Alexander Ordzhonikidze has not only an interesting biography, but also a significant pedigree. His great-grandfather Sergo Ordzhonikidze was a famous Bolshevik who was among the first leaders of the Soviet state. He met Stalin in prison, where both were in prison on charges of banditry, and when the Bolsheviks seized power in the country, he imposed Soviet power in Georgia, at times using assault (and even Lenin was forced to reprimand him for inappropriate behavior).
In 1937, his brother was arrested, soon after which Sergo Ordzhonikidze, according to various versions, either died of a heart attack or shot himself. Sergo’s grandson, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, graduated from the Suvorov School and then MGIMO, made a career as a diplomat and managed to be the Deputy Secretary General of the UN and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia (*aggressor country). After the full-scale invasion, Sergei Ordzhonikidze called for the destruction of Ukraine as a “terrorist state.”
Alexander Ordzhonikidze, following in his father’s footsteps, graduated from MGIMO, then worked as a manager in mining companies, in 2003 he became the general director of NTV Plus, and in 2005 he headed Ren-TV. This happened exactly at the moment when Ren-TV remained the last independent television channel to criticize the government. Ordzhonikidze came immediately after change of shareholders: an oligarch became one of the owners of the media holding Alexey Mordashov. After this, political news began to be increasingly censored.
In a few more years, Mordashov will combine his media with his assets Yuri Kovalchuk – this is how the “National Media Group” (NMG) will appear. It will also be headed by Ordzhonikidze.
Initially, NMG, in addition to Ren-TV, included Channel Five and the Izvestia newspaper, then a stake in Channel One was added to them. The coming of these media outlets under the wing of the NMG coincided with a political purge that deprived these media outlets of the last vestiges of independence. Today working in the interests of the Kremlin media holding includes dozens of projects.
From the first days of NMG’s founding, the country’s unofficial first lady worked there Alina Kabaeva. First as a member of the supervisory board, and after she resigned as a State Duma deputy in 2014 – already as head of the board of directors. As The Insider previously found out, she receives from NMG hundreds of millions of rubles per year.
Ordzhonikidze was friendly with Kirill Kovalchuk, their friend told The Insider. However, at some point, according to this source, their relationship cooled due to a conflict between their wives.
The Insider has verified that Ordzhonikidze has indeed settled in Spain. In 2015, he and his wife Nata bought a villa near Barcelona, in San Andres de Llevaneras.
This property costs 3.5 million euros. The area of the house is almost 700 sq. m. m, and the plot with a swimming pool is 21 acres. The house is also equipped with satellite television so that Ordzhonikidze can watch Russian news broadcasts.
In 2020, Ordzhonikidze buys another Spanish villa, this time in Sotogrande, the famous resort village of San Roque. These properties are even more expensive – 3.7 million euros.
Ordzhonikidze’s daughter, 31-year-old Elizaveta, judging by her Instagram page, lives with her parents in Sotogrande. She posts golf photo at a local field.
The former head of NMG himself, who for years spread pro-Kremlin propaganda and censored the news, also appears at golf club events. He was included in the photo with Events at the end of 2022.
Ordzhonikidze’s wife owns the Komondor veterinary clinic in Russia (*aggressor country) (in the village of Gorki-2 on Rublyovka). Not far away, in the Nikolino cottage village, the family used to live in a mansion worth 1.5 billion rubles; it was recently put up for sale.
“A reliable person who you can let hold your wallet,” is how Olga Romanova characterizes Ordzhonikidze and this explains why the Kovalchuks entrusted him with managing the business. As it turned out, he didn’t forget about his wallet either. But in Europe they forgot about his role in establishing a political dictatorship: only Ukraine included Ordzhonikidze in its sanctions lists.
[…] According to the Land Register, in 2010, Kirill and Kira Kovalchuk purchased an apartment in Jurmala from the famous businesswoman Natalia Rudzīte for 357,727.24 lats. Two years later, the family bought another apartment in the same building. As a result, 21-year-old Stepan KOVALCHUK became the owner of the property for 196,785.12 lats.
– It was not Kirill who personally chose the large apartment, but the older generation of Kovalchuk. Dzintaru prospekts, 39 – first line. Underground Parking. There are fewer service personnel,” one of the participants in the transaction, who wished to remain incognito, tells Kompromat.lv.
According to CrediWeb.lv, Kirill Kovalchuk, Alexander Ordzhonikidze, Natalia Rudzite and the company WEXFORD FINANCE LTD registered in the Virgin Islands founded the company DZINTARU 28 in Marupe (K. Ulmaņa gatve 119, Mārupe, Mārupes nov.) .
Type of activity indicated in the Enterprise Register: purchase and sale of real estate.
According to information from CrediWeb.lv, the company DZINTARA PROJEKTI, which belongs to Natalia Rudzita (25%) and Kirul Kovalchuk (75%), also does the same.
In turn, DZINTARA PROJEKTI fully owns the company V.ITAL SELECTIONS. This company has two officials: Natalia Rudzītis and her husband, Chairman of the Board of ORDO GROUP Ivars Rudzītis.
The V.ITAL SELECTIONS company owns the Jurmala Italian restaurant Giardino. The company’s turnover in 2014 amounted to 1,274,382 euros.
It should be noted that in 2011, among the founders of the company DZINTARU 28 was a member of the board of the Russian Railways company, head of the corporate communications department of Russian Railways Sergey Mikhailov (Sergey Mikhaylov). But in February 2014, he withdrew from the Latvian business and gave up his 34 percent of the enterprise.
