Putin’s wiretapping specialist found dead

A Russian businessman who supplied wiretapping software to the Kremlin has been found dead. He is said to have suffered cardiac arrest.

The Russian IT multimillionaire and Putin’s man for wiretapping technology, Anton Cherepennikov, is dead. According to Russian media reports, he is said to have died of cardiac arrest. However, there are unanswered questions about the death of the man who is said to have been the top wiretapping specialist for the Kremlin ruler. A friend, the British “Sun” reported, had expressed doubts about the representations. The cause of death was reported before an autopsy was performed.

The 40-year-old was reportedly found dead in his office in Moscow on Friday. Cherepennikov was the founder of ICS Holding, which included several IT companies. According to media reports, these are said to have monitored large parts of Russian data traffic on the Internet. His company Citadel is said to have employed several wiretapping specialists. The IT oligarch’s company was apparently also largely responsible for monitoring the “Yarovaya” law.

Spy software installed in Russian telecom companies

This obliges Russian telecom companies to keep audio recordings, videos and text files of their customers for six months, the so-called metadata for even three years. According to the Russian Telgram channel Baza, Cherepennikov also supplied software that had to be installed by the companies. With the so-called SORM programs, authorities, especially the FSB secret service, could access their data at any time – even without the knowledge of the company. The entrepreneur’s company is said to have made millions in profits.

Cherepennikov was already interested in computers as a teenager and then mainly turned to eSports. Here he was successful for some time with his partner Alexey Kolesnikov, one of the best eSports players in Russia. But then his attention turned to network surveillance, writes the independent Russian news website Meduza. According to their report, the Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov also invested in one of his companies.

US imposed sanctions on Cherepennikov

Cherepennikov was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in February for being “the beneficial owner and director of Citadel.” According to US authorities, the company had developed software aimed at “stealing financial and personal information from computer networks”. According to reports, ICS Holding has also been linked to Russian security services.

The businessman’s death is one in a series of deaths of Russian oligarchs, businessmen, generals and officials over the past two years. In an article, the British “Sun” listed 40 prominent Russian people, some of whom died under unclear circumstances.

The politician Pavel Antow was found dead last December after speaking out against the Ukraine war. Russian Deputy Science Minister Pyotr Kucherenko, who was considered an opponent of Putin, died shortly after returning from Cuba in May. A few days ago, the 64-year-old founder of a Russian food delivery service, Igor Kudryakov, was found dead – according to official information, he had succumbed to cancer.