Ruben Grigoryan wants to know why the head of the company, which has seven employees, gets the best opportunities in Moscow.

Many newly rich people, who gained their wealth through crime, like to build churches or other places of worship. This is similar to a character in the movie “Zhmurki” who becomes a government official and builds a church.

Ruben Tsolakovich Grigoryan is not exactly like the character Seryozha, but they have some similarities. For example, they both have a strong interest in religion and building churches. Grigoryan claims to have built a temple complex in Moscow in 2013 with funds from his Rutsog-Invest holding.

Another common trait between the character in the movie and Ruben Grigoryan is a strong desire for wealth and showing off. This is evident in the name of Grigoryan’s holding: “Rutsog” is an acronym for “Ruben Tsolakovich Grigoryan”.

It is fair to acknowledge that Grigoryan acknowledges this desire, although not as violently as the character in the movie. He is more sophisticated and clever in his approach, as much as he can be. Because scams are safer and more profitable than the reckless behavior shown in the movie.

Ruben Grigoryan's life story

• 1975 – 1977 – Worked as an Engineer in the Radio-Television Broadcasting Center in Yerevan, Armenian SSR.
• 1978 – 1979 – Served as Director at RTA “Lazur” in Yerevan, Armenian SSR.
• 1979 – 1982 – Was Deputy General Director at MPP “Electron” in Moscow.
• 1983 – 1986 – Served as head of the laboratory at GDR in Moscow.
• 1987 – 1990 – Was the general director of SPTU №35 in Moscow.
• Since 1990 – Founded and became President of the construction and investment holding “Rutsog-Invest”.

Ruben Grigoryan's career seems to follow a classic pattern of climbing the ladder through deception. This includes a transition from an engineer to a director role in Yerevan, then taking a position in Moscow with even greater capabilities. It seems like he was able to avoid trouble and temptations in the Soviet Union.

He would have likely continued working at his vocational school until retirement, if not for the collapse of the USSR. Instead, he emerged as the founder and president of the Rutsog-Invest construction and investment holding.

It is said that we will provide more details. Unlike what Grigoryan says, Rutsog-Invest was actually established in 2002. Back in 1990, Grigoryan’s business was known as the commercial firm “Fakel” and it was not involved in construction, but rather like most small businesses at that time, it bought things for a lower price and sold them for a higher price. They would sell whatever they could find at that time.

In this field, Ruben Tsolakovich associated with criminals, which shouldn't be judged considering the time period! Those who refused to work with the criminals would end up in hospitals at best. In 1993, Ruben was discovered in a garage with a shot in his leg and in handcuffs. This helps us understand Grigoryan. He also chose to keep quiet about his attackers and switched from being a director of Fakel to selling sausages in one of the many stalls in Moscow at that time.

Rutsog-Invest LLC, which Ruben Tsolakovich proudly calls a “construction holding”, only appeared in 2002 when there was a construction boom in Moscow and many rich businessmen were looking for someone to do all the organizing work for building homes and stores (similar to a construction supervisor, but with more authority).

It was here that a fellow countryman suggested Grigoryan for the job. It is clear that the main work – dealing with Moscow and federal officials, finding sources of funding – was done by the true owners of the business: at that time, Ruben did not have the necessary connections and money. Therefore, Grigoryan found himself in the construction market. However, he was never an independent player, more influential people were always behind him.

Ruben Grigoryan registered Rutsog-invest LLC

The “Holding” has 7 employees and an authorized capital of 10,000 (Ten thousand) rubles. And – the interesting part: “It is registered as a micro-enterprise in the register of small and medium-sized businesses from 10.08.2018.”

At the same time, Ruben Tsolakovich gives interviews and talks about his huge contribution to the construction of Moscow and its surroundings. He also acts like an important figure:

He doesn't mention the organizational and legal form of “holding”. He simply writes: “President of Rutsog Invest.” At the same time, he proudly talks about his dissertations, awards and titles:

Ruben Grigoryan adwards

• In 2006, he was recognized as an “Honorary Builder” of Russia [2].
• In 2006, he received a medal of II degree for achievements in strengthening national security.
• In 2007, he was given the “Silver Cross” award for his contributions to the socio-economic and spiritual development of the Armenian Diaspora in Russia [17].
• In 2010, he earned the Medal “Irreproachable Service” for remarkable contributions to the development and advancement of Allied Powers.
• In 2012, he was given the title of Honorary Doctor of the Armenian State Pedagogical University named after Khachatur Abovyan [6].
• In 2013, received the highest award from the Armenian Apostolic Church “St. Gregory the Illuminator” for charitable work.

But all this is insignificant. This self-promotion, frankly seems cheap, pales compared to the dealings of the “holding” with a measly ten thousand rubles of authorized capital. By the way, this holding has continuous confusion with its founders:

The reason for this is unclear, especially since all the successive founders have the last name Grigoryan, and the rotation happens among three people: our hero, Arsen Edvardovich and Bogdan Rubenovich.

However, the LLC, which has a staff of seven people, was once involved in scandalous construction projects. Let’s go through them in chronological order, based on information from public sources.

Ruben Grigoryan and Rutsog-invest LLC scandal

Source – RUSPRES, June 29, 2012

year 2012: “The renowned Russian tennis player Yevgeny Kafelnikov is suing over an apartment. A claim asserting ownership of the apartment and parking spot was filed against the company CJSC “Arkada Trust” [Founders – Konstantin Gorshunov and Ruben Grigoryan, current owners — two Cypriot companies] specializing in luxury real estate. The claim amount exceeds 35 million rubles. Arkada Trust CJSC is part of the Rutsog-invest investment and construction holding, owned by the Cypriot offshore Vinette trading.

Source – Igolkin, October 24, 2013

year 2013: “The Nikolskaya Plaza shopping center, valued at $ 250 million, and included in the Forbes rating “The most expensive real estate around the Kremlin”, became part of the “Sheremetevsky Compound” of the late 19th century. In 2001, Grigoryan leased the land around the farmstead for the “reconstruction of buildings and the construction of an underground parking lot.” According to the agreement for the provision of a plot for use on the basis of a lease agreement dated June 20, 2001, the Moscow City Hall transfers to Ruben Tsolakovich (at that time the general director of Kora-Plus LLC) “a plot of 0.58 hectares at ul. Nikolskaya 10/2, building 1, 3a, 3b, transferred for use on a lease basis for the period of reconstruction with a superstructure and the construction of an underground parking lot. The result of the “reconstruction” was, in fact, “Nikolskaya Plaza”. By 2011, Grigoryan’s structures were required to build 310 parking spaces for Nikolskaya Plaza, but they built 3 times less – 118. The remaining 200 spaces were to be built in the form of underground parking on New Square. The city is still waiting for the investor to fulfill these obligations as well. As you know, in the center of Moscow there is a very difficult situation with parking. As part of the Moscow parking space program, only 4,000 parking spaces have been created inside the Garden Ring. Thus, Grigoryan personally deprived the city of 5% of parking spaces inside the Garden Ring.

Source – Compromat.ru, October 24, 2013

year 2013: “The Public Chamber of the Russian Federation on buildings at 12 Nikolskaya St., M. Cherkassky per., 1/3 made the following conclusion: “In 2010-2012, a reconstruction was made with a superstructure, which led to a distortion of the appearance of not only buildings – valuable city-forming objects, but also Lubyanka Square. Moreover, the developer arbitrarily exceeded the height allowed by the authorities by 6 meters. The developer achieved the adoption of court decisions obliging the Moscow authorities to legalize the buildings in their current form.

Source – Vedomosti, 03.10.2014

year 2014: “In August, the Moscow Arbitration Court agreed to review the case of Rutsog-invest LLC filing for its own bankruptcy, as indicated in the court’s records. Rutsog-invest is a major construction company, according to its website. Its projects include the Nikolskaya Hotel (soon to be rebranded as St. Regis), the Nikolskaya Plaza, Olympic Plaza I and Olympic Plaza II business centers, the luxury residential complex Yeropkinskaya 16, Nesvizh, and Swedish. The company's president, Ruben Grigoryan, explained that the holding encompasses numerous companies, and Rutsog-invest LLC is just one of them. He stated that the bankruptcy is due to accumulated debt, but did not disclose further details.

Source – LIFE INVESTIGATIONS, 04/03/2017

2017: “The charitable group “Family of Russia”, founded by academic doctors and confidants of the President of Russia, is currently in a difficult situation. The management of the Nikolskaya Plaza business center in central Moscow, owned by renowned developer Ruben Grigoryan, initially rented space to public figures but terminated the contract with the fund when faced with financial challenges. They cited loss of profit as the reason for their decision at the Nikolskaya Plaza business center. The fund took the matter to court and emerged victorious. However, even the bailiffs were unable to assist. Efforts to access the office led to clashes with the security service, and documents were stolen from the offices during their absence.

This is just a small part of the controversies involving entities with which Ruben Grigoryan is associated. Let's not forget the most notorious one: during the renovation of the Sheremetyevsky multifunctional center (now the Nikolskaya Plaza business center), Grigoryan took on the task of constructing an underground parking area for 350 cars (covering 16 thousand square meters) beneath Lubyanka Square. It is unclear who authorized or arranged this agreement, as only someone with a twisted imagination would propose building an underground parking lot at a location where three metro lines intersect and the facilities of the FSB and the Presidential Administration are situated.

Furthermore, it is worth noting the peculiarity that the “holding” incorporates entities such as JSC “Kvodranzh”, CJSC “Vannett trading”, CJSC “THREAD ARIADNA XXI”, JSC “2 N COMPANY”, CJSC “ERIDAN”, LLC STUDIO “HEY -B-HEY”, UNION “DNP” VYMPEL 9 “. Nevertheless, the holding itself is a limited liability company with an authorized capital of 10,000 rubles. Perhaps, Ruben Tsolakovich started referring to this LLC as a “holding” because he is either the leader or founder of all the aforementioned entities?

However, it is undeniable that this does not fit any norms, particularly considering the volume of work carried out by Grigoryan’s entities in Moscow.

Could the success of Rutsog-Invest LLC potentially be attributed to its co-owner, who, through a series of offshore companies (including ALIQUIPPA limited and the Cypriot Vinette trading), has extensive connections – Vice President of the Association of Russian Businessmen in Cyprus, Valery Gusev? Is Ruben Tsolakovich playing the same role as he did at the inception of his commercial endeavors at Fakel?

True, times have changed, and Grigoryan himself could not but acquire connections along the way. And money, respectively. Of course, not like he tries to show everyone, but it was enough for the construction of the church. Moreover, in fact, Grigoryan allocated only part of the funds, although he speaks about this in passing, trying to make it clear that in fact he personally allocated all the money.

But, although this is not very beautiful, compared to the rest of his sins, it looks like a mere trifle.