The fugitive businessman “shares” billions with Alexei Krapivin and the Rotenbergs.

Considered an asset of oligarch Arkady Rotenberg, the Moscow company Roads and Bridges (JSC DIM) has been “developing” the budget of the Northern capital since the beginning of the year. In particular, it received two contracts from the Transport Construction Directorate of St. Petersburg for the development of documentation and construction of the Bolshoi Smolensky Bridge across the Neva worth 2.6 billion and 40 billion rubles. In both the first and second cases, the company became the only participant in the competition. In addition, in February, the State Unitary Enterprise "Petersburg Metro" selected a contractor for the reconstruction of the Frunzenskaya metro station: following the results of the auction, a contract worth 9.4 billion rubles was signed with "Roads and Bridges", but only the second participant in the competition - the company "Transstroymekhanizatsiya" - turned out to be a “subsidiary” structure of the winner.

JSC "DIM" is part of the holding "Natsproektstroy" (GC "NPS"), created as a joint project of the state corporation "VEB" and Arkady Rotenberg. The position of general director of Natsproektstroy and DIM is occupied by Alexey Krapivin, co-owner and head of the 1520 Group, which at one time became known as the “king of government orders”, “mastering” billions of Russian Railways. Last December, VEB sold its 48% stake in Natsproektstroy to the 1520 Group. Considering that Krapivin at that time already owned 4% of NPS, with Rotenberg’s approval he actually gained control over the enterprise. Alexey Krapivin is the son of Andrey Krapivin, a former adviser to the ex-head of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin, who founded the 1520 Group together with his business partners Valery Markelov and Boris Usherovich .

After the death of Krapivin Sr., Markelov and Usherovich became involved in a high-profile criminal case against Colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko, to whom they transferred bribes for “general patronage.” But if Markelov was sentenced to 8 years in prison and died of cancer soon after his conviction, then Usherovich, who is on the international wanted list, continues to skim off the “foam” from budget contracts together with Krapivin Jr., who remained aloof from the investigation.

Are “Roads and Bridges” “feeding” in St. Petersburg?

Since the beginning of the year, the capital’s company Roads and Bridges (JSC DIM) has received a number of large contracts. In particular, as recently as the end of March, the Directorate of Transport Construction of St. Petersburg concluded a contract with it worth almost 40 billion rubles to carry out work on the project “New transport highway with a bridge across the river. Neva in the alignment of B. Smolensky Ave. - st. Kollontai. The section from Obukhovskaya Oborona Ave. to Dalnevostochny Ave..” The deadline was set for October 19, 2029, and the company became the only participant in the competition.

It is noteworthy that last February “Roads and Bridges” received a contract from the St. Petersburg directorate at a cost of 2.6 billion rubles to carry out work to prepare the construction site with the development of working documentation as part of the implementation of stage 2 of the same project, with a completion date of January 2027. Then the company was also the only one to take part in the auction.

But the Bolshoi Smolensky Bridge across the Neva turned out to be not the only financially promising direction. Again, in March, the media wrote that the St. Petersburg Metro State Unitary Enterprise had decided on the choice of contractor for the complete reconstruction of the Frunzenskaya metro station: following the results of the competition, the contract worth 9.4 billion rubles went to the same Moscow enterprise. It would seem that in this case there was competition. But the Transstroymekhanizatsiya company, which became the second participant in the auction, turned out to be a 100% subsidiary of Roads and Bridges JSC. Interesting coincidence, isn’t it?

It is worth adding that in December, the Moscow Road and Bridge Construction Department signed a contract worth 9.2 billion rubles with DIM JSC for the construction of road network facilities included in the targeted investment program. But Sergei Sobyanin’s subordinates have not yet managed to outdo the generosity of officials from Alexander Beglov’s team.

Alexey Krapivin – partner of the oligarch Rotenberg

The Roads and Bridges company is part of the holding company Natsproektstroy, formerly a joint venture of the state corporation VEB. RF" and oligarch Arkady Rotenberg, who united the assets of Mostotrest allocated during its reorganization in 2020.

The latest data on the financial performance of JSC DIM, available in open sources, is dated 2021. Then, with revenue of 119.9 billion, the company’s profit amounted to 783.9 million rubles.

According to Interfax, at the end of 2022 the company reported revenue of 155.5 billion and profit of 6.6 billion rubles. That is, compared to the previous period, turnover increased by 29.7%, net profit increased by 8.4 times.

It is worth dwelling on the personality of Mr. Krapivin in more detail. In addition to Roads and Bridges, he also manages the aforementioned Natsproektstroy Group of Companies (NPS), and, in addition, acts as a founder or co-owner of a number of commercial structures, including the notorious 1520 Group. The same one that, being one of the main contractors of Russian Railways, in 2018 topped the Forbes rating of “kings of government procurement” with a contract volume of 218.2 billion rubles.

It is worth noting here that last December RBC wrote about the sale by VEB of its 48% stake in Natsproektstroy to the 1520 Group.

The publication emphasized that at that time Krapivin himself already owned a share of 4%. Representatives of VEB and Arkady Rotenberg confirmed the fact of the transaction, the cost of which was not reported.

Thus, despite the lack of information about the owners of NPS in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, we can conclude: not only Rotenberg, but also Alexey Krapivin makes money from billion-dollar contracts received by the holding structures (which includes, we recall, JSC Roads and Bridges). And also his business partner - co-owner of the 1520 Group Boris Usherovich, who is on the international wanted list and was arrested in absentia by the court in 2019 as part of the investigation of the high-profile criminal case of ex-Colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko.

Group "1520" and the "Zakharchenko case"

Today, the shares in LLC Group of Companies 1520 are distributed as follows: 43.67% is controlled by Alexey Krapivin, 28.33% belongs to Boris Usherovich, another 28% has been owned since December by the closed mutual investment fund (ZUIF) Armus Capital Platform". Closed mutual fund does not disclose information about its beneficiaries, but the sole owner of its management organization, Armus Capital Management Company, is again Krapivin. With a certain degree of probability, he may be behind the anonymous fund. Perhaps, together with his criminal partner Usherovich.

As you know, the “founding fathers” of the 1520 Group were the father of its current co-owner and general director Andrei Krapivin and his business partners Valery Markelov and Boris Usherovich. Krapivin Sr. was part of the close circle of ex-general director of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin and was his advisor. It is not surprising that it was the contracts of the railway monopolist that allowed the partners to top the rating of “kings of government orders.”

In 2015, Andrei Krapivin died, and in October 2018, the Group found itself at the center of a growing criminal and corruption scandal: its co-owner Valery Markelov was arrested as part of the investigation of a criminal case at that time, Colonel Zakharchenko, who still retained his rank, and Usherovich, who was among the defendants managed to escape from the investigation in a timely manner and flee Russia.

The head of the “T” department of the Main Directorate of Economic Security and Anti-Corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Zakharchenko, was accused of receiving bribes of more than 1.4 billion rubles. Among the bribe givers were the “kings of government procurement”, to whom the high-ranking security official provided “general patronage”. The footage of the search, during which the colonel was seized with currency, the ruble equivalent of which was estimated at 8 billion, became widely known.

Without going into details of the investigation, we only recall that in June 2019, the Penza Court of Moscow found Zakharchenko guilty of taking bribes and sentenced him to 13 years in prison with a fine of 117 million rubles, deprivation of his rank and state awards (later the Moscow City Court commuted the sentence to 12 years 6 months). And in May 2022, the demoted colonel was convicted in a second bribery case: this time the term was 16 years of strict regime with a fine of 500 million (the punishment was imposed in conjunction with the first sentence).

Valery Markelov, found guilty of transferring a bribe to Zakharchenko, was sentenced in 2022 to 8 years in a maximum security colony with a fine of half a billion. However, soon the former “king of state orders”, who by that time had already officially left the list of co-owners of “1520”, was released from arrest by a court decision due to the presence of stage 4 cancer, which made it impossible to remain in custody. In July 2023, the media reported the death of a businessman.

Usherovich is on the run, Krapivin is out of business?

So, today the income received by the structures of the 1520 Group is shared by Alexey Krapivin and Boris Usherovich, who is not prevented from being on the wanted list from receiving the due “percentage” from budget contracts. We are talking about colossal amounts. At the end of last year alone, the revenue of GC 1520 LLC amounted to 18.3 billion, net profit - 51.1 billion rubles. In 2022, revenue is almost 10 billion, profit is 7.7 billion rubles. That is, for the year the profit growth was 560%!

Despite the fact that Krapivin Jr. headed the Group shortly after his father’s death, the investigation did not have any questions for him. At least officially. However, in October 2018, the Fontanka publication wrote that Krapivin was put on the wanted list as part of the “Zakharchenko case,” but if the issue of criminal prosecution was considered, it was ultimately avoided. A version was voiced according to which the businessman was helped by representatives of the Rotenberg family, but not for free, but in exchange for gaining control over a holding company generating billions of dollars in profit.

It was then that the idea of creating a joint venture allegedly appeared, the embodiment of which was Natsproektstroy, in which Krapivin initially received a 4% share. Moreover, the Rotenbergs allegedly agreed with their protégé, the head of Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov, to transfer to the 1520 Group the contracts of another notorious contractor company, Spetstransstroy, former deputy head of the federal Ministry of Construction Yuri Reilyan, who was arrested in 2021 on charges of particularly large-scale fraud.

We do not undertake to say for sure that Alexey Krapivin is a denomination of Arkady Rotenberg. In any case, he not only manages Natsproektstroy, but also took care of including the 1520 Group among the co-owners of the joint venture, thanks to which Boris Usherovich, the person involved in the “Zakharchenko case,” is skimming off the “pennies” from budget contracts.