There is a scandal in the circus environment – animal performers are threatened with starvation and cold death due to the refusal of the management of the “Rosgostsirk” to accept them for allowance. How the main circus performer of Russia lives Sergey Belyakov?
The alarm was sounded by Honored Artists of Russia Dan and Maritsa Zapashny. They are asking the authorities to save the circus animals that belong to the Russian State Circus.
The artists accuse the head of the Russian State Circus, Sergei Belyakov, of the actual collapse of the state corporation. According to them, Belyakov massively reduces full-time artists, but concludes contracts with circus performers from Italy, Germany, Ukraine, Poland and Belarus. Then they tour the regional circuses, which are branches of the FKP “Rosgostsirk”.
In the summer, the entire team of the show “Circus on the Water” quit: 49 people wrote statements and accused the leadership of the Russian State Circus of pressure on them, corruption schemes and the destruction of the unique school of Russian circus art. As it turned out, more than 300 artists of various groups were fired from the circus over the past year. The artists wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova asking them to intervene in the situation.
A few years ago, the Moscow District Court invalidated two higher education diplomas of Sergei Belyakov, and in Life it came out investigation about the official. At that time, he worked either as a deputy or as acting general director of the Russian State Circus. After the publication of the article, he had to resign. But when the passions subsided, Belyakov received the informal position of chief adviser. And in March 2021, the commission of the Ministry of Culture appointed him the general director of the Russian State Circus. Social activists from the “Creative Association of Circus Groups” consider the competition illegal. They send complaints to all instances and demand a reappointment of the head.
Many scandals associated with Belyakov remain within the walls of the Russian State Circus. So, at the disposal of Life was an act of 2020 on the results of an internal audit of the Great St. Petersburg Circus, which was headed by Belyakov. When he left, the new director played it safe and appointed an audit. The audit uncovered violations. For example, a car service suddenly appeared on one of the sections of the circus.
– Officials of the branch of “Rosgostsirka” committed negligence, allowing the transfer of state land to third parties. A contract was concluded with the tenant for the maintenance of central heating, water supply and sewerage, although there were none found on the territory. It can be concluded that the transactions are inexpedient and feigned. The damage exceeded 26 million rubles, the results of the audit say.
The men have known each other for a long time. In the middle of the tenth Belyakov expanded his network of dolphinariums, and Zubkov became his business partner. The head of the Russian State Circus still supports the former politician – they recently concluded an agreement under which elderly circus predators will be transferred to the Taigan safari park of a Crimean. At the same time, there are rumors in Crimea that Zubkov allegedly arranges underground fights between tigers and lions. As Life found out, Belyakov helped Oleg Zubkov more than once in matters related to the wild animal business.
The family of the head of the Russian State Circus owns 56 acres of land and 16 apartments in Russia, plus four apartments for rent and a mansion with a plot in Montenegro. This follows from the latest declaration of Sergei Belyakov, according to which he earned 73 million rubles in 2021, and his wife Marina Kuzmina – three million rubles.
If we compare this declaration with the previous one (for 2018), then Belyakov and Kuzmina greatly improved their financial situation. Their incomes have increased twenty-fold, they have four new Russian apartments and foreign real estate.
It is noteworthy that one of Belyakov’s Moscow apartments is located directly opposite the Radisson Collection skyscraper – in the Stalinist building on Kutuzovsky Prospekt. Judging by social networks, his 14-year-old daughter lives there. Similar housing in this house is estimated at 32 million rubles.
It is possible that Belyakov and Kuzmina also own apartments in other “Stalinka” buildings in this prestigious area: at 26 Studencheskaya Street and 27 Kutuzovsky Prospekt. At least, couriers repeatedly delivered expensive dinners to these addresses and in the names of the spouses.
And back in 2007-2010, a married couple shared a room at the five-star Luciano Spa Hotel in Kazan – prices there reach up to 60 thousand rubles per day.
It is still not clear how Belyakov got so many apartments, but his wife Marina Kuzmina could help with some. The fact is that she owns a company for the care of pensioners – “Autumn”. The official annual profit there is trifling – four million rubles, but there is access to lonely old people and their real estate. This company spun off in 2013 from the ARS-Charity agency, which closed with a scandal and specialized in rent and transactions with pensioners’ apartments. Some of his clients allegedly died suddenly under mysterious circumstances immediately after the conclusion of the contract. It is noteworthy that the office of “ARS-Charity” was located in the Dorogomilovo area, where all the above-mentioned “Stalins” are located.
Business in Montenegro
In 2008, Sergey Belyakov established a business for managing his own real estate in the Montenegrin city of Bar – DOO “Cosmos”. Judging by the address – Jovana Tomasevica, 25 – we are talking about the guest house City center de Lux apartment on the Adriatic coast. A room here costs from five to ten thousand rubles per night.
Four years ago, Belyakov’s Montenegrin company was disbanded, but the mini-hotel continues to work. Probably, the head of the Russian State Circus re-registered it for another company, which can be managed by denominations.
In 2011, Sergey Belyakov launched another profitable business in Montenegrin Tivat – renting cars. The company was called DOO “Živa Planeta”. Address: Njegoševa, 6. In December 2020, the company was rewritten to a new owner, a resident of Montenegro, Oleg Bochkarev. As Life found out, this person is an international lawyer and commercial real estate consultant.
P/S
Expensive apartments in a prestigious district of Moscow, a business in Montenegro, incomes that have grown twenty times – there are many questions for the general director of the Russian State Circus and his wife. Dubious transactions and criminal cases may indicate that Belyakov thinks more about his pocket than about the well-being of a state-owned enterprise. Law enforcement agencies should carefully study the report of the ex-auditor of “Rosgostsirka” about corruption and misconduct, in which Belyakov and other leaders may be involved, and give them a legal assessment.