The criminal case related to the boat accident involving Putin's classmate Viktor Khmarin (injured) and Viktor Averin (deceased), a key figure of the Solntsevo organized crime group, has been suspended.
Modern.az reports, citing local media, that the reason for this is the leadership's prohibition on investigators questioning the passengers on the boat.
It should be recalled that the accident occurred on the evening of December 20, 2025, and the next day a criminal case was opened under Article 263 of the Russian Criminal Code (violation of road safety rules and operation of inland water transport, causing the death of one person through negligence). Averin's p was quickly autopsied, and technical and other examinations were appointed.
However, to determine all the details of the accident, direct witnesses and participants must be questioned. According to the main version, the boat hit an ice floe in the dark, capsized, and all passengers were thrown into the icy water. Averin died of hypothermia.
Among the passengers, the most notable person is Viktor Khmarin, Putin's classmate and good friend. There is another reason why investigators were not allowed to question the witnesses. The 76-year-old Khmarin was not alone; he was on the boat with his 18-year-old girlfriend, Yekaterina Leonova.
Immediately after the accident, everyone on the boat disappeared from social media and even from instant messaging applications.
It should be recalled that the boat passengers were:
Averin, Viktor Sergeyevich – deceased;
Viktor Nikolayevich Khmarin, born 1949; (Vladimir Putin's classmate)
Dmitry Leonidovich Perekatov, born February 18, 1970 (lawyer at Khmarin & Partners)
Ivan Ivanovich Abramushin, born October 16, 1990; (born in Kazakhstan, registered at the Olympic Reserve School, presumably a pguard)
Shamisdan Ismayil oglu Aliyev, born July 26, 1964; (Azerbaijani businessman close to Khmarin)
Ekaterina Andreyevna Leonova, born April 26, 2007 (model from Tula region).
