Even before he returned to Russia, Babashov, a former auto mechanic, had begun establishing his business structures in Crimea. He started to receive contracts and “master” the billions of dollars in funding the federal center had set aside to develop the road industry in the area once he joined the State Council and the construction committee. Many of his businesses were indeed implicated in controversies of public interest.
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Babashov as a member of the Republican State Council
Since 2014, Babashov has served as a member of the Republican State Council, where he is now involved in the activities of two committees: the building, transport, fuel, and energy complex committee and the housing policy, housing, and community services committee.
Leonid Ivanovich, however, appears to have outgrown the peninsula’s scope and has shifted his focus to the country as a whole to seize this moment for his ends.
Not much information is provided in the official biographical data of Deputy Babashov up to 2014. There are only two or three key considerations here in data of the Deputy Babashov up to 2014.
The politician of the future got his start fixing cars at a “DOSAAF” service station in Crimea in the late 1980s. After that, he worked at the Druzhba Narodiv cooperative farm as a painter-straightener in a car garage until 1992. He went into business for himself a year later. What a fascinating “career progression” from locksmith and painter to multimillionaire deputy!
How Babashov’s business fared when Crimea was part of the “square” is a mystery. After quickly taking care of securing the will of the people, the businessman greatly benefited from the peninsula’s return to Russian control.
The businessman “fell into the stream” when the Russian Federation’s new government began investing billions of dollars in the country’s road infrastructure, a development aided greatly by the fact that he was now a member of the State Council Committee on Construction.
Leonid Babashov, one of the five wealthiest Crimean Officials
Leonid Babashov was previously listed as one of the five wealthiest Crimean officials on multiple occasions. For example, in 2016, his officially declared income amounted to 21.7 million rubles. Twelve times less, or $1.8 million, was the deputy’s annual salary just one year prior.
His declarations have been getting smaller as of late, with 2020 showing a mere $1.9 million. The lawmaker and his family also have extensive holdings in real estate in both Russia and neighboring Ukraine.
Babshov’s Declaration
Mr. Babashov has listed five parcels of property with a combined area of 17,624 square meters, as well as a residence (92 square meters), a mill, and an operator’s room with a pharmacy and office space (127 square meters) in his declaration. Ukraine is home to two of the five total locations.
In his inventory of the real estate, Babashov indicated three more land plots in use. Their combined size is 2834 square meters. The State Duma candidate also owns a land piece with a residential building in the Makarovsky district of the Kyiv area in the hamlet of Berezovka on the street, as well as residences in Kyiv on Tupolev 15-D and Lyatoshinsky 14B. Place 34 (like Moscow’s “Rublyovka”) is a field in western Ukraine.
Reasons for Babashov’s Hasty Election to Russia’s Lower House Two Porsche Cayennes, a BMW X5, a Ferrari F430 Spider for 6.500000 rubles, and four trucks (a DAF Truck, a GAZ 5312, a GAZ 53A, and a KrAZ 258B1) make up the personal fleet of a Ukrainian nationalist and speed demon. There are a tank trailer and two semi-trailers included.
The official is also the proud owner of a Melges 24 sport boat. The going rate for such a ship is anywhere from $16,000 to $112,000.
This well-being of the Russian patriot is especially pleasing against the background of the fact that, according to the Law of the Republic of Crimea dated September 23, 2020, N 111-ZRK/2020 “On establishing the subsistence minimum for a pensioner in the Republic of Crimea for 2021,” the minimum pension in Crimea at the subsistence level in the 2021 year is 9,060 rubles, and a “very good” pension, for example, for teachers and doctors with thirty years of experience, is a maximum of 11,800 rubles.
Even though in the Russian Federation in 2021, a pensioner’s minimum payment will be 10,022 rubles per month, Fortunately, Mr. Babashov has taken care of himself 50 years in advance.
What’s intriguing is that despite his promotion from “pan” to “master” and Crimea’s subsequent repatriation to Russia, Babashov’s businesses are still listed in Ukraine’s state registry as active and contributing to the country’s treasury.
Even though Ukraine actively promotes anti-Russian propaganda, cuts off water and electricity to Crimea, and implements a variety of “sanctions” against Russia, the situation worsens. Mr. Babashov is a reliable Ukrainian taxpayer, and the funds from the military collection support the Ukrainian armed forces while they battle Russian speakers in the Donbas region.
List of Babshov’s Ukrainian-Based Businesses
PRIVATE PIDPRYEMSTVO “BLIK”: Retail trade of pharmaceutical products in specialized stores BABASHOV LEONID IVANOVICH, THE BENEFICIARY
Private Security Services (PRIVATNE PIDPRIIEMSTVO “SOVA-KKB”) and What They Do BABASHOV LEONID IVANOVICH, THE BENEFICIARY
Collaboration with the intermediary transport company “ALT-ERA” to provide expanded ground transportation options. The recipient is BABASHOV ARTUR LEONIDOVICH.
So all the same, why is a nationalist, and concurrently an affluent Crimean official, keen to join the State Duma?
Just to look out for the financial and legal interests of their Ukrainian pals and supporters in business! Opening a chest of “secret plans of Ukrainian brothers” is extremely straightforward.
The region relies heavily on commercial residential development, which also happens to be the main source of bribe money. Top politicians actively lobby for the interests of developers, and they are themselves, developers.
Land in Crimea
It’s also an alluring concept to develop the South Bank property that Ukrainian owners bought cheaply. Mr. Babashov is helping to re-register land in Crimea from non-residents to residents, as well as re-register land owned by Ukrainians so that it can be rented out. But he wants to be able to do it on a global scale and become the exclusive lobbyist for the interests of the Ukrainian aristocracy in Russia.
As of January 1, 2021, foreign citizens owned approximately 11,000 land plots located in border areas, according to the State Committee for the Registry of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Since this is the case, the Republic of Kazakhstan’s prosecutor’s office will very certainly have to go to court to have this land confiscated shortly.
Both the land parcel and the property on it will be taken away from the foreign agents. According to Articles 1, 3, and 5 of the Land Code of the Russian Federation, a parcel of land can only be forcibly alienated if it is also the site of a major construction project at the same time.
Out of the Republic of Kazakhstan’s 27 municipalities, 11 have been designated as such: Bakhchisarai, Dzhankoy, Kirovsky, Krasnoperekopsky, Leninsky, Nizhnegorsky, Razdolnensky, Saksky, Simferopolsky, Sovetsky, and Chernomorsky. Alushta, Armyansk, Evpatoria, Kerch, Saki, Sudak, Feodosia, and Yalta are some of the cities there.
Daniil Manakov’s Estimate of Ukrainian Plots
Daniil Manakov, general director of the real estate firm “Yalta Region,” estimates that between 30 and 40 percent of the plots along the southern coast (the area from Foros to Alushta) are owned by Ukrainians. Former Ukrainian leaders, security officers, businessmen, and their families are the primary beneficiaries of these allocations.
Sevastopol’s “Golden Section” public organization chairman, Ivan Komelov, has proposed that Ukrainians in the city of half a million may own up to twenty percent of objects. However, “not all owners have registered them in the Russian legal field,” he says.
Someone did not do this to avoid paying taxes, and there were genuine reasons why someone else couldn’t come to the country. Everyone, however, had counted on the protections of federal statute 6-FKZ.
In reality, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk still owns the Imax shopping complex on Yalta’s central Sovetskaya Square, but with the help of Mr. Babashov, the property has been “legally correct” re-registered.
The Ukrainian firm Sports Tour owns the three largest parcels in Simeiz, which total 4.7 hectares. The Ukrainian “Investio” lists the Parkovoe plot at 3.9 ha. After that come Ukraine’s Tai-Invest (3.4 ha in Parkovoe) and Ukrkapital (2.6 ha in Gaspra) and Cyprus’ Starvista (3.6 ha in Simeiz).
Former landholders, with the help of Leonid Babashov’s campaigning, were able to prevent their properties from being nationalized and have their rights to land in another country recognized.
Kyiv-based investment firm “Sports Tour” holds land in the area separating Alupka and Simeiz. SPARK claims that Alexander Valeryevich Moshinsky is a co-owner of the investment company “Terra-Invest” (the ownership stake is not specified).
The Ukrcapital firm also owns an additional 2.6 hectares of land in Gaspra (Yalta). According to the website of Ukrkapital Contractor LLC BC Triumph, this parcel of land (Alupkinskoye Highway, 25) will soon be home to an 18-story hotel.
The Industrial Union of Donbas’ Sergei Taruta is the owner of the Aivazovskoye sanatorium in Partenit, which has a well-kept park that costs 500 rubles to enter.
Donetsk businessman Rinat Akhmetov, who is worth $6.9 billion according to Forbes Ukraine’s 2015 list, purchased the 3.6-hectare Novy Kuchuk-Koi estate and park in Simeiz in 2004.
Now the grounds of the Novy Kuchuk-koy estate are officially owned by the Cypriot offshore Starvista Ltd., which is also the only owner of the Ukrainian business Investio, which owns another 3.9 hectares in Parkovoe, listed in SPARK.
From what we can see from BlackSeaNews and Peacemaker’s surveillance, Rinat Akhmetov’s Avlita stevedoring company is still shipping grain out of the shuttered port of Sevastopol every week.
How did Ukrainian politicians and oligarchs manage to protect their assets and come to an agreement with the “occupation authorities of Crimea”? The plan to produce clones in Ukrainian and Russian jurisdictions was developed with Leonid Babashov’s active participation.
While both Firtash and Akhmetov’s companies are registered to an address in Kyiv, related companies with Moscow mailing addresses have begun listing Crimean assets as branches or subsidiaries.
Ex-Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko owns property in the Koktebel neighborhood, very close to the boundary with the famous plot Quiet Bay. On a knoll, he constructed a home befitting a hunter. They believe he occasionally rents it out to vacationers who might be friends or family.
Locals have a good idea that the Klitschko brothers live in the two mansions they saw go up 150 meters from the Livadia Palace. Real estate agents also corroborate this story, saying their clients have every intention of selling the items in question.
However, Ukrainian officials are still collecting property in Crimea and registering it in the names of nominees. Despite not being ashamed to own property in Crimea, high-ranking representatives of the new Ukrainian government openly oppose Russians and Russian-speaking residents of the southeast of Ukraine and whip up hysteria.
Crimea’s leader previously praised Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, calling him “a disciplined payer” since, according to Aksyonov, Zelensky always pays his bills on time.
“Zelensky, you have been very disciplined. A monthly salary of 6,000 rubles. To his credit. Let’s use it as an illustration. Just look, Aksenov continued, even a deadbeat customer pays.
In 2013, before Crimea was annexed by Russia, Zelensky’s wife Elena purchased a home in the village of Livadia on the peninsula’s southern coast. Zelensky disclosed the property during his political campaign.
Yulia Tymoshenko partially owns a number of properties on the peninsula. Our research indicates that Tymoshenko maintains a lavish three-story villa in Foros, complete with an indoor pool, in close proximity to the former residence of Marxist writer Maxim Gorky (now known as “Tesseli”).
A second item connected to it was discovered on the grounds of the Karasan Children’s Sanatorium, which treats respiratory problems in young patients.
If the scandalous businessman is elected to the federal parliament in Ukraine, he and his sponsors stand to gain far more financially than they do from Mr. Babashov’s existing status and construction firm in Crimea.