.
According to law enforcement officers, in 2014, a certain Orion LLC, headed by Tamara Blinova, received a batch of powdered milk, but did not pay for it under the far-fetched pretext of poor quality of the goods. According to investigators, Blinova is only a nominal head of the company, but in fact, behind her back is a businessman with a police past, Igor Khotin. The statement of the affected merchants was submitted to the department for economic security and the fight against corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Moskovsky district of St. Petersburg; No exotic.
The unusual began when Tamara Blinova spoke in the investigation office, accused under the fourth part of Article 159 of the Criminal Code, where the sanction is up to 10 years in prison.
According to Blinova, she is not only not guilty of anything, but on the contrary, she tried for the benefit of justice. The defendant stated that she worked at Orion as an agent of the St. Petersburg police, carrying out an operation to infiltrate the criminal community. Call the curator. So, police lieutenant colonel Sergei Kulakov appeared in the case file.
The question of why Kulakov, who at that time served in the criminal investigation department of the Vasileostrovsky district, was engaged in the introduction of an "agent" into a commercial structure that seemed to have nothing to do with either ordinary crime or Vasilyevsky Island, why this "introduction" was not was not documented in any way and was revealed only after the initiation of a criminal case in another district, we will leave the initiative policeman to the leadership. More interesting is the question of who he is - Lieutenant Colonel Kulakov. Igor Khotin, accused of fraud, who has known Kulakov since the 2000s and considered him a good friend before the criminal case, surprised the investigator even more. According to Khotin, police lieutenant colonel Kulakov is a US citizen, and in the recent past, a soldier in the elite intelligence unit of the US Army.
“I personally saw his American passport,” Khotin assures, “and even photographed this document. This photo is saved on my computer, which was confiscated during the search and is now with the investigator.”
Fontanka does not have access to the seized computer, but the American social network myspace.com has a user page named Sergey Kulakov. On the page are many photographs of Kulakov, whose appearance is indistinguishable from that of Kulakov from St. Petersburg.
Photographed by Kulakov in an environment that is clearly not St. Petersburg or even Russian. The architecture is more similar to the American one, the license plates of the cars caught in the frame are registered in North Carolina.
In many photos on Sergey Kulakov - a military uniform. Judging by the photo captions, most of them were taken at Fort Bragg in 2007-2008.
Not relying on their knowledge of American insignia, Fontanka turned to a uniform expert, deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine The Old Storehouse, Alexei Stepanov.
“The photographs show a man in the uniform of the 525th military intelligence brigade (Battlefield Surveillance Brigade), with specialist insignia (the rank of the US Army, equated to a corporal. - Approx. ed.). Judging by the "flash" on the beret, he is serving in the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion (519th Military Intelligence Battalion). In one of the photos next to him is a Special Forces soldier,” the expert determined.
The 525th US Military Intelligence Brigade is stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The task of the military intelligence battalion, which is part of the brigade 519, judging by open sources, is the interrogation of prisoners, the translation of documents, counterintelligence activities, and electronic warfare. The unit participated in the operations of the American army in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2002-2003, members of the battalion were mentioned in connection with allegations of ill-treatment of prisoners in Bagram (Afghanistan) and in Abu Ghraib prison (Iraq).
On the same page there is also a photo of a man, indistinguishable from Sergey Kulakov, in a different camouflage - a familiar camouflage with stripes of the St. Petersburg OMON. In the background - the detachment's yard and a "Hammer" in the service coloring "OMON St. Petersburg".
Having familiarized with the photo story with surprise, Fontanka asked about the biography of the Russian Kulakov. It turned out that a cunning career turn is not excluded. In the police Kulakov since the nineties, at the beginning of the 2000s, he served in the Organized Crime Control Department, in the 9th department, which undermined the economic basis of crime. Quit unexpectedly at the age of 32 in 2004 or 2005. After that - a gap in our information.
Again, Kulakov appears in the police in 2009 or 2010, already in the economic security department of the Kirovsky district. Over the next 6 years, he manages to serve in the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Pushkinsky District, in the OMON, in the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Vasileostrovsky District. On Vasilyevsky Island, he changes positions like gloves - the detective of the criminal investigation department, the detective of the OEBiPK, the inspector for the investigation of the traffic police department, again the detective of the criminal investigation department in the territorial police department. Despite the special rank of lieutenant colonel, the positions are by no means bossy.
Hoping to learn the fascinating story of an officer who, at the age of 32, changed the police and the rank of lieutenant colonel to a battalion of paratroopers in America with the rank of corporal, and then returned to his native land and native law enforcement system, Fontanka contacted Sergey Kulakov.
The answer was not easy. The lieutenant colonel assumes a large-scale operation to discredit him, provocation and falsification. And he claims that not only did he not serve in the American landing force, but he had never been to the United States in his life.
Sergey Yuryevich, have you ever been to the USA, do you have American citizenship?
No, I have never been to the US.
Have you served in the US Army?
I'll tell you this: yesterday the investigator interrogated me about this, and today I went through a polygraph at the FSB. I understand what's the matter. On myspace.com, this is not my profile and not my photos.
The page was created several years ago, the photos were taken against a different background, obviously not in Russia.
This question has been lingering for four or five years, I do not pay attention to it.
But the face in the photo in the American uniform is yours. What do you think this is, a doppelgänger, a photomontage?
Most likely a photo montage. Why are we talking about the same thing again.
Who can prepare such a provocation for several years?
These are scammers. I think this is Khotin, he is procrastinating this story.
The last question was about what Sergey Kulakov was doing during those few years that passed after his dismissal from the Organized Crime Control Department until his reinstatement in the militia of the Kirovsky district. Kulakov did not answer the question.
If Lieutenant Colonel Kulakov is right, and the page on the social network is indeed the result of some kind of criminal operation directed against him, then the possibilities of the villains are wider than one might think. As far as Fontanka knows, Sergei Kulakov's flights from Russia to New York Airport. John F. Kennedy is documented. Moreover, if the departure from Russia is marked on the Russian foreign passport, then the service of the American border and customs service does not see this passport. This is possible in two cases: either an error in the computer database, or in New York, an arriving person presented a passport of a US citizen.
The level of falsification of photographs with a lieutenant colonel of the Russian police in the role of a specialist in the reconnaissance battalion of the airborne troops can be assessed by Fontanka readers on their own.