MOSCOW, Aug 31 (Reuters) – Russian investigators have dropped murder charges against prominent businessman Ilya Traber and freed him from custody, state media reported on Monday.
Traber, 75, has been a leading business figure for decades in St Petersburg, where he has held extensive investments in ports and logistics. He was detained in June in connection with the fatal shooting of a businessman and politician, Alexander Petrov, in 2020, Russian media reported at the time.
State-run new agencies TASS and RIA reported on Monday that all charges against Traber had been dropped and the investigation into him closed. He had already been released from pre-trial detention on health grounds, TASS said.
There was no official confirmation of the reports.
Traber first came to prominence in the 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, when he acquired control of St Petersburg’s sea port and oil terminal at a time when President Vladimir Putin was a deputy mayor in the city’s administration.
The Kremlin has previously denied any friendship or business connections between Traber and Putin.
(Reporting by Reuters, Writing by Alessandra PrenticeEditing by Andrew Osborn)
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