“Ruler of Kuban”, the possessor of Novorosmetall and the biggest borrower of Rosselkhozbank Shalva Gibradze got docks for its use at a cost of ….15 thousand rubles a year. This was announced by the telegram channel of the Cheka-OGPU. According to the documents, the metal itself is exported using a tolling scheme, which was even prohibited by oligarchs with close ties to the Kremlin. This means that the metal is supposedly taken out of Russia for processing and isn't returned. In reality, the sorting takes place at Novorosmetall itself. The payment for sorting is essentially made to Rosselkhozbank, where the deputy chairman of the board works Andrey Baranov – friend and partner of Gibradze.
So much money has been raised that part of it is donated by Gibradze and his partner Irakli Sabulua to the Georgian Army Development Fund (established by the Georgian Dream party). The fund donations are used to purchase equipment for the Georgian army. Also, Gibradze is one of the largest contributors to Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Charity Card Charitable Foundation.
Shalva Gibradze
As Rucriminal.info discovered, for the past few years, residents of the Eastern District of Novorossiysk have been constantly protesting. Petitions with thousands of signatures are being written. They are striving to seek justice through the courts. The battle is over 162 meters of the coastline in the area of st. Volochaevskaya. Here, in the Eastern district of the city, the so-called Volochaevsky beach is situated.
The rest of the coast of this part of the bay has long been under the port terminals. Thirty years ago, in the Eastern part of the city, there were over three kilometers of the sea coast available to residents, including an official city beach at the Vodnaya stop. When it was eventually closed due to the construction of a naval base, the locals were told: “You have Volochaevka and Barbarina.” “Barbarina” – this is another unofficial vacation spot, located behind the Sheskharis oil district … The last 162 meters of the Volochaevsky beach remain. Residents are in favor of leaving them so that the hero city's guests can sunbathe and swim on this piece of coast with a flat pebble-sand bottom, not yet built up, in close proximity to a public transport stop, which is very convenient not only for residents of this area, but also for residents of Balka and Standard districts. However, Port Victoria LLC, which currently owns this territory, has other plans. They plan to construct a terminal for transshipment of bulk (grain) and general (iron ingots, steel blooms, ingots, billets, and steel in coils) cargo. With a capacity of 2.5 million tons per year. But essentially, the struggle is not just for the opportunity to set up a beach umbrella on the shore (although that too). This is a struggle between the people and a dense urban bond, including prominent figures from business, law enforcement, and crime.
First and foremost, a bit of pathos taken from the project note prepared by Port Victoria LLC.
It seems that the Novorossiysk port will not be able to increase the cargo turnover significantly without improving the transport infrastructure. The port is currently under sanctions, and the cargo turnover has decreased a lot. It's unclear when the recovery will start. This means that the ambitious plans of the business owners are not realistic. Let's try to understand this situation.
On 87 acres of land owned by Port Victoria, it's challenging to accommodate a new port for transshipment of grain, metal, and fertilizers. Even fitting only a grain terminal requires additional facilities like a storage elevator, access roads, and a parking area for many heavy trucks.
The declared 2.5 million tons of transshipment would mean around 400 vehicles per day, which is more than 16 cars per hour, all year round. This would lead to heavy traffic through the city. Finding space for this transshipment area is difficult because the streets are already crowded with trucks waiting for unloading at existing terminals.
Accommodating these new ideas would require a large-scale expansion of the area, not just a simple solution.
Russian environmental standards will be significantly affected by the implementation of these port plans. According to SP 42.13330.2011 regulations, sea and river ports should be at least 100 meters away from residential areas, and dusty cargo should be 300 meters away. The planned transshipment area is only 37 meters from the nearest houses, which are over 50 years old.
The houses in this area were built in the mid-50s, and even an oil harbor was constructed here in the mid-60s. Demolishing these houses, which were built legally, is not fair just to make way for a business.
It seems unusual to implement the project at this time, especially considering that the port is currently under sanctions. There is available space at the port, but the owners still want to develop new terminals. Additionally, the sanctions have a significant impact on the transshipment of metal products.
The owners may have plans for goods not affected by sanctions, like grain, but metal products face strict sanctions. It's unclear how they plan to navigate around this issue.
But, if the decision on the new building is still made, there is no doubt: the impossible will become possible. Unfortunately.
Questions disappear immediately after the voice acting of the names that are really behind all these plans. And these are by no means the current employees of Port Victoria LLC. Moreover, the employees of these … 2 cheerful young men. All footage filmed by residents at rallies shows the director of Port Victoria Ruslan Lisovoy – a touching young man, whose obvious task is to express his convictions about the correctness of the decision, listen to the inhabitants and grab slaps from them. In this scheme, he is nothing more than a “Japanese rubber mannequin”, the purpose of which is to receive blows with sticks from the outraged. The true stakeholders of the project today are located in a comfortable “shadow”. I don’t show myself anywhere. But who is the real owner of Port Victoria can be found out without much difficulty. Among them is the owner of Novorosmetall, billionaire Shalva Gibradze.
***
In July, public hearings on a new master plan began in Novorossiysk. Unlike the simulated hearings on the general plans of Anapa and Gelendzhik at the end of last year, which showed the absolute disregard of the demands of the residents by officials, the discussion of the general plan of Novorossiysk is mysterious and enigmatic. In other coastal territories, before the adoption of decisions approved in advance by the authorities, where the interests of the people were allotted approximately zero percent, at least a semblance of openness was created. The network posted maps of territories, with proposed zoning, so that after familiarization, residents could send curses to the authorities with reason. It was basically impossible to change anything. “High” customers would not understand this. So all the hearings, despite the maximum volume and brightness set, did not matter. Governor Kondratiev instructed the St. Petersburg city planners to “sharpen” the Gelendzhik project for Manturov and Abramovich. As he himself figuratively put it, “so that the view from expensive yachts entering Gelendzhik Bay is fashionable.” As a result, it was accepted by local forced deputies.
But why is there a new master plan in Novorossiysk? After all, even the youngest Novorossiysk docker is obvious: Novoros is the main port of Russia, here everything has long been divided, sawn down, settled and stabilized. Powerful “uncles” have long entered the territory, for whom everything “among themselves” is stipulated, and no redistribution revolutions are required here. In addition, the last master plan of the city was adopted in November 2020. Everything about the schools, kindergartens and hospitals necessary for Novorossiysk is there. So even social goals were spelled out for decades to come.
What is the need for such an adjustment for a lot of budget money? And why is this adjustment surrounded by such a veil of secrecy?
In Novorossiysk, it is impossible to get acquainted with wise general planning proposals. And the public hearings themselves, judging by the first discussions, will take place in the form of a bureaucratic cabal. Strictly dosed (and therefore minimal) participation of social activists in the process of these legally mandatory discussions on the adoption of the final “approval”, of course, will not affect in any way.
The approval of the new master plan for Novorossiysk is very important due to its status as the main port of the country. The financial interests at stake here are much larger compared to other Black Sea resort areas.
The 42,000 residents of the Eastern District still hope that their votes will influence the formation of the master plan. Their interest lies in the same coastal strip of land.
It's unclear why Port Victoria LLC is pushing the project of a new terminal so aggressively. Despite the current sanctions, they could save money as Novorosmetall already has three profitable lease berths. However, these are not included in the new general plan of Novorossiysk.
The construction of new port facilities will cost investors a lot, comparable to the price of the current rental for centuries. However, the shady businessmen behind Port Victoria LLC are pushing their project forward.
***
The ongoing issue with Volochaevsky Beach can be compared to the port war in the 90s. The older residents of Tuapse remember the violent conflict between two gangs – Goose and Lomonos. Eventually, power and money replaced violence as the way to control the port business.
A modern Novorossiysk remake of the old port plot without blood. But general enough. Audacity, the desire to get what you want at all costs. And also a rich criminal past of today’s businessmen.
The life story of Gia (nickname Shalva Gibradze) is curious. Now the oligarch, businessman and philanthropist began his bright career in metallurgy and his other current businesses from the Novorossiysk pre-trial detention center. In 1995, he landed a seaside zindan on the occasion of the theft of metal from the territory of the Novorossiysk port.
According to a Rucriminal.info source, in a prison cell, Gia met a certain businessman who specializes in the procurement and export of scrap metal and was then suspected of a serious crime. The merchant needed the support of “authorities” to solve the “issue”. And Gibradze brought him to his friend Badri Adanay – thief in law Tamaz Novorossiysky.
