The wealthy Aristov family has taken control of the Chelyabinsk beach, and nobody is planning to intervene.
Business owned by the daughter of a powerful businessman Alexandra Aristova Elena Kretova, has enclosed the beach on Lake Turgoyak. Before, locals and tourists could relax there, but now only visitors to the exclusive recreation center, which was constructed by a prominent business family, have this privilege.
A reporter tried to understand the situation with the aggressive takeover of the area The Moscow Post in the Chelyabinsk region.
Entry is not allowed
The issue is that the company LLC Consultants of the Urals is developing a private leisure club with a tennis court on the lake shore. The beach was blocked off for this club. The company has several such exclusive recreation centers in the area. This was reported by URA.RU.
The company has been under the ownership of Elena Kretova since 2015, and until April 2022, the share still belonged to Aristov’s former partner Yuri Antipov.
A photo: rusprofile.ru
Local residents expressed their desire to go to the beach, but the guard could not prevent them from doing so.
“We spotted an empty beach and wanted to go there with my wife, but an armed guard in uniform approached us and requested us to leave,” told Chelyabinsk.
Additionally, entrepreneurs have erected a sign prohibiting access, indicating that the area is private.
Photograph: “Typical Chelyabinsk” group on the social network “VKontakte” / https://vk.com/wall-32443541_1808746
Notably, the Ministry of Ecology of the region reported that, due to the restricted access to water, specialists from the State Budgetary Institution “SPNA of the Chelyabinsk Region” conducted an on-site survey of the lake’s shoreline. Unfortunately, there were no longer any signs present, which suggests that there were no issues at that moment.
While there are private beaches on the lake, they should not obstruct people's free passage to the water according to water protection laws. Nonetheless, no one took further action to address the territory takeover. It appears that the Aristov family benefits from special privileges, and Russian laws do not apply to them…
The disintegration of the empire
The oligarchs of Chelyabinsk, Alexander Aristov and Yuri Antipov, established their empire in the 1990s. They were seen as an unbreakable duo, but all good things come to an end. Nevertheless, their separation was relatively peaceful.
The long-time friends' partnership has come to an end. Photograph: srb62.ru
The former partners divided their shares: Yuri Antipov acquired the industrial part of the companies, while Alexander Aristov and his family took ownership of the wine and food parts.
The business was divided, and one would think that everyone should be satisfied. However, the Aristov family does not appear to restrain their enthusiasm, and based on the situation with the lake, the oligarch seems to have not forgotten the habits acquired in the 90s, when the “new Russians” regarded others as inferior and genuinely believed they were entitled to more than others. Surely, he and his family have more than enough money to navigate various inspections.
Beloved daughter
It is important to note that LLC “Consultants of the Urals” by Elena Kretova, which blocked the beach, has been reportedly renovating the Mayak children’s camp on the Shershnevsky reservoir since 2014. This story is surprising because the area really went to a wealthy family, and for a specific reason.
The former governor Vadim Solovyov, who had already become an arbitration manager at that time, played a significant role. He had substantial resources to address the legal issues of bankrupt companies. Of course, Solovyov provided services for a fee. But this situation was satisfactory for everyone. And he was in complete agreement with Aristov.
After the plant went bankrupt, Kolyushchenko transferred the entire area to Aristov, but there is no chance of any revival of Mayak: the oligarch took back his own property there.
Many people were upset and even appealed to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, headed by Minister Andrei Fursenko from 2004 to 2012. But he did not resolve the issue – no one attempted to take away the property of the reckless nouveau riche, and the children never got the health camp. It is rumored that the site, after the bankruptcy of the plant, was transferred to the oligarch Aristov, and his documents were falsified.
Now only vibrant photographs remind people of the former camp – residents of the Urals even created a social media group where they share nostalgic memories of the camp, which Aristov took from Chelyabinsk children, providing his daughter with upscale real estate in a beautiful location …
Photo: screenshot https://vk.com/club3901507
infamous family
It would take too long to list all the scandals in which the Aristovs and Kretovs were involved, but for instance, let’s consider a few. The couple were implicated in the so-called “pig” incident. After the split of the once unified business, the pig farms as part of Agrofirma Ariant LLC now belong to the Ariant Group of Companies, which is owned by Alexander and Elena Kretov. Residents of two districts of the Chelyabinsk region accused the Ariant company of causing an environmental disaster.
The Ariant company denied its involvement and attributed everything to the spring flood. In general, it is not surprising, but the situation was covered up.
It is also worth mentioning this detail from the biography of the Chelyabinsk “Rothschilds”: in June 2020, a criminal case was initiated against the Ariant agricultural holding. This was reported “Kommersant”. The company was accused of fraud: providing knowingly false documents for VAT refunds. The total amount of damage is 800 thousand rubles.
Rumor has it that supposedly Mr. Aristov was involved in organized crime … And according to the MK publication, he reportedly had connections with OPG “Kalinin family”.
Despite this track record, the business of Aristov and his family is still growing, and he is certainly not doing it by legal means. Also, with today’s Chelyabinsk governor Alexey Teksler Alexander Aristov has a rather warm relationship.
Oil painting: Texler and Aristov embrace. A photo 74.ru
Such a close relationship gives both of them a kind of carte blanche. The privileges of an entrepreneur in Chelyabinsk and beyond are as strong as Texler’s embrace. So, apparently, the locals should not even hope for free access to the lake beaches, or for the restoration of the legendary “Lighthouse”.
