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Russia arrests Ilya Traber, the Leningrad beer-bar manager who became a Putin-backed oil tycoon among St. Petersburg’s crime bosses. Here’s his story.

Ilya Traber — an oil port owner in Ust-Luga with sprawling commercial interests, known by the nickname “the Antique Dealer” — was detained in St. Petersburg on June 17. Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB, led the operation, and the country’s Investigative Committee opened a criminal case in Moscow linked to his alleged role in the murder of Alexander Petrov, a lawmaker. Traber’s business partner Vladimir Danilenko was also detained. Investigators also searched the home of Gennady Petr...