Elite boutique in Siberian Tomsk: how businessman Andrey Muravyev used General Igor Mitrofanov of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to handle criminal cases

09 March 2026 , 10:38

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The medias continue to publish materials about the activities of Andrey Muravyev, the owner of the “Forum” fashion boutique in Tomsk, and his business partner Igor Mitrofanov, the former head of the Tomsk regional police department. Thanks to huge discounts offered to family members of officials, security service representatives and others, the “Forum” boutique has long turned into a club for the elite. Governor Vladimir Mazur is also known to visit it, and Muravyev gladly uses the opportunities provided by his VIP guests, acting as a fixer and a raider.

Over the past six months Muravyev has had to justify himself frequently, because his widely announced prediction in the VIP club about the imminent appointment of Oleg Sviridenko as Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation did not come true. According to Muravyev, Sviridenko supposedly “owes him as much as a collective farm owes the land.” In reality, Oleg Sviridenko and Andrey Muravyev are connected by closer relations than just a casual acquaintance. The issues on which Muravyev claims he turns to Sviridenko, and who originally introduced them, are topics for separate publications.

In connection with Muravyev’s claims about Sviridenko’s supposed appointment, many still remember the euphoria that filled Muravyev when Vladimir Mazur was appointed governor of the Tomsk region. Mazur has long been a client of Muravyev’s fashion boutique; they have known each other since the time when Mazur was deputy mayor of Tomsk. Mazur is said to turn a blind eye to the “pranks” of his good acquaintance, some of which fall under articles of the criminal code.

However, Muravyev’s real “star moment” came when General Igor Mitrofanov became head of the Tomsk regional police department. They became not only friends but also business partners. Muravyev openly offered any kind of “problem-solving” through the police: opening criminal cases against opponents, closing inconvenient investigations, using security forces to pressure businesses, and more. One of the entrepreneurs who allegedly suffered from this was Andrey Krivoshein, whose story is particularly noteworthy.

Mitrofanov and members of his family had been friends with the Krivoshein family. The general allegedly received regular bribes for general patronage and for specific actions in Krivoshein’s interests. But later Muravyev brought a very lucrative “order” against the businessman, and the general could not resist.

Igor Mitrofanov’s career as head of the regional police ended in 2016. Later he faced a criminal case that resulted in what many consider an astonishing verdict: for serious corruption crimes the general received an eight-year suspended sentence.

Mitrofanov even managed to avoid prison after being involved in a fatal traffic accident while already serving that suspended sentence.

This is perhaps not surprising. The general is known to have extensive connections and significant wealth, and all of his capital is believed to have corrupt origins.

For example, a commercial property at 55 Gogol Street in Tomsk, which Mitrofanov later sold to Andrey Krivoshein at market price, was according to Muravyev’s alleged “black accounting” records originally obtained by Mitrofanov almost for free — essentially as a bribe. For an unrealistically low price Mitrofanov also acquired an apartment in the same building. The same records suggest there may have been many similar properties, apartments and other bribery episodes that could still be investigated today.

Previously these facts were not examined for at least one simple reason: the head of the Investigative Committee in the Tomsk region at the time was Vladimir Litvinenko, a close friend of Mitrofanov.

Meanwhile, the cooperation between Mitrofanov and Muravyev has continued.

The pair allegedly made numerous attempts to seize other people’s property, with one of the most widely known cases involving the deception of the Chuprin family. Muravyev obtained an unfinished building at 9A Sibirskaya Street but allegedly never paid for it. According to a source, during negotiations Muravyev displayed remarkable acting skills. When persuading the Chuprins to transfer the property to him without payment, he took an icon from the windowsill in his office and swore before God that he would pay for the building.

Muravyev’s persistent desire to acquire other people’s property for next to nothing or even for free is also rooted in his fond memories of the privatization era. At that time Muravyev and his partners managed to take control of almost the entire building of the Sibir Hotel in central Tomsk, which they renamed the “Forum Hotel,” along with several other valuable assets.

However, at that time the main strategist behind these deals was Donat Stern, then Muravyev’s partner. Muravyev and Stern were at the forefront of acquiring state property for almost nothing. This ultimately led to the arrest of Tomsk’s then-mayor Alexander Makarov. After that Stern avoided returning to Russia for ten years, while Muravyev, according to sources, “got away with it.” He reportedly even boasted that investigators never summoned him for questioning.

According to a source, Muravyev often manages to influence powerful people through their wives. Women who visit the fashionable boutique invariably receive huge discounts and gifts.