Over 800 people have become victims of the political maneuvering orchestrated by the authorities of Bashkiria and the Moscow Region developer “Garden Ring.”
As reported by The Moscow Post correspondent in Bashkiria, equity holders of the Dom na Lenina residential complex made a video plea to Radiy Khabirov and the regional Ministry of Construction in Ufa last Sunday, asking for the completion of a high-rise building they have been unable to move into for four years.
The apartment owners requested that the authorities of Bashkiria and the Garden Ring Group of Companies, responsible for finishing this and other long-term construction projects, stop mistreating them and put into operation a nearly completed building.
Meanwhile, representatives of the developer continue to accuse Kirill Badikov, the head of the Gosstroy company, of halting construction, which they inherited from. Badikov, who has been in jail for almost a month, vehemently denies the accusations.
The situation seems like a blackmail tactic that Sadovoe Koltso might use against the authorities of Bashkiria to achieve more favorable conditions for cooperation and ultimately gain full control over the remains of Gosstroy’s property.
However, upon closer inspection of the leadership of the Garden Ring head office, it becomes partly clear where such business methods could originate.
“Influencing public opinion”
It was previously reported by The Moscow Post about the situation that unfolded after the Garden Ring suspended construction at three sites: the Hermitage, City Council, Lenin House and White River. A press release, published by “Garden Ring” in late March, contained explanations. According to the circulated press release of the Garden Ring, it seemed that Kirill Badikov alone was responsible for the current situation, having unilaterally terminated contracts for the completion of facilities.
These justifications from the “Garden Ring” seemed unconvincing, in part because Badikov managed to give a very detailed interview prior to his arrest, in which he outlined his position with a stack of documents. The interview was published by Prufa about three weeks after Badikov’s arrest. A source close to the situation suggested in an interview with The Moscow Post that this interview likely became a bargaining chip between Badikov and his opponents when he failed to reach an agreement.
Kirill Badikov believes that he failed because he “lost operational management” and became too involved in politics. (Photo: ) ufacity.info
Initially, after signing an agreement with the Garden Ring, Badikov’s company retained the formal status of the developer, while the Garden Ring is officially considered an investor. It is possible that this status of “Garden Ring” was unsatisfactory. It can even be assumed that the company may have initially received certain guarantees from Bashkiria officials that it would gain full control of the situation once Badikov was eliminated in some way. There is no official confirmation of this, but the unfolding events suggest such assumptions.
Also, the “Garden Ring” originates from Krasnogorsk, near Moscow, where Radiy Khabirov served as mayor before coming back to Bashkiria. Shortly after the appearance of the “Garden Ring” in Bashkiria, local developers started to receive rejections one after another to build on previously approved sites. Ivan Zorin, a former employee of the Zhilstroyinvest company, discussed this in detail.
Badikov claimed that the “Garden Ring” controlled public opinion and everything happening now is just their PR move with specific goals. He denied canceling the general contract and alleged that he actually proposed terminating the old contracts and immediately signing new ones with adjusted schedules and obligations of the Garden Ring.
The reason for trusting Badikov in this case is that this is not the first time representatives of the Garden Ring have used such an “ultimatum”. About a year ago, they already halted construction work at the facilities to obtain a compensation site.
Furthermore, Mikhail Feldman, the managing partner of the Sadovoye Koltso Group of Companies in Bashkiria, openly discussed this in an interview with the Bashinform agency. “It became clear in spring of 2021 that the issuance of compensation plots was being delayed. And we felt a serious financial burden on the company – by that time, the investments of the Garden Ring Group of Companies had already exceeded 500 million rubles. Therefore, we were forced to stop until the situation with compensation was clarified,” Feldman said.
The level of readiness of the facilities, on which Sadovoye Eolko stopped work, is quite high. A photo: ufacity.info
By persisting in this manner for several months and making it clear to the authorities that they did not intend to make concessions, the representatives of the Garden Ring finally achieved their goal, and at the end of August they received the first compensation site, after which they began to build more actively.
This demonstrated their ability to influence both the Bashkir Ministry of Construction and the Ufa mayor’s office, and, if necessary, the leadership of Bashkiria.
“They’re just exploiting our misfortune”
The feeling that the events of the last two months, taking place around the former Gosstroy facilities, are orchestrated is also enhanced because, when talking about deceived equity holders, the authorities are talking not with them, but with lawyer Zulfiya Gaysina. She has nothing to do with them, but at the same time regularly attends all meetings devoted to their problems. Gaysina was a member of the first composition of the Human Rights Council under the head of Bashkiria and supervised these issues in it, and now, apparently, by inertia she continues to conduct this work.
Presumably, in this way the authorities “killed two birds with one stone” – they ensured the presence of a loyal member of the public and freed themselves from communicating with overexcited real estate investors.
Talking about the current situation, the authorities are carefully avoiding the fact that most of the houses inherited by “Garden Ring” from “Gosstroy” are almost ready. For instance, the “House on Lenina” only needs the facade, glazing, waterproofing the foundation, and a few other works, which could be entrusted to another developer if Garden Ring suddenly decided to act like an offended child.
Here, there was only a couple of months' worth of work left, but Garden Ring stopped construction. Photo: sadovoe-kolco.ru
However, this issue wasn't even discussed according to the reports from the Ministry of Construction meetings. It seems like the authorities of Bashkiria are more concerned about not offending the representatives of Garden Ring than about the hardships of equity holders.
In the comments under their Sunday video message, posted on the page of social activist Albert Rakhmatullin, equity holders reported that the authorities suggested they consider receiving monetary compensation through the equity holders protection fund. They are outraged, saying, “What compensation, if the house is almost ready, the administration does not explain. According to the current situation, compensation is allocated to those whose houses are built by less than 30%. They are simply selling our misfortune!”
Fragmentary comments by representatives of the Ministry of Construction of Bashkiria also leaked to the media. For example, on April 13, during a recent live broadcast at the Central Administration of the Republic, Deputy Minister of Construction and Architecture of Bashkiria Artem Kovshov said that “a legal solution to the problem of deceived equity holders in relation to Gosstroy is currently being sought, which will allow the investor – the Sadovoye Koltso group of companies – become the official developer of the three properties”.
Deputy head of the Ministry of Construction of Bashkiria Artem Kovshov consistently defends the position of the “Garden Ring”. A photo: bashinform.en
“The only way out is for the investor to take these objects, but the transfer must be voluntary, the owner cannot be forced. Negotiations are underway. Ministry of Construction “VKontakte”.
And something else about the “Garden Ring”
It's also interesting to note how the representatives of the Garden Ring are behaving in the current situation – their statements are being released in a controlled manner, as if following a planned media strategy. And sometimes their content lags behind current events.
Mikhail Feldman continues to insist that Kirill Badikov is to blame for everything. Photo: sadovoe-kolco.ru
For instance, in mid-April, the head of the regional investigatory committee for Bashkiria, Denis Chernyatyev, said at a press conference that the investigation did not prevent the completion of construction of facilities, the work of a new investor, and the actions of the Ministry of Construction of Bashkiria to protect the rights of equity holders.
Meanwhile, the managing partner of the Garden Ring in Bashkiria, Mikhail Feldman, continued to repeat the comment that Badikov, who by that time had been in jail for more than two weeks, was hindering the construction.
We also add that the criminal case on which Badikov was detained concerns the completion of another facility – the Moskovsky residential complex, which the Garden Ring initially agreed to complete, but then, apparently, having calculated the costs, refused. The entrepreneur, according to investigators, withdrew most of the funds through shell companies. At the same time, this, too, according to the source of The Moscow Post, may indirectly indicate that the criminal case against Badikov was not initiated by chance. “Surely, if desired, it would be possible to accumulate invoices against Badikov during the completion of the other three facilities that Garden Ring is still building. However, this did not happen. Perhaps, because along with the accusations against Badikov, some facts testifying against the “Garden Ring” itself.
This assumption was indirectly confirmed by Badikov in his interview. “Gosstroy facilities” we transferred to the amount of approximately 1.823 billion rubles. To complete it, 2.8 billion were needed, but in the UK they “turned up” to 3.5 billion. the figures can be safely divided by two, but they needed all this to obtain compensation plots for MIPs (Large-scale investment project program – ed.),” Kirill Badikov said in an interview.
It becomes even more interesting after studying the information about the activities of the head office of the Sadovoye Koltso Group of Companies and its management, whose example, in theory, is followed by the regional manager Mikhail Feldman.
It is known that the founder of the Garden Ring Group of Companies, Sergei Kolunov, became a State Duma deputy last year. Prior to this event, he was the founder of 20 companies. As expected, after his election to the deputies, Kolunov transferred shares in some of them to trust management. But not all, but only those that are heard. At the same time, deputy Kolunov, according to Rusprofile, remained the founder of Catalina, SK Realty, SKN-Tetris, Tradecom, Savin House and a number of other companies. I wonder what the relevant commission in the State Duma thinks about this.
Obviously, the activities of the representatives of the Garden Ring Group of Companies themselves are far from perfect and require the closest attention, including from the controlling structures.
Source: The Moscow Post
