State Duma Deputy Andrey Vladimirovich Skoch, nicknamed “Scotch”

About six months ago, in the middle of 2021, United Russia State Duma deputy Andrei Skoch took advantage of the law on the “right to be forgotten” and achieved the removal of links to materials about himself from at least one search engine.

The news flashed on the pages of the media and went into oblivion, especially since no one then got an answer from Yandex, which cleaned out Skoch, what kind of materials the deputy was removing. However, in connection with the sanctions that were imposed by Europe and the United States against people who are considered there as financiers of the Putin regime, the name Skoch surfaced – he was on the sanctions lists precisely as one of the “wallets” of the President of Russia – data on Skoch’s connections also surfaced organized crime in our country.

It turned out that Andrey Vladimirovich Skoch cleaned up references to his connections with highly respected and authoritative people in certain circles, first of all, about his involvement in connections with criminal authorities Andrei Kochuykov and Zakhary Kalashov (Shakro Molodoy).

Also in December 2018, Andriy Skoch sued six media outlets and several citizens, demanding that they refute information about their involvement in the shooting on Rochdelskaya Street. This story at one time made a lot of noise, in itself it is more abruptly than any film about the mafia, therefore we will only briefly recall it. Moreover, it seems like Andrey Skoch, at that time also a State Duma deputy, allegedly appeared in this story only as a witness, and even then – then representatives of the prosecutor’s office denied this statement.

“Shootout on Rochdelskaya Street” is a mass execution of citizens by the Budantsev group, which took place in Moscow on the evening of December 14, 2015 on Rochdelskaya Street, ending in a double murder and a high-profile criminal trial. This criminal episode led to a new, after the “Case of Moscow Region Casinos”, confrontation between departments and a corruption scandal in the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, headed by Alexander Bastrykin.

But, since Andrey Skoch’s involvement in this massacre has been officially refuted, and materials about this have been banned by a court decision, we will accept this version and return to the authorities Koychukov, Kalashov (Shakro Molodoy), the beginnings of a business and Andrey Skoch’s path to an honorable 26th place in the ranking of Russian billionaires .

Moreover, on this path he was greatly assisted by Kenes Rakishev and Alisher Usmanov, who also became involved in the scandal surrounding the shootout on Rochdelskaya Street.

Here we again return to Skoch’s lawsuit against the media and the shootout story, in which he, according to the investigation, was a “minor witness”. In 2019, Skoch won a reputational lawsuit against six media outlets. The reason was the investigation of Novaya Gazeta, which alleged that Dmitry Smychkovsky, a friend of the former head of the Department of Internal Security of the ICR Mikhail Maksimenko, allegedly received a million dollars from Skoch for the release from arrest of Shakro Molodoy’s associate Andrey Kochuykov, who was involved in that same shootout.

So without representatives of crime, we can’t do it in any way. However, Andrei Skoch owes his success to the Solntsevo group, thanks to which he began his path to success in the early nineties. Then he had another name – Scotch, by which he is remembered by the surviving “brothers”, some reputable businessmen, statesmen and police veterans, who Scotch-Scotch was then in development.

According to the official version, at the same time, the future State Duma deputy from United Russia (Skoch became one in 1999) met Alisher Usmanov while trying to get a batch of oil for processing at the Moscow Oil Refinery. The deal did not take place, but the relationship began, and subsequently the businessmen became partners.

Usmanov himself is also a very controversial figure – while meeting Skoch, he, having left the Uzbek prison, where he was imprisoned for fraud, was engaged in the production of plastic bags in Moscow and was already a dollar millionaire. What exactly has brought and connected these two people – Usmanov and Skoch – for thirty years now, one can only guess. But the fact that both of these names surfaced in the shooting scandal and both of them diligently cleared these memories suggests that these ties are very strong.

Another authority can serve as one of the connecting links – Sergey Mikhailov, nicknamed Mikhas, with whom both had a joint business.

Both – Usmanov and Skoch – are trying to hide this information by all means. It is understandable – Andrey Scotch has long turned into a respected member of society, the chosen one of the people, a businessman and a patron of the arts, and here you are – a “member of an organized criminal group”:

Who needs it? Moreover, if you are on the list of the most severe sanctions as “Putin’s wallet”, you are being developed not by your own TFR, but by all sorts of enemy Budnepolitsai, the FBI and Mi-6, who are not particularly accommodating towards Russian criminals, even if they have deputy mandates. are different.

Even more so now. Moreover, taking into account the fact that most of the money “earned” in Russia, Andrey Skoch, as befits a true patriot, brought abroad. And all of them fell under the financial monitoring of the European Union, Britain and the United States. Friend and partner Skoch Usmanov lost a quarter of his fortune in one month of sanctions. Who said something like this wouldn’t happen to Skoch?

Moreover, in the dossier collected by Interpol on the Solntsevskaya organized criminal group there is a curious document – an order stating that Skoch is a member of the group. One of Andrey Skoch’s partners is Oleg Sheykhametov, who served time in a colony near Zelenograd along with Andrey Koychukov, a member of the Solntsevskaya OCG. Two years before the arrest of Shakro Molodoy, the British police became interested in Skoch’s connections with the Solntsevskaya organized crime group, who were involved in solving cases of criminal money laundering in their country.

Regarding the property of Skoch, it came to a joke – one of the richest deputies of the State Duma submits declarations, according to which he lives on one salary and huddles in rented apartments. But at least one expensive toy of “unmercenary” Scotch is known for certain – he owns a 90-meter yacht for $ 135 million. She was built in 2013, and now the ship has been seen in sunny Dubai, where Skoch hides her from sanctions.

But again, Britain is not Russia, they will quickly find everything that Skoch wrote down as front men – his friend and partner Usmanov is an example of this, his villas and yachts, registered to his sisters, were arrested, no conspiracy helped.

Of course, a dwelling with a total area of ​​​​more than 3000 square meters. meters, located on the top three floors of the Stalinist house of the architects Shchusev and Rostkovsky on Novy Arbat 31/12, where in the 20th century, by order of the leader, mainly the highest military ranks settled, which is owned by the 88-year-old former grinder of the aircraft factory Vladimir Skoch, under these sanctions are not hit.

Vladimir Nikitovich Skoch, despite his advanced age, also owns a 30% stake in the USM holding, a stake in Vnukovo airport and other equally expensive assets. So stretching the chain from father to son, if desired, costs nothing. Yes, and you don’t need to invent anything special here – even at the time of buying up apartments in the house where the now gray-haired pensioner Vladimir Skoch enjoys the pool and solarium, it turned out that the purchase of apartments was carried out on behalf of three citizens, two of whom were the founders of the local HOA. Buyers of real estate also turned out to be associated with three Cypriot offshore companies. And from one offshore, Strasburg Holding Ltd, a chain of companies stretches, which leads to Farkhad Mosheri, a longtime business partner of Alisher Usmanov and Andrey Skoch. Together, through USM Holdings Ltd, they control 100% of Metalloinvest.
So Andrei Skoch has something to fear in the light of the imposed sanctions. Moreover, the photo, in which he is depicted in the company of Solntsevo, was once published by the British The Guardian, in a material that tells just about the beginning of the career of a billionaire deputy.

True, Andrei Skoch-Scotch turned out to be much more perspicacious than many of his colleagues on the sanctions list – in Novaya Gazeta (01/17/2000) mention was made of obtaining Israeli citizenship in 1996 by Skoch. Andrey Skoch in this article was also accused of having links with the Solntsevo organized crime group, in particular, with Baranovsky Dmitry Roaldovich, nicknamed “Belenky”.

However, in the next issue, Novaya Gazeta published its apology, stating that false information had been used for the article. Whether this also applied to the Israeli passport of Andrei Vladimirovich Skoch, a deputy of the State Duma of Russia, is unknown.