The oil business of the Volosnikova family fell below the plinth

Their revenue in 2022, despite the abnormal growth in market prices for fuel, decreased by 10–15 times, and profits were replaced by losses. The trend is associated with one family of businessmen. Its representatives begin negotiations with stories about informal ties with the security forces, and then receive shares in firms.

Oil refining and wholesale trade in fuel has become one of the most dangerous types of business in the Krasnodar Territory. One of the reasons is the periodic attacks of Ukrainian drones. In the last month alone, according to state media, drones have blown up facilities at the Ilsky oil refinery and in the port of Taman. Local entrepreneurs are not able to fight this threat, this is the lot of the military. The second danger – the loss of enterprises due to the “decided” that became more active during the special operation – is difficult to neutralize, but real. This requires considerable strength, resources and patience, which not everyone has.

The loudest conflicts in the market are connected with the family of Natalia Volosnikova. Before her relatives acquired assets with multibillion-dollar turnover, she was the wife of the head of the special operations department at the FSB (Alpha group) in the Krasnodar Territory, Colonel Alexander Volosnikov, who died in 2009. Those who personally knew Alexander Volosnikov remember him as a professional who acted in the interests of the state. For the successful management of operations in the Kuban and in Chechnya, he was awarded state awards. One of the most successful was the operation in March 1999 to eliminate a criminal who had taken hostage passengers of a regular bus. The security forces used both weapons and words, entering into negotiations with the terrorists.

Members of the Volosnikova family rarely talk about a heroic relative in uniform. The exception was the participation last year of Volosnikova’s son, lawyer Valentin Vasilchenko, in the opening of a laser tag tournament dedicated to the memory of the colonel.

“My father was a mentor for many and proved by his example respect for duty and military honor,” Vasilchenko was quoted by the Kuban 24 TV channel.

Even the criminal events that took place in 2019 did not affect the image of the special forces. Three Moscow employees were detained for attacking the Moscow office of Metallurg Bank. Then the former captain of Alpha Boris Chukaev and ex-ensign Alexander Chukanov went to jail. Chukaev was sentenced to 18 years in a strict regime for participating in the murders of businessmen. His accomplices died while the trial was going on.

Whether members of the Volosnikova family are familiar with the convicts is unknown. But lawyer Valentin Vasilchenko, in the course of building a career in conversations with clients, openly mentioned connections with people in uniform. How this happened was described in detail by the founder of Vympel-Yug LLC Sergey Mnatsakanyan in an official complaint filed with the Ministry of Justice and the Chamber of Advocates of the Krasnodar Territory (available to the editors).

“Vasilchenko V.A. made it clear that he has extensive connections in law enforcement agencies, including in such regional structures as the FSB, the Investigative Committee, the UEBiPK. These connections, in his words, help him solve the problems of minimizing risks for commercial organizations, ”Mnatsakanyan’s complaint says.

The co-owner of Vympel-Yug LLC notified the Ministry of Justice and the Chamber of Lawyers of the Krasnodar Territory that Valentin Vasilchenko offered to conclude an agreement with him on the provision of legal assistance. The lawyer’s fee was supposed to be 2 million rubles a month.

Mnatsakanyan considered that refusal to cooperate could negatively affect the work of the enterprise, and agreed to the deal.

The next step was the appointment in July 2017 of Alexander Maznik, the director of Vympel-Yug LLC, who is closely associated with the lawyer.

Some time later, the founder transferred the assets of the enterprise to Vasilchenko at a low cost. In confirmation of the latter fact, Mnatsakanyan attached to the complaint a copy of the contract for the sale of real estate and a screenshot of the announcement that appeared later on their sale on the Avito website.

According to Oktagon sources, there will be no reaction from the Ministry of Justice and the Bar Association to this complaint.

Valentin Vasilchenko also provided legal services to TD Alfa LLC. The editorial office has documents at its disposal that testify to the payment of remuneration to the lawyer in the amount of 2 million rubles a month. In addition, in March 2018, the company acquired a luxury car Bentley Bentayga V6 under a leasing agreement, which could be used by a lawyer. There is no information about whose ownership of the luxury car passed after the expiration of the lease agreement.

The name of the lawyer Vasilchenko gained all-Russian fame in July 2022. Then a number of sources, including the VChK-OGPU telegram channel associated with the security forces, published reports of his possible involvement in the alleged kidnapping of Krasnodar businessman Alexander Kabatov in order to extort 12 million rubles.

According to the investigation of the Versiya newspaper, as a result, a criminal case was opened not against the persons who probably held the businessman, but against Kabatov himself. The publication assumes that the entrepreneur has entered into an agreement with TD Alfa LLC for the purchase of fuel worth 6 million rubles. The owner and director of the company at that time was Alexander Maznik, Vasilchenko’s partner. In due time, Kabatov could not pay off, citing financial difficulties.

Vasilchenko could solve the debt issue within the framework of the legal service agreement. In November 2021, a 70 percent share of the enterprise was betrayed to the son-in-law of the lawyer, Vasily Ashla.

Along with the authorized capital, the latter also received the right to claim debt. They demanded this debt from Kabatov by available means.

FederalPress tried to obtain confirmation that the incident with the kidnapping of a businessman took place in reality. The publication sent a request to the law enforcement agencies of the Krasnodar Territory. The Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that the department did not conduct an investigation, the regional investigative committee recommended requesting information from the federal Investigative Committee. A similar request, along with a complaint about the work of the regional department, was sent to the Investigative Committee addressed to Alexander Bastrykin. It was not possible to find documentary evidence of the incident and the “Octagon”. They may appear later – as part of the investigation of the Kabatov case.

Sources of the publication do not exclude that after the announcement of the mobilization, Vasilchenko went abroad, from where he is now doing business. Recently, he published photos from Dubai jointly with Vasily Ashla on social networks.

Natalya Volosnikova launched her first project in 2012, acting as the founder of Alfa-Stroy Alliance LLC. The firm turned out to be just the tip of a business iceberg showing strange financial results.

The most successful of the enterprises related to the Volosnikova family is ABS Production and Development Enterprise LLC. In 2022, the revenue of the oilfield service structure doubled, to 4 billion rubles, profit – 3,000 times, to 57.1 million rubles. These results were achieved in spite of, and not thanks to, Volosnikova. As Oktagon previously reported, the businesswoman (owns a 30 percent stake), together with a minority shareholder Yevgeny Molchanov (15 percent), filed arbitration claims against CEO Vasily Bachev.

Octagon’s interlocutors do not rule out that the judicial activity of Volosnikova and Molchanov and their unwillingness to negotiate with the company’s management threaten the ABS enterprise with bankruptcy and falling into the hands of litigants.

The position of many other firms deteriorated in a short period. The revenue of the above-mentioned Vympel-Yug LLC from 2019 to 2022 collapsed from 4.9 billion rubles to zero. Net profit of 34.8 million rubles was replaced by a loss of almost half a billion rubles. In December 2022, Southern Fuel Alliance LLC (UTA), controlled by Vasilchenko, published an announcement in the Fedreserve system of its intention to file for bankruptcy of Vympel-Yug LLC. The following month, Vympel-Yug filed for bankruptcy under a simplified procedure. In April, competitive proceedings were opened at the enterprise.

The son-in-law of Natalia Volosnikova, Vasily Ashla, received a 70% stake in Alfa Trading House LLC in November 2021. At the end of 2021, its revenue amounted to 2 billion rubles, net profit – 22.4 million rubles. In 2022, revenue decreased tenfold – to 231.6 million rubles, the company recorded a loss in the amount of 56.4 million rubles.

Volosnikova’s daughter Yulia Ashla owns 35.5 percent of Istra Oil Depot LLC. In 2022, with a revenue of 2.2 billion rubles, it reported an official profit of 5.4 million rubles.

In the summer of last year, UTA LLC passed under the full control of Yulia Ashla. 50% of the company belongs to her, another 50% belongs to the company in which she is a director. “Southern Fuel Alliance” is engaged in wholesale trade of motor fuel, including aviation gasoline, and until recently showed record figures. Its revenue in 2021 amounted to 5.9 billion rubles, net profit – 95.9 million rubles. After Ashla became the sole owner, the company recorded a collapse: revenue decreased by more than 15 times – to 370 million rubles, losses amounted to 29.4 million rubles.

Last year, at the suit of the former founder of UTA LLC Sergey Plyaskota, the court of first instance invalidated the company’s contract with Valentin Vasilchenko on the provision of legal services as not meeting the interests and goals of the company. The defendant did not provide documentary evidence confirming their reality.

The court decision contains the plaintiff’s opinion that the purpose of the agreement was to withdraw funds from the company’s accounts and avoid paying dividends in its favor.

In the summer of 2022, Plyaskota was forced to withdraw from the membership of UTA LLC and transfer the remaining share to Yulia Ashla. He demanded payment of the actual value of the share. According to the balance sheet submitted by Ashla herself to the Federal Tax Service, for 2021 the net assets of the company amounted to 209.654 million rubles. 50 percent of this amount – 104.827 million rubles. But the CEO refused to comply with this condition.

After the submission of official reports, she conducted an audit that showed more than half the value of the assets, based on which the plaintiff’s share should have been 40.447 million rubles.

“The denial by the defendant of the reliability of his own financial statements in order to underestimate the actual value of the plaintiff’s share is an abuse of the right and is not subject to protection by virtue of Article 10 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. For the same reason, the court considers it inappropriate to appoint an examination in the case, since only UTA LLC, which has the exclusive opportunity to dose information and documents submitted for examination in its own interests, has the entirety of the accounting documentation and information,” the court decision says.

The case is now on appeal. Other processes involving members of the Volosnikova family are also ongoing. Their results may affect the oil products market not only in the Krasnodar Territory, but also in Russia as a whole.