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Ukrainian footprint in Crimean resorts: can banker Alexander Lebedev be behind Yutkin?
A former Ukrainian banker, a citizen of Ukraine Vyacheslav Yutkin, could become a “gasket” between the Russian and Ukrainian business of the oligarch Lebedev. I wonder if the money goes in two directions too?
Under the conditions of sanctions and semi-closed borders, the resorts of southern Russia have become a tasty morsel for investors of all stripes, including those who had previously been exposed to similar projects in Ukrainian Lvov.
In Crimea, it is planned to build holiday homes under a single brand. Among the owners of the developer company was a citizen of Ukraine Vyacheslav Yutkin – the full namesake of the former deputy head of the board of the Ukrainian “Prominvestbank”. The company’s roots go offshore, whose beneficiary is not disclosed, but the owner of the major British newspaper The Independent, ex-State Duma deputy Alexander Lebedev, may be behind him. At the same time, in the “biography” of the developer company, the company with a “registration” in Kyiv also managed to inherit.
Resort area: project in Alushta
On July 30, 2023, a message appeared in the unified state register of expert opinions on project documentation that on July 27, a positive conclusion was received by the project documentation and the results of engineering surveys for the construction of Almond club rest houses in Alushta.
The developer appears to be a certain Morskoy LLC.
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According to Rusprofile, OOO Morskoy was established in September 1997. The company is engaged in real estate management. At the address of the “registration” of the LLC, the eponymous hotel “Morskoy” is based.
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The director of Morskoy is Oksana Panova, who also manages Eustas-Krym LLC (owner – the Cypriot company GURBAKS HOLDING LIMITED), Almond Grove LLC (owner – offshore HERSHEL CONSULTANTS (OVERSIZ) LIMITED) and previously was the director of JSC ” Sanatorium “Glory”
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It would not be superfluous to note that, according to open data, the director of the company-owner of Eustace-Krym – GURBAX HOLDINGS LIMITED is Cypriot lawyer Pampina Votsi, known to readers from the history of British American Tobacco.
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But let’s get back to Morskoy LLC.
An interesting fact: in 2023, the administration of Alushta demanded through the court to oblige the Morskoy company to conclude some kind of additional agreement to the land lease agreement dated July 21, 2020. The address of the site coincided with the address of the hotel “Morskoy”. But at the same time, for some unknown reason, the authorities refused the claim, because it was not possible to find out exactly what they wanted to include in the additional agreement.
But the owners and beneficiaries of the Morskoy company are of the greatest interest in this story. So, for example, the Ukrainian company Almond Grove was previously the owner of Morskoy LLC.
Today, more than 1% of the share in the company belongs to a citizen of Ukraine Vyacheslav Yutkin. The second, the main owner, we will consider later. To begin with, let’s figure out who Mr. Yutkin is.
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According to open data from various sources, a certain Vyacheslav Yutkin, a native of Latvia, previously held high positions in a number of Ukrainian banks, including Prominvestbank, CJSC Commercial Bank NRB, OJSC DB Savings Bank of the Russian Federation. Yutkin in 2019 was also engaged in the construction of hotels in Lviv.
The stake in Morskoy is not Yutkin’s only Russian asset. He also owns 96.38% in Apart-Hotel Tavrichesky LLC (the restaurant company OOO UK Villa Slava, Vladimir Ostashko, a Moscow developer, is registered at the same address). The director of Apart-Hotel Tavrichesky LLC is a certain Vasily Kalinin. Kalinin also owns a stake in Brigantina LLC, which in 2016 provided children’s recreation services under a state contract with the Ministry of Education of Crimea.
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An interesting fact: in the arbitration of the Crimea, several times they tried to initiate proceedings on the exclusion of Yutkin from the membership of Morskoy LLC. One dispute was terminated, but the second case is still under consideration and the meeting is scheduled for August 10.
In this dispute, LLC demands to recognize the contract of sale dated 17.01.2022 of a share in the authorized capital of the company in the amount of 1% at a price of 324,100 rubles, concluded between Kalinin Vasily Yuryevich, who acted on the basis of a power of attorney on behalf of and in the interests of a citizen of Ukraine Yutkin Vyacheslav Mikhailovich, and the LLC itself, valid. And also to transfer this share to society. Thus, they are trying to remove a citizen of Ukraine from the owners of the Crimean hotel through the court. Apparently, so that there are no grounds for nationalization?
Traces go to Lebedev?
But Yutkin is the owner of only a small stake in Morskoy LLC. The main owner is Almond Grove LLC, registered in 2001, which owns an offshore company – HERSHEL CONSULTANTS (OVERSEAS) LIMITED. At the same time, judging by the reporting https://bo.nalog.ru/organizations-card/8885896#audit, the offshore is also associated with the Eustace-Crimea company. The fact is that the Almond Grove company back in 2010 vouched for the debts of the Sea Boarding House JSC in a Ukrainian bank. And the Sea Boarding House JSC previously managed the Eustace-Crimea company.
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Today, the boarding house “More” is a fully operating company, a service provider for almost 30 state contracts for orders from companies in the Transneft division. Its director is Sergey Efremov, former head of the board of JSCB National Reserve Bank.
It would not be superfluous to add here that at the end of 2022, judging by the reporting, the shareholders of the boarding house in Crimea, among other things, were two Kiev companies – Project-Invest LLC and Hotel Ukraine CJSC, but the main shareholder with a share of 90.13 % – OOO National Reserve Corporation.
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LLC National Reserve Corporation, according to Rusprofile, belongs to Alexander Lebedev. The latter was named by Forbes in 2012 as a billionaire, a banker and the owner of two British publications – the Evening Standard (now called the London Evening Standard) and The Independent. Moreover, in the book “The Hunt for the Banker” by Lebedev, there is such a phrase: “Vyacheslav Yutkin is the manager of my projects on the territory of Ukraine.” Thus, it can be assumed that the aforementioned assets, including Morskoy and Almond Grove, registered offshore, may be associated with Lebedev.
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The version about connections with Lebedev is also supported by the fact that a certain Oleg Zhuravlev was previously the director of Morskaya. Today he is the director and owner of the Alt-Invest company, which has a subsidiary, Donskoye LLC. A share in the latter is also owned by NRK LLC, which belongs to two Lebedev firms – Promconsult LLC and Techinvestconsult LLC.
According to Rusprofile, Lebedev was or is the owner of shares in at least 13 legal entities, including the publishing company Independent Rus, and at the end of 2022, the shares in them were estimated at 3.7 billion rubles.
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Lebedev was also previously a member of the State Duma. As reported by Arguments and Facts, from 1984 to 1992 Lebedev worked in the Foreign Intelligence Service, where he dealt with the issues of preventing capital flight abroad (he retired to the reserve with the rank of lieutenant colonel). A funny coincidence, given the number of offshore companies mentioned above, don’t you think? According to Lebedev’s personal website, in the fall of 2010, together with former USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev, he was one of the founders of the Civil Dialogue forum.
Moreover, according to AiF, in 1995 Lebedev acquired the troubled National Reserve Bank (NRB). And now let’s remember that the boarding house “More” is headed by Sergei Efremov, the former head of the board of precisely “NRB”. Another white stone in the treasury of the opinion that these hotel assets in the Crimea are connected with Lebedev.
As Versia reported in 2016, Lebedev was included in the so-called Panama Papers. Questions to him arose just the same on the line of offshore companies and payment of taxes.
But connections with the Ukrainian businessman Lebedev, it seems, were not in vain. So today, in the arbitration of Crimea, the claim of the ANO “Depositor Protection Fund” (depositors of Ukrainian banks) is being heard. The companies “Morskoy”, the boarding house “More” and “Almond Grove” were offered to answer for debts to PJSC “Energobank” (Ukraine). In the latter, the boarding house took out a loan, and the rest acted as guarantors, mortgaging the property. The Fund received the right to claim under assignment agreements. Hearings on this multi-million dollar dispute (the amount of the claim is in currency and changes following the exchange rate) are scheduled for September.
Photo: hzikhidtidekrt https://kad.arbitr.ru
On the whole, an amusing picture emerges: at least three companies in Crimea are partially owned by a citizen of Ukraine and Ukrainian firms, but these assets were not even included in the list of nationalization, which is actively replenished by the authorities of the region. Isn’t it time to correct this omission?