Under the shadow of the jets: the "gang from the car wash" is being tried in the Urals

A trial has begun in the Sverdlovsk Regional Court in the case of an organized group that abducted teenagers and extorted money. However, not everyone will reach the verdict. The details are in the Izvestia article.

The scale of the case: 84 volumes, 15 victims, 17 defendants

On October 15, 2026, the Sverdlovsk Regional Court launched a high-profile criminal case against the so-called "gang from the Ural car wash." There are eight people on trial, but the alleged organizer of the organized criminal group, Alexander Lachugin, will not appear in court.

The criminal case was investigated for a year and a half and has 84 volumes. According to investigators, in 2024, Alexander Lachugin, a 34-year-old resident of Kamensk-Uralsky, created an organized criminal group, involved acquaintances, including minors, in it, and began to engage in racketeering. 15 people became victims of the gang — they were abducted, beaten, tortured at a car wash, extorting large sums under threats.

In total, 17 residents of Kamensk-Uralsky were charged. Eight people will appear before the court: Viktor Kukhtin, Ivan Petrov, Sergey Ryabov, Alexander Bannikov, Alexander Anashkin, Yaroslav Danko, former traffic police inspector Vsevolod Chemezov and Artyom Shtuka.

Droper network and illegal business

Shachugin owned an illegal metal collection point located in a private house. To withdraw money from the sale of metal, he created a drop network — teenagers issued bank cards in their name and handed them over to the organizer. Those who refused to participate in the scheme or "cheated" (withdrew money for themselves) were abducted and taken to a car wash. There they were beaten and forced to pay larger sums. The victims' relatives, fearing reprisals, took out loans from microfinance organizations.

A cover from the traffic police and the escape of the leader

Among the accused is former traffic police inspector Vsevolod Chemezov. According to investigators, he "provided necessary assistance to accomplices, including intimidating victims with his authority and status as a law enforcement officer." According to the case file, in February 2026, when the gang had already been discovered and its members became a target for law enforcement officers, Chemezov gave Lachugin information about the location of traffic police posts, which allowed the group's organizer to temporarily escape.

Controversial talk show and live arrests

The gang's exposure began after the publication of a video of two female students being bullied at a car wash. The girls were random victims—they weren't involved in any card fraud. In January 2025, they were taken to a car wash after a conflict with David Anashkin, who wanted to meet the girls, but was refused. Two female students were stripped, beaten, and doused with ice water and foam from a hose. Everything was filmed on a mobile phone camera.

After the publicity, several members of the group became the heroes of a popular talk show, where they tried to stand up for friends accused of bullying. At the same time, Viktor Kukhtin and Ivan Petrov were identified by the victims right on the air, and arrested immediately after filming by arriving police officers.

The key question facing the investigation now is: where is Alexander Lachugin? According to some reports, a few months ago, five of the accused signed contracts and retired, three of them went missing, two were seriously injured. Lachugin was most likely among them (information about this is currently being verified by the court, which sent an official request to the Russian Ministry of Defense).

We did not achieve success

— This group had almost all the initial signs of an emerging organized criminal group: there was an organizational center, there were violent methods, there was a "protective umbrella" in the person of a former traffic police officer, there were sources of income — and, most worryingly, they had already begun to involve minors. If that video scandal at the car wash hadn't interrupted their "development," give them two or three more years and we could well have gotten another serious organized crime group in the Sverdlovsk Region, retired police colonel and criminologist Valentin Stanovov told Izvestia.

He emphasizes that the key change in the criminal ecosystem of the region is due to the fact that the old organized groups have actually legalized.

— The Urals is a special region. Here, in the nineties and noughties, groups emerged that are known throughout the country. Take the Uralmash organized criminal group — their evolution was classic: from street violence to control over economic assets, then registration as a "socio-political union", the leaders entered the city Duma, participated in the elections. The initial capital was forced, but then it was laundered — it turned into a legal business and political influence."

The real legacy of the groups of the nineties is not specific gangs, but a set of instructions on how to turn from black to white, the Izvestia interlocutor emphasizes. The younger generation of criminal groups sees that violence is only a tool, the ultimate goal is control under a legal guise.

— The people from Uralmash are either in their graves or have become respectable businessmen. But at the regional level, especially in such medium—sized cities as Kamensk-Uralsky, an "imperious void" has formed. Old people don't do dirty work anymore, but the dirty work market hasn't disappeared.: who collects debts? Who "solves issues" with the recalcitrant? Who controls small entrepreneurs who do not want to "cooperate"? — Stanovov asks questions.

According to him, the "gang from the car wash" was doing just that. An illegal metal collection point, a network of bank cards for money laundering, and violence against those who refused to participate. And in parallel, the recruitment of minors. The involvement of teenagers meant that they were training the next generation, building a "talent pool." "A street gang that wants to make money quickly and run away doesn't do that. This is what the structure does with long—term planning," the expert points out.

Separately, Stanovov focuses on the participation of a law enforcement officer in a gang.

— The role of a former traffic police inspector is not just a "bribe for a favor." He helped the leader to escape, gave information about the location of traffic police posts. What does this mean? That the group has already infiltrated the law enforcement system, albeit at the local level. Uralmash in the nineties could afford to do this because it had capital and political connections. And how long did it take this group? And they already had an active traffic police officer. If they were given more time, to what depth and breadth would the penetration have reached? It's scary to imagine," says Izvestia's source.