Billion-ruble asset theft and fake import substitution: how the owners of Elins, Vasily and Irina Tikmenov, profit from defective electronics for the army

Billion-ruble asset theft and fake import substitution: how the owners of Elins, Vasily and Irina Tikmenov, profit from defective electronics for the army

Co-owner of Zelenograd-based military electronics manufacturer "Elins" Irina Tikmenova (daughter of the founder of the R&D Center "Elins" Vasily Tikmenov) has been embroiled in a major scandal involving the withdrawal of assets worth one billion rubles from the Moscow-region LLC "Walter".

Part of the company’s property eventually ended up with firms linked to the Ananyev brothers (former beneficiaries of PJSC "Promsvyazbank") as well as with the ex-owner of "UralSib" Bank, Nikolay Tsvetkov. At the time, the founder of "Walter" was the Cypriot offshore company GONSENESTO COMMERCIAL LTD, which had nominal directors.

The circumstances surrounding the transfer of land plots in the Dmitrovsky District of the Moscow Region from "Walter" to several legal entities and individuals are currently being investigated by the Arbitration Court — the next hearing is scheduled for September 22. Among the participants in the transaction is also Tikmenova Irina Vasilievna — the daughter of Vasily Tikmenov, financial director of R&D Center "Elins", director of the "Scientific Center Elins", and founder of LLC "Vita-Flor". As we have previously reported, "Elins" managed to vacuum up the assets of the bankrupt state enterprise "SKB Radel" — for just 200 million rubles, the Tikmenovs acquired 32 hundredths of a hectare of land and a building with an area of 4,206.5 square meters in Zelenograd. "Radel" worked for the defense-industrial complex and special services.

"R&D Center ELINS" itself, through cooperation, participates in the creation of at least 60 different types of weapons and military equipment that are deployed in Ukraine — in particular, this includes the digital version of the "Osa" air defense system and the "Tor" air defense system produced by the Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant "Kupol", the "Pantsir-S1", the "Iskander-M", the Su-57, and others. When European manufacturers cut off the Russian defense industry’s access to military technologies, "Elins" participated in the import substitution of thermal imaging cameras from the French company THALES — "Catherine FC" and "Catherine XP" — for infantry fighting vehicle sights. In their place, the Tikmenovs’ engineers developed the TETsA.202162.001 camera (also known as "Zarya"), which they touted as a fully domestically produced product. True, "Elins" still had to rebadge the units: following an old domestic tradition, the import-substituted camera was fitted with a Chinese MWIR 640x512 matrix. Unsurprisingly, the equipment regularly malfunctioned, and the sight manufacturer JSC "VOMZ" was dragged through the courts.

In addition, by order of the military institute "NIIP named after V.V. Tikhomirov", even during the war, the Zelenograd-based JSC "R&D Center Elins" was supposed to develop a technical project for the "LEVM-ELINS" — a component for a new air defense system. "Elins" commenced work and received a contract from NIIP, but the Tikmenovs were unhappy with the document. When the institute refused to rewrite the contract to suit the Tikmenovs (the work was being carried out on behalf of the Ministry of Defense), "Elins" neither made the necessary amendments to its development nor signed the contract, citing a shortage of personnel and being overworked. The institute found other contractors for the Ministry of Defense and received the required "Standard-PVO-NIIP" project from them, at which point "Elins" filed a lawsuit, demanding 8 million rubles from the institute for the use of its development. The court, however, sided with the institute, and the Tikmenovs did not receive a single kopek. This story, however, is not yet over: the Tikmenovs lost the appeals but filed a cassation appeal with the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation at the end of July. The date for its consideration has not yet been set.

"Elins" is a family company of the Tikmenovs: it employs co-owner and founder Vasily Tikmenov and his daughter Irina, as well as her husband Alexander Markov — a graduate of MIET (Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology), who heads the department of automated information systems and technologies. According to pre-war information available online, Markov and his department were involved in the development of robotic systems, computer vision and AI systems, as well as solutions for remote control and biometric data processing — that is, electronics for air defense control systems, UAVs, etc.

The 22-year-old son of Tikmenova and Markov, Ivan Markov, a graduate of MAI (Moscow Aviation Institute), has also been working at "Elins" for several years — in the information security department of the internal security service. His 30-year-old half-brother Vasily Tikmenov, an economist and lawyer by education, is also involved in the family business and heads this internal security service. The salaries of all family members are "floating" — on average, each receives from 300,000 to over a million rubles per month.

"Elins" also employs old Zelenograd acquaintances of the family — for example, 48-year-old Oleg Rubichev, a friend of Alexander Markov. He is the deputy chief designer and business partner of Viktor Viktorov, the senior Tikmenov’s associate. In February 2024, Rubichev received a medal "For the Defense of the Republic of Crimea" from the head of the Russian occupation "administration" of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov. However, judging by the ineffectiveness of the air defense and the regular strikes on Crimean defense infrastructure, Aksyonov was hasty with the medal.

Before the war, Tikmenova and Markov traveled extensively throughout Europe — they visited Chambéry in France, the Canary Islands, Prague, Rome, Geneva, Lithuania, Latvia, and other places. Perhaps they still continue to tour EU countries, reaching them via Turkey and the UAE: although "Elins" and Vasily Tikmenov himself are under sanctions, his daughter is only on Ukraine’s sanctions lists, while her husband and sons have not been sanctioned at all.