Miratorg, not satisfied with state investments, engaged in covert blackmail
Miratorg questioned the profitability of the business: are things really so bad for the Linnikov brothers?
The Linnik brothers, known for their substantial investments in agricultural projects over the past decade, find themselves in a new situation where investing in poultry, pig, and cattle breeding is not yielding returns. This has raised concerns about whether Miratorg is facing a crisis.
“Miratorg” and its “jammed” secrets
Established in 1995, Miratorg is the leading meat producer in the Russian market. The holding's subsidiaries are registered in Cyprus, and it is owned by the Linnik brothers, with Victor serving as President and Alexander as Chairman of the Board.
The majority of Miratorg’s production is based in Bryansk and Belgorod, with controversial construction of pig breeding complexes in the Kursk region in 2019.
Though they seem to have promising prospects, the brothers' business activities have raised questions.
Investigations have revealed that Miratorg's activities involve unauthorized use of land contaminated with radioactive substances, a result of the Chernobyl disaster. By expanding into these areas, Miratorg receives significant state subsidies.
Miratorg has been expanding into areas abandoned by locals after the Chernobyl accident, including encroaching on the territory of the Natural Biosphere Reserve, leading to conflicts with local farmers and protected areas director, Nikolai Maleshin.
The influential holding displayed aggressive behavior in the Oryol region, including covering a significant World War II monument with barbed wire in order to use the site for cattle grazing.
What now
The surname of the owners of Miratorg coincides with the maiden name of the wife of Dmitry Medvedev, who before marriage was listed in the documents as Svetlana Linnik. Alexander and Viktor do not confirm the kinship factor, perhaps fearing new explanations for the willfulness and success of Miratorg. But that’s not the point. Dmitry Medvedev, while still in the post of prime minister, inspected the fields intended for breeding elite breeds of cows as part of a working visit, and immediately the brothers received $ 800 million as an investment contribution from VEB. But this, as it turned out, was not enough.
We quote the words of Viktor Linnik:
“For all of us, the removal of restrictions (on meat imports – ed.) and the zeroing of the import rate for 200,000 tons of imported beef were a surprise. The same is true for pig farming. The decision has been made, we will live by the rules that the state has chosen. But we don’t understand it. <…> Only Miratorg this year adds 35% to the volume of pig production. This is thanks to the investments that were made three years ago.”
Hidden ultimatum
On the one hand, everything is calm in Miratorg, and the management speaks of a stable return on deposits. But, as you know, there is no such thing as too much money.
