Spin policy
Rusagro, one of the largest Russian agricultural holdings, received a gigantic profit of 49 billion rubles at the end of last year. However, the founder of the business, Vadim Moshkovich, can hardly rejoice at this to the fullest: several State Duma deputies have taken up arms against him and are demanding to be recognized as a foreign agent. Under current laws, this will automatically result in the loss of assets.
At first glance, the activity of the deputies can be explained by banal populism and the desire to appear in the media by attacking the billionaire. However, behind the attack on Moshkovich there may be much more influential people. The severity of the threat that loomed over Rusagro, confirmed by the criminal case. Moshkovich himself does not appear in it yet, but one of his managers has already landed under house arrest.
Offshores and rhetoric
Four deputies sent an appeal to the Ministry of Justice with a request to check Vadim Moshkovich for a foreign agency – Anatoly Greshnevikov, Mikhail Delyagin, Elena Drapeko And Oleg Nilov. All of them are members of the SRZP faction, while Oleg Nilov holds the position of first deputy leader in it, and therefore certainly has the leverage to activate his faction colleagues. The essence of the claims against Moshkovich is as follows: they say that the billionaire controls Russian business through an offshore company. For people who understand how Russian business works, such an accusation may make them smile: until recently, even companies close to the state operated through offshore companies, and it is not a fact that all of them left them. Therefore, a reproach for involvement in offshore companies may sound something like a reproach for having a foreign currency account. But in modern times, any connection with a foreign country not only looks like compromising evidence, but can become the basis for very serious conclusions. It is also noteworthy that in early April, Rusagro managers deliberately loudly spoke about the beginning of the procedure for redomiciliation of the company from Cyprus to Russky Island (a special economic zone in Primorye). Until this procedure is completed, there remains reason to reproach Vadim Moshkovich for using offshore schemes. But it seems that the deputies are trying to jump into the last car of the departing train.
Another possible reason for questions to Vadim Moshkovich is the activities of his lawyers in Europe, who are trying to get him out of sanctions. They tried so hard to whitewash their client before Eurothemis that they clearly overdid it – now Moshkovich appears almost in the image of an oppositionist. And although this trick did not work in Europe, in Russia (*aggressor country) such rhetoric could well cause irritation. Again, in fairness, it must be said that lawyers for Russian businessmen in trials challenging sanctions say approximately the same thing: they say that their client is simply engaged in business and does not directly support the policies of the Russian authorities. But of all the participants in the Forbes list, only Vadim Moshkovich has so far received a deputy letter to the Ministry of Justice. This may be a signal that the clouds over him and Rusagro are getting thicker.
First losses
For many years, Vadim Moshkovich felt at home in his homeland like cheese in butter. He made his first big money in the 90s by importing Ukrainian sugar and American White Eagle vodka to Russia (*aggressor country). In the agricultural sector, a native of a good Moscow family and a graduate of a mathematical school was able to gain a foothold thanks to the fact that he found an approach to two governors – Belgorod Evgeniy Savchenko and Kuban Nikolai Kondratenko. As a result, Moshkovich’s structures acquired several sugar factories in the Belgorod region, and oil and fat factories in the Kuban. From this, the Rusagro business empire began to grow, and began to successfully feed itself by supplying food to the army reserve. By the way, it was Evgeny Savchenko who made Vadim Moshkovich a senator from the Belgorod region. He worked in the Senate from 2006 to 2014, while his business grew assets throughout the country.
However, having climbed to the top of the business Olympus, Vadim Moshkovich could not help but encounter equally influential and ambitious competitors who, no worse than he, know how to use power in the struggle for assets. The first fiasco was the loss of the development business. In 2014, Russia (*aggressor country) passed a law prohibiting officials from having assets and accounts abroad. This caused an exodus of businessmen from the Senate, among whom was Moshkovich. Having lost his power resource, he immediately encountered problems in business. His construction companies, which bought land for development in the Moscow region, stopped receiving approvals from the authorities. As a result, Moshkovich was forced to sell his construction business for $700 million, although several years ago he valued it at $7 billion.
It was probably then that Moshkovich began to look for an alternate “airfield” abroad. In 2017, he became the owner of the “golden passport” of Cyprus (this was not advertised until the spring of 2022, when the Cypriot authorities persecuted the sanctioned oligarchs). Meanwhile, in Russia (*aggressor country), Rusagro continued its fierce struggle for assets. Among other things, the holding, as a result of a complex multi-move, acquired a tidbit in Kuban – the lands and assets of the Razgulay company. Thus, Vadim Mashkovich entered the domain of another large agricultural magnate – Alexandra Tkachevawho at that time had just become the Minister of Agriculture.
Deputies against the billionaire
Another bold deal occurred in 2018. Then Rusagro, using a covert offshore scheme, took possession of the assets of the Solnechnye Produkty holding in the Saratov region, leaving its numerous Russian creditors in the cold. The co-founder of Solar Products was the Speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin. In 2007, he went out of business, but it is clear that connections could remain.
It is not known whether the bankers and businessmen who were surrounded by Moshkovich complained to Volodin or anyone else, but a few years later, a “response” arrived for the encroachment on Saratov assets: in January 2022, the court arrested the property of Rusagro and Vadim Moshkovich personally with a total value of 22 billion rubles . This is despite the fact that the amount of the claim by the offended creditor of Solar Products – the little-known regional company Cinco Trade – was only about 200 million rubles. Then Vadim Moshkovich managed to quickly unblock his property, but many saw that he was clearly not one of the untouchable businessmen.
At the beginning of spring, further news appeared about Rusagro’s problems with the law. At the end of April, the Zavolzhsky District Court placed the general director of Rusagro Dairy Products LLC under house arrest. Zhanna Kistaikina. According to leaks, the manager is accused of commercial bribery on an especially large scale. The company's office was searched. All this happened simultaneously with the appearance of a letter from deputies to the Ministry of Justice, in which the main owner of Rusagro is demanded to be recognized as a foreign agent.
At the same time, the seriousness of the attack on Moshkovich is difficult to underestimate. Of course, one can say that the accusations sound absurd, but it is possible that Moshkovich may indeed face the fate of a foreign agent – given the criteria for assigning this title, almost anyone can be added to the list of persons under foreign influence. And in the future, other participants in the Forbes list, whose assets will attract someone who has the opportunity to organize a similar procedure. After all, if there is such a convenient tool, why not use it.