Bloody Christmas: How a Bashkiria Businessman Was Beaten to Death

In early 2017, the village of Urnyak in Bashkiria (Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia) was shocked by the murder of a local businessman. The killers stole a ridiculously small sum from his home, but suspicious transfers were found in his accounts. Why was the entrepreneur killed, and what happened to the criminals? — a story from UFA1.RU.

Night visitors

During the New Year holidays in 2017, the son of businessman Vlad Yankin (name changed — Ed.) grew worried: his parents had not answered calls for a long time. He was far from the family cottage in Urnyak and asked his cousin to check on the Yankins. Agreeing to help, the cousin found a horrifying scene in the relatives« house.

The master of the house was dead, while the aunt, also mutilated, showed almost no signs of life. The nephew called an ambulance, and the woman was saved. When she came to, she was able to tell how two masked men burst into their bedroom at night and beat her husband to death with a crowbar.

Seeing how harshly the attackers were dealing with her husband, Yankina screamed in fear, and one of the attackers turned on her. She was struck 13 times with a hammer, breaking her face, nose, wrist, and foot. When the woman stopped resisting, the killers quickly searched the house and drove off, taking only... 750 rubles ($13 at current rates) from the hostess«s wallet. It became clear this was not a mere robbery.

Yankin had been in business since the 1990s and owned several companies in Sterlitamak (a city in Bashkiria, about 130 km south of Ufa) — including Uraltekhprom, Khimpromstroy, and Khimkontrakt. In the deceased«s financial records, investigators discovered, among other things, several large transfers to another entrepreneur — Sergei Basov from Ufa.

Officially, Basov traded in construction chemicals and produced injection packers — devices used to feed special solutions into joints and voids of structures. Basov was 40, lived with his wife, raised two daughters, and occasionally traveled the world. Incidentally, on New Year«s Day he sent Yankin an SMS greeting.

Bloody payback

Studying the frequency of loans and repayment amounts, investigators suggested that Yankin had been cashing out his companies« funds through his Ufa partner. This version was never confirmed, but the victim»s wife said that shortly before the attack he had complained that Basov was delaying repayment of a debt.

Investigators established that the amount was at least 1.5 million rubles (about $26,000 at current rates). They believed Basov did not want to return the money and instead decided to deal with his business partner. He did not want to dirty his own hands with blood, so he turned to a 24-year-old acquaintance, promising 700,000 rubles (about $12,000 at current rates) for the job.

That man did not dare to undertake the task alone and brought in two friends: one was to help deal with Yankin, while another would wait in the car. They received all necessary information about the businessman«s movements and funds for transportation from Basov.

When night fell, the men drove up to the Yankins« house, donned masks, took tools, and entered the property. They pried open the front door with a crowbar, went upstairs, and found the owners sleeping peacefully in their bedroom. What happened next was exactly as the surviving victim recounted.

Debt pit

All three men and Basov were arrested, and in December 2018 a jury found them guilty. As the convicts were led out of the courtroom down the corridor, one of them lunged at a journalist in response to questions about the verdict. They had reason to be upset: the total sentence for all four amounted to 66 years.

The killer of the businessman was sentenced to 24 years in a strict-regime colony; the one who beat the entrepreneur«s wife received 18 years. Notably, the hitman paid his helpers 50,000 rubles (about $880 at current rates) each from the allocated 700,000. In addition, the entrepreneur»s wife, now disabled, was awarded compensation of 5.8 million rubles (about $100,000 at current rates).

The shortest sentence went to the driver, who claimed he had not known the purpose of their surveillance of the businessman before the murder. The court showed leniency and sent him to a colony for 5 years and 1 month. He is now free, as confirmed by court records, where UFA1.RU found his case for drunk driving.

Yankin«s killer was sent to serve his sentence at IK-16 in Salavat (a city in Bashkiria). In 2023, he and two other inmates were involved in proceedings over an assault for which he was convicted again. An even more notable fate befell Sergei Basov, who was sentenced to 19 years in prison for orchestrating the murder.

In March 2022, Basov«s now ex-wife filed a lawsuit against him. In the claim, she stated that during the investigation she had taken out a loan of one million rubles (about $17,000 at current rates) from a bank to pay for her husband»s legal defense, and since his release could not be secured, she repaid the debt alone while continuing to raise their two daughters.

It is also worth noting that UFA1.RU found in the bailiffs« database an enforcement order against Sergei Basov, under which he owed the victim»s family more than 3 million rubles (about $52,000 at current rates). While serving his sentence, Basov had no income, paid no alimony, and could not help his ex-wife or daughters in any way.

But in court, he admitted that he had asked his wife to go into debt for his sake, and agreed to pay half the amount she had remitted to the bank. Eight months later — also in early January, like the victim of his crime — Basov died and was buried in Ufa. His tombstone notes that Sergei «fell a hero»s death on the battlefield, showing courage and valor.«

Read other high-profile crime stories in the UFA1.RU special section «Tales of the Siloviki». Also, in another section of our portal, you can learn about the secrets hidden beneath monuments in Ufa cemeteries.