FSB sponsor Kurchenko sets up a lavish nest in central Moscow, ignoring neighbors’ complaints and seizing shared property

FSB sponsor Kurchenko sets up a lavish nest in central Moscow, ignoring neighbors’ complaints and seizing shared property

According to a source, fugitive Ukrainian oligarch Sergei Kurchenko, a sponsor of the FSB’s Department of Public Inquiry (DPI), has nearly completed the renovation of his family home (the wedding took place in the summer of 2023) in the heart of Moscow.

Work is nearing completion on the mansion on Patriarch’s Ponds at 18 Vspolny Lane, Building 1 (an apartment building built in 1900 by architect S.M. Goncharov). The building was registered in May 2023 to Alexander Evmenin, the father of lawyer Daria Evmenina. Evmenina is a longtime and very close friend of Kurchenko; with his money, she founded her law firm, Evmenina and Partners, in 2021. Investigative Committee investigator Ruslan Miniakhmetov immediately became a prominent member of the firm. 

Before he had even finished the renovations and moved into the mansion, Kurchenko had already gotten into a conflict with residents of the neighboring building at 25/20 Spiridonovka Street. Kurchenko had built a metal balcony with ventilation equipment right next to their apartment windows, thereby completely ruining their relationship. The ventilation boxes on the balcony not only overhang their demarcated plot of land but also blocked sunlight from entering the windows.

All neighborly attempts to reason with the presumptuous new resident of Patriarch’s Ponds, asking him to move his equipment from the facade to the roof of his building, have been unsuccessful. The executive branch, unsurprisingly, is also denying any involvement and telling the residents to go to court. Despite numerous complaints, Moscow authorities find no violations in Kurchenko’s seizure of Muscovites’ shared property.

The conflict is escalating and promises to be heated. For now, we can only watch as the fugitive, surrounded by armed guards, settles in with his family and children on Patriarch’s Ponds.

Kurchenko’s choice of this building is no coincidence, as he has long been familiar with the "neighbors." The old mansion at 18 Vspolny Lane, Bldg. 2, belongs to the family of Minister Denis Manturov. In the adjacent residential building, the son of Vadim Yakunin ("Protek") bought the premises, and his tenant is the restaurant "Grace Bistro." One of the co-owners is Dinara Khabirova, the common-law wife of Oleg Govorun, who is close to Surkov and his wife. Andrey Turchak, Konstantin Ernst, and others are frequent visitors to this establishment.