Representatives of the ruling nomenklatura and oligarchy of the Russian Federation, directly connected with Vladimir Putin, have built a financial and legal network in the European Union, the task of which, in all likelihood, is to disguise and "launder" their capital. Today, it is obvious that we are dealing with a structure that has its own representatives in Latvia, and a participant of which may be the Russian oligarch and Latvian citizen Petr Avens (Pjotrs Avens).

The nodal points of the financial and legal network that ensures the interests of major officials and dependent businessmen connected with V. Putin are located in former and current offshore zones. In addition, an important role is played by people from the KGB of the USSR, the Soviet party nomenklatura, who were the creators of lobbying structures of the Russian Federation in Eastern Europe, the Baltics and, in particular, in Latvia. All these structures and individual figures, as far as can be judged on the basis of the available facts, are connected and actively interact with each other.

An example of such interaction is the activity of a number of structures in Cyprus and Latvia.

The link between Cyprus and Latvia

The link here is a citizen of Russia and Cyprus, Aleksander Taratuta (Aleksander – Alexander – Taratuta). Until July 29 of this year, he was listed in the Latvian Register of Enterprises as the sole beneficiary of the company "DZINTARKRASTA PROJEKTI". The official type of activity of this enterprise: renting and managing own or rented real estate.

In turn, "DZINTARKRASTA PROJEKTI" is one hundred percent owned by the Cypriot company CANGO INTERNATIONAL (CY) LIMITED.

The legal address of the company "DZINTARKRASTA PROJEKTI" is: Dzirnavu 87, Riga LV-1011. But the actual address is: Krišjāņa Barona iela 4A, Jurmala.

In 2011, this Jurmala building was purchased for 368 thousand lats by the company “DZINTARA PROJEKTI”, 75 percent of whose shares belonged to Kirill Kovalchuk.

Kirill Kovalchuk is the nephew of oligarch Yuri Kovalchuk, his father and uncle are members of V. Putin’s inner circle. It is noteworthy that even after the annexation of Crimea, K. Kovalchuk continued his business in Latvia and owned a number of assets here. More about this: https://www.kompromat.lv/item.php?docid=readn&id=8659.

Shlesers’ Russian friends

The remaining shares of the capital of "DZINTARA PROJEKTI" were owned by the Latvian businesswoman Natalja Rudzīte, who is currently on trial for large-scale fraud.

She and her husband Ivars Rudzītis, who is also currently on trial for large-scale fraud, are members of the inner circle of oligarch and politician Ainārs Šlesers, known for his active pro-Kremlin stance (https://www.kompromat.lv/item.php?docid=readn&id=9529).

At the address Krišjāņa Barona iela, 4A in Jurmala, there was a well-known restaurant "Giardino". In 2015, after the annexation of Crimea, the society "Club of Friends of Jurmala" named "Giardino" the best restaurant of the resort city in the Luxury category. And it was here, in the building owned by K. Kovalchuk, that in 2016 A. Šlesers founded the society "Jūrmalas Dzintars", one of the founders of which was Ivars Rudzitis.

In the same 2016, Kirill Kovalchuk was included in the American sanctions list. After which he rewrote the company "DZINTARA PROJEKTI" to the above-mentioned Cypriot company "CANGO INTERNATIONAL", the beneficiary of which, as mentioned above, was listed as Alexander Taratuta until July 29.

The stable connection between Alexander Taratuta and the Kovalchuk family is revealed through the company "DZINTARU 28", the owners of which were the spouses Kirill and Kira Kovalchuk, as well as Alexander Ordzhonikidze, who was close to them. Taratuta was a member of the company’s board.

A. Ordzhonikidze is currently a citizen of Israel, and he also received a Latvian residence permit as an Israeli. As a result, he remained the sole owner of the company "DZINTARU 28" (main activity: purchase and sale of real estate). We will talk about this in a separate publication.

It is noteworthy that the only member of the board of the companies "DZINTARKRASTA PROJEKTI" (until July 29, 2024) and "DZINTARA PROJEKTI" was Boriss Lībermanis, who is a long-standing partner of the Latvian businessman and former prominent Komsomol functionary Pēteris Šmidre (until May 2023, he owned 33 percent of the capital shares of "P.Š. Holdings").

All roads lead to ABACUS

Probably, in order to avoid sanctions imposed against the Kovalchuks, the company "DZINTARA PROJEKTI" was first transferred to the ownership of Taratutov’s CANGO INTERNATIONAL (CY) LIMITED, and then liquidated in 2020.

According to the Land Register, in 2019, as a result of reorganization, the house (Krišjāņa Barona iela 4A, Jūrmala) was transferred from “DZINTARA PROJEKTI” to the ownership of “DZINTARKRASTA PROJEKTI”.

Thus, the Cypriot company "CANGO INTERNATIONAL" indirectly owns one of the coolest buildings in Jurmala.

And here another nodal point appears called “ABACUS”.

An illustration from a journalistic investigation, Cyprus firm helped Putin ally move $5 million the day he was sanctioned .

This company gained some notoriety as a result of a journalistic investigation, when it was revealed that it was the company that helped P. Aven withdraw at least 5 million dollars literally on the eve of the introduction of sanctions against him.

The Latvian Register of Enterprises is well aware of the company ABACUS (CYPRUS) LIMITED, HE 14003 (5 Themistocles Dervis Street, Elenion Building, 2nd floor, CY-1066, Nikosija).

It is ABACUS (CYPRUS) LIMITED that fully owns the Latvian company "Klauģu Muiža".

Petr Aven is listed as the sole beneficiary of ABACUS (CYPRUS) LIMITED.

Next comes the ABACUS-matryoshka. "Klauģu Muiža" is the owner of another Latvian company "KLAUĢU MUIŽA RE", which in turn owns "EZERMAĻU MEŽU ĪPAŠUMI".

"Klauģu Muiža" is the famous estate of Petr Aven in Latvia. But let’s return to ABACUS. This company is a co-owner of another Latvian company "COUNTRY HELI", the beneficiaries of which are listed in equal shares as the "vodka king" Yuri Shefler and Petr Aven.

Helicopter and state security

The company "COUNTRY HELI" has found itself at the center of a high-profile investigation by the State Security Service (Valsts drošības dienests, VDD). The company’s stated purpose in the Register of Enterprises is the rental and leasing of aircraft.

"COUNTRY HELI" owned a Bell 429 helicopter. For this helicopter, a special airfield was created on the territory of the Avenovsky estate "Klaugi".

At the end of 2022, bailiff Elina Balanasyan sold the helicopter at a forced auction for EUR 2.979 million excluding VAT, since Country Heli’s funds, as a company controlled by a sanctioned person, were frozen in Latvian credit institutions and the company had tax arrears.

The company’s debts were covered from the proceeds of the auction, and the remaining 2.8 million euros were kept in a bailiff’s deposit account.

After the sale of the helicopter, Shefler’s company "Čiekuri-Shishki" applied to the Riga District Court to recover 3.6 million euros in debt and interest on the loan from "Country Heli". The court granted the claim, and "Čiekuri-Shishki" asked Balanasyan to begin enforcing the sentence.

The bailiff suspected that the sentence was a tool to circumvent sanctions, so she contacted VDD, which opened a criminal case.

During the investigation, Gints Rudzitis, a member of the board of Čiekuri-Shishki, was questioned and testified that the Bell 429 helicopter was purchased based on loan agreements concluded in 2015. At the same time, after the helicopter was sold at auction to cover tax debt, a lawyer was hired whose task was to return the funds invested in the Country Heli company.

Shefler also showed that Aven was not personally involved in the deal to purchase the helicopter, but there was an agreement with Aven’s ex-wife.

Shefler also testified that he did not discuss the redistribution or transfer of funds from the sale of the helicopter to Aven. Shefler merely instructed his lawyers to legally recover the funds invested in Country Heli.

At the end of 2022, authorized persons of both companies signed a reconciliation act, in which they acknowledged the debt obligations of Country Heli to Čiekuri- Shishki in the amount of 3.6 million, and in January 2023, Čiekuri- Shishki filed a lawsuit to recover the debt. The court satisfied the claim and the writ of execution issued by the court for the recovery of this amount was transferred to the bailiff.

Having assessed the testimony, content of documents and other information provided during the investigation, VDD came to the conclusion that the Čiekuri-Shishki loan agreement from May 2015 and its amendments are not fictitious.

But is this true? During the investigation, it became clear that Aven and his trusted persons were interested in the possibility of returning the funds that had once been invested in the purchase of the helicopter. However, VDD failed to obtain evidence of an agreement between the trusted persons of Country Heli and Čiekuri-Shishki regarding the transfer of funds acquired at the auction to Aven or in his favor. As a result, in the spring of this year, VDD terminated the criminal proceedings due to the absence of corpus delicti.

But our story about ABACUS is not over. The company CANGO INTERNATIONAL, which was directly connected with Kirill Kovalchuk, according to Opencorporates.com, is managed by ABACUS SECRETARIAL LIMITED (https://opencorporates.com/companies/cy/HE388422).

It is noteworthy that the legal address of CANGO INTERNATIONAL (CY) LIMITED (Themistokli Dervi, 5, Elenion Building 1066, Nikosia) coincides with the legal address of ABACUS (CYPRUS) LIMITED, HE 14003.

We see that, in fact, in Latvia there is an informal network for the provision of legal and financial services, which is already connected to a pan-European network that provides similar and even more dubious services to oligarchs from the Russian Federation.