Issue #23/104, Nov 23 - Dec 7, 2000 
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PILLOW TALK
[Eds. note: The eXile has been regularly publishing translations of telephone transcripts from the “Yellow Pages”, a book released by our Russian-language partners, “Stringer”. The book contains the texts of wiretapped phone conversations between well-known Russian political figures.]
In this issue, the eXile looks at a phone call between two of Russia’s all-time all-star bagmen, Andrei Vavilov and Arkady Yevstafiyev. While Vavilov has made the free agency rounds, working for both sides at one point or another during the celebrated “Banker’s War”, Yefstafiyev was a loyal bagman for the “Young Reformers.” eXile readers may recall that Yevstafiyev was one of the men caught carrying the famous “Xerox box” full of cash out of the White House in 1996.
The time of this phone call is somewhere in the week leading up to July 16, 1997. Most probably, the call took place on Monday, July 14, when Central Bank chief Sergei Dubinin publicly accused his former deputy Vavilov of signing off on diversions of funds from the Central Bank that were meant to be paid to the MiG factory. The money that Vavilov signed off on was reportedly used by Vladimir Potanin-a Yefstafiyev/Chubais ally at the time-to make his successful bid for 25.1% of Svyazinvest.
Vavilov is in London at the time of this call. Within days he would return to Moscow and give a press conference in a hall packed with journalists to deny the charges. The bombshell Vavilov conference was something of a starting gun marking the beginning of the so-called “Banker’s War” which was to grip the country for the next year.
A week after Vavilov’s news conference, shots were fired into Dubinin’s apartment. Almost immediately afterwards, Dubinin publicly changed his story, declaring that no money had been stolen.
One interesting thing to note about this conversation: as in other calls, there is evidence here that the two men knew they were being tapped and were using that knowledge to their advantage. The conspicuous effort to point out that “the charges are groundless” into the microphone seems to be a common feature of the calls in the Stringer book. This is no exception:
Andrei Vavilov and Arkady Yevstafyev
Vavilov: Hi, Arkash. How’s it going?
Yevstafyev: Fine. How about you?
V: Well, I’m sitting in London. Is there any news?
Y: Andrei, everything is fine. Ashot* came over. Everything is fine.
V: Everything’s alright?
Y: Everything is fine.
V: Those guys haven’t come by any more?
Y: No.
V: You haven’t gone to them, either?
Y: Which guys do you mean?
V: Remember, we talked with them in the foyer?
Y: Not yet. Everything will be fine, don’t worry. Petrovich, don’t lose touch, call me on my cellular.
V: When I call, you don’t pick up.
Y: I was in a meeting in a conference room.
V: Maybe on Monday we can discuss that question?
Y: Sure, we’ll definitely discuss it.
V: What’s in the papers about Kokh?
Y: Hm, everything.
V: It’s a criminal case.
Y: Andrei, there’s nothing. They’re just going to finish up the investigation and make the decision to open a criminal case or not. There’s nothing to it.
V: There’s a safety in his contract.
Y: Everything is clean. He declared everything openly. It’s completely fu..
V: Decay. How are our feathered friends?
Y: I’ll tell you later. Really, the truth is on our side.
V: The truth of truth, but (didn’t finish)...
Y: Andrei, everything is fine. See you soon. We’ll talk.
V: All right.
*Ashot Yegariyan, former head of the National Credit Bank
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