Kerimov presented the head of the AP with a yacht, jewelry and land in an elite village. For this, the billionaire gained access to Putin

Senator and billionaire Suleiman Kerimov made expensive gifts to the head of the presidential administration Anton Vaino . These included a yacht, jewelry and a plot of land in Serebryany Bor in Moscow. This allowed the oligarch to solve his problems personally through Vladimir Putin , The Project found out during a study of nepotism in Russia.

What Kerimov gave to Vaino:

Jewelry. Kerimov’s close friendship with Vaino began in the mid-2000s, when the latter worked as deputy head of the presidential protocol service, that is, he ensured the work schedule, trips and meetings of the head of state. The path to the Kremlin was opened for Kerimov by the ambassador of the Christian Louboutin and Agent Provocateur brands, the owner of Moscow expensive boutiques Aisel Trudel.

• Trudel is the sister of Kerimov’s younger partner Kamran Huseynov and at the same time is quite familiar with the Vaino family due to the fact that the wife of the current head of the presidential administration, Elena Shulenkova, is passionate about luxury. Trudel gave the Vaino family expensive gifts (jewelry and paintings) from Kerimov, a person involved in the scheme told The Project.

Plot in an elite village. Kerimov owns two plots in Serebryany Bor, a green area of ​​Moscow where the elite have settled since Soviet times. The businessman bought one of them in 2015 for one of his women (read more about Kerimov’s four women on the Project website ). By 2022, a huge house was built on the plot, and in 2025, the neighboring plot was also given to the oligarch - Kerimov’s former partner claims that this plot of land is intended for the Vaino family.

Yacht. In 2022, Kerimov gave Vaino a 46-meter yacht “Marlin”. Prior to this, it was registered in the offshore of a businessman associated with Kerimov, Alexander Studhalter, who managed Kerimov’s real estate on the Cote d’Azur in France.

• It is unknown who the yacht is registered to now, but it is regularly seen in the Black Sea, on the Volga and on the Svir River in the Leningrad Region. A person who participated in the scheme to transfer the vessel told Project that Kerimov gave this “boat” to Vaino. Anton Vaino’s relatives, his wife’s niece Anastasia Shulenkova and her husband Rustam Aleskerov, spent time there, according to photographs discovered by the Project.

What did Kerimov receive in return? Access to the President. One of Kerimov’s acquaintances calls Vaino the “main secret” of the Dagestani billionaire’s success: “He knows Putin’s schedule, he can bring in a paper or have a guest.” “Kerimov is one of those who can run to Putin,” admits a source close to the Kremlin, meaning that Vaino organized several non-public meetings between the businessman and the president.

• On several occasions, these meetings saved Kerimov from big trouble. Kerimov met informally with Putin during the conflict with Alexander Lukashenko over Uralkali in 2013. Another meeting took place after Kerimov was detained in France in November 2017 (more about this conversation in the next news).

• Vaino arranged for Kerimov and Tatyana Bakalchuk, CEO of the Wildberries marketplace , to visit Putin in 2024. During the conversation, the Dagestani businessman convinced the president to agree on a major deal.

Find out more. Read the detailed biography of Suleiman Kerimov “According to the Law of the Mountains” on the Project website . This is a continuation of the large-scale study “Fathers and Grandfathers” .