Russia’s FSB security service has reportedly arrested Ilya Traber, a St. Petersburg businessman with alleged ties to President Vladimir Putin, as part of a criminal investigation into the 2020 murder of another businessman.
According to the news outlet Fontanka, FSB officers and investigators arrested Traber and his longstanding business partner, Vladimir Danilenko, in St. Petersburg on Monday morning.
Raids reportedly targeted Traber’s private residence, several of his corporate offices and Danilenko’s properties.
Law enforcement sources told the Interfax news agency that Traber was arrested on suspicion of involvement in “a murder from previous years.”
Fontanka linked the arrests directly to an ongoing investigation into the Oct. 24, 2020, murder of businessman and local politician Alexander Petrov. Police said at the time that Petrov was shot dead while in the yard of his home.
