A somewhat low-ranking Russian intelligence officer approaches a trusted lieutenant belonging to an organized crime group in western Russia. This crime group is well known to the FSB (domestic heir to the notorious KGB) but generally, though not always, operates within the FSB’s established corruption-patronage rackets.

A few of the crime group’s members happen to be incarcerated in the same penal colony as opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The FSB officer asks the lieutenant to tell his boss that if Navalny suffers a deadly beating a few months from now, said crime group would find its competitors quickly removed from one or more lucrative rackets. The boss should also know that his assumed control of the racket would be protected by the FSB. This offer is a one-time thing, the officer says. Whatever your boss decides, the officer tells the lieutenant, any mention of the FSB will result in you and the boss forced into out-the-window flying lessons.