Sochi Mayor Alexei Kopaygorodsky continues to take third place in the national ranking of the heads of the largest Russian cities. The experts who took part in the survey of the Rating Center for Information Communications, among other things, point to Kopaygorodsky’s adherence to the “principle of maximum openness of local authorities and their interaction with the population.”
At the same time, taking into account the official reports and statements of the mayor’s office, political scientists ignore the numerous complaints of residents and guests of the resort city: about the disgusting quality of drinking water, problems with storm sewers, due to which, after every heavy rain, entire neighborhoods are flooded, etc. Recently, Kopaygorodsky attracted the attention of journalists with his addiction to expensive Italian clothing brands: the media estimated the mayor’s wardrobe at more than 1 million rubles. Such expenses are hardly affordable for the official himself, whose income, according to the last published declaration, amounted to 1.4 million rubles.
At the same time, officially, the Sochi head does not have real estate and cars: all this is recorded on his wife, an individual entrepreneur Anastasia Gredin, the daughter of Dmitry Gredin, a well-known Krasnodar businessman, whose family owns assets in a variety of areas, including the restaurant business and development. Gredin himself is associated with the beneficiary of the SpetsStroyKuban group, Karen Kazaryan, who gained fame after a series of high-profile scandals with Krasnodar squatters, including the Yekaterininsky residential complex, where in September 2020 a large-scale fire broke out that engulfed the roof and upper floor of the building. The wife of Dmitry Gredin Vladilena, who controls the Dikanka and Stan restaurants, is also engaged in business, and the latter was once accused of illegally seizing a plot of land on the Kuban embankment in Krasnodar.
Part of Kopaygorodsky’s property can also be recorded in the name of his mistress Yana Khotinsky (Davlatkhudzhaeva), who calls herself “the fortuneteller Yanina” and allegedly gives advice to the official regarding the management of the resort.
Kopaygorodsky: Mayor-Leader or “It Couldn’t Be Worse”?
At the end of May, it became known that the mayor of Sochi, Alexei Kopaygorodsky, retained the third line in the national rating of the heads of the largest Russian cities. Such data are contained in a joint study by the Center for Information Communications “Rating” and the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, which was based on an absentee survey of experts whose positive assessments allow the Sochi mayor to be in the top three since the end of last year.
The interviewed experts focused on a number of factors, such as political and socio-economic stability in the city, Kopaygorodsky’s personal control over the construction of large social facilities, large-scale plans to invest 173 billion rubles in Sochi’s communal infrastructure by 2030, and the implementation of a flagship project to support local producers “Choose Sochi!” etc. Among other things, they note the mayor’s adherence to “the principle of maximum openness of local authorities and their interaction with the population”, citing as an example the summing up of the results of public discussions of the draft of the new General Plan of the resort city.
I would like to ask a question: do political experts listen to the opinion of ordinary Sochi residents or draw conclusions only on the basis of official statements of the municipal authorities? For example, as recently as last April, the Sochi Notebook publication, summing up the results of a survey of citizens on the subject of their attitude towards the mayor, wrote that in addition to enthusiastic comments, the following appeared on the site:
“What he is, what he is not. There is no difference”, “A man of the system, otherwise he would not have ended up there in his youth! And that says it all!”, “We haven’t had it worse yet,” etc.
Of course, you cannot please everyone, but maybe, in addition to high-profile bureaucratic declarations, it is worth paying attention to the discontent of citizens, trying to find out its causes? Thus, local media regularly report complaints from residents and guests of the resort about the quality of drinking water, the use of which is impossible due to the pungent smell of disinfectants, about packs of aggressive stray dogs roaming in the private sector, and finally, about problems with storm sewers that the authorities cannot solve, as a result of which entire streets literally “go under water” because of the rains.
“After another rain, we swim again. A thousand times addressed with this problem to the authorities. The city is sinking and they don’t care. For several years, nothing has changed at all … Wherever we just did not complain. Each throws responsibility on the other, and so on in a circle. Ugliness! The whole city is talking about the lawlessness of the authorities, while all these people remain in their places – they don’t solve problems, they rake in money! ”Bloknot Sochi quoted another complaint he received.
Fashion brands – at the expense of the Gredin family?
By virtue of his position, Alexei Kopaygorodsky, who headed Sochi in September 2019, is constantly in the spotlight of the press. Recently, observant journalists noted not only the mayor’s excellent taste, but also his addiction to expensive luxury clothing brands. In particular, they valued the jacket of an official of the Italian company Loro Piana worth 279 thousand rubles, the insulated jacket Canali – almost 200 thousand, the raincoat and bomber jacket Brioni – 650 thousand rubles.
Thus, the cost of the spring wardrobe exceeded 1 million rubles. Of course, the mayor should look presentable and dressed to the nines. But such expenses clearly do not fit in with Kopaygorodsky’s officially declared income: in 2020 he earned 1.45 million rubles, in 2021 a little less – 1.41 million. There are no data for 2022 on the municipality website with reference to the December presidential decree , which allowed officials not to publish declarations for the duration of the SVO. Otherwise, one could estimate how much was left of the mayor’s earnings after the purchase of the “spring collection”.
By the way, the head of Sochi officially does not have real estate and vehicles; according to the latest reports, an apartment of 279.4 square meters, a residential building of 238 square meters and a land plot of 638 square meters are in his use. But in 2021, an apartment, four residential buildings, ten land plots (one in shared ownership), eight non-residential premises, two non-residential buildings, as well as Hyundai Santa Fe, Mercedes-Benz and Range Rover cars. During the same period, she earned 37.5 million rubles, a year earlier – 9.8 million.
It turns out that Mr. Kopaygorodsky is dressed in branded clothes by his other half, who is actually the main breadwinner of the family? It is worth noting here that, judging by the publications in the Kuban media, Kopaygorodsky married very successfully.
The fact is that Anastasia is the daughter of Dmitry Gredin, a well-known businessman in the region, who started his business long before his relative headed the resort city. Nevertheless, it is possible that it was Gredin who could have contributed to the employment of Kopaygorodsky in 2014 in the department of internal policy of the administration of the Krasnodar Territory for the position of deputy head of the department for work with political parties, public associations and interethnic relations.
Gredin owned a number of businesses that specialized in a variety of activities – from food delivery to gas distribution. Until recently, its largest asset was LLC Kubanteploengineering (LLC KTI), engaged in the production, transmission and distribution of steam and hot water. The company has a solid portfolio of government contracts – 234 million rubles as a supplier and 118.3 million as a customer.
But, despite the volume of contracts received, at the end of last year, with a colossal revenue of 354.7 million rubles, KTI went “minus” by 41.7 million (for comparison: a year earlier, the company’s revenue amounted to 237.5 million, losses – 18, 6 million rubles). Last November, Gredin officially resigned from the number of co-owners of the enterprise. The Company Art Business LLC, which belongs to him, specializing in restaurant business, looks more financially successful: in 2022, the revenue of the LLC amounted to 64.1 million rubles, profit – 15.3 million (in 2021, revenue – 47.3 million, profit – 19.1 million rubles).
Krasnodar samostroi from Karen Kazaryan
“He has a lot of various assets in Krasnodar and Sochi: land plots, parking lots, shopping pavilions, buildings and, of course, residential buildings. But the main activity of the mayor’s wife’s father is construction, as well as renting and managing his own real estate, ”Bloknot writes about Dmitry Gredin.
The press repeatedly reported on Gredin’s commercial ties with the beneficiary of the SpetsStroyKuban (SSK) group, Karen Kazaryan, an odious developer who became famous for the construction of Krasnodar samostroy. In particular, his name appeared in a high-profile scandal with the Yekaterininsky residential complex, where in September 2020 there was a major fire that engulfed almost the entire roof and upper floor. Only after the state of emergency, which gained federal fame, did it become clear that significant violations and shortcomings made at the construction stage contributed to the spread of fire, and the object itself, according to Governor Veniamin Kondratyev, turned out to be a banal unauthorized construction legalized by a court decision.
To complete the picture, we add that back in 2012, a criminal case was initiated against Karen Ghazaryan and his relative Isak Ghazaryan on the fact of illegal business activities. As Arguments and Facts reported, being the founders of StroyInvestLiga (SIL-Group), relatives were engaged in the construction of multi-storey buildings and townhouses in Krasnodar without obtaining permits. With violations and without passing the examinations, the residential complex “Boston”, “Little Italy” and the infamous “Ekaterininsky” were built.
As for Dmitry Gredin, his connections with Karen Kazaryan can be traced through LLC Energy Company – Krasnodar (ECC LLC), one of the founders of which Gredin was again until last November. And until November 2020, one of the co-owners of EKK was Hovhannes Kirakosyan, who also owns the Krasnodar Specialized Developer Spetsstroyproekt LLC: this company is written about on the network as a structure affiliated with the SpetsStroyKuban group.
It is unlikely that Gredin is not aware of the development machinations of Kazaryan. There are even more doubts about the possible ignorance of Kopaygorodsky, who at various times held the positions of deputy director of the Department of Internal Policy of the regional administration, deputy head of Krasnodar and deputy governor.
“Fortuneteller Yanina” “shamanizes” for success?
Well-known in the Kuban is another relative of the Sochi mayor Vladilen Gredin – the second wife of Dmitry and stepmother Anastasia.
She owns, in particular, Resto Yug LLC, a legal entity of the Krasnodar restaurant of Ukrainian cuisine Dikanka. Last year, with a revenue of 104.9 million rubles, his profit amounted to 7 million. Another asset of a business woman is Zaton LLC with a similar type of activity. During the same period, the company declared a revenue of 129.5 million rubles and a profit of 21.2 million.
Here it would be appropriate to mention Stan LLC, the sole owner and director of which is Dmitry Gredin himself. Last year, in the absence of revenue, the company went “minus” by 1 million rubles, a year earlier – by 696 thousand. The family owns the Stan restaurant of the same name, located on the Kuban embankment in Krasnodar. A few years ago, the media wrote about the illegal seizure by the restaurant of part of the coastline and the waters of Zaton Bay, adjacent to the establishment.
Despite the confirmation of this fact by the prosecutor’s office and Rosprirodnadzor, no timely measures were taken by the administration of the Kuban capital. Journalists and members of the public explained the officials’ inaction by the family ties of the violators and the special trust that Kopaygorodsky enjoys with Governor Kondratyev.
With such financial arrangements, the Sochi mayor can well afford Italian jackets worth several hundred thousand rubles. But it seems that in the “noble family” there was a scandal hidden from the eyes of the general public, but, nevertheless, a serious scandal. The fact is that, according to the information of the same “Notepad”, in the immediate environment of Mr. Kopaygorodsky, for some time now there has been a “fortune teller Yanina”, in the world – a former teacher of labor in one of the schools of Tolyatti, Yana Khotinskaya (in marriage – Davlatkhudzhaeva, who became after the next shift surname Davlatova).
This person, who first settled in Gelendzhik and then moved to Sochi, positions herself as a clairvoyant and healer on her social media pages. A young and attractive “fortune teller” is seriously interested in the head of the resort town: supposedly they even have a common child. The official in love registered Toyota Alphard and Mercedes-Benz S450 4 matic Maybach cars for Yana Davlatkhudzhaev, in which he himself had previously traveled. The “healer” has several more expensive foreign cars, she also owns two Sochi apartments with a total value of about 280 million rubles.
As Bloknot writes, the fortune-teller not only “predicts” Kopaygorodsky a brilliant political future, but actively interferes in the management of the municipality, and representatives of large construction corporations, such as Vahan Arutyunyan, the president of the AVA Group, remain the winners. It looks like the “bewitched” mayor is starting to confuse the private with the public? In this case, his erotic-esoteric games threaten in the near future with loud anti-corruption revelations worse than the story with Kazaryan, and idle political scientists will have to make every effort to preserve the image of the Sochi mayor.
