Billionaire Oleg Deripaska was critical of the Central Bank cutting its key rate to 6%, reducing it by 0.25%. He wrote about this on his Telegram channel. The businessman believes that the financial regulator has thus given the "first footrest" to the government of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. "A mine under national projects and the anti-poverty program. The robbery of industry and the population by the Central Bank continues," Deripaska wrote. Rucriminal.info sources say that such statements by Deripaska are directly related to the trial in the United States, in which the oligarch is trying to lift sanctions against himself. One of the reasons for the sanctions is his close relations with representatives of the Kremlin, the Russian authorities, who figure in the Democrats’ investigation into Russia’s interference in the US presidential election. According to Deripaska’s new image, he is not a servant of the authorities at all and can easily criticize their actions.

         The second reason for the sanctions was Deripaska’s close ties to the mafia. Rucriminal.info has already reported in detail on such a partner of the oligarch as the leader of the Izmailovskaya organized crime group Anton Malevsky. It is time to talk about another partner of Deripaska - Sergey Popov, better known in certain circles as Pop. According to the databases of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, he is one of the leaders of the Podolsk organized crime group. Popov was Deripaska’s partner in the aluminum business and had rights to 10% of all assets of the Basic Element holding.  

         At the trial in London, Deripaska stated that Popov was not his friend or partner, but was his criminal "roof", to whom he was forced to pay tribute, and then transferred a ransom of 173 million dollars. However, he could not explain why after this "roof" Popov continued to be present at all of Deripaska’s family events and became the godfather of his daughter.

         Popov himself described why he pretended to leave the aluminum business with Deripaska: "Oleg asked us: when I’m alone, it’s easier for me to negotiate with everyone. And you... have a trail of terrible rumors behind you. It was logical. We said: okay, we’ll "hide", as you say."

"We had many projects," Popov told journalists. "For example, in the late nineties, Chernoy, Deripaska and I bought a controlling stake in Valentin Yudashkin’s fashion house. I knew Valentin, we entered the business, gave him money. Deripaska, by the way, was very keen on it - he went to various meetings there, delved into the business. Two years later, we took our money and left."

Here is how Kommersant wrote          about Deripaska’s partner Sergei Popov in 1996 : "Gradually, with the help of one of the influential Podolsk "shadow gangsters", the brigades they created pushed the old thieves’ elite - pickpockets - out of "power" in Podolsk. The most authoritative leader of the "new wave" was considered to be Sergei Popov (Pop). In 1990, he received 2.5 years for extortion. Luchok became the new leader. His curator in the criminal world was considered to be the authority of the older generation Nikolai Ignatov (Sedoy), whose interests were mainly in the auto business. However, their friendship ended in such a big quarrel that Sedoy had to leave the Podolsk region.

Released in 1993, Pop did not challenge Luchok’s leadership, remaining one of the most influential authorities. In Matrosskaya Tishina, he had the chance to sit together with members of the State Emergency Committee, who had the most beneficial influence on him: Pop began self-education and, as his acquaintances claim, significantly increased his intellectual level. They say that he still maintains good relations with the political opposition, which does not prevent him from controlling several companies involved in the trade of petroleum products."

Here is what the archives of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs databases, which Rucriminal.info has obtained, say about Popov: "Popov Sergey Nikolaevich, born in 1960. Nickname: Pop. Place of residence: registered address: Period of residence: since 1990. Podolsk, Lapshinkova St., house ... Operational category: leader of an organized crime group, authority of the criminal world. Member of Lalakin’s group "Luchka" (Podolsk)."