Historical “gathering” in Croatia: the case of Andrei Nedzelsky (Weeks) united the thieves’ community

A historical event took place in Croatia on October 2: more than 200 thieves and crime bosses from all over the world gathered for a “gathering” in the Croatian city of Split. The “gathering” was attended by leaders of the criminal world, in particular thief in law Merab Dzhangveladze. The “gathering” was led by thief in law Tariel Oniani (Taro).

The agenda of the “gathering” included several main issues: confirmation of the status of “thief in law” of the Ukrainian crime boss Andrei Nedzelsky (“The Week”), a showdown in Tbilisi pre-trial detention center-7 between Zviad Papiashvili on the one hand and Ramaz Dzhincharadze and Beso Kuprashvili on the other, as well as restoration of the rights of Sulkhan Mzhavia, better known as Zhora of Kutaisi.

The first question heard at the “gathering” was confirmation of the status of “thief in law” Andrei Nedzelsky. Andrey Nedelya managed to arrive at the “gathering” in Croatian Split, despite the fact that he was put on the international wanted list by the Ukrainian authorities under the “life clause”. Nedelya tried to hide the fact of visiting Croatia, but due to the great resonance in the thieves' community, the information was still leaked to the press.

We remind you of the essence of the conflict: Ukrainian thief in law Andrey Nedelya was allegedly “uncoronated” in October 2019 after a fight at the wedding of the family of crime boss Oleg Bakinsky. A fight broke out with the participation of Umka Dneprovsky (Sergey Oleinik), Nodar Rustavsky (Nodar Asoyan) and Dato Krasnodarsky (David Ozmanov). After the incident, Andrei Nedelya announced a deliberate provocation on the part of Umka, Nodar and Dato.

The events at the Bakinsky wedding in 2019 had far-reaching consequences, and actually divided the thieves’ community into two conditional camps, where some supported the Week, the second Umka. It is worth noting that the conflict went far beyond the borders of Ukraine, and a general “gathering of thieves” was needed to resolve it.

During the “Croatian Gathering,” details of the provocation against Andrei Nedzelsky were announced. In particular, it turned out that Umka Dneprovsky, Nodar Rustavsky and Dato Krasnodarsky deliberately provoked a fight with Nedelya on October 12, 2019, but were rebuffed. As it turned out, the provocation with Andrei Nedzelsky was not the first provocation involving Umka, Nodar and Dato: this trio had previously entered other people’s houses and restaurants for events with the participation of thieves, after which they provoked them into a fight followed by beating.

Moreover, during the “Croatian Gathering” new details of the case were brought to the court of thieves: in particular, information was announced that Nodar was being protected by law enforcement officers, and he himself lived at the dacha of Arsen Avakov when he served as Minister of Internal Affairs affairs of Ukraine. After the fight at the wedding, Vyacheslav Abroskin, close to Avakov, was the first to report the incident. Abroskin’s post on Facebook about the alleged “decoronation” of Andrei Nedzelsky appeared 2 minutes after the conflict, and then Abroskin completely supervised the coverage of this event in the press. And recently, Nodar Rustavsky has generally stopped hiding his connections with law enforcement agencies. So, during his last trip to Ukraine in September, he stayed at the posh Premier Palace Hotel in the center of Kyiv, and one of the GUR units was guarding and escorting him, in at least two vehicles with black license plates.

During the “gathering” they came to the conclusion that the purpose of the provocation against the Week was not even a redistribution of spheres of influence, but a split in the community of thieves: a “worked out scheme” with the participation of law enforcement officers. Based on the results of the “Croatian Gathering,” they decided to confirm the status of “thief in law” Andrei Nedelya, and the provocation against him was recognized as “lawlessness and lynching.” The decision was also supported by one of the most influential thieves in law, Shakro Molodoy (Zakhar Kalashov).

Andrey Nedelya not only confirmed his status as a “thief in law”, the entire “thieves’ world” rallied around the issue. According to eyewitnesses, a thieves’ “gathering” with so many thieves and crime bosses from all over the world has not happened for the last few decades.