Zakhariy Knyazevich Kalashov ( ka, ზაქარია 'შაქრო' კალაშოვი, russian: Заха́рий Кня́зевич Калашо́в); born 20 May 1953, nicknamed "Young Shakro" (), is a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

mafia boss, notorious

gangster A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...

and

thief in law A “thief in law” (Russian: вор в зако́не, Georgian: კანონიერი ქურდი), in the Soviet Union, the post-Soviet states, and respective diasporas abroad is a specifically granted formal and special status of " ...

, who is widely believed to be one of the most prominent members of the

Russian mafia Russian organized crime or Russian mafia (, ), otherwise known as Bratva (), is a collective of various organized crime elements originating in the former Soviet Union. The initialism OPG is Organized Criminal (''prestupnaya'' in Russian) Gr ...

s. Kalashov is a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

Yazidi Yazidis or Yezidis (; ku, ئێزیدی, translit=Êzidî) are a Kurmanji-speaking endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. The majo ...

Biography

According to the United States federal government, Kalashov is a "key member" of the criminal syndicate known as "the

Brothers' Circle The Brothers' Circle or Bratski Krug ( rus, Братский круг) is a term used to refer to Russian organized crime, commonly the Russian mafia. It is a loose translation of the Russian term "Bratva" (Russian: Братва), which can also be ...

." In June 2005, Spanish authorities launched "Operation Wasp" targeting 30 members of the Brothers' Circle, resulting in the seizure of 800 bank accounts, luxury villas and cars. Kalashov fled to the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

, where he was arrested in 2006. He is the most senior member of the Russian mafia to have been arrested outside of Russia. He was subsequently extradited to Spain and found guilty of money laundering and racketeering in 2009. In June 2010, he was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison and fined €20 million. In 2011, his sentence was increased to nine years in prison and fine increased to €22.5 million. In September 2010, a Spanish court approved the extradition of Kalashov back to Georgia, where he had been found guilty in absentia of kidnapping and other crimes and sentenced to 18 years in prison. He was allowed to appeal his extradition to the Spanish Supreme Court. On 27 October 2014, the Spanish court ruled that he would be expelled to Russia but not extradited to Georgia. It was unclear why the court sent him to Russia, where he also has citizenship, instead of extraditing him to Georgia to serve his sentence. He returned to Moscow on 29 October 2014, where he reportedly met with the Criminal Investigation Department of the

Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (MVD; russian: Министерство внутренних дел (МВД), ''Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del'') is the interior ministry of Russia. The MVD is responsible for law enfor ...

for a "preventative" meeting before being released.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalashov, Zakhar Living people 1953 births Yazidis from Georgia (country) Gangsters from Georgia (country) Russian gangsters Thieves in law Russian Yazidis Criminals from Tbilisi Russian crime bosses

Biography

See also

References