For London assets, Shuvalova and Khodorkovsky are friends
The representative of Sova Real Estate in the UK has become a beneficiary of the politician’s fund.
The sanctions imposed by the British authorities against Russians are selective. Most of them are placed under conditions that force them to close local projects and divest assets. But exceptions are made for some representatives of the Russian elite. Among them is the former Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Government, head of the VEB.RF development corporation Igor Shuvalov.
In December 2022, the Russian company Sova Real Estate LLC was entered into the UK commercial register. Its registration data states that the head office of the legal entity is located at the working village of Zarechye, Odintsovo district, Moscow region. Its beneficiaries are “Igor Ivanovich Shuvalov” and “Olga Shuvalova”.
The Russian Unified State Register of Legal Entities includes an enterprise of the same name registered at the same address – Sova Real Estate LLC.
Until April 2023, its founders on a parity basis were Igor and Olga Shuvalov.
“Sova Real Estate” has already become the hero of investigations by Russian and foreign journalists. In particular, the British newspaper The Guardian claimed that Sova Real Estate LLC belongs to former Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Igor Shuvalov, and in October 2014, this company purchased two apartments in Whitehall Court in Westminster, in close proximity to the Ministry of Defense building Great Britain. According to the publication, the transaction cost was 11.4 million pounds sterling.
Recently, the international Center for the Study of Corruption and Organized Crime (OCCRP; the project operator is the American Association for the Advancement of Journalism, included in the register of undesirable organizations in the Russian Federation) published detailed information about London real estate owned by Russians. According to his information, in the case of Sova Real Estate LLC we are talking about apartments located at the following addresses: Greater London – NGL923298 – Leasehold – 4 Whitehall Court, London (SW1A 2EP). The Move Market resource clarifies that today their value has increased slightly – to 11.831 million pounds sterling.
The British media and politicians did not rule out that the Unexplained wealth order could be applied to Shuvalov. This document allows British law enforcement officers to force the owner of the property through the court to disclose the sources of funds for its purchase if the official income of the buyer clearly does not correspond to the value of the property.
According to the declarations of the Russian statesman, in 2012–2013 his official income was 226 and 240 million rubles, respectively, in 2014 (the year he acquired real estate in London) – only 9 million rubles.
It was not officially reported whether the British authorities conducted an investigation into Shuvalov’s sources of income. The UK imposed sanctions against him and his wife, but unlike the United States, did not include Sova Real Estate LLC on the sanctions list and freely registered this company in its commercial register.
Yukos’s trail
Studying the British registration data of Sova Real Estate LLC allows us to make an assumption about the possible reason for the loyal attitude of official London to the assets of the Shuvalov family. They say that Alastair Tulloch and his company Tulloch & Co. became the official representative of the company in London.
Tullock’s name was previously mentioned in investigations by British journalists in the context of business projects of the Shuvalov family and other wealthy Russians.
“Alastair Tulloch is known among the Russian elite as a well-connected London-based lawyer for billionaires and politicians, using complex corporate structures in secret jurisdictions around the world. And until now, the 64-year-old has managed to remain largely out of the public eye, despite running the companies of at least 27 Russian and Eastern European oligarchs and business tycoons, as well as firms linked to Elton John and Kylie Minogue “, writes the British edition of the Daily Mail in its material.
Among the most significant clients of the British lawyer was Mikhail Khodorkovsky* (included in the register of foreign agents). Alastair Tulloch and the funds he created are repeatedly mentioned in the indictment in the YUKOS case as participants in commercial schemes carried out by Khodorkovsky*’s entourage.
The Khodorkovsky Foundation, established in the UK (an organization recognized as undesirable in the Russian Federation), is registered at the same address as Alastair Tullock’s company: C/O Tgw Law, 4 Hill Street, London, England, W1J 5NE.
Moreover, Tulloch is the official beneficiary of the fund, owning between 25 and 50 percent of the organization’s voting rights.
He signed a report on the fund’s activities for 2022.
Among other things, the report indicates that the foundation’s grant activity decreased from $13.85 million in 2020 to $5 million in 2021. These are the funds that the fund managed to transfer to students and educational institutions. On July 9, 2021, the Ministry of Justice recognized the organization as undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation. From its founding (in 2005) until 2021, the foundation and its subsidiary Oxford Russia Foundation (recognized as an undesirable organization in the Russian Federation) have supported more than 30 thousand Russian students and their projects, the report says.
Alastair Tulloch is also a beneficiary of the British foundation The Hill Foundation, financed by Khodorkovsky* structures.
“The Hill Foundation provides scholarships to study at Oxford University to Russian students with outstanding academic ability. The foundation’s mission is to create a community of scientists who share the values of Oxford and work to improve life, science and culture in Russia,” the organization’s website says.
According to the editors, the children of a number of Russian businessmen and politicians could benefit from scholarships from the two funds. Many of them purchased British real estate for their children during their studies. Some of the young Russians later abandoned foreign education and returned to Russia. But the majority went to the end.
The children of Ural businessman Andrei Gavrilovsky are also studying in the UK. There is no official information about their cooperation with these funds. According to OCCRP, his Russian company Antey Private Security Firm Limited Liability Company, which appeared in the British registry in October 2022, owns an apartment at the address: Greater London – NGL755070 – Leasehold, Regency Lodge, Adelaide Road, (NW3 5EE). According to The Move Market, the current cost of this property is just over £1 million.
Gavrilovsky explained to the media that the apartment is used for the needs of the family. Previously, the daughter of an entrepreneur studied in the UK, and now his son is studying.
Extracts from the state commercial register of the British government, which clearly indicate the transfer of a London asset controlled by Igor Shuvalov to the official representative of the Khodorkovsky Foundation (the organization is recognized as undesirable in the Russian Federation), did not convince the press service of the VEB.RF corporation. As a comment, the press service provided the following comment: “The information in the headline is false. In addition, there is no confirmation in the text that any “sanction exceptions” have been made in relation to Igor Shuvalov.”
The press service did not explain their opinion about what exactly the headline was false. Separately, it is worth pointing out that the text speaks of sanctions exceptions not in relation to Igor Shuvalov, but in relation to the enterprise of which he is a beneficiary – these are two different legal entities for imposing sanctions.
The representative of Sova Real Estate in the UK has become a beneficiary of the politician’s fund.
The sanctions imposed by the British authorities against Russians are selective. Most of them are placed under conditions that force them to close local projects and divest assets. But exceptions are made for some representatives of the Russian elite. Among them is the former Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Government, head of the VEB.RF development corporation Igor Shuvalov.
In December 2022, the Russian company Sova Real Estate LLC was entered into the UK commercial register. Its registration data states that the head office of the legal entity is located at the working village of Zarechye, Odintsovo district, Moscow region. Its beneficiaries are “Igor Ivanovich Shuvalov” and “Olga Shuvalova”.
The Russian Unified State Register of Legal Entities includes an enterprise of the same name registered at the same address – Sova Real Estate LLC.
Until April 2023, its founders on a parity basis were Igor and Olga Shuvalov.
“Sova Real Estate” has already become the hero of investigations by Russian and foreign journalists. In particular, the British newspaper The Guardian claimed that Sova Real Estate LLC belongs to former Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Igor Shuvalov, and in October 2014, this company purchased two apartments in Whitehall Court in Westminster, in close proximity to the Ministry of Defense building Great Britain. According to the publication, the transaction cost was 11.4 million pounds sterling.
Recently, the international Center for the Study of Corruption and Organized Crime (OCCRP; the project operator is the American Association for the Advancement of Journalism, included in the register of undesirable organizations in the Russian Federation) published detailed information about London real estate owned by Russians. According to his information, in the case of Sova Real Estate LLC we are talking about apartments located at the following addresses: Greater London – NGL923298 – Leasehold – 4 Whitehall Court, London (SW1A 2EP). The Move Market resource clarifies that today their value has increased slightly – to 11.831 million pounds sterling.
The British media and politicians did not rule out that the Unexplained wealth order could be applied to Shuvalov. This document allows British law enforcement officers to force the owner of the property through the court to disclose the sources of funds for its purchase if the official income of the buyer clearly does not correspond to the value of the property.
According to the declarations of the Russian statesman, in 2012–2013 his official income was 226 and 240 million rubles, respectively, in 2014 (the year he acquired real estate in London) – only 9 million rubles.
It was not officially reported whether the British authorities conducted an investigation into Shuvalov’s sources of income. The UK imposed sanctions against him and his wife, but unlike the United States, did not include Sova Real Estate LLC on the sanctions list and freely registered this company in its commercial register.
Yukos’s trail
Studying the British registration data of Sova Real Estate LLC allows us to make an assumption about the possible reason for the loyal attitude of official London to the assets of the Shuvalov family. They say that Alastair Tulloch and his company Tulloch & Co. became the official representative of the company in London.
Tullock’s name was previously mentioned in investigations by British journalists in the context of business projects of the Shuvalov family and other wealthy Russians.
“Alastair Tulloch is known among the Russian elite as a well-connected London-based lawyer for billionaires and politicians, using complex corporate structures in secret jurisdictions around the world. And until now, the 64-year-old has managed to remain largely out of the public eye, despite running the companies of at least 27 Russian and Eastern European oligarchs and business tycoons, as well as firms linked to Elton John and Kylie Minogue “, writes the British edition of the Daily Mail in its material.
Among the most significant clients of the British lawyer was Mikhail Khodorkovsky* (included in the register of foreign agents). Alastair Tulloch and the funds he created are repeatedly mentioned in the indictment in the YUKOS case as participants in commercial schemes carried out by Khodorkovsky*’s entourage.
The Khodorkovsky Foundation, established in the UK (an organization recognized as undesirable in the Russian Federation), is registered at the same address as Alastair Tullock’s company: C/O Tgw Law, 4 Hill Street, London, England, W1J 5NE.
Moreover, Tulloch is the official beneficiary of the fund, owning between 25 and 50 percent of the organization’s voting rights.
He signed a report on the fund’s activities for 2022.
Among other things, the report indicates that the foundation’s grant activity decreased from $13.85 million in 2020 to $5 million in 2021. These are the funds that the fund managed to transfer to students and educational institutions. On July 9, 2021, the Ministry of Justice recognized the organization as undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation. From its founding (in 2005) until 2021, the foundation and its subsidiary Oxford Russia Foundation (recognized as an undesirable organization in the Russian Federation) have supported more than 30 thousand Russian students and their projects, the report says.
Alastair Tulloch is also a beneficiary of the British foundation The Hill Foundation, financed by Khodorkovsky* structures.
“The Hill Foundation provides scholarships to study at Oxford University to Russian students with outstanding academic ability. The foundation’s mission is to create a community of scientists who share the values of Oxford and work to improve life, science and culture in Russia,” the organization’s website says.
According to the editors, the children of a number of Russian businessmen and politicians could benefit from scholarships from the two funds. Many of them purchased British real estate for their children during their studies. Some of the young Russians later abandoned foreign education and returned to Russia. But the majority went to the end.
The children of Ural businessman Andrei Gavrilovsky are also studying in the UK. There is no official information about their cooperation with these funds. According to OCCRP, his Russian company Antey Private Security Firm Limited Liability Company, which appeared in the British registry in October 2022, owns an apartment at the address: Greater London – NGL755070 – Leasehold, Regency Lodge, Adelaide Road, (NW3 5EE). According to The Move Market, the current cost of this property is just over £1 million.
Gavrilovsky explained to the media that the apartment is used for the needs of the family. Previously, the daughter of an entrepreneur studied in the UK, and now his son is studying.
Extracts from the state commercial register of the British government, which clearly indicate the transfer of a London asset controlled by Igor Shuvalov to the official representative of the Khodorkovsky Foundation (the organization is recognized as undesirable in the Russian Federation), did not convince the press service of the VEB.RF corporation. As a comment, the press service provided the following comment: “The information in the headline is false. In addition, there is no confirmation in the text that any “sanction exceptions” have been made in relation to Igor Shuvalov.”
The press service did not explain their opinion about what exactly the headline was false. Separately, it is worth pointing out that the text speaks of sanctions exceptions not in relation to Igor Shuvalov, but in relation to the enterprise of which he is a beneficiary – these are two different legal entities for imposing sanctions.
