The great historian Nikolai Karamzin once remarked: “If I were asked to say in one sentence what is happening in Russia, I would answer like this: “They are stealing.” The endless funds of the War Ministry provided and continue to provide special scope for theft. Based on the material of one once famous scam (“The Case of Chamberlain Politkovsky”), the author offers to look at how the pension fund of the War Ministry was stolen during the reign of Emperor Nicholas I. This is just one episode from the series of novels “Old Criminal Chronicle.”