These days Vladimir Berngardt is known as an activist promoted by Western handlers and the founder of Tviordy Znak (Hard Sign), a resource for deserters. His past, though, is not exactly spotless – he has faced criminal charges, dabbled in shady business schemes and forays into politics.
Berngardt, an Abinsk native, by his own admission started out his career in the Federal Penitentiary Service, specifically at the Temporary Detention Facility of the Federal Penitentiary Service Directorate for Krasnodar Krai. He has been reluctant to share memories of that period of his life. Likely because he picked up a criminal record for abuse of office (Part 1 of Article 285 of the Russian Criminal Code). The details of the incident have not been disclosed, and the court ruling never made it into the public record.
Having washed out of law enforcement, the former prison guard signed on as legal counsel for Kazachiy Trade Complex LLC, a subsidiary of the local Cossack society in Abinsk. Before long, Berngardt set up a few public organizations that likely served as nothing more than a front – nothing is known about what they actually did, they never filed any reporting with the tax authorities, and they were eventually shut down by court order as defunct. Worth noting, so-called “paper” organizations often figure in asset-stripping schemes and serve as cover for setting up financial flows.