Sergey Abeltsev

Sergey Nikolayevich Abeltsev (; born 6 May 1961 in Lyubertsy, Russian SFSR) was a member of the State Duma of Russia and a former bodyguard of Vladimir Zhirinovsky. He has been a member of the State Duma's Committee on National Security since December 2003 and a member of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. Prior to his election to the State Duma, Abeltsev was a member of the LDPR Supreme Council. He has degrees in management, law, and military science.

Career In 1991 he became an assistant to LDPR Chairman Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Since December 1992 he has been a member of the Supreme Council, deputy chairman of the party.

In 1993 he was elected to the 1st State Duma. In 1995 he was re-elected to the 2nd State Duma.

In 2001, he earned a doctoral degree in legal sciences with a dissertation titled: “Criminological Study of Violence and the Protection of the Individual from Violent Crimes”.

According to an analysis by Dissernet, Abel’tsev’s doctoral dissertation (supervised by G. A. Avanesov) contains extensive undocumented borrowings from three other dissertations, as well as from his own earlier candidate dissertation. Furthermore, Abel’tsev’s dissertation later served as an undocumented “foundation” for the candidate dissertation of then–Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, Vladimir Vasilyev (also supervised by Avanesov).

Arrest on Suspicion of Fraud On July 18, 2024, law enforcement authorities detained Sergey Abel’tsev. The Zamoskvoretsky District Court placed him under arrest in a criminal case concerning large-scale fraud (Part 4, Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to Kommersant, Abel’tsev is suspected of embezzling 10 million rubles. Investigators believe that Abel’tsev, by providing false information about his alleged connections with high-ranking officials of the State Duma, promised to secure a position as a deputy assistant in exchange for a monetary reward.