In the 40s, they were supported by Joseph Stalin, and now they are patronized by Sergei Lavrov and his mistress, with whom the Ivanovs conduct secret business. Thanks to these connections, the Ivanovs can spend hundreds of millions on expensive real estate and elite horses, the We Can Explain project found out. And the deputy minister’s daughter owns several companies that receive strategic status and support from regional authorities.

20 years with Lavrov

“Ukraine has actually turned into an aggressive totalitarian state, where misanthropic ideologies are implanted and neo-Nazism and ethnic intolerance are cultivated. All this makes it impossible for the Ukrainian state to exist in regions whose population is native to the Russian language and culture.”

Thus, on October 3, 2022, the need for an invasion of Ukraine and the annexation of four Ukrainian regions was substantiated by Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Yevgeny Ivanov, one of the closest associates of Sergey Lavrov, who has been working with him for almost two decades. Just a few hours after these statements, the State Duma ratifies the accession to Russia of the so-called DPR and LPR, as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. This annexation will be condemned by the vast majority of countries in the world, and new sanctions will be imposed against Russia. But Sergei Lavrov’s deputy will surprisingly be able to avoid restrictions – even despite his provocative statements and high position.

The Russian Foreign Ministry is fundamentally different from any other Russian agency. There are 3,441 people in its central office, but even among the leadership, few are media active. Sanctions were generally imposed against units (for comparison, in the same State Duma, almost all deputies were subject to restrictions). But Ivanov stands out even against the background of other employees of the Russian Foreign Ministry, says one of his former colleagues, who previously held a high-ranking position in the Foreign Ministry.

“He was made head of Lavrov’s secretariat when he was relatively young. Perhaps after someone’s patronage. The boss liked it, and now he got a deputy minister – much earlier than usual. Pet is not a pet, but a chick of Lavrov’s nest, ”says the interlocutor of MO.

Indeed, Ivanov’s career was incredibly fast-paced: at the age of 32, he took the post of Assistant Minister, and at 39, Director of the Consular Department of the Foreign Ministry. At the age of 45, Ivanov became Secretary of State – Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. The post of secretary of state is unique, there are no others like it in the ministry. Ivanov received this position in 2019, replacing Grigory Karasin. After the appointment, the Kremlin press literally scattered in compliments to Ivanov. “He can be called a charming, sociable and at the same time modest person,” wrote Yevgeny Shestakov, a columnist for Rossiyskaya Gazeta at the time. True, according to the correspondent, Ivanov always diligently avoided discussing working issues with journalists, suggesting asking the minister about it. “But he was happy to talk to us on human topics – about family, books, films.”

According to another interlocutor of “MO”, Ivanov’s mother, Olga Yakovlevna, who also worked at the Russian Foreign Ministry, contributed to such a rapid career take-off. According to a leak from the Federal Tax Service (available to “We can explain”), in the late 90s Ivanova worked in the monetary and financial department of the ministry.

“The Ivanovs have been in the Russian elite for more than 80 years – this is probably a record for Russia. Judge for yourself: Yevgeny Ivanov’s grandfather was a KGB general, his father worked in the central apparatus of the USSR Foreign Ministry, as well as a diplomatic representative in Iraq, Jordan and Syria. Mother also went down the official line, was the ambassador either in Bali, or in the Maldives. Lavrov does not care for his deputy, he forgives him everything: drunkenness, spree, ”says another interlocutor of the Moscow Region, who is familiar with the family of the deputy foreign minister.

Despite all this, Ivanov did not cope with his main task as Secretary of State. His curation of the Ukrainian theme ended with a full-scale Russian invasion of a neighboring country and the death of tens of thousands of civilians. And Ivanov himself joined the chorus of officials justifying the war and talking about the intrigues of the West.

Ivanov said:

“The EU’s course is based on the political task of demonstrating solidarity with the Kyiv regime at any cost, increasing the unlawful sanctions pressure on Russia,” May 2022.

“The United States and its NATO allies carried out military development of the territory, encouraged aggressive Russophobia and ignored neo-Nazi manifestations, turning Ukraine into a springboard against Russia,” October 2022.

During the years of Ivanov’s service in the Foreign Ministry, the wealth of his family also grew. Sometimes at a rate that seriously exceeds her official earnings.

Boat, jet ski, apartments, foreign cars

Yevgeny Ivanov’s income, even according to official declarations, raises many questions. According to the documents, over 5 years, together with his wife Maria, they earned about 190 million rubles (documents have been posted on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry since 2017, when Ivanov became deputy head of the ministry). Moreover, the lion’s share of this amount fell on 2019 – 146.6 million rubles. How Ivanov was able to earn this money is not very clear.

Until 2019, the official indicated in his declaration an apartment of 201.8 m2. In 2019, it disappeared from Ivanov’s declaration, but another one appeared – even larger – 202.2 m2. In addition, Ivanov became the owner of non-residential premises of 159.6 m2. In theory, an official could make money by selling property – for example, if he sold an apartment in Moscow, and bought it in a distant province. But this theory is refuted by the facts.

As “We Can Explain” found out, Ivanov did not sell an apartment of 201.8 m2 to anyone. She went to his daughter – Olga. According to the leaked databases, the spacious apartments are located at 10 Akademika Koroleva Street, in the Seventh Heaven residential complex. Among other things, this address was leaked by the bailiff service and the Moscow traffic police department. Apartments of a similar area are being sold in this residential complex for 150 million rubles.

Ivanov’s own apartment is located at 15 Starokonyushenny Lane, again in an elite club house. A square meter there is estimated at almost 1 million rubles, which means that the 202-meter apartment of the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs costs about 200 million. Thus, Ivanov’s legal income would not be enough to purchase two properties at once.

According to the MO source, the Ivanov family also owns a 130-meter apartment in one of the most pompous houses on Tverskaya Street in Moscow (his words are confirmed by the merged bases of Moscow real estate). Among the first inhabitants of this house was, for example, the Minister of Culture of the USSR Ekaterina Furtseva. According to the interlocutor of “MO”, the order for an apartment for the Ivanovs was personally signed by Stalin. But the list of luxurious property of the Ivanovs is by no means limited to apartments.

At the disposal of “MO” were data from the Federal Tax Service on the taxable property of Olga Ivanova. Their editors were provided by a source with access to the personal data of Russians. According to the document, in 2016 Ivanova became the owner of a land plot of 2,040 m2, located in the village of Pavlovskaya Sloboda, not far from Novorizhskoye Highway (only its cadastral value is 15 million rubles, the market value is usually twice as high). She also owns a 50-meter apartment on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, 22.

The daughter of the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has five vehicles at once. Among them is a RAM 1500 pickup truck worth about 10 million rubles and a BMW X7 xDrive40d crossover for 8 million. Ivanova purchased both cars at the height of the war in Ukraine – May-June 2022. She also owns a Toyota Land Cruiser 200, bought in 2019 – worth about 4 million rubles, then she bought a BMW X5 xDrive30d for 7 million, but sold it in 2022.

Ivanova is also investing in water transport. As MO found out, in July 2022 she bought a jet ski, and the year before she became the owner of her own boat. Their cost cannot be calculated, since the brand of vehicles is not indicated in the documents of the Federal Tax Service. However, the registration numbers of the vessels make their way through the register of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Olga Ivanova also has shares in the business. She owns the Mountain company, which is engaged in trapping and shooting wild animals, as well as the Champ Family company, which specializes in sports recreation, follows from SPARK data. But the financial results of these enterprises leave much to be desired. Over the past four years, the total loss of companies amounted to 92 million rubles. At the same time, in 2020, the girl became one of the owners of the Biolesprom company in Vologda, which makes money on the supply of lumber (she owns the enterprise through Gora LLC, the second share through Medvezhya Gora LLC belongs to her grandmother, Olga Yakovlevna). The authorized capital of Biolesprom alone is almost 95 million rubles.

When the Ivanov family became the owner of Biolesprom, mass layoffs were made at the enterprise: then 51 people were immediately left without work – all of them were people of working professions: security guards, operators, locksmiths, welders. Almost half of those laid off are pensioners and people of pre-retirement age. Then the representatives of the company assured that after the modernization of the plant, which will take at least a year, they will employ from 100 to 150 people.

In 2021, the Biolesprom project to create a waste-free sawmill and woodworking enterprise with the production of OSB boards and CLT panels in the Verkhovazhsky district of the Vologda region received the governor’s support from Oleg Kuvshinnikov. The company planned to invest 3.8 billion rubles in this project. Whether these funds were invested is unknown, the company did not respond to the request of the MO.

In recent years, the minister’s wife has not had any serious sources of income – this is confirmed both by the official’s declarations and by the data of the Federal Tax Service. Perhaps the Ivanov family is provided by the daughter of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs? According to a leak from the same Federal Tax Service for 2020, Olga Ivanova received a salary at the Center for Sports Innovative Technologies and Training of National Teams of the Moscow Sports Committee – 180 thousand rubles a year. Plus another 579 thousand rubles in the Center for Sports Training of Russian National Teams. She received a small fee of 69 thousand rubles from the Maxima Equisport company, which organizes show jumping competitions. Total – 828 thousand rubles, which is clearly not enough even to buy one car.

But, as MO found out, the Ivanovs also found another – a very unusual asset worth tens of millions of rubles.

Olya and her Advance

Not far from Rublevo-Uspenskoye highway, in the village of Nikolo-Uryupino, there is an equestrian club “New Age”. He is considered one of the best KSK in Russia and is very much loved by the representatives of the Russian elite. In the early 2010s, one could even see the wife of the then president of Russia, Svetlana Medvedev, there, one of the club’s regulars told MO. According to him, Medvedeva kept her horse in Novy Vek, but she didn’t take much care of it: “so, she came to treat it.”

Novy Vek has been positioning itself as an elite club with a corresponding audience for many years. The location also favors the image: the club is located on the Novorizhskoe highway, and it is more often chosen by people who are willing to spend a lot of money on entertainment. But even among the “elite” equestrian clubs, Novy Vek has always stood apart, because, in addition to sports, the feeling of intimacy and exclusivity plays an important role there, ”says the MO source.

In the same club, the daughter of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Olga Ivanova, also keeps her horse. The name of the horse is Advance and it is one of the most expensive horses in Russia. The price of the advance is comparable to the cost of an apartment in the very center of Moscow.

Olga Ivanova was born in August 1997 and started riding as a teenager. The first results were far from triumphant – in 2011 she took 43rd place in the Moscow Dressage Cup among young men. But the very next year, Ivanova won the cup of the KSK Gorny Diamond in dressage thanks to the red stallion Gerd. This horse, born in 2006, is registered in the name of her mother, Maria Rudolfovna.

In 2020, Ivanova won her first victory at the Russian Dressage Championship, while being the youngest participant in the championship. It is not surprising, because in 2017 the girl got the same stallion named Avans, who got out from under the saddle of Inessa Merkulova, an Olympic athlete and the wife of the owner of the Novy Vek sports complex. The advance “brought” Ivanova and the title of master of sports. According to four We Can Explain sources familiar with the situation, the advance cost Ivanova between 700,000 and 1 million euros (the average price is 56 million rubles). This is one of the most expensive dressage horses in Russia. Now Ivanova’s father is criticizing the Baltic countries (including Latvia) with might and main for sanctions against Russian tourists. The irony of fate lies in the fact that Avans is a Latvian breed, his parents are Aromats and Gagra. The horse belongs to Olga personally, according to a special registry. They last competed on February 24, 2022, the day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ivanova then won the cup of the KSK Novy Vek, after which she suspended participation in the competition.

According to the database of the Russian Equestrian Federation (FCSR), Ivanova has two other horses – Optimus Prime and Kasper. Optimus Prime brought her many prizes in junior competitions in 2015-2016. Formally, the horse belongs to her mother, and its cost, according to experts from the MO, is 80 thousand euros (6.5 million rubles). Over the entire sports career of Ivanova, 5 horses were registered for her mother, 2 horses for herself (in addition to Avans, another Latvian named Kasper; she competed several times in the amateur category, the last time in the summer of 2022).

How much does the Ivanovs spend on horses?

Stay for one horse at the Novy Vek KSK, where Ivanova works, costs 60 thousand rubles a month. This price includes only the stall rental, feeding and groom services. According to a MO source from Novy Vek, Olga is training with international class master of sports Yuri Faintshtein. “The coach, along with the bereator, definitely costs Ivanova no less than 100,000 rubles,” says the source. The cost of keeping a horse also includes a groomer (10,000 rubles per month), a farrier (5,000 rubles at a time in 45 days), additional feeding (about 5,000 rubles per month) and veterinary services. Vaccinations – 15 thousand rubles a year, the rest of the expenses for veterinarians depend on the specific horse, its condition, but on average about 250 thousand rubles a year. Horses also need ammunition: a saddle, saddle pads, blankets, a headband, bandages, boots, a halter, and more. A good dressage saddle costs between 2,000 and 5,000 euros. A separate expense item is travel to competitions. To travel to tournaments in Moscow, you will need about 10 thousand rubles for a horse carriage (round trip), 3.5-5 thousand rubles for entry fees and, if the tournament lasts several days, about 2 thousand rubles for a day of staying at the club. A trip to a tournament in Europe is absolutely fabulous money: from 10 thousand euros for a horse carriage, 500-800 euros for entry fees in both directions and about 70 euros for a day of standing. Usually people come to European tournaments in a few weeks, that is, the total amount of participation is more than 13 thousand euros. In addition, the athlete needs to pay for tickets, accommodation and work of the entire team: groom, coach, sometimes a doctor, support groups.

According to We Can Explain, in just five years – since 2017 – the Ivanov family has spent at least 495 million rubles on all the luxury. If we add to this the land plot of the daughter of the deputy minister, acquired in 2016, then the amount will exceed 520 million rubles.

What is included in this amount?

Evgeny Ivanov’s apartment in Starokonyushenny Lane – 200 million rubles
Cars of Olga Ivanova – 29 million rubles
Equestrian sport – 171 million rubles
Share in business – 95 million rubles
Land plot – 30 million
Boat and jet ski – unknown

Where did the Ivanovs find the money to buy all this luxury? The MO source, who is well acquainted with the family of the secretary of state, claims that the Ivanovs are engaged in shady business with Sergei Lavrov’s mistress, former Foreign Ministry employee Svetlana Polyakova. Important Stories previously revealed that Polyakova wields significant influence in the Foreign Office, and that her family and loved ones own assets in Russia and the UK worth over 1 billion rubles. “The Ivanovs and Polyakova are engaged in selling medical equipment for kickbacks,” the source said. “We can explain” treats his words with confidence, since the same source told about the Ivanovs’ apartment on Tverskaya – and his data was eventually confirmed by documents.

The correspondent of “We can explain” turned to Ivanova herself with a question – where did the official’s family get the money for all this property? After that, the girl closed her Instagram without answering the reporter’s question.