Adding to the legacy
Thirty years ago, real estate in Crimea was a predominantly criminal sphere. Graduates of the military-political construction school Sergei Aksenov and Andrei Rostenko, now the head of Crimea and former mayor of Yalta, respectively, began their entrepreneurial activities in this economic sector. They still have an interest in old buildings.
Not officers
Head of Crimea Sergey Aksenov and the ex-mayor of Yalta Andrey Rostenko have known each other since their youth. Both studied at the same time at the Simferopol Higher Military-Political Construction School, which they graduated from in the troubled 1990s. The country, the old politics and the Soviet army suddenly ended, the career of a political instructor in a construction battalion ceased to be attractive. Judging by the official biographies, both young military builders took off their shoulder straps and went into real estate. In those years, “brothers” worked there, and the press openly hinted that both Rostenko and Aksenov had “call signs” Rostik and Goblin, respectively.
Sergei Aksyonov not only became the owner of a significant number of real estate properties, including in the center of Simferopol, which his family still rents out. He made a political career: in 2010, during the last elections of the Ukrainian period of Crimea, the party “Russian Unity” headed by him received three mandates out of a hundred in the Supreme Council. For comparison: the Communist Party of Ukraine and the Crimean Tatar Kurultai-Rukh received five seats in parliament at that time. Aksyonov managed to come to an agreement with the “Party of Regions”, which took 80 mandates. By 2014, when Crimea became part of Russia (*aggressor country), Andrei Rostenko rose to the position of general director in the Simferopol OOO Termodomwhich is still involved in real estate rental and management. There were persistent rumors that Aksyonov and Rostenko were either related or in-laws, but the latter publicly denied them.
In power
In the spring of 2014, Sergei Aksyonov became the head of Crimea and the chairman of the government. Rostenko, appointed by him, worked in Yalta from August 21, 2014: first as the first deputy mayor, and in November of the same year he began to perform the duties of the head of the Yalta city administration. Here it should be explained that the Yalta administration governs not only the city itself. The concept of “Greater Yalta” includes another 31 settlements from Artek and Okhotnichye to Foros. That is, Rostenko's command included 70 km of “golden” coastal land and the surrounding mountains. In the following two and a half years, many interesting events took place in Yalta.
Immediately after taking office, Andrei Rostenko and his family moved into a luxurious house known as the “general's villa” on the territory of the Zhemchuzhina sanatorium. The rent was set at 29 thousand rubles per month. This price corresponds to the rent of a one-room apartment in Yalta, but not an elite villa. However, as it turned out later, the mayor did not even pay for utilities – after his departure, debts were discovered.
By mid-2017, criminal cases had been opened involving several instances of unjustified changes in the purpose of land plots, registration of rights and lease agreements. According to the investigation, due to the fault of local officials, the city budget did not receive enough money when selling the land. over 2.3 billion rubles. A number of city officials and the city's chief architect were fired. Andrei Rostenko managed to leave himself – according to Aksyonov, this was his demand.
On bail
In May 2018, the former mayor of Yalta was detained in Moscow as part of a criminal case on abuse of office: Mr. Rostenko was accused of leaving a plot of land in city ownership that was supposed to be transferred to a Ministry of Internal Affairs sanatorium.
Sergei Aksyonov assessed the detention of the former head of the Yalta administration as a provocation against the republic's authorities. He took an active part in alleviating the fate of his long-time comrade.
Aksyonov did not agree that the actions of the city administration had caused damage to the republic. And the criminal case in which Rostenko was detained is connected with a land plot in Yalta of 26 acres and is far-fetched. And further:
The head of Crimea has been vigorously working to free Rostenko; deputies of the Russian State Duma elected in Crimea (under Aksyonov's quota) have declared their support for the ex-mayor Andrey Kozenko And Ruslan Balbek. The plot in question was quietly returned to republican ownership. And after two months of imprisonment, the former head of the Yalta administration was released from the pretrial detention center on bail. Rostenko did not admit guilt, declaring his readiness to cooperate with the investigation. Rostenko's name was then mentioned in an unexpected context. On Kirov Avenue in Simferopol, right next to the Crimean government building, he got into a traffic accident.
Cultural heritage
In the same year 2018, Aksyonov’s son Oleg received a cultural heritage site from the late 19th century. “House of the merchant H.K. Chirakhov”known in Simferopol as the “house with dragons.” And soon a new sinecure was found for Rostenko. The Council of Ministers carried out a structural reorganization: to begin with, the State Committee for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, which was a separate structure in the government of Crimea, was merged with the Ministry of Culture. Andrey Rostenko took the position of head of the department of state protection of cultural heritage. In particular, it is necessary to coordinate construction permits in the protected areas of historical sites with the state committee. In October 2020, by order of the Prime Minister of the Crimean government, Andrey Rostenko was appointed Deputy Minister of Culture of the Republic of Crimea. They were well versed in real estate there – the Minister of Culture at that time was Arina Novoselskayawho is currently serving a 10-year sentence for taking bribes from construction workers.
It is quite possible that Rostenko still has some obligations to a number of business structures from the time he was the head of the Yalta administration. Recently, the information policy department of the department for ensuring the activities of the head of the Yalta city administration disseminated information that four historical mansions in Yalta have officially become cultural heritage sites of regional significance. These are the House of the doctor and public figure S.Ya. Elpatyevsky on Lesi Ukrainka, 12, the mansion-rental country house of Meller-Zakomelsky on Khalturina, 11, the mansion of Natalia Aleksandrovna
Depp, also known as “Chernomor's Castle” on Pavlenko, 5 and the Govalo merchants' apartment building – also known as the “Gray Blackbirds” dacha.
Cultural heritage sites are protected by the state. Their demolition, alteration of appearance or interior is prohibited. For example, air conditioning cannot be installed on the facade.
Regarding the increase in the number of monuments, the press service quotes the head of the Yalta administration Yanina Pavlenko:
Such warm words addressed to a predecessor with an ambiguous reputation mean at least that Rostenko's shares and potential are valued quite highly in the upper echelons of Crimean power. Perhaps he still has some interests or prospects in Yalta.
Dilapidated housing
The house on Khalturin, which has become a cultural heritage site, until recently housed a women's clinic, but now it has been evicted. The other buildings mentioned are ordinary old, not very well-maintained apartment buildings.
Probably, now (under the pretext of restoration, for example) it will be easier to evict the residents from there and wisely dispose of the living space in the city center. Because the building – an object of cultural heritage – can be sold to a private person. And in Yalta there are such examples: an old mansion on the embankment at one time went to the Soviet-Ukrainian singer Sofia Rotaru.