Translated material
Novorusskie in Dubai
Photo: Robert Bock / UnsplashNovorusskie in Dubai
“Important Stories” found in the neighborhood of Arab sheikhs associates of the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, State Duma deputies from United Russia, officials of the poorest republics of the North Caucasus and recent defendants in criminal cases
Important Stories obtained information about almost 200 thousand foreign property owners in Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This data was provided by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies ( C4ADS ), an American non-profit organization that studies international crime and conflict. In addition to “Important Stories,” the data research was carried out by 19 other media outlets from different countries, and the project was coordinated by the Norwegian publication E24.
Dubai is one of the favorite places of Russian politicians, civil servants and heads of government agencies. Besides the fact that property owners are not disclosed there, it is a tax haven and financial center of the Middle East. Russians do not need a visa to travel to the UAE - they are issued for free right at the airport. International sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are unlikely to affect Russian civil servants, senators, parliamentarians and figures close to power who have settled in the emirates. Even sanctioned Russian politically exposed persons feel at ease there. Nothing threatens their Dubai property; they can come to the emirates freely.
“Important Stories” found in the Dubai register more than 40 former and current Russian politicians and their close relatives, about 30 officials, about 30 heads of government agencies, more than 10 businessmen close to power and about the same number of people associated with crime. In total, more than five thousand Russians owned 9,700 real estate properties in Dubai (data current as of January 2020). At the same time, many Russian politicians and officials noted on the list never mentioned Dubai property in their declarations.
Companions of the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov
The list of owners of Dubai real estate includes several close associates of the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov. In his environment they play different roles. Thus, the list includes the son of a diplomat who connected the Chechen authorities with Arab countries. There is a major financier. And there are people who were associated with the murders of opposition politicians and Kadyrov’s competitors.
Entrepreneur from the Russian Forbes list Ruslan Baysarov is one of the largest figures in the Dubai register. He is an old friend of Kadyrov and is considered the wallet of the head of Chechnya. True, Baysarov always denied this. In 2019, Baysarov's fortune was estimated at $500 million. He could easily afford expensive real estate. The Dubai leak shows that by 2020, Baysarov was listed as the owner of five apartments and a large villa overlooking the sea on the world famous artificial island of Palm Jumeirah. The total market value of his Dubai properties exceeds $10 million. Baysarov did not answer journalists’ questions about why he needed so many apartments in Dubai and whether he was holding property for Kadyrov or his relatives.
The son of former senator from Chechnya Ziyad Sabsabi , Muhammad Sabsabi, is in the main photo on his Instagram, hugging Ramzan Kadyrov. Sabsabi Sr. now works as the plenipotentiary representative of the Chechen Republic to the President of Russia and has been involved in politics almost all his life. He was an ally of Akhmat Kadyrov, the father of the current Chechen leader. He headed the apparatus of the President and Government of Chechnya in the early 2000s. As the BBC reported in an investigation into Kadyrov's entourage, Sabsabi is from Syria, knows Arabic and represented the interests of Ramzan Kadyrov in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa. Kadyrov recruited him to establish ties with the Arab world. Ziyad's son, Muhammad Sabsabi, according to the Dubai real estate list, owned apartments in the Al Warsan First area worth $189,000, as well as a villa in the Al Merkadh area worth $3.8 million.
Assistant to the head of Chechnya Akhmad Yasaev is another person from the Dubai list. He was listed as the owner of apartments worth $800,000 in the Al Hallawi building. What makes Al Hallawi special is its location, realtors say : the building is surrounded by “wonderful private beaches, restaurants and parks.”
Yasaev was not always a simple assistant. He went from commander of a regiment of the patrol service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Chechnya to deputy minister of internal affairs and secretary of the republican Council of Economic and Public Security. He also worked as the head of Kadyrov's secretariat. And is known for carrying out special assignments.
On November 18, 2006, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Chechnya Akhmad Yasaev found himself at the scene of the execution of the former commander of the FSB operational combat group “Highlander” Movladi Baysarov. He refused to obey Kadyrov. He threatened to testify about him to the military prosecutor's office. And he was shot from an automatic weapon right on Leninsky Prospekt in Moscow, allegedly during his arrest by Chechen security forces. At the scene of the execution were: the deputy commander of the regiment under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Chechnya, the head of the Chechen Organized Crime Control Department with his deputy, and Akhmad Yasaev. And 11 wounds were counted on Movladi Baysarov’s body.
After the incident, Yasaev was interrogated. And he told the investigators that he was just passing by by chance, saw the former commander of the FSB operational combat group and decided to help the Chechen police detain him. The murder investigation was soon suspended due to the inability to identify the accused. All Chechen security officials who were at the scene of the execution were released.
Another specialist on special assignments from Ramzan Kadyrov’s inner circle may also have a connection to Dubai real estate - United Russia senator from Chechnya Suleiman Geremeev . He himself is not on the Dubai list. However, the leak contains not only the names of property owners in Dubai, dates of birth and their passport numbers, but also mobile phone numbers to contact the property owner.
As Important Stories found out, the mobile number indicated opposite the information about a Dubai apartment with a market value of more than 360 thousand dollars has been used by Suleiman Geremeev from at least 2019 to this day. At the same time, the owner of the apartment was a little-known person from Russia (Important Stories has his last name and passport details).
Senator Geremeev is called the cousin of State Duma deputy Adam Delimkhanov, one of Kadyrov’s three closest people. Geremeev himself previously served in the Chechen special forces detachment “Terek”. And in 2009, he was interrogated as a witness in the case of the murder of Russian hero Ruslan Yamadayev, a former Chechen field commander who fought with Russia in the first Chechen war, and in the late 1990s transferred the city of Gudermes to the control of federal troops.
Subscribe to the "Important Stories" newsletter Be the first to know about international investigative journalismLater, the Yamadayev clan refused to obey Ramzan Kadyrov. At first, their motorcades did not give way to each other on federal highways. Then in 2008, security forces controlled by Kadyrov besieged the base of the Vostok battalion of the Yamadayev clan in Chechnya (the battalion belonged to the GRU). And in the same year, Ruslan Yamadayev was shot dead right on the Smolenskaya embankment in Moscow, not far from the house of the Russian government. The killer approached Yamadayev’s car standing at a traffic light and shot through the open window 11 times from an automatic pistol with a silencer. Almost immediately after interrogation in this case, Geremeev was appointed senator from Chechnya and acquired immunity.
Later, Russian law enforcement agencies unsuccessfully tried to detain and interrogate Geremeev’s nephew, Ruslan (a former officer of the Chechen “North” battalion of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs) in the case of the murder of oppositionist Boris Nemtsov. A well-known Russian politician was shot dead on a bridge opposite the Kremlin on February 27, 2015. In the apartment where his killers stayed, keys to Geremeev’s hotel rooms were found. But it was not possible to detain the latter. He returned to Chechnya with the alleged killer. And he ignored summonses for questioning. Neither law enforcement officers nor FSB officers were able to break through Geremeev’s armed guards to deliver him to the investigator.
According to Novaya Gazeta, Ruslan Geremeev, with a passport under a false name, could have gone to Dubai under the guise of Ramzan Kadyrov’s groom. At the end of March 2022, Ramzan Kadyrov reported that the person involved in the Nemtsov murder case, Ruslan Geremeev, fought as part of the Russian troops in Ukraine and was wounded near Mariupol.
Forgetful politicians and wealthy bankrupts
Russian politicians in the Dubai real estate registry are, with rare exceptions, former and current deputies of the State Duma and regional parliaments from the ruling United Russia party. In total, they and their relatives owned nearly $25 million worth of real estate in Dubai, according to Important Stories estimates. Thanks to the informational secrecy of the emirates, they might have thought that no one would know about their property in a distant Arab country. As Important Stories found out, Dubai real estate is not listed in the declarations of a number of Russian parliamentarians named in the leak. Here are the most notable of them.
Saigidpasha Umakhanov , State Duma deputy from United Russia, did not declare Dubai real estate either in 2020 or 2021 . But according to leaked data, he owned an apartment with a market value of more than 700 thousand dollars. The apartment is located in one of the skyscrapers in the prestigious residential area of Dubai Marina on the very coast. In 2014, when Umakhanov was still mayor of the Dagestan city of Khasavyurt, an attempt was allegedly being made on his life. Sources of journalists in law enforcement agencies then said that Umakhanov found out about this and hid in the UAE for some time. although he himself denied it. The MP is also known for supporting the war in Ukraine while Dagestan ranks first among all regions in military casualties, based on publicly available data. Umakhanov has held various political positions in Dagestan since 1997. It is not entirely clear how he could earn money for a Dubai apartment.
Abdulmazhid Magramov was a State Duma deputy until 2021 from United Russia. Behind him on the Dubai list are apartments in the luxury Jumeirah Beach Residence on the seashore with a market value of just over a million dollars. However, his 2020 return does not include properties in Dubai. Magramov is known for the fact that during his five years in the State Duma he did not speak to his colleagues even once.
Roman Lyabikhov , a State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, did not declare Dubai real estate, neither in 2020 nor in 2021. Judging by the leak data, he owned an apartment with a balcony on the 5th floor of the 41-story Amwaj 4 building in an elite microdistrict on the coast of the Persian Gulf. Lyabikhov's one-room apartment is valued at $430 thousand.
Lyabikhov came to the State Duma in 2020, before that he was engaged in business and could well have spent his money on purchasing real estate. However, he denied having foreign accounts. After being included in the EU sanctions list, Lyabikhov said : “I don’t have foreign accounts. Regarding vacation: I’ve been to a lot of places in my life. And there are many more countries to which you can travel without any problems.” Lyabikhov came under sanctions from the UK, USA, Switzerland, Australia and Canada.
Some regional parliamentarians also do not declare Dubai property. And they could hardly afford it. Among the owners of real estate in the country of oil sheikhs were Russian deputies who were officially declared bankrupt, including those with zero income for many years.
Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Sverdlovsk region from United Russia Ilya Gaffner was the largest debtor in the region. In 2015, Gaffner, who then headed the agrarian committee of the regional Duma, commented on rising food prices: “If you don’t have money...[you need] to think about your own health and eat less.”
Gaffner was declared bankrupt and declared zero income since 2018. He never reported on Dubai real estate, including in 2020. His former colleague in the legislative assembly of the Sverdlovsk region from United Russia , Oleg Isakov, also did the same. The latter was declared bankrupt in 2017. Meanwhile, judging by the leak, Gaffner in Dubai owned apartments worth almost $400 thousand in the premium Lagoons complex. And for Isakov - apartments worth more than 600 thousand dollars in the premium residential complex Fairmont Palm Residences by the sea.
Deputy of the Kursk Regional Duma from the United Russia faction Oleg Belashov also did not declare Dubai real estate, either in 2020 or before. Meanwhile, according to the leak, he owned an apartment in Acacia at Park Heights worth more than $287,000.
International sanctions and even direct participation in Ukrainian events do not prevent one from owning Dubai real estate. One of the most famous people on the Dubai register is United Russia deputy Alexander Borodai . Judging by the leak, he owns an apartment in the Grand Residence Mauria , a premium residential complex on the first coastline of the artificial island of Palm Jumeirah (this was previously reported in Alexei Navalny’s investigation). In fact, he has always been a politician, a PR man and a propagandist, and the businesses with his participation did not have significant income (according to their financial reports in SPARK Interfax). Where does he get the funds to buy real estate worth more than 400 thousand dollars in Dubai (with a declared income of 2.4 million rubles in 2021)? A PR specialist and journalist, in the past Borodai is an active participant in the creation of the unrecognized republics of the DPR and LPR, a former prime minister of the DPR who ruled the separatists. He became a State Duma deputy in 2021, and his 2021 declaration does not mention Dubai real estate. Does this mean that after January 2020 Borodai sold it or did not declare it, like his colleagues? The deputy did not answer journalists' questions.
Parliamentarians who do not indicate their Dubai property in their declarations face little threat. In 2019, it was proposed to punish deputies by depriving them of their parliamentary status for false declarations. But tough measures did not pass. Civil servants and deputies are not prohibited from owning foreign real estate. As a result, information about unreliable or incomplete declarations should be considered by a special commission. And if the fact of non-declaration of property is established, the deputy may face a warning or a ban on holding positions in the legislative body without deprivation of parliamentary powers. And only repeated malicious non-compliance with the requirements can theoretically lead to deprivation of a deputy mandate.
Rich social workers and state company executives
The heads of some social government institutions in Chechnya and Dagestan were also among the owners of Dubai real estate. Social support in these regions is not all good. These republics are among the poorest in Russia: they are regularly among those most in need of subsidies - infusions of money from the federal center. At the same time, Dagestan leads the 2022 list, and Chechnya is the fourth most needy . In terms of the level of poverty of the population of the republic, they were also among the leaders in the anti-rating.
But some heads of republican government agencies involved in social support are doing well.
The deputy director of the Territorial Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund of Chechnya, a young specialist, Adam Alkhanov , according to the leak, owned apartments in Dubai in the Al Dabas complex on the artificial island of Palm Jumeirah worth more than 700 thousand dollars. Alkhanov could not earn that kind of money from social work. His official biography says that he studied at the American University in the United Arab Emirates, then at the Australian University of Dubai, and eventually graduated from the Grozny Polytechnic College in 2018. And the very next year he became deputy director of the Chechen Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund.
Alkhanov is the son of the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Chechen Republic Ruslan Alkhanov, a fellow villager of Ramzan Kadyrov. They are from the same teip - Tsentaroi, where the people closest to Kadyrov came from. Back in 1999, Alkhanov became friends with Ramzan Kadyrov’s father, Akhmat Kadyrov, and began to fight on the side of Russia. Then he swore on the Koran to always be faithful to Kadyrov.
The head of the interdistrict administration of the Dagestan pension fund (at least for 2021) , Makhach Gadzhiyasulov, explained to fellow countrymen at a personal reception last September that in order to receive benefits, families with children and pregnant women need to fill out electronic applications correctly, otherwise they will not pass the test. That's it. Gadzhiyasulov himself does not need social support. According to the leak, he owned apartments worth $88.5 thousand in the 39-story V3 Tower building.
The list of property owners in Dubai, along with social workers from Chechnya and Dagestan, includes former heads of Russian state-owned companies. The former head of Rosneft, Sergei Bogdanchikov , with his wife and son, judging by the leak, owned apartments in Dubai worth more than 400 thousand dollars in a residential complex with a beach, Fairmont Palm Residences, on the island of Palm Jumeirah.
Former Russian Railways vice president for corporate security Alexander Bobreshov had a villa worth $3.5 million in the luxury residential complex Mohammed Bin Rashid City. And former member of the board of directors of Gazprom Farit Gazizullin owned two apartments: the first cost $1.4 million and were located in an elite residential complex on the first line of the sea, Balqis Residence on the island of Palm Jumeirah, and the second, worth more than $2 million, is located in one of towers of the unfinished skyscraper Dubai Pearl . In addition, Gazizullin owns five office premises worth a total of $1.7 million - in the Business Bay business district and the tallest building - the Burj Khalifa skyscraper; He owns three of them together with his wife. She also owns an apartment worth more than 400 thousand dollars in the Dubai Marina area on the coast.
Forgetful civil servants and close businessmen
The secrecy of the Dubai registry contributed to the fact that not only Russian politicians forgot to declare their Middle Eastern real estate. But also officials at different levels - from regional heads to deputy heads of departments.
According to the leaked materials, the wife of the President of Tatarstan Gulsina Minnikhanova owned apartments in the Tanzanite South 3 building on the island of Palm Jumeirah worth about $880 thousand. But the head of the republic, Rustam Minnikhanov, neither in 2020 nor earlier, disclosed his wife’s Dubai real estate in his declarations. Although the family could afford it. Minnikhanov’s wife is one of the richest women in Russia.
The head of the department of information and communications of the department of economic policy and development of Moscow, Evgeny Panov, does not give the impression of a big businessman. Almost all the time he worked for state-controlled structures. His income in 2020 slightly exceeded 7 million rubles. He did not declare his Dubai property. But if you believe the leak, Evgeniy Panov with the same date of birth in Dubai had apartments worth almost 250 thousand dollars in the high-rise premium residential complex Marina Diamond 4 .
Russian businessmen close to power, as well as some members of the Forbes list, also settled in Dubai. The Emirates do not support sanctions against leading Russian entrepreneurs. And they take a neutral position regarding Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, which has significantly increased the demand for real estate in the UAE from wealthy Russians. Those who previously bought apartments and villas there did not make a mistake.
According to the leak, the founder of Yota, Albert Avdolyan , a former partner of the Rostec state corporation, which came under US and European Union sanctions, and one of the entrepreneurs who found a common language with the head of Rostec, Sergei Chemezov, an old friend of Vladimir Putin, acquired real estate in Dubai. Avdolyan and his wife in Dubai had apartments worth more than $2 million in the elite residential complex Balkiz Residence 3 .
The former owner of Uralkali, Dmitry Rybolovlev, is also included in the Dubai list. He owned a villa on Palm Jumeirah worth more than $3.5 million.
And the ex-husband of the sister of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, entrepreneur Alexander Udodov, owned apartments in Dubai worth more than 600 thousand dollars in Marina Apartments 3.
Persons involved in criminal cases
The lists of owners of Dubai real estate included several Russian bankers, businessmen and officials who became defendants in criminal cases of fraud, theft or withdrawal and laundering of money obtained by criminal means.
The most famous of them is banker Ivan Myazin , a former co-owner of Promsberbank. Business media, citing the investigation, called him one of the largest shadow financiers and perhaps the main specialist in cashing out in Russia. Myazin was arrested in 2018, three years after the license was revoked from Promsberbank and a criminal case was initiated for the theft of several billion rubles from there. The investigation established that Myazin was the shadow owner of the bank. It also turned out that Myazin owned a dozen more credit institutions through which billions of rubles passed. With the help of fictitious loans and the sale of debts, the money was transferred abroad - to Moldova, Lithuania and Estonia. As a result, Myazin received 8 years in prison and is still serving his sentence. In Dubai, he owned apartments in the very expensive Balqis Residence 1 complex on the Palm Jumeirah island worth almost $3 million.
The former general director of the State Airlines “224th Flight Detachment” (carried, in particular, the motorcade of the Russian president) Konstantin Vartanov became a defendant in a criminal case initiated after an audit that established inflated prices for services provided to the state-owned Rosoboronexport. The state corporation's losses could amount to millions of rubles. The investigation into the case became known in 2018. And it concerned the transportation of military and dual-use cargo to Syria, Algeria, Ethiopia, Cambodia, Vietnam and other countries. According to investigators, an intermediary company associated with the management of the state airline could have been involved in the scheme. In 2018, Kommersant reported that Vartanov had disappeared from investigators’ radar.
According to a leak from the Dubai registry, he owned apartments worth more than half a million dollars in the luxury Jumeirah Beach Residence area .
Entrepreneur Vitaly Kachur received a four-year sentence in Russia in 2015 in a criminal case of raider seizure of a building. FSB officers and the notorious deputy Denis Voronenkov, who was later shot dead in Kyiv, were involved in the seizure. Kachur was released on parole in 2017. And by 2020, according to the leak, he had apartments in Dubai worth almost $1.4 million in the luxurious Balqis Residence 1 complex on the artificial island of Palm Jumeirah.
Nobody's home
Russian politicians, officials, heads of government agencies and businessmen have not yet provided prompt comments on Dubai property.
“The statements made regarding property ownership records in Dubai are factually inaccurate. The UAE has a clear regulatory framework in line with international laws and standards aimed at combating financial crime. Compliance with these standards is the cornerstone of the procedures and activities of the Dubai Land Department,” a representative of the United Arab Emirates Embassy in Oslo responded to a request from the Norwegian online publication E24.
The investigation involved: the Norwegian financial online publication E24, the Norwegian daily newspaper VG, the German Süddeutsche Zeitung, the Danish TV-2, the Belgian Knack and De Tijd, the Swedish SVT, the French Le Monde, as well as the Center for the Study of Corruption and Organized Crime ( OCCRP) and its partner journalistic organizations in 10 countries