Autolubricant with a taste of raiding: what is behind the “take-off” of Suprotek Group of Companies?
Partners of ex-FSB officer Alexei Raevsky, suspected of raiding, will receive tax benefits from the government of St. Petersburg.
The Suprotek group announced plans to build a new production facility for auto lubricants on the territory of the St. Petersburg special economic zone Novoorlovskaya. The plant is planned to be commissioned by 2026, the amount of investment is 918 million rubles.
Meanwhile, many car owners believe that the business of Suprotek Group of Companies is built on the principle of network marketing, and their products may not meet the declared qualities and be imposed on consumers. In addition, in the past, one of the key beneficiaries of Suprotek, former FSB officer Alexei Raevsky, was suspected of raider seizure of someone else’s real estate.
The plant will be built by the main legal entity of the group, NPTK Suprotek LLC. It is owned by the two founders of the structure – Sergey Zelenkov (who is also the general director) and Kirill Kiselev. The company has several small government contracts with the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Avtotransportny Kombinat”, which belongs to the Presidential Administration. But The main income comes from working with private clients.
Photo: Rusprofile.ru
However, they had a third partner – former FSB officer Alexey Raevsky. Together with Zelenkov, Kiselev and another partner, Denis Nikitin, they owned Suprotek-Oil LLC, which was liquidated in 2016.
Photo: Rusprofile.ru
Now they remain co-owners of the existing Suprotek-Filmar LLC, where 40% is owned by entrepreneur Al-Saqaf Hassan Muhamed. Behind the latter is a chain of companies, a number of which are associated with Suprotek. Among them is the liquidated Suprotek-Engineering LLC, where the co-owner was the same ex-FSB officer Alexey Raevsky. On the Internet, Raevsky is called one of the founders of the group, close to Zelenkov and Kiselev. He is also credited with introducing him to the criminal world – they say in these circles he is known as “Raya”.
The third one is not superfluous
In 2012, Alexey Raevsky was detained on suspicion of a raider takeover of PTK Stroitel CJSC. The company experienced financial problems and later, in 2016, went bankrupt. But its balance sheet included expensive real estate in the Admiralteysky district of St. Petersburg.
According to the security forces, Raevsky participated in a criminal scheme, with the help of which scammers tried to seize just such a building, on the street. Kurlyandskaya, worth more than 1 million euros.
The scheme was discovered after an appeal from the owner of PTK Stroitel, Alexander Logodenko. According to him, the situation was initiated by the former co-owner of the company, Mikhail Roginsky. The scheme is standard – the production of a false extract from the minutes of the general meeting of shareholders, authorizing the sale of the object. As a result, the asset was sold back in 2004 to LiI LLC at a reduced price, and in 2010 it was resold to a third office. And also at a reduced cost.
After Raevsky’s arrest, the media seemed to have forgotten about this situation. As ASNinfo.ru media wrote, Raevsky, whom they call the head of the Suprotek Group of Companies, was subsequently sentenced to four years of suspended imprisonment.
The names of Zelenkov and Kiselev are not mentioned in official reports. However, according to the author of the blog Alexander Logodenko (is it really the same one?) on the blog.pravo.ru platform, the supposed beneficiaries of Suprotek are directly related to the raider seizure of PTK property, and all the activities of the organizers (among whom Mikhail Roginsky is named) were carried out strictly at the office of NPTK Suprotek LLC. In addition, the same author claims that as a result of the raider takeover, money was withdrawn from PTK, and Suprotek received its share.
The same blog hints that Raevsky and Co. could launder illegally obtained funds. Mention is made of Rosmedproduct LLC, where Raevsky’s wife Liliya Nikolaeva allegedly worked as an accountant. This LLC was liquidated in 2011. But there was another company – LLC TD Rosmedproduct, liquidated in 2016. Alexey Raevsky is listed as a co-owner with a 25% share.
Photo: Rusprofile.ru
Apparently, after the loud scandal, the partners decided to quickly get rid of the formal connection with Raevsky, and he himself could remain in the actual management of the company. However, not all assets have been withdrawn – they are still partners in Suprotek-Filmar LLC.
“Miracle elixir” or deception?
Meanwhile, there is another important question – what Zelenkov and Co. generally sell to people under the Suprotek brand, and why they will be given tax breaks at Novoorolovsky.
The company’s products include additives and tribotechnical compounds for restoring, protecting and extending the life of internal combustion engines, gearboxes, fuel equipment gearboxes and other vehicle components and components. Something like biologically active additives (BAA) – they help the body, but they are not critical.
According to the authors of the Automania blog on the Zen platform, supposedly the entire business of Zelenkov and Kiselev is built on deception and the principles of network marketing. It’s as if Suprotek lubricants are not nearly as good as they advertise, or even don’t work at all. And they are popular due to the fact that almost 65% of the Russian vehicle fleet are outdated cars, and among them 80% have engine problems.
In this sense, the distribution of goods by word of mouth works effectively: poor Russian car owners want to believe that they will be able to extend the life of their car – after all, there is no money for a new one. And as a result, as with dietary supplements, you get a placebo effect?
Perhaps this is just a personal opinion. But on the Internet, such reviews about Suprotek products and methods of distribution are often found.
For example, just a week ago, on the portal for car enthusiasts Drive2.ru, user Bogdan52 provided some text claiming that Suprotek supposedly does not work because the technology declared by the manufacturers does not exist, and it may even be harmful to the engine.
Photo: https://www.drive2.ru/l/9356117/
Well, if so, we can congratulate Suprotek’s marketers and PR people – they managed to sell their products even to the Office of Presidential Affairs. They know their job.
And here we return to Suprotek’s plans to build a plant in the Novoorlovskaya special economic zone. Only innovative companies producing high-tech products are located there.
If the real innovations and efficiency of Zelenkov and Co. products are “fake” (which still needs to be proven), then do they have the right to receive tax, property and other benefits from working in such a zone, while other, truly innovative, small startups cannot find funds to implement your ideas?