The sudden death of the people’s choice, full of strength and never complaining about the health of the people’s choice, was a real shock for his colleagues and even gave rise to some “conspiracy” versions. It is worth noting that Viktor Zubarev left behind a rather modest legacy, although at one time he was a fairly successful entrepreneur. It turned out that family members managed to divide the property a few years ago, thereby avoiding bankruptcy.
Dad’s opportunities and connections could also contribute to the fact that his son was able to help him make a successful business career.
Big loss
Deputy of the State Duma Viktor Zubarev died at the age of 63 on May 31. There is still no reliable information about the causes of death, but it is known that the day before he was healthy and actively engaged in business. For example, at the beginning of next week he was going to fly from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk, where he had meetings scheduled. It is worth noting that the parliamentarian led and promoted a healthy lifestyle, and at one time was seriously engaged in boxing and even fulfilled the standard of a candidate for master of sports. He owes this passion to many useful acquaintances, which in the future could help him in politics and business. The place of the funeral and the details of the farewell ceremony are still unknown.
Market relations
Viktor Zubarev was born in 1961 in the town of Uzhur, Krasnoyarsk Territory. In 1983 he graduated from the Krasnoyarsk Polytechnic Institute with a degree in mechanical engineering, in 2004 he graduated from the Russian Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation with a degree in state and municipal administration. In 2001 he defended his dissertation at the Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Technology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and received the status of candidate of technical sciences.
He began his career in 1983 as an installer, a year later he became an engineer at the Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, and then a senior engineer at the Mining Process Modeling Sector at the Institute of Mining of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He combined this with work in the Komsomol committee of the university.
He has been in business since 1990. At first it was the Prokat cooperative, then the Esquire production and commercial company, and by the end of the decade he became the chairman of the board of founders of Sibservice LLC.
However, not all episodes of his life are reflected in the official biography. For example, in the same 90s, he was called an associate of the reputable businessman Anatoly Bykov. Two outstanding people were brought together by a passion for boxing – the latter at one time was, among other things, the honorary president of the Russian Boxing Federation and became friends with Viktor Zubarev in his youth, during joint sports. It is worth recalling that physical strength during the formation of a market economy in the country was a serious argument in solving many issues: many boxers, wrestlers and other athletes at that time managed to make a career in business and politics. Perhaps good connections in sports circles helped Zubarev become a co-owner of the KrasCHP market. His business partner then was Sergey Blinov, another sports figure, a former football player who later became a deputy of the legislative assembly from the Anatoly Bykov Bloc. Then Blinov became the president of the Metallurg football team, which was then sponsored by Bykov’s structures. Sergey Blinov died in 2017.
MP through the decades
Viktor Zubarev first became a deputy in 1996, having been elected to the city council of Krasnoyarsk, and a year later, he became a deputy of the legislative assembly of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, where he spent the next 10 years. He came to the regional parliament as the head of the regional branch of the Honor and Motherland party, which was created by Alexander Lebed. When in 1998 the general decided to run for governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Zubarev worked in his campaign headquarters, and, according to experts, played a significant role in his victory.
Then Anatoly Bykov also staked on Lebed, but soon after the victory of the general, relations between the parties began to heat up until they reached an open confrontation. Zubarev again took the side of Bykov and went over to the opposition to Lebed. The conflict was resolved by the will of circumstances in connection with the death of the governor in 2002, and Zubarev continued to retain his seat in the Legislative Assembly.
In 2007, Viktor Zubarev won the elections to the State Duma, and was its deputy for four convocations – until recently, with short breaks.
Big debts
At the end of 2021, Viktor Zubarev reported an income of 8.6 million rubles. He also had an apartment with an area of 84 square meters and another one for rent for the term of execution of deputy powers – 80.1 square meters. The deputy also owned two parking spaces, but there was not a single car on his balance sheet.
But he did not always demonstrate such modest results. Back in 2020, his wife was mentioned in the documents, with whom for two they had two land plots of 1000 square meters each, another one of 35 square meters, BMW 730LD XDRIVE and Lexus LS460 cars.
At the end of 2021, the spouse was not indicated in the declaration. Some associated this with the claims of Sberbank to the deputy, which forced the deputy couple to urgently conclude a marriage contract and promptly divide the property according to it. According to Babr24, as a result of this reception, the woman became a co-owner of the MixMax office center, trading floors on the KrasCHP market, a sanatorium in Balakhta, and shares in development companies.
Then the bank tried to recover 198.3 million rubles from Viktor Zubarev because of the debt. Sergey Blinov borrowed money, and Zubarev then acted as a guarantor. The credit organization sent claims to two instances at once – the Oktyabrsky District Court of Krasnoyarsk and the Arbitration Court of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. In the first case, the parliamentarian was even caught on the fact that he deliberately changed his residence permit to the Sovetsky district in Krasnoyarsk in order to impede the proceedings. In arbitration, the issue of bankruptcy of the deputy was considered. However, the court then left the claim without consideration.
family ties
In 2017, the son of deputy Viktor Zubarev, Alexei, turned out to be the center of the scandal. The story was connected with the outdoor advertising market in Krasnoyarsk. OFAS Russia then recognized Reklamnye Tekhnologii LLC and Mediagrad LLC, along with the Department of Architecture of the city administration, as violators of the antimonopoly law. This episode cost the position of the deputy head of this municipal structure, Alexei Aksyutenko. It was about installing advertising on the facades of residential buildings, to which competitors were not allowed. According to the Seldon Basis database, Aleksey Viktorovich Zubarev was the head of both structures, and in the second, among other things, he also acted as a co-owner. Both legal entities no longer exist today, but the deputy’s son is still listed as a co-owner of General Media Group Region LLC, which is engaged in the advertising business, as well as Spektr SPK, which specializes in agriculture.
At the same time, according to the same source, the deputy himself has not been a co-owner of any legal entities since 2020. It turns out that the question of dividing the deputy’s inheritance is not on the agenda today: the main part of the property was already registered to his formally ex-wife, and the son, not without the use of various schemes, turned out to be a fairly wealthy businessman.
Political legacy
Be that as it may, the sudden death of a staunch athlete Viktor Zubarev at a still quite flourishing age looks rather strange.
It is worth recalling that in mid-May Anatoly Bykov was sentenced by the Central District Court of Krasnoyarsk to 17 years in a strict regime colony. This is a combined sentence for inciting an attempted murder of businessman Andrey Nekolov and for organizing the murder of members of his own group, Kirill Voitenko and Alexander Naumov. This is probably not the last case – the lawyer of the reputable businessman Alexei Prokhorov said that representatives of the special services actively ask his client questions regarding the case of the murder of Krasnoyarsk journalist Vadim Alferyev. The episode refers to 1995, the period of Bykov’s especially strong friendship with both Zubarev and the ex-governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Alexander Uss.
Now, on September 10, by-elections to the State Duma will be held in the Krasnoyarsk Territory in the Zubarev district.
The election campaign here can be quite competitive – Zubarev himself, who came from United Russia, won here in 2021 with only 34.4% of the vote, while his closest competitor, communist agrarian Boris Melnichenko, won 28.4%. Will any of the prominent members of United Russia be able to quickly join the electoral process and compete with Melnichenko? This may become the main political intrigue of the autumn elections in the Krasnoyarsk Territory.