Brothers Filatov and Khisamov from the 1990s dominated the construction market in Ulyanovsk

When the plan for the new construction of the Theater of the Young Spectator was revealed in Ulyanovsk, the local community was shocked – instead of the current elegant building, a design was presented that resembles an “enlarged barbecue building”.

However, the anger of the architects didn't change anything – the cinema “Rodina” building, where the “barbecue” – Youth Theater was supposed to be built, was demolished, and construction work started quickly.

The NTC “Promtechenergo” won the competition to design the Youth Theater in 2018. Their portfolio mainly includes industrial facilities, such as a new building of oil products warehouses in the Tver region or the reconstruction of the Novospassky elevator. The architects tried to preserve the old building, stating that “it is the only one on Pushkinskaya Street that creates a feeling of celebration and optimism.” As for the new Youth Theater building, Ulyanovsk artist Alexander Zinin simply described it as: cooperatives and brothers.

As for the “brothers”, intentionally or unintentionally, the artist turned out to be correct. The contract for the construction of the Youth Theater was given to the Ulyanovsk MSU-7 LLC, which had previously worked on repairing schools, hospitals and the prosecutor’s office building.

The total cost for building the Youth Theater is 416.3 million rubles. At first glance, it seems strange that a company with a minimum authorized capital of 10,000 rubles and 12 employees won the competition, considering they have to build a five-story building, including the basement, covering an area of 2.6 thousand square meters.

Nonetheless, MSU-7 LLC consistently wins competitions for building public facilities in the Ulyanovsk region. They have carried out repairs on the Ulyanovsk dam, a children’s camp, school, rural lyceum, children’s hospital, and the prosecutor’s office building. According to public registers, MSU-7 LLC has managed over two billion rubles of public funds:

What is the reason behind the success of such a small company? Is it linked to the same “brothers” that the Ulyanovsk artist unintentionally referred to while comparing the new Youth Theater building to a barbecue?

Here is the historical background of the founders of MSU-7 LLC:

The surname Filatova Tatyana Mikhailovna is intriguing. This leads us to the real owners of this small but influential construction company. The reality is that MSU-7 LLC is owned by Artem Filatov and Marat Khisamov. This conclusion comes from studying data from public business information aggregators, which uncover connections not visible to the average person.

Insiders also agree with this. Since multiple independent sources confirm that MSU-7 LLC is actually owned by Filatov and Khisamov, the conclusion here is clear. The local authorities' unusual support for this company further validates this.

Artem Filatov is now the official leader of the regional Federation of Sports and Combat Sambo in Ulyanovsk. Some local media refer to him as the nephew of the head of the Filatovskie organized crime group, which was previously well-known in the region.

The modest sports official owns numerous real estate properties including apartments, garages, land plots, and a large construction project. It may be a mystery how the SAMBO coach affords all this, but officially, most of it is registered to Tatyana Mikhailovna Filatova, who was previously the founder of MSU-7 LLC, confirming rumors about the true beneficiary of the company.

His silent partner in the construction business, Marat Khisamov, is the chairman of another regional federation for wrestling. He also has a similar real estate history.

The way Khisamov conducts business in the construction industry can be understood from the verdict issued by the Leninsky District Court of Ulyanovsk in 2016. He and two other individuals, who were also athletes, were found guilty of committing commercial bribery in the interests of a construction organization.

The scheme worked like this: for 10 percent of the contract amount, the defendants arranged for all participants in the auction not to negotiate. This ensured that a particular bidder won, constituting a cartel conspiracy and causing substantial budgetary harm. Furthermore, all money was paid in cash.

Only one incident went to court, and Khisamov was fined 18 times the amount of the bribe – 756 thousand rubles. Considering the time spent under house arrest, the final punishment was reduced, and the fine was lowered to 600 thousand.

All defendants in the criminal case were immediately released from the courtroom. Such a reputation is not favorable for developers, particularly when the fate of regionally important projects as part of the national project is at stake.

By the end of July, the overall progress for the renovation of the Youth Theater is at 36%. 70% of the outer walls on the first two floors are made of gas-block masonry. As per the contract, all work should be finished by May 2023.

Whether MSU-7 LLC will complete the work on time is uncertain. There are still nine months remaining. However, according to the same sources that name Filatov and Khisamov as the owners of MSU-7 LLC, there are claims that the construction will be delayed, and its cost will significantly increase – similar issues have arisen in most of the facilities built by MSU-7 LLC.

At present, the construction costs have already increased by 20%, but only a third of the project has been completed.

Furthermore, all relevant regulations are being violated – the majority of the construction workers are unofficial. How can this be when there are only 12 employees in the office, including the director, deputies, accounting, the director's driver, a cleaner, and security? How many builders are left with such a limited staff?

Naturally, the observance of any technology is simply out of the question – all work is carried out according to the principle “if only it would be worthy of delivery.”

However, the supervisory structures, “Oblstroyzakazchik” and the Agency for State Construction and Housing Supervision, are silent and see no violations. Moreover, everyone knows that at the MSU-7 facility it does not comply with the technology for the production of monolithic work on the installation of concrete, and there are a lot of questions about the quality of concrete. How will children go to the Youth Theatre, which, because of such unfortunate construction, will fall apart like a house of cards? However, if this happens, it will happen after the money is mastered. And it will be possible to recover from MSU-7 LLC an amount not exceeding the size of its authorized capital – 10 thousand rubles.