Guardsman from Rublyovka. The commander of the dispersal of rallies, General Vorobyov, uses luxury real estate registered in the name of his daughter and mother-in-law

Sergei Ezhov

February 3, 2021

As The Insider has established, an estate on Rublevka is registered in the name of the adult daughter of the head of the capital’s National Guard, Mikhail Vorobyov, and a business and an elite townhouse is registered in the name of the elderly mother-in-law. And it's not just the houses - his family lives a luxurious life, but no legal sources of income could be found that could justify it.

The riot police, who are brutally dispersing peaceful rallies these days, are part of the Russian Guard, whose capital headquarters is headed by Lieutenant General Mikhail Vorobyov. And he may have his own reasons for not liking anti-corruption fighters.

A native of Kursk, Vorobiev worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs before joining the National Guard. In total, he has been in the security forces since 1990. First, he headed the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Odintsovo District, then the inter-municipal department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs “Odintsovo” (on whose territory the notorious Rublevka is located), and after the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia he went to the Russian Guard. His official annual income in today's high position is, according to the declaration, 4 million 142 thousand rubles. Even if he received such a large salary for all 30 years of his service, even if he did not spend anything at all on food and clothing, it would still not be enough to purchase property for his close relatives, who earn even less than him.

The general’s wife, Marina Vorobyova, used to work in secondary schools, and now at the Odintsovo branch of MGIMO. Her salary is about 2 million a year (the official income in 2019 was higher due to the sale of a small apartment).

As The Insider has established, the wife of the head of the capital’s National Guard (as, presumably, he himself) lives in the cottage village of Podushkino in the Odintsovo district, near Barvikha. When receiving digital passes, she indicated that it was from this locality that she went for food and medicine.

The Insider found out that the house in Podushkino is registered to the Vorobyovs’ 32-year-old daughter, Ekaterina. The area of ​​the three-story building is 350 m².

Ekaterina Vorobyova also owns three plots adjacent to the cottage with a total area of ​​50 acres. Based on market prices for land and buildings in Podushkino, the property of the general’s daughter can be estimated at at least 150 million rubles.

In 2019, the daughter of the main Moscow National Guard received the status of a notary. Before that (and immediately after graduating from university, when she became the owner of the estate on Rublyovka), she worked as a consultant in the office of another notary and officially earned little. According to The Insider's source, in 2018 her income was only 210 thousand rubles. Thus, she could not independently purchase real estate on Rublyovka with legal income. Most likely, she won the money in the lottery or received it from a rich suitor, since it is impossible to imagine that the General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs would simply register a mansion bought with corrupt proceeds in his daughter’s name, so as not to indicate it in the declaration.

The daughter of Mikhail Vorobyov received not only the right to an expensive house, but also a digital pass during the period of quarantine restrictions. Catherine moved around the capital on behalf of the Main Directorate of the Russian Guard in Moscow. At the same time, she does not work in the Russian Guard, so issuing a pass can be considered an abuse of official position. Apparently, the deputy general, Colonel Dmitry Shchebunyaev, was in charge of issuing the pass—his personal email address is indicated in the document.

The story of the enrichment of Vorobyov’s family was not complete without a successful mother-in-law. The wife of the head of the Moscow National Guard in her maiden name bore the surname Smolin. Her supposed mother, 73-year-old Valentina Ivanovna (we identified the pensioner thanks to the fact that Vorobyov’s daughter drove a car with license plates that previously belonged to Smolina Sr.), has registered shares in two companies: Svoboda LLC and SKS-Group LLC. The first leases land from the Odintsovo administration along the highway, where fruits and vegetables are traded. The second was established as a construction company, but so far does not carry out any activities.

The mother-in-law’s business partner is the scandalous former local deputy and developer Sergei Samokhin. He is involved in the case of defrauded shareholders. The general's daughter also turned out to be connected with fraudulent developers. According to documents from Rosreestr available to The Insider, Ekaterina Vorobyova made dubious transactions for the purchase and sale of non-residential premises with the Zhilishchny Capital Group of Companies CJSC: in 2011 she bought and two years later sold back to the same CJSC a 165-meter property on Mikhail Kutuzov Street in Odintsovo. The owners of Housing Capital are accused of fraud on an especially large scale. The company's project, the residential complex "Gusarskaya Ballad", is called one of the largest unfinished projects in the Moscow region. Let us recall that Vorobiev himself previously headed the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Odintsovo District, on whose territory the fraudulent activities of builders associated with his family unfolded.

Companies registered in the name of the mother-in-law do not bring in much income, but Valentina Smolina, as The Insider has established, is the owner of a fashionable townhouse in the Odintsovo residential complex “Knyazhichi”.

The cost of the 259-meter facility, based on market offers, is about 50 million rubles.

Smolina, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, started her business in 2015, and acquired luxury real estate several years earlier. It is unlikely that she could provide expensive square meters for the entire Vorobyov family: the total revenue of all the companies in which she owns shares is several times less than the cost of real estate. According to our data, before retiring and becoming a businesswoman, Valentina Ivanovna was an ordinary employee at the confectionery factory of JSC Confectioner-Kursk. A Mercedes-Benz GLA 250 4MATIC (approximately 3 million rubles) was also registered for Vorobyov’s 73-year-old mother-in-law.

In addition to everything listed, Vorobyov owns three more apartments indicated in the declaration. He does not hide them, apparently due to the relative modesty of his property. One of the apartments, for example, is located on Marshala Tolubko Street in the Odintsovo district and costs about 9 million rubles.

Mikhail Vorobyov and his wife refused to comment to The Insider after the questions were raised. The general's daughter did not answer calls.