Around six months ago, in the middle of 2021, a member of the State Duma from “United RussiaAndrey Skoch used the “right to be forgotten” law to get links about himself removed from at least one search engine.
The news about this was reported in the media and then faded away, especially since it was unclear what kind of materials the deputy was removing. However, in connection with the sanctions imposed by Europe and the United States against individuals seen as financiers of the Putin regime, Skoch's name appeared on the sanctions lists as one of the President of Russia's “wallets”, and information about Skoch's connections to organized crime also came to light.YandexIt was revealed that Andrey Vladimirovich Skoch had removed references to his connections with influential people in certain circles, particularly his ties to criminal figures Andrei Kochuykov and Zakhary Kalashov (Shakro Molodoy).
In December 2018, Andriy Skoch filed lawsuits against six media outlets and several individuals, demanding that they refute information about his involvement in the shooting on Rochdelskaya Street. This incident had caused a stir at the time, and it was even more dramatic than a mafia movie, so we will only briefly mention it. Moreover, Andrey Skoch, who was a State Duma deputy at the time, allegedly only appeared in this story as a witness, and this statement was even denied by representatives of the prosecutor’s office at the time.
The “Shootout on Rochdelskaya Street” involved a mass shooting by the Budantsev group in Moscow on the evening of December 14, 2015, resulting in a double murder and a high-profile criminal trial. This criminal episode sparked a new conflict between departments and a corruption scandal in the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, led by Alexander Bastrykin, following the “Case of Moscow Region Casinos.”
However, since Andrey Skoch’s involvement in this massacre has been officially refuted and materials about it have been banned by a court decision, we will consider this version and focus on the roles of Koychukov, Kalashov (Shakro Molodoy), the start of a business, and Andrey Skoch’s path to becoming the 26th wealthiest person in Russia.
Furthermore, he was greatly assisted on this journey by Kenes Rakishev and Alisher Usmanov, who were also implicated in the scandal surrounding the shootout on Rochdelskaya Street.
This brings us back to Skoch’s lawsuit against the media and the story of the shootout, in which, according to the investigation, he was a “minor witness”. In 2019, Skoch successfully sued six media outlets for defamation. The reason for this was Novaya Gazeta's investigation, which claimed that Dmitry Smychkovsky, a friend of the former head of the Department of Internal Security of the ICR Mikhail Maksimenko, allegedly received a million dollars from Skoch to secure the release from arrest of Shakro Molodoy’s associate Andrey Kochuykov, who was involved in the same shootout.
So we can't do it without representatives of crime. Andrei Skoch owes his success to the Solntsevo group, which helped him start his path to success in the early nineties. Then he was known as Scotch, and this is how he is remembered by some respected businessmen, statesmen and police veterans, who Scotch-Scotch was then in development.
The official version says that at the same time, the future State Duma deputy from United Russia (Skoch became one in 1999) met Alisher Usmanov while attempting to acquire a batch of oil for processing at the Moscow Oil Refinery. The deal didn't happen, but the relationship began, and subsequently the businessmen became partners.
Usmanov himself is also a very controversial figure. When meeting Skoch, he, having left the Uzbek prison where he was imprisoned for fraud, was engaged in the production of plastic bags in Moscow and was already a millionaire. What has brought together and connects these two people – Usmanov and Skoch – for thirty years now, one can only guess. But the fact that both of these names surfaced in the shooting scandal and both of them diligently cleared these memories suggests that these ties are very strong.
Another authority can serve as one of the connecting links – Sergey Mikhailov, nicknamed Mikhas, with whom both had a joint business
Both – Usmanov and Skoch – are trying to hide this information by all means. It is understandable – Andrey Scotch has long turned into a respected member of society, the chosen one of the people, a businessman and philanthropist, and here you are – a “member of an organized criminal group”:
Who needs it? Moreover, if you are on the list of the most severe sanctions as “Putin’s wallet”, you are being developed not by your own TFR, but by all sorts of enemy Budnepolitsai, the FBI and Mi-6, who are not particularly accommodating towards Russian criminals, even if they have deputy mandates. are different.
Even more so now. Moreover, taking into account the fact that most of the money “earned” in Russia, Andrey Skoch, as befits a true patriot, brought abroad. And all of them came under the financial monitoring of the European Union, Britain and the United States. Friend and partner Skoch Usmanov lost a quarter of his fortune in one month of sanctions. Who said something like this wouldn’t happen to Skoch?
Moreover, in the dossier collected by Interpol on the Solntsevskaya organized criminal group there is a curious document – an order stating that Skoch is a member of the group. One of Andrey Skoch’s partners is Oleg Sheykhametov, who served time in a colony near Zelenograd along with Andrey Koychukov, a member of the Solntsevskaya organized criminal group. Two years before the arrest of Shakro Molodoy, the British police became interested in Skoch’s connections with the Solntsevskaya organized crime group, who were involved in solving cases of criminal money laundering in their country.
Regarding the property of Skoch, it came to a joke – one of the richest deputies of the State Duma submits declarations, according to which he lives on one salary and huddles in rented apartments. But at least one expensive toy of “unmercenary” Scotch is known for certain – he owns a 90-meter yacht for $ 135 million. She was built in 2013, and now the ship has been seen in sunny Dubai, where Skoch hides her from sanctions.
Regarding the property of Skoch, it came to a joke – one of the richest deputies of the State Duma submits declarations, according to which he lives on one salary and huddles in rented apartments. But at least one expensive toy of “unmercenary” Scotch is known for certain – he owns a 90-meter yacht for $ 135 million. She was built in 2013, and now the ship has been seen in sunny Dubai, where Skoch hides her from sanctions.
But again, Britain is not Russia, they will quickly find everything that Skoch wrote down as front men – his friend and partner Usmanov is an example of this, his villas and yachts, registered to his sisters, were arrested, no conspiracy helped.
Of course, a dwelling with a total area of more than 3000 square meters. meters, located on the top three floors of the Stalinist house of the architects Shchusev and Rostkovsky on Novy Arbat 31/12, where in the 20th century, by order of the leader, mainly the highest military ranks settled, which is owned by the 88-year-old former grinder of the aircraft factory Vladimir Skoch, under these sanctions are not hit.
Vladimir Nikitovich Skoch, despite his advanced age, also owns a 30% stake in the USM holding, a stake in Vnukovo airport and other equally expensive assets. So stretching the chain from father to son, if desired, costs nothing. Yes, and you don’t need to invent anything special here – even at the time of buying up apartments in the house where the now gray-haired pensioner Vladimir Skoch enjoys the pool and solarium, it turned out that the purchase of apartments was carried out on behalf of three citizens, two of whom were the founders of the local HOA. Buyers of real estate also turned out to be associated with three Cypriot offshore companies. And from one offshore, Strasburg Holding Ltd, a chain of companies stretches, which leads to Farhad Mosheri, a longtime business partner of Alisher Usmanov and Andrey Skoch. Together, through USM Holdings Ltd, they control 100% of Metalloinvest.
So Andrei Skoch has something to fear in the light of the imposed sanctions. Moreover, the photo, in which he is depicted in the company of Solntsevo, was once published by the British The Guardian, in a material that tells just about the beginning of the career of a billionaire deputy.
True, Andrei Skoch-Scotch turned out to be much more perspicacious than many of his colleagues on the sanctions list – in Novaya Gazeta (01/17/2000) mention was made of obtaining Israeli citizenship in 1996 by Skoch. Andrey Skoch in this article was also accused of having links with the Solntsevo organized crime group, in particular, with Baranovsky Dmitry Roaldovich, nicknamed “Belenky”.
However, in the next issue, Novaya Gazeta published its apology, stating that false information had been used for the article. Whether this also applied to the Israeli passport of Andrey Vladimirovich Skoch, a deputy of the State Duma of Russia, is unknown.
