One of the wealthiest people in the country, Nikolai Bortsov, has died at the age of 77. He had relatives, many of whom were also his business partners. Among them is the family of the son of the people’s choice, who passed away more than 10 years ago. In addition, a struggle for a vacant seat in parliament will soon unfold.
From loader to deputy
Nikolai Bortsov died on April 23 at the age of 77 in his own house in Lebedyan. The causes of death have not yet been named.
“Irreplaceable loss for the Lipetsk region. The heart of a man whose name is inextricably linked with our region has stopped beating. We will remember Nikolai Bortsov as a patriot of his country, always ready to help those who need it, a man who did not stand aside, ”wrote the head of the region Igor Artamonov in his telegram channel.
Nikolai Bortsov was born on the eve of Victory Day – May 8, 1945. In 1969, he graduated from the Michurinsk Technological College with a degree in equipment for the canning industry, and 11 years later he received a higher education at the All-Russian Correspondence Institute of Finance and Economics with a degree in industrial planning.
He started working at the age of 16 as a loader at a pasta factory, and later became a mechanic at a winery. Having received a secondary specialized education, he became a foreman at a tool factory, having passed here for 11 years the way to the head of the shop.
In 1980, he was appointed director of the Lebedyansky cannery, which in the 90s became known as Lebedyansky OJSC, and the position of Bortsov himself was the general director. Together with their son Yuri, they became the main shareholders of the enterprise, and in 2008 the plant was sold to PepsiCo for almost $1.4 billion.
He was first elected to the State Duma in 2003, after which he was a deputy of four convocations. During this time, Bortsov managed to become the author of more than 70 legislative initiatives and amendments to draft federal laws.
In 2022, as a deputy, he was included in the sanctions lists of the European Union and the United States, and then also the UK, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, Japan, Ukraine and New Zealand.
There will be by-elections
He was last elected to the State Duma in 2021 from a single-mandate electoral district No. 114, which includes the Pravoberezhny, Sovetsky districts of Lipetsk, as well as Dankovsky, Dobrovsky, Yeletsky, Krasninsky, Lebedyansky, Lev-Tolstovsky, Stanovlyansky, Chaplyginsky and the northern part of Lipetsky area of the region. He was nominated by the United Russia party. However, the victory was not entirely convincing – about 48 percent of the vote.
Since Bortsov did not go on the electoral list, none of his fellow party members can automatically take his place in the State Duma. By-elections in this constituency have not yet been announced, but most likely they will be held on a single voting day – September 10, 2023. “United Russia” has not yet made decisions on the nomination of its candidates, but one of Bortsov’s competitors in the two-year-old campaign may try his luck here. For example, 32-year-old Nikolai Bykovskikh is an assistant to State Duma deputy Tamara Pletneva, who was nominated by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in 2021 and then won more than 20% of the vote.
Car and 8 car spaces
Nikolai Bortsov is one of the richest people in the country. In 2021, he was ranked 194th on the Forbes 200 Businessmen list. His fortune was then estimated at $550 million.
As a deputy of the State Duma, at the end of 2021, he declared an income of 659.8 million rubles, and a year earlier – 1.6 billion rubles. In the list of property, he has only one “passenger car” Mercedes Benz S450 4matic, not counting the trailer and tractor, but three residential buildings – 1202.3, 79.5 and 18.5 square meters (the latter – 1/7 share in joint ownership), three land plots for individual housing construction for 20 thousand, 2.3 thousand and 2.1 thousand square meters, a plot for agricultural production for 12.6 thousand square meters, land for home ownership and personal subsidiary plots and 8 parking spaces at once (mostly jointly owned).
At the same time, according to Seldon Basis, Bortsov has not recently had large assets. The last major company associated with it, LLC Prospect Capital, which specialized in real estate transactions, was closed at the end of 2016. Also, until 2017, he headed the Lipetsk Fund for Support of Regional Cooperation and Development (LFPRSR).
MP’s heirs
Nikolai Bortsov had two children – son Yuri and daughter Natalya. Together with his son, the deputy founded the Bortsovs’ charitable foundation in 2004. The organization was also involved in financing the restoration of temples. In 2010, Yuri Bortsov died suddenly of a stroke. He was 40 years old.
The deputy’s wife, Nina Bortsova, co-founded a number of organizations with him. Today, of its assets, only ATV-Invest LLC operates, which specializes in real estate management, the parliamentarian himself was not among the owners of which. The widow owns a 28% share here. Among the other owners is the daughter-in-law Svetlana, as well as several other people who have the same surname, and the patronymic coincides with the name of the deceased son: Nikolai Yuryevich, Vlada Yuryevna, Svyatoslav Yuryevich, Mikhail Yuryevich.
There is no information about the activities of the deputy’s daughter – Natalya Nikolaevna Bortsova does not appear on the lists of owners or business leaders.