A source from the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel told details of the detention of the chairman of the Sverdlovsk regional public national-cultural organization "Azerbaijan-Ural", the head of the Azerbaijani diaspora in the region, Shahin Shykhlinsky, who was previously put on the wanted list.
"He was on the territory of the Azerbaijani embassy in Moscow all this time. He could, like Assange, sit and wait until the security forces, in violation of international law, storm the embassy by force. He decided to voluntarily leave and prove his position. He warned 24 hours in advance that he would leave the embassy. Therefore, he was met at the entrance by operatives and a police crew. He was detained and taken to investigators. Yesterday he was sent by plane to Yekaterinburg"
Shakhin Shikhlinsky is suspected of murder and violence against a government official.
The last episode is related to the story when Shykhlinsky Sr. was detained in early July. His son, lawyer Mutvala Shykhlinsky, was with him. According to him, when he and his father were driving in Yekaterinburg, several paddy wagons drove towards them, and then they started smashing the windows of their car. Surrounded by security forces, Shykhlinsky's Mercedes backed up at speed and knocked down one of them.
Then Shakhin was released. And then he was put on the wanted list.
Shykhlinsky Sr. was detained in early July in connection with the investigation of the murders of Yunis Pashayev in 2001 and Ikram Gadzhiev in 2011.
The VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info conducted their own investigation into the events that led to the hunt for Shikhlinsky and found out how the story, which began as a private conflict, an ethnic criminal confrontation, with access to administrative resources, led to an international scandal. Episode 1. The Death of Yunis Pashayev
In 2001, a crime boss from Moscow, Yunis Pashayev, arrives in Yekaterinburg and begins collecting tribute from his fellow countrymen. One day, having arrived at the Kaspiy café, which belonged to the Safarov brothers, a family of Azerbaijani refugees from the Agdam region of Karabakh, Pashayev extorts money from Akif Safarov, offering him so-called "protection". During the altercation, Pashayev stabbed Akif Safarov in the stomach and hit him in the head with a bottle, after which the latter was hospitalized due to his injuries. A few days later, one of the Akfia brothers, Mazahir Safarov, learned that Pashayev was in the Shayba café on Blucher Street and came to talk about the incident. A scuffle ensued, during which Pashayev pulled out a knife, but was stabbed by it himself. He was hospitalized, where he died three days later. According to the forensic examination, the cause of death was not a knife wound, but pneumonia.
Episode 2. Death of Fehruz Shirinov
Since 2002, there has been a protracted conflict between the criminal groups of the Talysh (Azerbaijanis) and the Erazes (Armenians). The Talysh killed the Erazes, and the Erazes killed the Talysh.
A prominent criminal figure on the Talysh side was Ikram Gadzhiev, who served time for the murder of a Yekaterinburg resident.
In 2010, Fehruz Shirinov, with the participation of the Kurdish "authority" Konteev, attempted to kill Elman Suleimanov, for which he served time.
Also in 2010, Shirinov stabbed Akif Safarov. For which he received a 5-year sentence, which was annulled due to the statute of limitations (Article 111.3). In addition, Shirinov was sentenced on three more charges: Article 119 – threat of murder, Article 163 – extortion, Article 14.16. He joined Kangiyev's gang (which also included bandits nicknamed "Eye", "Kai" (they are in jail), "Dzhigit" (on the international wanted list), and now for some reason he has been given the status of "secret witness" in a criminal case.
Shirinov teamed up with Mustafayev
In 2011, Ikram Gadzhiev and his gang beat up the Talysh authority figure Shahin Lalayev. After which Lalayev and his gang, with the participation of authority figure Akhliman Ganjiev, called the offenders to a meeting to continue the showdown at the fourth fruit and vegetable base on Zavokzalnaya Street and beat up Ikram Gadzhiev. The next meeting with the Talysh is scheduled by Iram Gadzhiev together with Gadzhiev Sary in the Perekrestok cafe. Word for word and the Talysh are shot. No one died, they only received injuries to their limbs. The Talysh hire a killer and order Ikram Gadzhiev, who was killed on August 8, 2011, by a gunshot to the head near his home. The case was pinned on Elman Suleimanov.
Episode 3. The Rise of Vidadi Mustafayev
In October 2021, the former mayor of Sredneuralsk Andrei Zashlyapin was detained while attempting to transfer a bribe through Vidadi Mustafayev, a public figure and Yeraz by origin, previously convicted of fraud and hooliganism, in the amount of 10 million rubles to an employee of the UFSB for the Sverdlovsk Region, Artem Shunaylov, for minimizing the consequences of the investigation of a criminal case against Zashlyapin. After some time, Vidadi Mustafayev, having made a deal with the investigation and becoming an agent of the local UFSB, was released.
After which Vidadi Mustafayev, with the support of the UFSB for the Sverdlovsk Region, begins the so-called business activity to create difficulties through the security forces for representatives of the Azerbaijani diaspora in the region and their further about settlement for money.
In March 2024, security forces came with searches to the Baku Plaza business center owned by the head of the regional Azerbaijani diaspora, Shahin Shykhlinsky. After which, according to the same scheme, they sent "messengers" who offered to "get on a monthly subscription" in the amount of 500 thousand rubles.
He began to put pressure on the current owner of the Kaspiy cafe, a Russian by nationality, forcing her to transfer it free of charge.
Around the same time, local security forces hatched a plan to remove Shahin Shykhlinsky from the position of the head of the regional Azerbaijani diaspora and push in his place the controlled Vidadi Mustafayev. Having secured the support of local security forces, the Talysh group headed by the authority Akhliman Ganjiyev, the Yeraz group headed by the authority Ikram Gadzhiyev, Mustafayev began to conduct an active information attack on other prominent representatives of the Azerbaijani diaspora in the region. On June 27, 2025, based on the testimony of Vidadi Mustafayev and within the framework of a fabricated criminal case and with the sanction of the head of the "M" Department of the FSB of Russia Sergienko, employees of the UFSB, the Russian Guard and the Main Directorate of Internal Affairs of the region, with the direct participation of the head of the homicide department of the Main Directorate of Internal Affairs Colonel Yevgeny Murzin, carried out events at twenty addresses of representatives of the Azerbaijani diaspora who were objectionable to Mustafayev, during which all men and minors of the male sex were beaten or detained in order to force them to testify against Shahin Shykhlinsky in order to recognize him as the head of the organized crime group. According to the detainees, they were subjected to beatings and torture, including electric shocks and suffocation. All the detainees were taken to the Main Directorate of Internal Affairs for the Sverdlovsk Region on Frunze Street 73A, to the extremism department. As a result, two brothers, Ziyaddin and Gusein Safarov, died.
Shykhlinsky, who has the status of a lawyer, was questioned as a witness in this case twice. The first time was several years ago, the second on June 27, 2025, regarding the above-mentioned episodes.
From June 27 to June 30, 2025, Shykhlinsky was organizing the shipment of cargo 200 with the murdered Safarovs to Azerbaijan.
Episode 6. Detention of the Shykhlins
On July 3, 2025, Shykhlinsky and his son, who also has the status of a lawyer and are special subjects, were resonantly detained by armed FSB officers without identification marks and taken to testify. During the detention, Shykhlinsky's son, who was driving a car, instinctively reversed, as a result of which one of the arresting officers was injured. Another case was opened - on the use of violence against a government official (Article 318 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Mutvala Shykhlinsky, the son of the head of the diaspora, unexpectedly turned out to be the defendant in it. After giving testimony, the Shykhlins were released. Two weeks later, on July 15, Mutvala Shykhlinsky was detained; on July 16, the Leninsky District Court of Yekaterinburg arrested him for two months, until September 14, 2025. A criminal case was opened on this matter and on 16.07.2025 Shykhlinsky's son was sent to a pre-trial detention center for two months.
After some time, Shahin Shykhlinsky was put on the wanted list. While in the guest house of the Azerbaijani embassy, Shykhlinsky, being confident in his innocence, seeing the diplomatic pressure exerted by Russian security forces on the Azerbaijani embassy, in order not to escalate the already extreme interstate tension, decided to voluntarily leave the embassy and surrender to the security forces.
On 01.08.2025, Shykhlinsky left the embassy territory and surrendered to the FSB officers on duty around the embassy.
Shykhlinsky was taken to the FSB Investigative Department on Energeticheskaya Street, after which he was flown to Yekaterinburg. At the scene, the investigator charged him with murder and organizing a criminal community, which Vidali Mustafayev's associates from the local UFSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs had previously initiated to eliminate Shykhlinsky.
Shykhlinsky's prospects are obvious. The evidence the investigators need will be "pryed out" or obtained through deals with the investigation from previously detained Azerbaijanis. And he will be sentenced to 15 years. Vidali Mustafayev will head the region's Azerbaijani diaspora and continue his activities to enrich local security officials.
Arseniy Dronov
Source: www.rucriminal.info
