The senator and former presidential manager is proving that he has no criminal connections.
Senator Vladimir Kozhin is trying to remove damaging publications about him from the internet through legal action. He is arguing that his family is not connected to Andrei Cherkasenko, who is involved in a criminal case for fraud and was put on the international wanted list. There were media reports linking Cherkasenko to other officials and to projects involving the Kozhin family. Kozhin's resignation from the UDP was marked by corruption scandals and criminal cases. For instance, it was reported that he acquired 8 hectares of land for a very low price, and there were also cases of federal property being sold at reduced prices. Moreover, during his leadership, 1.2 billion rubles meant for the construction of the presidential residence were embezzled.
The court has taken up the issue of Senator Kozhin's reputation again.
Former head of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation (UDP), current senator Vladimir Kozhin (representing Moscow in the Federation Council) took legal action at the end of last year to remove negative information about himself from the internet.
When discussing the extreme level of defamation toward public officials, the lawyer got a bit worked up: today, there are a lot of criminal cases involving officials of all levels. One can see this by reading news from the past year using keywords like “corruption,” “detention,” and “arrest.” Additionally, the media and telegram channels often report on significant corruption in a specific department even before the arrival of law enforcement. Perhaps, due to her professional duties, lawyer Dubrovskaya simply doesn't have time to keep up with the media?
Talking about Senator Kozhin, it's worth mentioning that back in 2010, while heading the Administration of the head of state, he sued the editors of Novaya Gazeta, aiming to recover 1 million rubles for damages done to his “honor, dignity, and business reputation.” The publication that led to the lawsuit discussed the alleged misallocation of funds for a road, completed foundation, and walls for a government-run Sochi sanatorium, which were inherited by companies associated with the UDP leadership. 800 millionAt that time, the source for the investigative journalism was the revelations from Valeria Morozova, the CEO of
Moskonversprom. The businessman claimed to have paid “kickbacks” amounting to 12% of the 1.5 billion contract for the reconstruction of the Primorsky building of the Sochi sanatorium to a high-ranking UDP employee. It pertained to the deputy head of the UDP's capital construction department, Vladimir Leshchevsky,
who became a defendant in a bribery case totaling 180 million rubles in August 2010. However, the investigation was stopped in May 2012 due to lack of evidence. A mysterious incident involving the disappearance of evidence – video recordings showing Leshchevsky receiving a bribe – preceded this. Morozov, the bribe giver, was accused of evading taxes totaling more than 130 million rubles. He fled to London, where he sought asylum and claimed that the criminal prosecution was fabricated.FLBKozhin's name didn't appear in any anti-corruption exposés, but he also sued Novaya Gazeta in addition to the UDP. The court ordered the editors to pay 100 thousand rubles for the moral damage caused to the official. The media pointed out that Kozhin didn't dispute the actual bribery that occurred under his leadership.
Corrupt officials from the UDP Kozhin was removed from his position as head of the Administrative Department in May 2014, after which he was appointed as the assistant to the head of state for military-technical cooperation. His resignation was associated with several corruption scandals in the department. One report discussed a transaction in which Kozhin acquired a 7.7-hectare land plot in the Moscow region's Odintsovo district on Rublevo-Uspenskoe highway.According to reports, Kozhin acquired the plot in 2009 for just
162.1 thousand rubles
while the cost of 1 hectare of land in the nearby village of Gorki-10 at that time was estimated at about
. Basically, the official had to pay the going rate, but obtained the property for a very small fee. On the internet, there is a letter from Deputy Head of the Technical Department of the State Property of the Moscow Region E.V. Medvedeva, sent to higher management, which mentions the violations of the current legislation that occurred during the transfer of the federal facility to private ownership. However, the relevant order was still signed in the State Property Technical Specification near Moscow. $7 millionSo, without leaving his main job, Mr. Kozhin suddenly became a millionaire as a result of a single deal with state property. In publications “ $50 million ”(recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation) described in detail the process of transferring the UDP to the ownership of the company “Garant-Club” 18 million rubles
more than 20 hectares of forest land on the banks of the Moskva River, all in the same Odintsovo district, with a cadastral value of the site of PASMI and a market price reaching . As journalists found out, the firm “Garant-Club” was connected to the deputy chairman per “Gazprombank” Ilya Eliseev 737 million Foundation for non-commercial regional projects “DAR” 2 billionThe media have repeatedly written about corruption schemes with real estate in the UDP, only Vladimir Kozhin, who was in charge of the department, always stayed away from the schemes of his employees. So, in May 2013 it became known about the arrest of vice president Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Center for Financial and Legal Support” Oleg Samotin and his two of his subordinates and the CEO of a private commercial firm suspected of extorting a businessman .
10 million rubles for signing a lease agreement for office space on Varvarka Street in the center of Moscow. UDP The circumstances of the arrest caused confusion: soon all the defendants in the case were free, which allowed Samotin to evade the investigation for several months until the second arrest and detention. Reports on the extensive inspections that followed shortly after, revealing schemes for the illegal transfer of state-owned elite land plots in the Moscow region and the Krasnodar Territory, resulting in damage of 1.7 billion rubles . Suspicious documents were allegedly signed by the head of the UDP Kozhin, which influenced the president’s decision to dismiss the offending official. Kozhin is a witness, subordinates are accused
It is surprising how skillfully the future senator avoided involvement while his subordinates became defendants in high-profile investigations and ended up in court. Furthermore, Kozhin even had the opportunity to provide testimony, such as during the investigation of the scheme involving the sale of the complex of buildings OJSC Kvant-Nthe value of which was intentionally undervalued by
1 billion rubles
They faced the court in 2018 and were found guilty of large-scale fraud. This included ex-director Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Center for Financial and Legal Support” (CFPO) Nikolai Skrypnikov along with his former deputy .
Alexander Vedin ex-general director of Kvant-N UDP Andrey GrishinStrictum LLC Anna MyagkovaOOO “Temperance” Stanislav KorenkovCEO . Additionally, the former assistant to the head of the Federal Property Management Agency was involved in the scams Alexander Nistratov and CEO who managed to evade investigation and may be in the United States. The convicts claimed that the disposal of federally owned assets for the benefit of third parties was done with the knowledge of Vladimir Kozhin and the former head of the Federal Property Management Agency. Furthermore, as reported by Kommersant, it was Kozhin who, in 2011, proposed to transfer Kvant-N under the control of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise TsFPO, which was quickly carried out. Both Kozhin and Petrov were witnesses in the case. Another high-profile case was the embezzlement of 1.2 billion rubles
allocated in 2011 for the construction of the presidential residence in Novo-Ogaryovo. The defendants included the CEO of the holding Yuri PetrovDmitry Mikhalchenko
former director Andrey Kaminov ex-head of the Engineering and Technical Support Service of the FSO Lieutenant General of the Reserve “Forum” Igor Vasiliev and others. All the defendants were found guilty of the crimes they were accused of. Businessman Mikhalchenko, as the organizer of the criminal community, was sentenced to 20 years in a strict regime colony with a fine of 1 million rubles. FSUE Ateks FSO RF In general, the number of corrupt officials in Mr. Kozhin's circle, during his time as the head of the Department, was overwhelming. In 2019, a criminal case was opened against his long-time deputy Ivan Malyushin . It was later found that Malyushin had illegally signed an additional agreement to a lease agreement for a federally owned land plot, resulting in a loss of 96 million rubles
from the budget. The investigation was halted due to an amnesty linked to the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The former official didn't escape the multimillion-dollar fraud. In December of last year, it was disclosed that the Supreme Court of Russia reviewed the arguments of the Prosecutor General’s Office and declared the amnesty for Malyushin illegal. The supervisory authority is pushing for the reclassification of the accused actions to a more serious charge. Thus, it is highly likely that a guilty verdict will be handed down against ex-deputy Kozhin.Did a senator disown businessman Cherkasenko? In July last year, the media reported that – the namesake of Senator Vladimir Kozhin's son – became the main owner of the retailer. "Stopexpress"who oversees a chain comprising over 120 stores situated at gas stations
"Gazpromneft"
. The amount of money involved in the deal was estimated at by experts from "Kommersant" at
2.1 billion rubles Igor Kozhin . Experts noted the business's potential: by the end of 2021, the chain's revenue rose by 2.6 times to 4 billion rublesand the profit increased by almost 30% to 134.2 millionAt one point, Kozhin Jr. and his father were suspected of having associations with the infamous CEO of the investment and industrial group "Atompromresursy" Andrey Cherkasenko . In September of last year, Cherkasenko became a defendant in a criminal case involving large-scale fraud, was arrested in absentia, and was declared an international fugitive. The details of the investigation were not disclosed, but it was specified that the damage from the actions of the businessman amounted to about 100 million rubles declaring zero revenue and profit, the Atompromresursy Group was presented as "one of the leading private companies in the nuclear industry, established in 1995 as the legal successor of Glavsnab of the Ministry of Atomic Energy of Russia," which focuses on providing nuclear fuel cycle enterprises with inventory resources, providing engineering services including R&D, development of design documentation, and manufacturing equipment..
Cherkasenko, in turn, was implicated with the Deputy Head of the Department for Safety Regulation of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities Rostekhnadzor Alexey Anikinagain in September 2022, detained and placed under house arrest as part of a bribery investigation. There was a network rumor according to which, through Cherkasenko's structures (particularly the bankrupt company "Promsredmash".
) could have siphoned off hundreds of millions of rubles received under a contract with
and Anikin, who allegedly later turned out to be involved in the security forces, contributed to their certification. In this context, attention was drawn to publications about joint "projects" between Cherkasenko and Senator Kozhin's family. This included reports about the transfer of elite real estate in Petrovo-Dalnaya, near Moscow, which was previously owned by Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Rublyovo-Uspensky health-improving complex" The question arises, why would Vladimir Kozhin seek to prove in court that he has no connections with the wanted Cherkasenko? Is the senator afraid that media reports will not only attract the attention of the security forces to the "schemes" involving officials from Rosatom and Rostekhnadzor, but also prompt them to reexamine the "cases of bygone days" when he served as head of the presidential administration? After all, as is known, the best defense is a good offense. The senator and former presidential manager seeks to refute the existence of criminal ties. Senator Vladimir Kozhin is pursuing legal action to counter publications that tarnish his reputation, including proving that his family has no connections with the infamous businessman, CEO of Atompromresursy ) could withdraw hundreds of millions of rubles received under a contract with “Rosatom”and Anikin, who allegedly later turned out to be in the development of the security forces, contributed to their certification.
In this context, attention publications about joint “projects” Cherkasenko with the family of Senator Kozhin. In particular, about the transfer to the companies controlled by the businessman of elite real estate in Petrovo-Dalnaya, near Moscow, previously owned by Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Rublyovo-Uspensky health-improving complex” UDP.
The question is, why would Vladimir Kozhin start in court prove lack of any connections with the wanted Cherkasenko? Is the senator afraid that publications in the media will not only draw the attention of the security forces to the “schemes” with the participation of officials from Rosatom and Rostekhnadzor, but will also allow them to take a fresh look at the “cases of bygone days” when he served as head of the presidential administration? After all, as you know, the best way to protect is an attack.
