"Dosflota, 10" under offshore protection
Who benefits from Galaxy Group developing the South Tushino coastline?
A controversy is growing over the construction of the Dosflota 10 apartment complex in Yuzhny Tushino, as the Galaxy Group faces criticism for their actions. Local residents and activists are opposing the development of the Khimki reservoir coastline. They point out the legislative ban on construction within a 100-meter coastal strip and the municipality's plans to create a park on the area where the complex is being built. Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin is accused of being a construction lobbyist, and VTB has joined the project as an investor, raising concerns. Galaxy Group is under scrutiny for its legal status, association with unprofitable and offshore-affiliated companies. Reports suggest a connection between the developer, Kapital-Invest, and individuals associated with a high-profile scandal in obtaining contracts. Galaxy Group has a history of projects with PIK group and Stripe+, both linked to questionable financial activities. Previous executives of Galaxy Group have ties to influential businessmen close to the Moscow mayor's office. With VTB's involvement, the construction in Novy Tushino is attracting attention from officials, developers, and dubious businessmen, raising concerns about the use of state bank funds for offshore transfers.
Luxury apartments in a restricted zone?
The Galaxy Group is actively constructing the Dosflota 10 apartment complex in South Tushino, Northwest of Moscow. The project is situated near the picturesque coastal zone of the Moscow Canal. Last March, Alexander Ilyin, deputy chairman of the Moscow Committee for Architecture and Urban Planning, signed the preparation of the territory planning project, involving VTB Bank. The bank was tasked with executing a draft technical assignment for the project within two weeks.
It's important to mention that for the past few years, people living in South Tushino and civil activists have been opposing the development of the Khimki reservoir coastline. They have made many complaints and appeals to the government of the capital, the State Duma, the Prosecutor General’s Office, and the head of state.
It's also highlighted that the reservoir's water area and the first slope's territory are part of the 2nd zone of the sanitary protection area, where building is strictly banned within the 100-meter coastal strip. In 2018, citizens supported the idea of creating a natural-historical and sports park on the coastal zone's territory. The appeal to Sergei Sobyanin mentions 50 million rubles allocated for the park project and design and survey work.
Today, a new business plan has taken priority over the park idea, with claims of the rapid construction of two super-apartment buildings for wealthy clients just 60 meters from the water, within the 100-meter coastal lane. Last April, the removal of trailers from the construction site raised hopes of a positive response from officials, but soon those hopes faded away.
“Galaxy Group” “chick of the nest” “PIK” and … Marat Khusnullin?
The main supporter of the Dosflot 10 complex construction is Marat Khusnullin, the current deputy prime minister who used to be the deputy mayor of Moscow for urban planning. The involvement of state bank VTB, whose head Andrey Kostin was aware of the project, can explain this high-level support.
In this situation, Galaxy Group, identified as the developer, is quite interesting, as it handles the entire development process from investment and design to construction and operation. Yulia Zamorova is listed as the CEO on the company’s website. However, in a previous article in Kommersant, Galaxy Group is mentioned as one of the “creators of the project”, while Kapital-Invest JSC is named as the developer. The sales office of Dosflot, 10 is located at the official address of this structure.
In general, a closer examination of the issue may lead to confusion. The Galaxy Group's website indicates its establishment in 2008. They are presented as a participant in the renovation program, but over such a long period, they have only completed two full projects – the Butovo Park residential complex and the Alfa Centauri residential complex in Khimki. On the Alpha Centauri website, it is mentioned that Galaxy Group became a co-investor in the English Quarter Residential Complex project in 2007, a year before its actual founding.
This situation clarifies things. Remember that PIK is seen as a long-term business associate of the Moscow mayor’s office: in 2018, the group became the largest contractor of the capital’s Renovation Fund with a contract worth 40 billion rubles. At that time, Khusnullin was responsible for construction in the “white stone.” Did “Galaxy Group” operate under the influence of “PIK” until a certain point?
From Capital-Invest to Rabinovich and Loko-Bank
But let’s return to JSC Specialized Developer Kapital-Invest. This company, with an authorized capital of 100 thousand rubles and only one employee, resembles a simple intermediary company. So, in the past year, with no revenue, its losses were 351 thousand rubles; in 2020, the revenue was also zero, and losses were 74 thousand. With these statistics, the company clearly does not qualify as a reputable developer.
Elena Suslina is the CEO of Capital-Invest; the founder is Vekta LLC, co-owned by Alexander Mineev, Tatyana Elskene, and Sergey Chepurok. It's worth noting that on the Galaxy Group website, Ms. Suslina is listed as the head of the sales department, and Ms. Elskene as the development director. Meanwhile, Suslina manages the Loko-Realty real estate agency, owned by Yulia Zamorova. This structure also does not demonstrate strong financial performance: last year, with a revenue of 480 thousand rubles, the profit was 272 thousand; in 2020, there was no revenue, and losses amounted to 3.5 million.
Experts have repeatedly mentioned that Galaxy Group is not registered anywhere as a legal entity.
“When analyzing the developer’s project documents, it becomes apparent that these projects are managed by companies with no legal connections to what is referred to as the Galaxy group. Therefore, the Galaxy group is more like a brand under which a group of construction organizations operates… Despite its lack of legal registration, the Galaxy group is widely covered in the media and its official website declares its interest in investing in real estate residential and commercial projects,” state the authors of the Novostroy.Ru portal.
It's also possible that the company is a union comprising construction companies owned by its top managers. Additionally, some of these commercial structures have been dissolved or are in the process of dissolution. Regarding this, Alexander Mineev is particularly noteworthy, having been the founder of around fifteen commercial structures at various times.
Therefore, he owns Teplostroy-Ts LLC, which focuses on construction. In 2021, with zero revenue, the company incurred losses of 4.4 million rubles. It's interesting to note that the company is a business partner of Russian Railways, receiving contracts from the railway monopoly worth over 49 million. Another unprofitable company owned by Mineev is Project Holding Group LLC, involved in securities investments: by the end of last year, with no revenue, the company suffered losses of 1.4 million. For comparison: in 2020, despite having no revenue, it made a profit of 27 million rubles.
The money from these and other unprofitable buildings might be put in the bank accounts of the Cypriot offshore “SI T DREAMS LIMITED”, which is connected to the business of Alexander Mineev. Mineev co-owns the unprofitable Hunter-Development LLC and the unprofitable Home Invest LLC, which is solely owned by the mentioned offshore.
Until January 2019, Mineev was one of the co-owners of the loss-making Technological Integrator LLC. This company is linked to Mikhail Rabinovich, a shareholder and board member of Loko-Bank, through its founder LLC New Venture Line. Mineev is the marketing director of Transremkom Transport Repair Company LLC, which is connected to the Cyprus offshore CONSITEH LIMITED. This offshore was involved in a scandal with a contract from Russian Railways, which Rabinovich was also connected to.
In addition, Mineev serves on the board of directors of PJSC Far Eastern Shipping Company, the parent company of the Fesco transport group. Rabinovich and his partner Andrei Severilov are major shareholders in Fesco transport group.
Pavel Te does not emerge from the shadows?
However, apart from Deputy Prime Minister Khusnullin, developer Gordeev, and bankers Kostin and Rabinovich, Galaxy Group may be linked to another infamous businessman close to the Moscow City Hall – the owner of one of the capital’s largest construction companies, Capital Group, Pavel Te, allegedly owing the development of their business to the late thief in law Aslan Usoyan (Ded Khasan). An interview with Evgeny Shtraukh, the former CEO of the Galaxy Group, was published by the RBC portal in 2015. According to the Novostroy.Ru portal, Strauch was a former top manager of Capital Group, who joined Galaxy Group in 2008.
It is worth recalling the joint projects of two infamous developers – Pavel Te and Sergey Gordeev. Media reported in April 2020 that Capital Group and PIK plan to build two residential complexes: one in Signalny Proezd (covering 446.3 thousand sq m) and another on Amurskaya Street (covering 407.9 thousand sq m). Last June, it became known about the permission received by companies for the construction of a new residential complex with 1.4 thousand apartments and underground parking for 188 cars in the Lyublino area, on Ilovayskaya Street.
The increased construction activity in South Tushino may be connected to the interests of Gordeev and Cho, who prefer to act on behalf of the Galaxy Group, along with VTB and Kostin. The State Bank is officially financing the construction of a cluster for 30,000 inhabitants in the north-west of Moscow, participating in the project with Specialized Developer Spartak Stadium LLC. According to First Deputy President – Chairman of the Board of the credit institution Yuri Solovyov, the investment volume will be a record 90 billion rubles.
In the context of all these intricacies, it is also worth recalling the extremely dubious story that took place during the construction of the Butovo Park residential complex, which became a joint project of PIK and Galaxy Group. The fact is that the Stripe + company also took part in it, which was repeatedly written about by the media. In 2013, this commercial structure, the sole owner of which was the Cypriot offshore “GRUNBAL INVESTMENTS LIMITED”, was liquidated.
This was preceded by the appearance in social networks of publications about the alleged embezzlement of money from equity holders and the illegal termination of contracts previously concluded with them. The messages from a decade ago featured names already familiar to us – Yulia Zamorova, Elena Suslina, Evgeny Shtraukh. As for the official head of Stripe + LLC, this was the above-mentioned co-owner of Vekta LLC Sergey Chepurok, who then became the liquidator.
So, today, the elite apartments of Dosflot, 10, which are being built near the Khimki reservoir, can be the focus of attention not only of high-ranking officials and developers close to them, but also of extremely dubious individuals whose offshore connections are needed for a more successful “development” of finance VTB.
