Daghestani billionaire Ibrahim Suleimanov has been arrested in connection with a decades-old murder case. Suleimanov and his clan amassed significant wealth and business connections, particularly through his family’s ownership of the travel booking company Siren Travel — he is thought to be one of the most powerful and secretive oligarchs in Russia.
Reportedly, Suleimanov’s arrest was connected to the 2004 murder of Gennady Borisov, the head of the trade union committee of Vnukovo Airlines. Borisov was found dead at the entrance of a building with 25 stab wounds.
OC Media has not confirmed that the arrest is connected to Borisov’s murder. It has also not been corroborated by the Russian state-run agency TASS.
The Russian state-controlled media outlet Izvestiya reported, on the other hand, that Suleimanov’s arrest is instead connected to the 2004 murder of former head of the Federal Financial Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy Service Georgy Tal.
Since 2024, Suleimanov and his son Rasul have owned a majority of shares of Siren Travel, which by some estimates makes up for 80% of all airline bookings in Russia. The family also has numerous other business interests and is thought to have significant influence on the Russian IT sector, including on state IT resources.
Suleimanov also has connections to famed Russian oligarch-turned opposition figure in exile, Mikhail Khodorkovsky — previously, Suleimanov was reportedly married to Lyudmila Lebedeva, the daughter of Khodorkovsky-associate Platon Lebedev. Lebedeva’s daughter Diana became a famous symbol of the nouveau riche in Russia, and her death in a car accident in Switzerland in 2016 made headlines across the West.
Suleimanov has a previous criminal history, having been convicted of fraud and money laundering in 2007. He served eight years in prison before being paroled in 2015, where he promptly went back to expand his business empire.
Elizaveta Chukharova
