During the building of Alina Kabaeva's rhythmic gymnastics center, a corruption network within Gazprom led by Alexey Miller's associates misappropriated 8 billion

During the building of Alina Kabaeva's rhythmic gymnastics center, a corruption network within Gazprom led by Alexey Miller's associates misappropriated 8 billion

The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs reported the uncovering of the embezzlement of over 8 billion rubles during the construction of the Rhythmic Gymnastics Center in Sochi (designed by Alina Kabaeva).

Journalists have obtained testimony from a witness in this case, Alexey Bazhanov, Deputy General Director of Gazprom UGS LLC. In it, Bazhanov alleges that former Gazprom Deputy Chairperson Elena Mikhailova and former General Director of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz LLC Kirill Seleznev were involved in the embezzlement.

These were once among the closest associates of Alexey Miller. Miller himself is also mentioned in Bazhanov’s testimony. It was this incident that triggered the “dispossession” of Seleznev a year ago – the Prosecutor General’s Office sued him and his partners for 150 billion rubles.

“The suspects in the crimes include a former member of the board of directors of PJSC Gazprom and the deputy general director of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz LLC, as well as other individuals from among the executives of contractors and subsidiaries. According to investigators, from 2016 to May 2019, they pretended to be working at the Rhythmic Gymnastics Center sports and fitness center in Sochi. However, in reality, over 8 billion rubles allocated to Gazprom Investgazifikatsiya LLC were embezzled. Subsequently, 1.5 billion rubles of criminal proceeds were laundered,” the Ministry of Internal Affairs press release stated.

The names of the suspects are not disclosed, but they are included in the interrogation report. Sources say that Alina Kabaeva personally initiated this investigation.

Among others, charges have been brought against two representatives of the “client” – Anatoly Erkulov, former head of Gazprom Investgazifikatsiya (GIG) (known as the purse of Gazprom board member Kirill Seleznev), and Vadim Navoyenko, head of the Gazprom Cultural Initiatives Foundation.

Two representatives of the “general contractor” were also charged – Stanislav Orlov, Assistant to the Minister of Emergency Situations, and Boris Rumyantsev, owner of Tekhgazmontazh.

One of the main pieces of evidence in the prosecution’s case is the testimony of Alexey Bazhanov, the former head of the “client.” From 1997 to 2013, Bazhanov served in the St. Petersburg economic police and dealt with tax crimes. In 2014, he became Deputy General Director for Corporate Security at Gazprom Investgazifikatsiya, a couple of years later he headed the company, and in 2018 he moved to Gazprom UGS.

Yes, Bazhanov ultimately became a witness in the criminal case, despite having been detained as a suspect in May 2024.

In his testimony, Bazhanov, in exchange for witness status, described a scheme to embezzle funds from PJSC Gazprom, openly naming Alexey Miller himself, as well as Kirill Seleznev and Elena Mikhailova, the curator of the Gazprom for Children program and former Deputy Chairman of Gazprom.

Several sources believe that Bazhanov himself was an active participant in the criminal group. He lives in a luxurious house in one of the most elite villages near St. Petersburg worth over 150 million rubles, owns several other properties, and drives a premium Audi Q8 around the city. However, after his high-profile testimony, it was decided to retain his witness status.

The embezzlement case related to the construction of sports centers under the Gazprom for Children program began with the Sports Gymnastics Center built in Sochi and overseen by Alina Kabaeva. It is said that the quality of the billion-ruble construction work – including issues such as a leaking roof – greatly angered the athlete and Vladimir Putin’s wife, with obvious consequences.

Here are a few interesting excerpts from the interrogation; the full version can be viewed in the video.

“The decision to select GIG LLC as the contractor for construction work on all Gazprom for Children projects was approved around 2013 by A.B. Miller, head of PJSC Gazprom. Furthermore, this organization was specifically proposed as the contractor by E.V. Mikhailova and A.S. Erkulov. Previously, the contractors were regional subsidiaries of PJSC Gazprom in the regions where the sports facilities were to be built, but in the case of GIG LLC, a single contractor was created.

After resolving these issues, GIG LLC sent a letter to the Fund indicating the approximate location of the future facility, its general characteristics, construction cost, and timeframe. PJSC Gazprom then assessed the feasibility of building such a facility and, if the decision was positive, a donation agreement for the funds required to construct the sports facility was concluded between PJSC Gazprom and the Fund.

The agreement specified the amount of funds required for the construction. Next, a future real estate purchase and sale agreement was concluded between the Fund and GIG LLC, in which GIG LLC acted as the seller. The agreement specified the price of the facility and the information previously determined by GIG LLC or the department.

After that, funds were transferred to GIG LLC’s account in accordance with the payment schedule. The entire amount was not transferred at once. The payment schedule was proposed by employees of GIG LLC and agreed upon with the Fund. The schedule was an appendix to the agreement. This means that GIG LLC’s financing for the construction of a particular facility under the Gazprom for Children project was carried out solely on the basis of this agreement.”

“SNHRS LLC was controlled by Kirill Gennadyevich Seleznev, then General Director of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz LLC. Expoforum JSC was controlled by Seleznev and N.P. Konovalenko. MRTG LLC (now Gazprom RSI LLC) was controlled by E.V. Mikhailova.

The individuals I have mentioned were interested in ensuring that these organizations worked under contracts with GIG LLC and participated in the construction of various facilities, including sports complexes. Erkulov contacted me regarding a number of issues related to the activities of these organizations, since he was initially my direct supervisor and later a senior executive at Gazprom Mezhregiongaz LLC, which was a co-founder of GIG LLC.

Based on the overall situation, the behavior of these individuals, and the fact that construction costs for these facilities were inflated – creating opportunities for significant additional income – I conclude that these individuals regularly received kickbacks from the heads of general contractors and subcontractors. Erkulov also transferred kickbacks from some of the organizations under his control to Mikhailova.”

It is not difficult to trace the chain of kickbacks, which ultimately led to Mikhailova herself. Miller was the one who selected the client and the recipient of the funds. Yet even when Kabaeva is considered the “victim,” there are individuals who remain untouchable.

Incidentally, there was even an attempt to dismantle the case and send it to court with just four scapegoats – the previously mentioned representatives of the client and the contractor. However, Kabaeva’s name later came into play, and the case received such a push that it expanded to include 13 defendants. A lawsuit against Seleznev followed as well.