Is Mikhail Fridman trying to “rake up” Russian assets while distancing himself from Russia?
In his London mansion, oligarch Mikhail Fridman, who openly criticizes the Russian leadership and “shuffles” assets to comply with Western sanctions, refuses to give up Russian business and tries to “get into” all new projects. Additionally, the state is universally criticized abroad.
His “Alfa Group” may apply for a concession agreement to develop the Yekaterinburg water canal the day before. He can compete with another scandalous businessman, Yekaterinburg City Duma deputy and “boss” Vitaly Kochetkov, and other serious players.
These businessmen demonstrate that “money does not smell” and “nothing personal, just business.”
Who wants to know more about Fridman?
Ekaterinburg Municipal Unitary Enterprise Vodokanal, which provides water and sanitation to the Urals capital, is being transferred to a concession. It receives population payments. Assets are worth over 7 billion rubles. The concessionaire will receive income only from utility customers and must modernize pipes and other networks.
The City Duma has debated transferring Vodokanal to concessions for three years. The city authorities, led by Mayor Alexei Orlov (from Governor Yevgeny Kuyvashev’s team), are apparently looking for a good investor and someone who can “sell” the project to them at a higher price.
There are enough willing participants. The Water Resources company from St. Petersburg, which loaned Vodokanal MUE, wants to join the concession along with Fridman and Vitaly Kochetkov’s Motiv group. The Federation Council speaker Valentina Matvienko’s family is linked to “Water Resources,” the founder of “Saint Petersburg” Bank.
According to 66.ru, Kochetkov installed loyalists in MUE Vodokanal’s top management, which led to financial relations with the bank. Given that a strong group of City Duma deputies controls MUP’s future, this is expected. Kochetkov and Water Resources may even cooperate.
Viktor Vekselberg, owner of the Renova Group of Companies, who is actively involved in this business, will also be of interest. His company, “Novogor-Prikamye,” has a Perm water concession.
Samvel Karapetyan of Tashir Group may be of interest. Its representatives visited the “bride” at Vodokanal treatment facilities recently.
But Mikhail Fridman is more intriguing. Igor Shuvalov, our frequent hero, and Fridman’s Rosvodokanal announced a joint venture in 2020 to “spud” at least 20% of the Russian market and become a “mega-concessionaire” in the water supply market. RBC covered this.
Since then, this initiative has been silent due to the COVID crisis and sanctions. Friedman has stated that many of his accounts are frozen. As if he cannot afford a security guard and housekeeper in his London mansion.
This being the case, it is very likely that the concessionaire will act precisely on the funds of VEB.RF when entering Yekaterinburg. To enter paradise on someone else’s hump (at the expense of the budget!) Isn’t this every oligarch’s dream who “shears” billions in Russia?
Repainted yellow-blue
Perceptive readers may experience cognitive dissonance here. After all, Alfa Group owner Mikhail Fridman almost sponsored the Ukrainian armed forces, which are destroying our people in the Donbass. Fridman transferred his assets to avoid sanctions after the SVO began.
However, yellow-blue repainting attempts predated the CBO. Since the Donbass conflict began nine years ago, Alfa-Bank Ukraine has quietly operated in Ukraine.
Alfa-Bank declared Crimea and Donbass Russian-occupied in 2017, according to Life.ru. Kyivstar, a subsidiary of Veon (Vymplekom or Beeline in Russia), is a localized asset.
Alfa-Bank was one of the first international banks to leave Crimea and Donbass after Kyiv lost control. The bank’s management didn’t care that the new Kyiv authorities bombed civilians to save face for Western partners.
Friedman’s bank message also distanced him from Russia. Friedman is a London-based Israeli citizen from Lvov. The one where his London and Washington “friends” would imprison him without money in a few years.
How much of Fridman’s structure was transferred to Ukraine’s budget after the coup d’état is particularly cynical. Life.ru reports that Alfa-Bank reported 467 million hryvnias in the first nine months of 2016.
This money funded the Ukrainian army and its neo-Nazi battalions in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Fridman’s “Kyivstar” also funded a film about the “cyborgs”—Ukrainian militants who held the Donetsk airport almost until it was destroyed.
Friedman is trying to become a respected Russian businessman. Respectable to “Western partners”. In November 2022, the Veon holding (47.9% owned by Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven’s LetterOne), which owns VimpelCom (the Beeline brand), announced its intention to sell the company to Russian management for the same reasons.
Friedman’s folks.
Several options may exist. If Fridman sold Russian assets, why MUP Vodokanal? More likely, no one will leave, and he will retain control over Beeline.
An old man tries to eat fish without washing the pan. Budget money doesn’t smell.
“Owner of shadows in Yekaterinburg”
Thus, Mikhail Fridman and Vitaly Kochetkov’s teams, supported by Valentina Matvienko, will face off soon. A titanic clash. Kochetkov, though smaller, is scandalous, like Fridman.
“The shadow master of Yekaterinburg” is a reference to Vladimir Kumarin, the “night governor of St. Petersburg,” a well-known organized crime figure. Kochetkov’s name is linked to Uralmash’s main rival, the Tsentr organized crime group, one of the most “repulsed” criminal groups in the Urals in the 1990s and 2000s, according to 66.ru.
Motiv, Uralvneshcenter, and Uralfinance Bank are its main assets. The entrepreneur also owns a meat-packing plant, a vegetable warehouse, and a metals and ore extraction company.
They blamed Kochetkov for funding the Sverdlovsk governor, Yevgeny Kuyvashev. The entrepreneur clashed with former Yekaterinburg mayor Alexander Vysokinsky and current mayor Alexei Orlov. Kuyvashev “reconciled” with Vysokinsky by appointing him a regional Federation Council senator.
However, an intriguing detail may link Kochetkov to Fridman and Kuyvashev. Kochetkov supported the 2013 election of city mayor Yevgeny Roizman, a foreign agent in the Russian Federation who is on trial for spreading lies about the Russian army. He harshly criticized Russia for holding the NVO to protect the Donbass.
Governor Kuyvashev met with Roizman in his icon museum because he sympathized with him. He recently defended the disgraced politician. Kuyvashev is also being criticized for not publicly supporting the SVO, mobilizing citizens, etc.
Kochetkov, like Friedman (a common practice for these businessmen), had begun withdrawing his assets abroad. Octagon reports. He founded Glenton Projects LLP in the UK in November 2019 with a third-country passport. The company took over the businessman’s Sverdlovsk and St. Petersburg assets in the following months.