A Russian court on March 13 approved early release for notorious criminal kingpin Zakhary Kalashov, who is widely known by the nickname Shakro Molodoi. The 70-year-old Georgian-born ethnic Yazidi Kurd was arrested in Moscow in 2016 on extortion charges following a shoot-out in which two people died. He was convicted two years later and sentenced to nearly 10 years in jail. Russian officials have called him "the boss of all bosses" among the leaders of criminal groups in the country and he once held the highest position in the criminal hierarchy in the former Soviet Union: thief-in-law. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.
