Two agents of the Russian Federal Security Service were charged with extortion of 65 million rubles in bitcoins. According to the investigation, they promised not to tighten proceedings against the ex-director of the state publishing house "Izvestia".

The Moscow court ordered to arrest Alexey Kolbov and Sergey Belousov, former and current agents of the central office of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). They were charged with extorting bribes worth 65 million rubles ($1 million),  intimidating the son of the political scientist Erast Galumov, ex-director of the “Izvestia” Publishing House, who is currently under investigation on charges of fraud. Kolbov offered Galumov Jr. to lighten accusations in order to “stop the process” and speed up the release of Galumov Sr. from the prison, where he has stayed from early 2018.

According to Russian newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda”, Alexander Galumov Jr. transferred 3 million rubles ($45,000) to Kolbov's bitcoin wallet. After transaction completed, the senior security service investigator Belousov allowed “big relief” in the case of Galumov Sr.

Из общения с сотрудниками ФСБ: "Как вам итоговое обвинение? Вы могли его смягчить, но не захотели".

Kolbov and Belousov worked in the department of computer-related crimes. It was Belousov who filed a petition to the Moscow court asking to arrest Galumov Sr. and later demanded to prolong his imprisonment.