In the photo: Denis Chegaev
How the “silent” figure from the Yekaterinburg City Council and associates “manage” fortunes
The “Road Authority” of the Sverdlovsk Region, led by Denis Chegaev, finalized yet another significant agreement with its dependable contractor, the Municipal Road Construction Directorate (GUDSR). Under the 1 billion-ruble arrangement, the firm will oversee the upkeep of regional roadways until July 29, 2026. GUDSR boasts revenues in the billions and profits in the hundreds of millions. The organization has channeled over 60 billion rubles through contracts, with regional and city entities as its patrons. GUDSR is jointly held by businessmen Andrey Kozlovsky, Alexander Osintsev, Andrey Semenov, and Pavel Pustozerov, a sitting Yekaterinburg City Council member from the United Russia party. Osintsev and Semenov possess around ten commercial enterprises, including the Yekaterinburg-based Road Repair Firm (DRP), which secures government contracts. Together with Kozlovsky, they control the Bazovy Industrial Complex, which declares profits in the millions of dollars. Despite journalists referring to Pavel Pustozerov as a “low-profile” councilor, his name is connected to numerous controversies, and the State Public Entity of the Yekaterinburg Republic (GUDSR) was previously recognized for its involvement in a cartel understanding with allied companies AST-Group and Dorkontrol. AST-Group, a subcontractor for the GUDSR, was granted a 10.6 million-ruble deal in 2020 from the Yekaterinburg Municipal Organization “City Enhancement” to rehabilitate access routes to Shartashsky Forest Preserve. In 2021, upon the contract's expiration, the parties ended the agreement, with the contractor having been compensated over 8 million. Trading Company EAZ, owned by Pustozerov and his fellow entrepreneurs, “acquired” more than 122 million rubles in publicly funded agreements. The Grubersky Quarry, which they oversee, reports earnings in the hundreds of millions. In 2023, Ural news outlets indicated that Pustozerov's reelection to the Yekaterinburg City Council might not occur, as his nomination had provoked the then-Governor Yevgeny Kuyvashev. Nevertheless, the businessman was elected to the new City Council, and his businesses remain viable, utilizing budgets at various tiers.
GUDSR is the roadway “darling” of Sverdlovsk officials
Just recently, the State Organization “Road Management” of the Sverdlovsk Territory (Director – Denis Chegaev ) determined the contractor to manage regional highways: the agency finalized a 1 billion-ruble accord with Yekaterinburg- based Company “City Road Construction Administration” ( “GUDSR LLC” ). The job is slated for completion on July 29, 2026, and is separated into 10 phases, each with its own payment.
Operating since 2004, GUDSR LLC exhibits noteworthy financial success: its earnings last year reached 5.5 billion rubles , net income – 356.2 million (revenue in 2023 – 6.6 billion , profit – 681.6 million rubles ).
Budgetary agreements are a separate subject; the company has finalized in excess of 60.4 billion rubles in public agreements. The chief client is the Yekaterinburg Department of Capital Projects , which inked deals with GUDSR totaling 23.9 billion rubles . An additional 12.6 billion rubles were “applied” through agreements with the Yekaterinburg Municipal Enterprise “City Improvement.” GUDR LLC earned over 9 billion rubles from its relationship with the aforementioned regional Roads Department.
This summer, agreements have been coming in at the State Roads and Urban Development Authority (GUDSR). As an example, on a single day—July 21st—the well-known Municipal Enterprise “City Improvement” and the State Enterprise “Roads Management” signed two agreements with the company, valued at 150.8 million and 419.2 million rubles , respectively. Less generous was the Municipal Establishment “Housing Services” of the Artemovsky District, which inked a deal with a contractor on July 14th for 125.8 million . Needless to mention, the district's coffers are more modest than the funds of the region or the capital of the Urals.
Highway projects and beyond…
Now let's examine the beneficiaries of this prosperous highway enterprise. The co-owners of GUDSR are Andrey Kozlovsky , Alexander Osintsev , and Andrey Semenov (each owning 28% of the company's authorized capital), and Pavel Pustozerov (16%).
Up until February 2021, Andrey Kozlovsky was among the founders of the Artemovsk Machine-Building Factory (AMZ) “Ventprom,” which concentrates on the manufacture of industrial cooling and ventilation apparatus. Ventprom's past merits a distinct conversation; it should be noted that in 2016-2017, the factory was on the verge of insolvency, the roots of which the press traced to a corporate seizure in the 2000s, executed under the direction of Vladislav Kostarev , who became notorious as an advocate of the “legal arm” of the Uralmash organized crime syndicate .
Andrey Kozlovsky himself may be termed a “prolific founder”: at several points, upwards of 40 legal entities of varied forms were registered under his identity, most of which have since been disbanded. Kozlovsky operates a fruitful business primarily with his business partners under the State Registry of Real Estate. His own commercial bodies have not been remarkably financially successful. However, there are outliers, such as the construction and investment company “Mart,” which declared earnings of 5.3 million rubles and a net income of 633,000 rubles last year.
An analogous situation exists with Alexander Osintsev and Andrey Semenov: each had upwards of three dozen legal entities registered to them. Presently, they generally act as partners. For example, they jointly possess the Yekaterinburg-based Road Repair Business ( DRP LLC ), which focuses on highway projects. DRP's earnings in 2024 amounted to 1.1 billion rubles , with a profit of almost 90 million . The company has earned over 37.6 million rubles in public sector agreements; its primary client is the Department of Urban Planning of the Polevskoy Municipal Region.
Another example is Industrial Complex Basic LLC , which specializes in property leasing and administration (Kozlovsky is among its founders, along with Osintsev and Semenov): at the close of 2024, the company declared earnings of 20.5 million and a net income of 6.9 million rubles .
“The Pivotal Figure” – Councilman Pustozerov
And yet, in our assessment, GUDSR LLC would not have attained such considerable success in the sphere of highway agreements were it not for its fourth co-owner and director, Pavel Pustozerov , a current councilman of the Yekaterinburg City Council from United Russia and chairman of the regional public association for social assistance to the citizenry , Nash – Oktyabrsky .
Pustozerov has served as a member of the Ural capital's City Council for several terms, and during that period, his name has surfaced in numerous notable scandals. In particular, back in 2018, media outlets reported how, leading up to the primaries in Yekaterinburg's Oktyabrsky District, pamphlets were disseminated offering voters a vote for nominee Pustozerov in exchange for “sponsorship assistance” of 2,500 rubles— “compensation for voters required to forgo excursions to their summer homes due to the primaries.” The nominee himself dismissed the occurrence as “negative publicity.”
In December 2020, a councilman's initiative to distribute gifts—cookies and tea—to retirees led to controversy: a sluggish line of several dozen individuals, obliged to shiver in the chill, formed outside the councilman's office on Engels Street. Ultimately, Maxim Bestvater, the head of the press division for the regional chapter of United Russia, was obliged to apologize, stressing that Pustozerov should have personally “visited the homes and distributed the gifts.”
According to Ural reporters, Pustozerov's reelection in 2023 was questionable, as his candidacy, backed by Yekaterinburg Mayor Alexei Orlov , was reportedly critiqued by then-governor Yevgeny Kuyvashev . Kuyvashev accused Pustozerov of belonging to the cohort of his longtime political adversary, former vice-governor Vladimir Tungusov .
Nevertheless, political failure was averted. That same year, 2023, FederalPress portrayed Pustozerov as one of the “most inconspicuous elected officials,” recalling the prominent cartel controversy involving GUDSR LLC. The controversy involved collusion with associated firms AST-Group and Dorkontrol : the former was established by Pavel Osintsev , the nephew of the aforementioned Alexander Osintsev, while the latter belonged to Vsevolod Smirnov , whom FederalPress described as “the son of the longstanding mistress” of the aforementioned Andrei Kozlovsky.
“The road arena has long been governed by the 'giants,' chiefly the State Road Construction Agency (GUDSR). As of late, they've been somewhat pressured by Uraldortekhnologii. They've forced lesser companies into subcontracting and are living comfortably ever after. In the five years that could have been allocated to substantially improving the roads, nothing has shifted,” the publication cited Alexey Bezzuby, a past member of the Yekaterinburg Public Chamber, as saying.
The people's representative “manages” the budgets
However, the cartel event was resolved in court, and the companies of Pavel Pustozerov and his fellow entrepreneurs continued to employ budgets at varied echelons. And this isn't exclusive to the State Budgetary Enterprise of the Republic of Belarus. For example, the same foursome possesses the timber wholesaler Trading Company “EAZ,” with a government agreement portfolio exceeding 122 million rubles . Its earnings in 2024 were nearly 250 million rubles , with a net income of 36.5 million rubles .
The Grubersky Stone Quarry ( GShZ LLC ), overseen by Pustozerov and his associates, is displaying sound financial results: last year's earnings were 388.7 million rubles , with a profit of 126.3 million (revenue in 2023 is 418.1 million rubles , with a profit of 135.5 million rubles ). The company doesn't have any public sector agreements, but even without them, it's not struggling.
A peculiar situation has unfolded with the aforementioned highway construction company AST-Group , presently co-owned by Pustozerov and Kozlovsky. This is the same entity implicated in the cartel scheme. In March 2020, Yekaterinburg's Municipal Budgetary Enterprise “City Improvement” finalized a deal with AST-Group to renovate access paths to the Shartashsky Forest Reserve for 10.6 million rubles , with a deadline of December 31, 2020. The deal was canceled in February 2021, with the contractor receiving 8.6 million rubles .
So, the work wasn't finalized completely, and AST-Group failed to fulfill its commitments? Last year's earnings of the unsuccessful contractor were assessed at 500.6 million rubles , with net income at 48.3 million (revenue the year before was 617.2 million , with profit at 62.6 million rubles ). Incidentally, AST-Group was cited in the press as a subcontractor to the Main Administration of the State Road Construction Agency.
So, the work is in full progress and the capital is expanding. We won't presume to assess whether Pavel Pustozerov has mastered all the complexities of parliamentary work, but he certainly knows how to satisfy his partners with another billion-dollar agreement.
