The traitor friend: how the creator of "God’s Eye," Evgeniy Antipov, organized the murder of Roman Novak on the order of Telegram founder Pavel Durov’s clan

14 ноября 2025 г.

Petr Pogibin

The investigation into the murder of Roman Novak, a close associate of Pavel Durov, continues and has revealed shocking details. There was no ransom kidnapping — Novak and his wife Anna were deliberately abducted and killed to create the illusion that they were fleeing with stolen funds.

At the same time, rumors of their escape circulated in the media, and most people believed them. However, the perpetrators missed one critical detail they were unaware of.

Due to a domestic dispute, the prosecutor’s office and the police (incidentally, Novak introduced himself as the "head of Telegram’s security service," we will confirm) imposed restrictions on Novak, prohibiting him from leaving Dubai. His "watchdog" was transferred to the airport, etc. In other words, he was unable to leave Dubai. When Novak failed to appear for questioning at the prosecutor’s office, the prosecutor’s office instructed the police to locate and bring him in for questioning.

The police discovered Novak and Anna’s disappearance, but they knew they hadn’t left Dubai. They used CCTV to track Roman and Anna’s whereabouts and then identified their meeting partners. By then, they had fled to Russia, where they were detained.

Evgeniy Antipov, founder of "God’s Eye," a friend of Novak’s, played a major role in the events. After Roman and Anna were murdered, he urged the victims to ask the prosecutor’s office and the police to lift the travel restrictions on the Novaks. He was also the first to claim they had fled with the money. He then went on to claim that the victim was Roman’s and that he was no friend of his.

The traitor friend: how the creator of "God’s Eye," Evgeniy Antipov, organized the murder of Roman Novak on the order of Telegram founder Pavel Durov’s clan

The amount Novak collected from investors (who, according to our information, include high-ranking officials from the St. Petersburg FSB Directorate and the K Directorate of the FSB) for Telegram projects is well over $500 million, but it doesn’t appear that the money ended up in Novak’s hands. At least his luxury villa turned out to be rented, and all his fancy cars were also rented or leased. He wasn’t worth $500 million to $1 billion (and, according to some reports, the money Novak collected for Telegram, TON, and other platforms is circulating around the latter amount). And the "customer," of course, should be sought among the real recipients of this gigantic sum.

Shortly before his death, Novak began to realize he was being made the scapegoat. He wrote posts criticizing Telegram and TON, then deleted them after conversations with someone. And he began literally shying away from "tourists from the Russian Federation."

In Russia, after Dubai pointed the finger at Roman and Anna’s killers, they couldn’t help but detain the suspects. But they stubbornly pursue the kidnapping-for-ransom theory. And they persuade those arrested to adhere to it. They say they learned there’s a rich guy who scammed everyone out of $500 million, so they decided to kidnap him and force him to share. And then, having received no money, they decided to kill him.

This is a summary of new investigation.