Boxing chief Andrei Korolev accused of murder, 90s video shown

Details have emerged in a criminal case involving a 54-year-old athlete from the Samara region. The honorary president of the regional boxing federation, Andrei Korolev, is accused of murder. The details were disclosed by representatives of the Investigative Committee of the Tambov region. They also shared surveillance footage.

According to the investigation, preparations for the crime began in 1999. The prosecution believes the athlete was at that time the leader of an organized criminal group (OCG) in the Samara region.

«He instructed a group of people to murder the head of the Tambov District Police Department, who had previously headed the department for combating organized crime,» explained the investigators.

They suggest that in December 1999, four perpetrators arrived in Tambov. There, the gangsters lived in safe houses for several months, surveilling the police officer. At the same time, the «guests from Samara» were looking for means of communication, cars, and weapons.

On 13 April 2000, the assailants waited for the police officer to leave the regional hospital and shot him. The law enforcement officer died from his injuries.

For almost a quarter of a century, the crime was considered unsolved. At one point, investigators even suspended the investigation because they could not identify all the participants in the murder. But recently, the case was moved off the dead point.

In addition to Andrei Korolev, charges were brought against another suspect. He, according to investigators, could have been a member of the OCG.

The detention and arrest of the Samara athlete became known at the end of last week. Several local bloggers reported this.

Andrei Korolev was born in 1971 in Kuibyshev (now Samara). In 2005, he received higher education in law at the Academy of National Economy under the Government of the Russian Federation. A year later, he headed the public organization «Boxing Federation of the Samara Region». Andrei Korolev held this position until 2016. After that, he was elected honorary president of the organization. In 2017, he was elected president of the World Federation of Fudokan Karate-do for a 5-year term. At the same time, the athlete was a member of several public organizations. In 2021, Andrei Korolev became an expert on social policy, healthcare, healthy lifestyle, and sports in the region«s public chamber.

According to Samara bloggers, Andrei Korolev may have been involved in the «Korolevskie» organized criminal group. There is also an opinion that law enforcement is checking the athlete«s connection with the gang of Igor Sirotenko (also known as »Sirota«).