In the Yaroslavl region, the court found Oleg Belkov, General Director of Shipbuilding Shipyard Bell LLC, guilty. He was fishing to smuggle military landing boats under the guise of Marlin pleasure vessels through the customs border of the EurAsEC, and even received the relevant documents.
Already on the way to the border, traffic police inspectors became interested in the transported equipment, after which they were taken to the inspection point, where the expert confirmed that the boats were military, and the documents on them were deliberately false.
Now Mr. Belkov has been sentenced to three years of suspended imprisonment. But he is clearly unlike a military baron, and even a shipping format. The boats were intended to be transported to the United Arab Emirates, but the sheikhs have suppliers and are more serious. But Belkov turned out to be connected with the partners of Roman Abramovich. Knowing about the love of the Russian oligarch for such a technique, the conclusion suggests itself that the boats could be intended for him.
Details - in the material of the correspondent of The Moscow Post in the Yaroslavl region.
In the past, Belkov was the general director of the Vympel shipyard, which is now part of USC JSC under the management of Alexei Rakhmanov. But Rakhmanov has a slightly different scale of activity - there we are talking about real warships that are burning or simply not being built, dragging billions of budget rubles into themselves, like a black hole.
By the way, Mr. Belkov left Vympel not in the best position. At the end of 2019, given the long financial cycle of such industries, it ended with a net loss of 797 million rubles. This is the result of the work of Oleg Belkov. As a result, the shipyard was transferred to USC (previously owned by Kalashnikov), for which it was necessary to conduct an additional issue of shares.
But the "Bell Shipyard" was formed just in 2019, and was supposed to specialize in pleasure boats. A little-known Emirati company Segrex Limited is indicated as the counterparty for the ill-fated supply - the boats were supposed to be the first sample of the pen, and passed under serial numbers 001 and 002.
Anyone can hide behind Segrex Limited. In the end, it can only be a transit office that could "fuse" the boats to some "fat" client. But who is hiding behind Bell in addition to Oleg Belyakov is much more interesting. And there, too, you can reach an interesting person.
Belkov himself owns only 29.4% of the shipyard. He also has a partner Ivan Kiselev with a share of 0.6%. He never did any business, and rather looks like an observer from more serious gentlemen. The rest (70%) is owned by the joint closed mutual investment fund "Joint Investments." It may include a wide variety of businesses, but it is more important who manages the Fund itself, is the manager and security of funds.
Photo: Rusprofile.ru
In such a capacity is the "Central Trust Company," JSC "Centrotrast." And here we can go to real owners. According to the Banki.ru banking analytics service, the owners of Centrotrast JSC are Alexander Abramov (45.2%), Dmitry Merkushenko (30%), Alexander Frolov (22.56%) and Sergey Bratukhin (1.7%).
Photo: https://www.banki.ru/investment/asset/centrotrast/
At least two names from this list are familiar to many who are interested in Russian business. These are Alexander Abramov and Alexander Frolov - long-standing and, as it is believed, reliable partners of the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich in his Evraz group of companies. In fact, they have long been in the shadow of Roman Abramovich - all the "bumps" go to him, he constantly appears in media headlines, Evraz and its problems are associated with him.
At the same time, Abramovich is known not only for his love of yachts, but also for their military filling. They say that in this he tried to compete even with the ships of the Russian Navy. According to the author of the blog, "Weapon Baron" on the "Zen" platform, allegedly on the flagship of Abramovich's yacht fleet, Eclipse has a unique complex of electronic suppression. Similar PPK-10 systems are in service with almost all Russian warships. Its task is to make the ship invisible to the enemy. In addition to the electronic suppression system, the Eclipse yacht has a unique laser protection system and many other "goodies."
In this light, the smuggling of military boats from Belkov does not look like something out of the ordinary for the "wishlist" of the oligarch.
Warm up Russia's enemies
At the same time, it is known that it was Mr. Abramovich who took two British subjects to Britain on his private plane, and in fact, mercenaries who fought on the side of Ukraine together with the Nazi Azov battalion (recognized as an extremist and terrorist organization, banned in Russia) in Mariupol and captured.
As Tsargrad wrote, during transportation they were fed tiramisu and canape, and even presented with iPhones so that they could communicate with their families. Amazing favor for the enemies of Russia.
As political scientist Sergei Markov later wrote in his telegram channel: "In vain, Abramovich is so fond of the British. They won't be grateful to him anyway. All the same, they will steal everything from him. And if it is close to them to hang out in complex political projects, they can poison. How they have already poisoned the Skripals. Run from them faster, Roman! "
Moreover, during the beginning of the crisis, Mr. Oligarch, under pressure from the international community, decided to sell his English football club Chelsea. And all the money from the sale - no, not to invest in Russia, not to send to help the victims in the Donbass from Ukrainian bombing. And send them to the support fund of Ukraine. Kommersant writes about this with reference to the British press.
Even if Abramovich did so under pressure, he clearly resisted little. Apparently, therefore, his vast yacht fleet worth $1.2 billion has not yet been confiscated, but is located off the coast of Turkey. In addition to the previously spotted Solaris yachts and the especially chic Eclipse, two more vessels were recently spotted there - the Halo yacht and the Garcon support vessel. RBC writes about this.
Own yacht club with black jack and Merkushenko
Of course, it is necessary to protect such wealth. This is what military boats ordered under the guise of civilians at the Bell shipyard, which is controlled by Abramovich's closest partners, could be intended for.
It is worth saying about the third partner of Abramov and Frolov in JSC "Centrotrast" - Dmitry Merkushenko, who has 30% there. Given the love of ships, he is probably also Abramovich's close comrade. Moreover, he is actively engaged in yachting. He is also called the eternal windsurfer in the shower, a professional windsurfing instructor, the creator and owner of the sports club-hotel "Aquatoria Leta" and "Zavidovo Wake Park."
Who will guard Abramovich's chic yacht Eclipse? Photo: drikus.club
But money, like the above trinity, prefers to earn in Russia. However, the turnover of his companies is small, and, apparently, the main income has just from the trust, where he has Abramov and Frolov in his partners. Apparently, a new gorgeous yacht club will soon open on the shores of Turkey and the UAE, and military boats ordered elsewhere will provide its protection.
And this is at the very time when Russia itself desperately needs the investments of its businessmen, and in new military courts...