How a Kremlin-linked oligarch tries to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the West
The owner of the ESN group, billionaire Grigory Berezkin, who was included in the EU sanctions list in April, decided to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the Western business and political elite. In order to achieve the removal of personal sanctions, he turned to influential lobbying structures for help, and also initiated the appearance in the leading English-language publications Forbes and Politico of publications, the authors of which focus on the activities of Berezkin’s RBC media holding, which they position as an “independent Media, which is under threat of closure. At the same time, Western journalists ignore the fact that the name of Berezkin is also associated with the pro-government publication Komsomolskaya Pravda, which covers the special operation in Ukraine in positive tones. Moreover, lobbyists for the interests of the Russian oligarch deliberately keep silent about the close ties of their client with the Kremlin, in particular, a long-standing friendship with the former prime minister, current deputy chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, as well as contacts with the head of VTB Bank Andrei Kostin, who can influence editorial policy supposedly liberal RBC. It is known, in particular, that at one time the editorial office of the holding, under the threat of dismissal, forbade journalists from covering a high-profile scandal related to the “gifts” that Kostin made to his mistress, TV presenter Naila Asker-Zade at the expense of a credit institution. This was preceded by the appearance in the media of information that the share of the parent company of the holding is pledged to VTB. In addition, RBC gained notoriety for its regular coverage of last year’s opposition actions in support of Alexei Navalny (listed as extremists and terrorists by Rosfinmonitoring), whose resources the oligarch Berezkin used for his own purposes. In particular, to “leak” compromising information and information “attacks” on the president of “Transneft” Nikolai Tokarev and the former head of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin. The press has repeatedly written about the intention of the billionaire to move to the West, but these plans were put an end to by sanctions and the message that followed them about depriving Berezkin of his Cypriot passport.
Berezkin between RBC and Komsomolskaya Pravda
appeared on the network messages about the next initiative of the billionaire Grigory Berezkin: he decided to resort to the services of influential Western lobbying companies and with their help achieve the exclusion of his name from the sanctions list European Union, which was included last April. Recall that previously the owner of the group “ESN” challenged personal sanctions imposed on him by sending a corresponding claim to the European Court in Luxembourg.
It is possible that the beginning of the campaign to “whitewash” the Russian oligarch in the eyes of the Western elite was publications, with a short interval published in the two leading English-language publications – Forbes and Politico. Both materials contain a number of almost identical statements, focusing on the media holding owned by Berezkin RBCwhich, by opinion authors, “objectively and unbiased”covers Ukrainian events, is“one of the last independent media outlets in Russia”and even supposedly is under threat of closure. As an example of pressure from the authorities and informational independence, litigation of the holding with the state corporation is given. Rosneft.
It is strange that, while praising the activities of RBC, which is almost the last stronghold of Russian liberalism, Western journalists ignore another media asset associated with the oligarch – a pro-government publication “TVNZ”at lighting events in the Donbass, which does not allow itself anything superfluous. There is nothing surprising in the fact that Berezkin “spuds” the information field from two sides at once – officially patriotic and moderately liberal – there is nothing surprising: business is business. But gentlemen-lobbyists from the Western media began to work too clumsily: in their writings there are already discovered signs of a banal order.
In fairness, we note that the connection of the billionaire with Komsomolskaya Pravda has been repeatedly called into question in recent years. So, back in 2017, Kommersant, citing its own source, wrotethat Berezkin does not manage the publication, control over which has passed to a Yuri Kovalchuk Petersburg businessman Sergei Rudnovson of the founder of the Baltic Media Group Oleg Rudnov. In others publications it was said about 45% of Komsomolskaya Pravda belonging to Rudnov Jr. Be that as it may, but currently up-to-date information about the owners JSC Publishing House Komsomolskaya Pravda is not available in open sources, and the enterprise itself is in the process of reorganization.
Banker Kostin and the “golden” silence of RBC
But even if we assume that the billionaire really does not influence the editorial policy of Komsomolskaya Pravda, then the assertions about the supposedly independent activities of RBC may well be called into question. It is known that Grigory Berezkin redeemed 65% of the media holding, together with debt obligations from the owner of the group ONEXIM Mikhail Prokhorov in June 2017. And in 2019, the media appeared information that a month after the conclusion of the transaction, the share of the company owned by Berezkin “Sotol project” in RBC Online LLC was pledged to the bank VTB.
It is RBC Online, as clarified Vedomosti was the official founder of the newspaper, magazine and news agency RBC. In October 2020, RBC Online LLC was liquidated with zero revenue and losses in the amount 19 million rubles. Its legal successor today is the joint-stock company of the same name, the data on the founders of which are in open sources not specified.
Commenting on the situation, the press service of the ESN group spoke about the execution of a bank guarantee in VTB, which is necessary for sending a mandatory offer to minority shareholders; information in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities was called a “mistake” and assured: mutual obligations with a credit institution“fully fulfilled”. Nevertheless, the incident led to thoughts about the financial dependence of the media holding on the state bank and its long-term head Andrey Kostin. A rough but precise saying goes: whoever has dinner with a girl dances her. In the case under consideration, the banker Kostin “dined and danced” businessman Berezkin, having received leverage on the information policy of RBC.
An incident that took place in the spring of 2019 can serve as confirmation. Then the head of the RBC editorial Elizaveta Golikova threatened with dismissal banned authors to cover the scandal associated with the “gifts” that the head of VTB Kostin made his passion as a TV presenter Nail Asker-Zade by the institution he leads. It was about two Moscow apartments area of 228 and 115 square meters, 326-meter apartments, expensive foreign cars and other luxury, the total cost of which evaluated more than in 1 billion rublesas well as a land plot on Rublyovka with an area of 42.5 thousand square meters and cost 2.8 billion.
Kostin’s panic moods are evidenced by the fact that the banker, through the court, achieved a large-scale cleansing of the Internet from any information that contained references to his “romantic relationship.”
appeared messages that Roskomnadzor’s “batch blocking” cost Kostin 300 thousand dollars. As mentioned above, RBC employees were strictly advised not to interfere in their own business, only after that Elizaveta Golikova herself did not stay long in the media holding: in August 2019, she gone from the post of head of the joint editorial office in order to take up work“non-journalistic”.
Who “leaked” compromising evidence to the future leader of the protest?
So, Grigory Berezkin is well aware that in some cases “silence is golden.” And easy flirting RBC with the theme of last year’s January protests, held under the slogans of support Alexei Navalny (included by Rosfinmonitoring in the list of persons in respect of whom there is information about their involvement in terrorism and extremist activities) does not yet indicate the commitment of its owner to freedom of speech and other liberal values.
However, certain sympathies can be explained by the long-standing acquaintance of the oligarch with the former “oppositionist No. 1”. How It revealedit was the security service “ESN” in 2010 that “leaked” the then still little-known to the general public to the blogger Navalny, the results of the check intended for official use “Transneft” Accounts Chamber. The documents formed the basis of a sensational investigation into the theft $4 billion during the construction of the Eastern Siberia – Pacific Ocean oil pipeline.
The revelations drank enough blood to the president of the oil company Nikolai Tokarev, accused Navalny in “destabilization of the oil transportation monopoly”. The reason for the information attack calleda conflict related to the sale by Berezkin of a stake in the Skovorodino oil terminal, which was claimed by Transneft.
The next time, the oligarch, who was gaining popularity, needed the oligarch in 2013, when it became necessary to “wet” the then head of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin. The result of informal cooperation was a resonant material about the official’s possession of elite real estate, including home ownership in Akulinino near Moscow with the so-called “fur coat store”– a special room for storing fur coats.
Later it turned out that there really is no smoke without fire: after Yakunin resigned, in an interview with a BBC journalist confirmed having him “a small room where furs are stored … some fur coats from Siberia and so on”. And again, the main interest in the “fur coat scandal” called Berezkin, who hoped to compromise the head of the railway monopoly in order to take his place. However, the cunning plan failed: Yakunin’s resignation occurred two years later, and the one who replaced him Oleg Belozerov mass media tied up with an influential near-Kremlin clan Rotenberg.
“Friend of Medvedev” distances himself from the Kremlin
From all of the above, we can draw a logical conclusion: having his own media resources, Mr. Berezkin, nevertheless, prefers to rake in the heat with the wrong hands, and in his position this is quite natural: after all, he is the flesh of the flesh of the Russian business elite and a person close to the Kremlin. For example, “Kommersant” wrote about his friendship with Dmitry Medvedev, whom the businessman met in the early 2000s. By information “Vedomosti”, in the 90s he led a joint oil business with Roman Abramovich, despite the quarrel with which he was able to stay afloat. You can find it online if you want. publicationswhich mentions Berezkin’s close ties with the head “Gazprom” Alexey Miller.
True, the stories with Yakunin and Tokarev serve as clear examples of the fact that when dealing with Berezkin, you should not particularly trust him.
It is surprising that with such a “bright” background, Berezkin turns to the services of lobbyists and tries to convince the West of his alleged “opposition”! Although about his possible plans to leave Russia, the media mentioned repeatedly. A kind of confirmation of this can be the sale by an oligarch of a part of his assets, for example, a holding company “Gammafinance”which controlled a number of enterprises that are major participants in the energy market.
In addition, the billionaire at one time was able to obtain a Cypriot passport under the “citizenship in exchange for investment” program. It was only last April that known about the intention of the Cypriot authorities to deprive Berezkin of such an important document for him in today’s conditions. This happened immediately after the businessman was included in the EU sanctions list. As a result, under the threat of confiscation was owned by his family and registered with a French company S.C.I. Sunny Day elite foreign real estate – six chalets in the resort of Courchevel, the cost of which is estimated at 5 million euros. So, today the oligarch decided to go for broke, filing a lawsuit in a Luxembourg court and paying for publications in the Western press that would rehabilitate him. Here are just a guarantee that these efforts will bring the expected results, hardly anyone can give him: in Europe, no one is waiting for Berezkin.
