The lion is without a doubt the king of animals, and he earned this royal title with his “royal” habits, appearance, magnificent mane and formidable roar. But among the lions there are completely unique specimens, for example, real albino lions.

The white color of such lions is explained by a genetic mutation, the so-called leukemism. Moreover, such lions have normal pigmentation of the skin and eyes.

White Lion.

Amazing white lions can be found in the national parks of South Africa (Kruger Park and the Timbavati reserve), where they were even specially bred for some time.

But what about black lions? As is known from biology, the phenomenon of albinism is opposed by the phenomenon of melanism, which causes black coat color. Melanism is especially common in other members of the feline family: leopards and jaguars. Yes, exactly, so, individuals of black color, called panthers, are not a separate zoological species, the name means only coat color.

If there are black jaguars and leopards, then the question will also be logical: are there black lions in nature? There is indeed such an assumption, but it is questioned by many zoologists, in their opinion, if such a black lion had appeared in nature, it would not have lived for many negative reasons, such as:

• violation of thermoregulation
• hunting difficulties (due to its color, it will be much more difficult for such a lion to sneak up on potential prey imperceptibly)
• reduced immunity.

Perhaps such a lion survived, he was born in captivity, in some zoo, but this has not happened yet.

Nevertheless, some cryptozoloogs are still confident in the existence of black lions, for example, reports of them came from the African area of \u200b\u200bOkovango, but there is no documentary evidence of this.

Scientist enthusiasts do not lose hope of meeting a black lion, whether in nature, or that such a unique specimen will be born somewhere in the zoo, because a meeting with him will help clarify some of the mysteries of the evolution of feline species.

A lion ( Panthera leo) - an animal of the mammalian class, such as chordates, predatory orders, felines, panthers, subfamilies of Big cats.

Aborigines living with the lion side by side called the predatory lion “wild cat”. In the 18th century, the lion received its modern name, consonant in many languages, from the Latin word leo.

Description of the lion, appearance, characteristics, photos of the animal

Of the existing wild cats, the lion is inferior in size only. An adult male lion weighs on average up to 250 kg with a body length of 2.5 m. The flexible, mobile body of the lion has well-developed muscles of the neck and forelegs. The claws of a lion reach 7 cm in length.

The massive head of a lion with an elongated muzzle is endowed with strong jaws. The lion has 30 teeth, fangs up to 8 cm in size allow him to successfully hunt large animals: roe deer, wild boars, and.

The tongue, covered with tubercles, helps to quickly get rid of blood-sucking insects and care for the hair.

On the lion's face are several rows of whiskers with dark spots at the base, forming a unique pattern for each individual. Newborn lion cubs are spotty, like, but in adulthood, the spots disappear. The color of the lion's coat can be sand, brown or with a red tint. The tail ends with a spectacular black tassel.

Some individuals inside the brush have a “spur” - a fused vertebral ending.

A peculiar difference of lions is an exceptional sexual dimorphism. Male lions are much larger in size than females and are endowed with a luxurious mane that appears already at six-month-old lions. By the age of three, the pile on the lion’s mane grows to 35-40 cm. Color, length and splendor depend on genetics, area and amount of testosterone. Old seasoned lions have the thickest and shaggy mane.

It will seem surprising, but lions are animals that have the smallest heart among large predators. That is why they do not differ in special endurance, although when running for short distances, lions develop a speed of up to 80 km / h. Under natural conditions, lions live 12-15 years, in captivity, life expectancy increases by 5-7 years.

Types and classification of lions

The classification of lions has 8 subspecies:

• asian(Persian, Indian) lion (Panthera leo persica)

different squat body and sleek, not too thick mane. The weight of a lion is 150-220 kg, for males from 160 to 190 kg, for females from 90 kg to 120 kg. The growth of the Asian lion at the withers reaches 1.05 meters. The record length of the lion reached 2.92 meters. A little more than 500 representatives of this species of lions live in the Indian Girsky reserve. At the largest Asian lion, a length of 2.92 meters was recorded;

Asian (Persian, Indian) lion

• barbary Lion (Barbarian) (Panthera leo leo)

the most massive predator with a dark thick mane. Everywhere inhabited the African continent. Unfortunately, it was finally exterminated by man at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, descendants of the Barbary lion live in captivity, but there is no need to speak of purebred species. The weight of the male lion reaches 160-270 kg, the weight of the female is 100-170 kg. It was the largest predator of all species of lions;

• senegalese (West African) lion (Panthera leo senegalensis)

The males are distinguished by a light, short mane (or lack thereof), light coat and small size. The prides of this predator are smaller, and the shape of the skull is different from other types of lions. The habitat is located south of the Sahara from Senegal in the west and east to the Central African Republic. About a thousand representatives live in the savannahs of Guinea, Nigeria and Senegal. This species of lions is endangered;

Senegalese lion

• north Congolese lion ( Panthera leo azandica)

in appearance it is similar to other African relatives. It lives in the savannas of northeast Congo. The population of this species of lions is gradually decreasing;

• east african(Masai) lion (Panthera leo nubica)

subspecies of the African lion. Males are distinguished by elongated limbs and a mane combed back. Male lions reach a length of 2.5 - 3 meters, including the tail. The length of the lionesses with a tail of 2.3 - 2.6 meters. The weight of the male lion is 150-230 kg, and the female 100-165 kg. Lions and lionesses have a withers height of 90 - 115 cm. The habitat of this species of lions - Zambia, Uganda, Mozambique and other states of eastern Africa, also inhabit the Masai Mara Kenyan reserve;

• south west african(katangan) lion (Panthera leo bleyenberghi)

differs in light color. It lives in southwestern Africa from Angola to Zimbabwe. The length of the male lion with the tail is 2.5 - 3.1 meters, the length of the lioness is 2.3 - 2.65 meters. The mass of the male lion is 140-240 kg, the weight of the females is 105-170 kg. The endangered species of lions is on the verge of extinction;

• southeast african(transvaal) lion (Panthera leo krugeri)

large individuals, males are owners of a long dark mane. Some representatives have leukism - a mutation associated with the absence of melanocytes. Such exotics have white coat and pink skin. The body length of a transvaal lion with a tail is 2.6 - 3.2 meters, the size of a lioness is more modest 2.35 - 2.75 meters. The weight of the male reaches 150-250 kg, the female - 110-180 kg. More than 2 thousand lions live in the Kruger National Park, as well as in the southern part of the African continent and in the Kalahari desert;

• cape Lion ( Panthera leo melanochaita)

A subspecies that disappeared in the 19th century. The last Cape Lion was shot in 1858. These lions lived in the Cape on Cape of Good Hope, which is located in southern Africa. This type of lion was distinguished by the black tips of the ears, and the lion's mane covered the stomach and shoulders of the mammal.

Extinct Cape Lion

Together with the tiger, leopard and jaguar, the lion forms the genus Panthera, representatives of which can interbreed to form viable hybrids: ligers (tiger cubs), leopons (leopard + lion) and jagulva (jaguar + lion).

White Lion

White lions are not a subspecies, but a genetic disease called leukism, when the coat turns white. White individuals live in the Kruger National Park and in the Timbavati reserve, which are located in the east of South Africa. Basically, such animals are kept in captivity.

White Lion

Do black lions exist in nature?

Black lions do not exist, in captivity such a species could survive, but in the wild it is impossible. In Okovango, they saw a pride of dark brown lions, which scientists called the result of closely related crosses. In general, evidence for the existence of a black lion does not exist.

Black Lion

Where and how do lions live?

Lions live on 2 continents: in Africa and Asia. The distribution area of \u200b\u200blions in Africa is located in the southern part of the Sahara desert. In Asia, a wild lion lives in India, in the Gir forest of the Indian state of Gujarat.

In fact, during the early Middle Ages, the habitat of lions was much wider: animals lived throughout Africa and India, the Middle East, Iran and even the south of Europe and Russia. But the destruction of the habitat of predators and the pursuit of man led to a reduction in the habitat of the lion.

In nature, lions live in the savannah, sometimes in forests or shrubs. Predators live in small flocks - prides, consisting of 5-6 related females, their cubs and 1-2 mature males (2 males can be in the pride only if they are brothers). Young lions, expelled from the pride, expect a life of a loner, the opportunity to join another pride or create your own.

News and Society

Does a black lion exist in nature?

  August 12, 2013

The lion is an intelligent, strong and very dangerous predator, a thunderstorm of deserts and savannahs. Many of us associate this beautiful and proud animal with the king of beasts, which inspires fear in everyone, but he himself is not afraid of anyone. We are used to seeing these muscular big cats with a red mane and golden hair, but more and more photos with dark animals have recently appeared. The black lion looks unusual, so many people are wondering: is this a real beast or the skillful work of Photoshop?

Do not think that in the natural habitat there are only lionesses and lions with a reddish color, in the savannas you can often find predators with a former mane and skin, there are also cats with beige hair and blue eyes. Nature sometimes rewards animals with the most unimaginable colors and shades. All this is due to genetic mutations. If there are leucists and albinos, then why cannot there be such a thing as a black lion?

Melanism is opposed to albinism, so it is likely that both white and dark animals can exist. Scientists from different countries unanimously refute the fact that a black lion exists. In their opinion, this is impossible not at the genetic level, but in terms of survival. Mutation experts explain that dark-colored individuals did not survive during evolution, so now you can not even hope that a dark lion cub will appear. Even if we assume that he will be born in the wild, then most likely the animal will not survive.

The black lion suffers from a violation of thermoregulation, it has reduced immunity, and there are some difficulties when hunting. If the animal is born in captivity, then people will help him survive, but in his natural habitat he has practically no chance. Despite the fact that scientists answered the question in detail, setting forth their own point of view, many people still ask themselves: "Do black lions exist?" and "Where can I see them?"

Cryptozoologists disagree with the researchers, they believe that dark individuals can still be found in the wild. In support of their point of view, there were reports from the African continent, namely from the Okovango area, and from Persia that they saw black lions. Both territories have similarities in one - they are covered with stunted trees and shrubs. This landscape allows predators with dark hair to hide from the scorching sun and hide when hunting.

In Okovango, a whole pride of dark lions was found, but they cannot be called black. They differ from ordinary big cats in dark brown color. Scientists do not recognize that this is a consequence of melanism, but agree on the thoughts of closely related crosses. This color is fixed, because predators live in the forest.

The black lion is today the dream of cryptozoologists. They believe that dark individuals are in the African bush or savannah, but so far no one can find them. If a melanist lion were found, it would be easier for researchers to study the evolution of the species. Scientists can only hope that a black miracle will someday be born in a zoo.

  Source: fb.ru

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Property tax deductions for the purchase of housing: types and methods of registration 🏘 We continue a series of publications devoted to various tax deductions and the procedure for their registration. Earlier we talked about: social tax deductions professional tax deductions standard tax deductions This time we will consider property deductions, namely, a deduction for the purchase of housing, which is issued: For the purchase of an apartment, room or construction of a house; For repayment of interest, if you bought a home in a mortgage; To repay interest on refinancing loans for the construction or purchase of housing. Remember that the deduction is not provided if you: bought housing at the expense of employers, maternity capital or budget funds; bought property from a spouse or one of relatives; have exhausted their right to property deduction. The size of the tax deduction is determined by two main parameters: paid income tax; expenses when buying a home. When buying or building real estate, you can return up to 13% of the value of objects, but the maximum amount for deduction should not exceed 2 million rubles per person. That is, in one hand you can get no more than 260 thousand rubles. There are limitations, however. If the house was purchased before 2014, you can use the deduction once in a lifetime, and the purchase price does not matter. If a house was bought after January 1, 2014 and did not use the deduction earlier, then you can use it several times, but it is still strictly limited to 2 million rubles. For each year, you can return no more than you have transferred to the budget income tax. If you have not exercised the right to receive a deduction in full, its balance is carried forward to subsequent tax periods. That is, you can return the tax for several years, until you return the entire amount. If you took a home in a mortgage, it is important when it was issued. If before January 1, 2014, then the property deduction will cover the entire amount of interest, and if after - the interest deduction is limited to 3 million rubles, i.e. you can return a maximum of 390 thousand rubles. Also, since 2014, the maximum deduction is applied to the cost of acquiring both one or several real estate properties. The amount of benefits can be doubled if you buy an apartment in marriage - then both spouses have the right to return 13% of the cost of housing purchased. If you acquired the property in common ownership before January 1, 2014, the property deduction is due to each co-owner depending on the share, if after - the amount of the deduction depends on the actual expenses incurred by each owner within the total limit. We will tell you about property deductions for the sale of housing in one of the following publications. The procedure for obtaining a deduction when applying to the employer, as well as a list of additional costs that are taken into account when calculating the property tax deduction, see our infographics.

Cherny Lev Semenovich, was born in 1954 in Tashkent. Jew. Israeli citizen.

The lion is the middle of the three brothers. The elder brother, Michael, born in 1952, lives in Israel, the younger, David, born in 1958, lives in the United States. L. Cherny, after leaving in 1994 from Russia to the West, lived in Great Britain and in Israel. (www.chernoi.ru 04/10/00)

While studying at the Tashkent Polytechnic Institute, the student Cherny was actively engaged in speculation, for which he was prosecuted. He bought his freedom in exchange for cooperation with the KGB. At the end of the university, the Chekists provided Lev Cherny with a warm place - he took the post of head of the Quality Department of the Tashkent Excavator Plant, which produced consumer goods. (Сompromat.Ru 10.03.00)

In 1985, Lev created one of the first production cooperatives in Uzbekistan on the basis of this branch. To work in it, he attracted his elder brother Mikhail, who took upon himself the organization of production, while Leo was engaged in the supply of raw materials and marketing of products, financial matters. The cooperative was essentially the first and last joint venture of the brothers.

Soon, Lev Cherny became one of the largest “guilds” working in the field of shadow production of consumer goods. The production was provided with raw materials and materials, which were extracted through systematic thefts of state property on an especially large scale. In this L. Cherny relied on the support of organized criminal groups in Tashkent, the leaders of which were his former school friends. According to some reports, money for the promotion of the cooperative was allocated from the local “common fund”, since Leo was of interest to crime in connection with the creation of a structure for laundering the proceeds of racketeering, prostitution, and the sale of arms and drugs. Through ties with the Uzbek criminal community, primarily with Gafur Rakhimov and Tofik Arifov, Cherny established relations with such major figures of the underworld as kingpin Vyacheslav Ivankov (“Yaponchik”) and Otari Kvantrishvili (“Otarik”). (Www. chernoi.nu)

In 1990, Cherny met with the owner of Trans Commodities, Sam Kislin, a native of Odessa, and now an American citizen. Together they are not starting to supply raw materials to Russian metallurgical enterprises. The lack of working capital forced the directors to resort to the services of L. Cherny and Kislin. The scope of activities of Trans Commodities expanded and soon L. Cherny registered the company Trans-CIS Commodities Ltd. in Monte Carlo (Principality of Monaco). (TCC), which effectively assigned the Trans Commodities business. Kislin’s attempts to achieve a civilized partition were harshly suppressed: he was advised to “seriously think if his wife wants to see him and his children alive.”

According to the US FBI and the Swiss police, “Yaponchik” became L. Cherny’s partner in Trans Commodities and the company was actively used to launder dirty money, including money received from the drug business.

In 1991, L. Cherny met in Moscow with Goran Stanovich, a representative of the small company Trans-World Metals (TWM), owned by the English businessman David Ruben. At that time, TWM mediated small shipments of tin to the London Metal Exchange (LME) and collaborated with VO Raznoimport.

TCC began working with TWM. It was then that the sphere of the main interests of L. Cherny became the aluminum industry of Russia and other former republics of the USSR. In 1992, a conglomerate of intermediary firms formed around TWM, called Trans-World Group (TWG). (www.chernoi.nu)

In 1992, Cherny came to Soskovets, who sanctioned the method of pumping money out of the country - tolling, unprecedented in the economic history of mankind, in the aluminum industry of Russia. The tolling (alumina) regime “under customs control” exempted TWG from taxes and customs duties on imported raw materials and exported metal. At the same time, up to 75% of foreign currency earnings remained on the accounts of intermediary firms. Thanks to tolling, TWG quickly became one of the three largest players on the London Metal Exchange. In 1995, TWG sold over 1 million tons of aluminum on this exchange. 5% of total world production. TWG's annual revenue has reached $ 5 billion. TWG President D. Roubin repeatedly emphasized in the British press that "it was Leo who set up business in the territory of the former Soviet Union with his connections." Black was listed in TWG as just a general consultant, but, according to company employees, all issues related to doing business in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan were resolved individually. 03.00)

Cherny himself claimed that a foreign partner in the person of Ruben was needed to raise funds to finance operations with aluminum plants. However, in reality, Trans-World Metals in its scale could not play the role of a major investor, and TWG was needed by L. Cherny only for the legalization of capital of criminal origin, primarily for investing funds from the common fund in a legal business. TWG President D. Rouben assigned the role of “zits-chairman”.

Almost throughout his career in big business, L. Cherny was in the field of view of law enforcement agencies. So, in early 1992, the American company Newtel Co., established by emigrants from Russia, conducted a large-scale operation to collect ruble funds from Russian buyers for the purchase of imported industrial goods and food products. The collected funds were converted into hard currency (the total amount was estimated in millions of dollars) and transferred abroad. Allegedly, their conversion through the Stolichniy bank was organized by L. Cherny. (www.chernoi.ru)

Seeing the high profitability of operations in the Russian aluminum business, L. Cherny took energetic steps to establish control over the plants through the acquisition of substantial blocks of their shares. To circumvent the restriction imposed by the Government of the Russian Federation of 20% on the free acquisition of shares of Russian enterprises, L. Cherny created dozens of anonymous offshore companies in Monaco, Gibraltar, Switzerland, the Virgin Islands, Bahamas, Cyprus, etc. In turn, these offshore companies have established subsidiaries in Russia, of which there were over a hundred. The network of these firms was actively involved in the purchase of shares, which allowed TWG to become a shareholder in enterprises by the beginning of 1995, producing a total of more than 2 million tons of aluminum per year. These are Bratsk (BrAZ), Krasnoyarsk (KrAZ), Sayansk (SaAZ), Novokuznetsk (NkAZ) and Nadvoitsky (NAZ) aluminum plants.

When buying up the shares of factories, funds stolen from the country's budget were used with the help of the so-called “Chechen payment advice notes” The investigation of the case of fake payment advice notes revealed that most of the companies making payments were one-day floats and disappeared after payment under an agreement with TSS. There were no formal grounds for indictment of the head of Trans-CIS under such a scheme. 03.00)

According to experts, L. Cherny has to do with the theft of at least $ 800 million out of a total of about $ 2 billion stolen in the Russian banking system using forged banking documents.

It remains unclear exactly how Trans-World financed the start of its activities in Russia. David Ruben claims that he and Simon invested their own funds in the initial activities, but not a single document was submitted indicating that they were the source of the initial funding. And this brings us back to the case of embezzlement of funds of the Central Bank, in the center of which is a scam that includes multi-level transactions, under the cover of which a dollar-ruble exchange was carried out and, through Russian banks, through fake memos, government funds were transferred to a number of companies, including Trans-World. In the middle of the deal are two companies with similar names: Trans-CIS Commodities, founded by Leo with the help of David Ruben, and Trans-Commodities, a company located in New York, 50% owned by Mikhail (Michael’s partner in Trans-Commodities was Sam Kislin, who is mentioned in the FBI report as being associated with the imprisoned Russian “godfather,” and whose nephew Joel Bartow claimed worked with Mikhail Cherny, became a member of the New York Economic Development Committee and made significant financial contributions. Hell in support of Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Rudolph Giuliani. He denies any connection to the Mafia or with Trans-World). (Fortune 06/12/00)

In the struggle for the division and redistribution of property in the aluminum industry, the forces of organized crime were most actively involved. The death toll in this fight (which journalists called the "Great Patriotic Aluminum War") was in the tens. Especially bloody were the clashes between factions vying for control of the Krasnoyarsk aluminum smelter. With the filing of L. Cherny in 1991, one of the local criminal leaders Anatoly Bykov (“Bull”) infiltrated KrAZ, whose “godfathers” were the leaders of the Uzbek organized crime groups, in particular, the school friend of Cherny T. Arifov. He recommended Bykov to his former fellow countryman L. Black, and he persuaded Ivankov, “Jap” to bet on “Bull”.

Over the next two years, Bykov managed to supplant or destroy all his competitors and headed the organized criminal community of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. There was a corresponding section of the spheres of influence of criminals in the region’s aluminum industry: the thief in law Vladimir Tyurin (Tyurik) representing Yaponchik in Eastern Siberia oversaw the supply of alumina to BrAZ, Bykov was legalized as one of the owners of KrAZ, and Vladimir closely associated with Bykov Tatarenkov (“Tatarin”) tried to establish control over SaAZ. “Tatar” led a gang of up to 60 active fighters and for its cruelty was recognized as the most dangerous criminal formation in the East Siberian region. Only during May-June 1994, the Tatar militants killed 10 people related to the struggle for influence in KrAZ.

Shortly before that, in April 1994, O. Kvantrishvili was shot dead in Moscow, who, as it became known later, took certain steps in order to oust L. Cherny's companies in the aluminum complex of Russia.

Fearing for his life, L. Cherny moved to the West with the beginning of criminal squabbles. There, especially at first, he constantly moved from place to place, living alternately in London, Paris, Monaco, New York, Tel Aviv, Caracas.

In 1995, the victims of contract killings were: in April, Vadim Yafyasov, vice president of Yugorsky Design Bureau, Oleg Kantor, president of the same bank in June, and Felix Lvov, representative of the American company AIOC, in September.

Yugorsky Bank, faced with serious financial problems, tried to reorient itself towards servicing aluminum smelters, and Yafyasov even a few days before his death even took over as the commercial director of KrAZ, where the structure he and Kantor represented became a competitor to TWG. Moreover, Yafyasov was a partner of L. Cherny for some time and had information about his business. Despite the pressure exerted on him, Yafyasov agreed to testify in the case of false advice notes, which, in the opinion of law enforcement officials, was the reason for his murder. (www.chernoi.ru)

In September of that year, a representative of the American company A1OS Felix Lvov was killed. This company worked with Russian aluminum plants according to the invented Black Tolling, and inadvertently wandered into its "garden". Lvov had the imprudence to declare at the State Duma hearings about the need to investigate violations of the law during the privatization of the aluminum industry, which directly affected the interests of L. Cherny, who was then capturing KrAZ through Bykov. Lviv was offered a post at TWG and, after the refusal, he was killed.

In June 1996, Boris Fedorov, president of the National Sports Fund, received a bullet and four stab wounds in the center of Moscow, who had recently refused to cooperate with Trans-World and had publicized some information about the business of L. Cherny and his partners in Russia. On the night of April 24, 1999, under unclear circumstances, Fedorov suddenly died in his house in Moscow.

In 1998, TWG took control of the Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant (KrAZ), which owns a 60% stake in the Achinsk Alumina Refinery (AGK). In the summer of 1998, the term of external management at the plant ends. The manager G. Fetisov insisted on the immediate sale of the AGC from the auction - all the same, 827 creditors of the plant are not going to wait long. Real buyers - the Alpha Group and the Siberian-Ural Aluminum Company - disputed the right of each other to pay $ 200 million for the plant. And this epic would have ended in normal bankruptcy, but in this case, KrAZ lost its property, and therefore, control over the prices of raw materials. TWG could not put up with this - tolling was in jeopardy. And in June 1998 - as ordered by L. Cherny - the Krasnoyarsk Regional Arbitration Court dismissed G. Fetisov from the post of managing director of the AGK and extended the external administration for another five and a half years. The court also appointed the new arbitration manager as by the same personal order - Naila Nasyrova. N. Nasyrov came to the plant after working at the Pavlodar aluminum plant in Kazakhstan, from where TWG was expelled by the authorities of the republic with shame. And Nasyrov then simply fled from Kazakhstan, having previously caused damage to her economy - according to the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in the amount of 40 million US dollars. In connection with the activities of TWG in his country, President Nazarbayev was forced to admit that tolling was a big economic mistake. The results of manager Nasyrov’s activities at AGK immediately and dramatically affected. Production of scarce raw materials on the domestic market fell over the month from 70 thousand tons (May) to 36 thousand (August). But this record is not the limit for Nasyrov - in September, the production of alumina at the plant is 26 thousand tons per month. A normally working enterprise in two months (!) Reached the level of 1996, when in the city of Achinsk, where AGK is a city-forming enterprise, there were 11 thousand unemployed and the city lived in a humanitarian catastrophe! Alumina supplies to TWG-controlled facilities plummeted, washing out AGC's working capital. Thus, N. Nasyrov, thanks to his Bolshevik method of leadership, only in the first two months caused damage to the plant in the amount of five million dollars. (Novaya Gazeta, 11/15/99)

In 1997, the British National Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS) conducted a special operation, code-named "Copperfield." As the Western press reported, the focus of the investigation was, in particular, an emigrant from the Soviet Union with an Israeli passport Lev Cherny. According to NCIS intelligence, he was a liaison between the British trading and intermediary company Trans World Group (TWG) and organized crime groups of the “Russian mafia”. During operational investigative measures, including wiretapping of Chernoy, he managed to identify his contacts with people involved in the international drug trafficking, and laundering large-scale criminal proceeds. In addition, according to British intelligence, a network of offshore companies created under the wing of TWG and managed by Black poses a potential threat to the economic security of the UK and any other state where the company has branches. Most of them, according to experts from Interpol and the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), were created specifically to legalize capital of criminal origin ... (Moskovsky Komsomolets 12/23/98)

As a result, the intelligence service established ties between Chernykh and Vyacheslav Ivankov, who was imprisoned by the "godfather" of the American branch of the Russian mafia. It was found that 25% of all phone calls from the Trans-World office in London were made to explicit mafiosi related to money laundering, drug smuggling and precious stones. In Russia, one of the investigators established a connection between Chernykh and the transfer of proceeds from the sale of drugs and car thefts through retail trade to London. According to the investigator, the scope of these frauds was too large to compose a clear picture, according to the report on the operation Copperfield. The Minister of the Interior of the Russian Federation, in the absence of legislation on money laundering, requested assistance from the FBI

The new Minister of the Interior of Russia, Anatoly Kulikov, publicly announced in 1997 that he was expanding the Central Bank investigation into Leo and related parties. Kulikov also linked the aluminum trade with the Izmailovsky group, and stated that the group was under the control of Mikhail Cherny's friend, Anton Malevsky, who led it from Israel. He also stated that “practically all” KrAZ and BrAZz transactions were under the control of criminal groups.

In March 1998, Yeltsin removed Kulikov from his post, and two weeks later the new Minister of the Interior announced that Lev Cherny was no longer on suspicion as an accomplice in the theft of funds from the Central Bank.

Blacks were officially removed from suspicion of complicity in the Central Bank case because the Ministry of the Interior concluded that despite the fact that the scam was a group of people associated with organized crime, and despite the fact that Blacks clearly benefited from this There is no evidence that Black knew that the funds were stolen. These findings not only helped Leo return to Russia in an attempt (as is now clear, failed) to restore the collapsing Trans-World empire, but also stopped the investigation that could destroy Trans-World’s activities in Russia. Partially, Lev came out of suspicion thanks to the testimony of Gennady Druzhinin, one of the KrAZ leaders. Imagine our surprise when it turned out from banking documents that Trans-World had paid Druzhinin exactly one million dollars earlier - and this was at a time when Trans-World was allegedly exhibited from KrAZ. (Fortune 06/12/00)

In the summer of 1998, L. Cherny moved to Russia, where he planned to stay permanently and hide from a possible criminal prosecution. Here he conducts an active PR campaign to create the image of a large businessman-patriot, a statesman, which would allow him to legalize himself and legalize his business. Millions of dollars are spent on paying for publications in the framework of this campaign in many central newspapers (Komsomolskaya Pravda, Trud, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Parliamentary Gazeta, etc.). In addition, Lev Cherny tried to use the opportunities of Berezovsky to enter the Russian establishment and even the presidential circle. However, having paid for Berezovsky’s purchase of the Kommersant publishing house (through a fund led by the man of Cherny Kia Dzhurabchian) and a controlling stake in TV-6, Cherny essentially didn’t receive anything in return, as politicians and senior officials tried to distance themselves from him before the election, not to be compromised by connections with such an odious person.

Relations between Cherny and Berezovsky did not go unnoticed. The Swiss prosecutor’s office, conducting an investigation into Berezovsky, also became interested in firms associated with Lev Cherny, and during the investigation, arrested one of their top managers David McNeill. Nevertheless, at present L. Cherny continues a public campaign, the main purpose of which is not only personal positioning in the ranks of the political elite, but also the introduction of his proteges in the structures of all branches of government at the federal and regional levels. The close ties of Lev Cherny with the top of organized crime and the origin of his capital give every reason to assume that he is fulfilling the task of ensuring the massive penetration of crime into power. (www.chernoi.nu)

Instead of an afterword:

Black's partner, David Ruben, likes to argue that Trans-World has "saved" Russia's aluminum industry, the only industry to increase productivity by 7% since 1989. In the midst of their influence, in 1997, according to Ruben, they "invested" approximately $ 400 million in these plants. The Russian Ministry of Economics calls a figure close to zero. In fact, Trans-World systematically kept one of the most viable sectors of the former Soviet Union on a starvation diet, giving the plants oxygen only so that they could work on their tolling racket, while the equipment was obsolete both mentally and physically. The 1997 BrAZ audit report shows $ 600 million in sales losses - this is for the world's largest aluminum smelter. Rubenov’s internal reporting for the same year suggests that Trans-World and plant management made nearly $ 200 million in profit.

In exactly the same way, the Rubens and Blacks gained control of one of the largest steel mills in Russia in 1995 - and by 1997 they pumped out about $ 300 million a year from it. When a group of American investors, including George Soros, announced. that they acquired approximately 50% of the plant’s shares, were not allowed on the board of directors and did not allow them to familiarize themselves with the company's trading contracts, although the court ruled in their favor. And no wonder - the plant’s profit (before tax) fell from $ 80 million in 1995 to $ 40 million in 1996, despite the strengthening of the steel market. (Fortune)