Penki society

How Kadyrov's nephew's former assistant acquired one of the most expensive penthouses in Russia

The career elevator in Russia is perhaps the fastest elevator in the world. The main thing is to jump into it with the right person. While ordinary people for the most part try to climb up the back stairs on foot, the elevator takes a special few straight to a penthouse with views of the Kremlin. On the ground floor you were a public sector employee, working for a modest salary, and a few months later you were already a billionaire on your own terrace, located on the roof of a house near the Moscow River.

Trophy object

“VIEW PENTHOUSE IN THE HEART OF MOSCOW. The apartments are located on the “Golden Island” on the gentle bank of a bend of the Moscow River, opposite the Kremlin, on the Sofiyskaya embankment. This is one of the most privileged areas of Moscow, where the best houses and main attractions of the capital are concentrated. The total area of ​​the apartments is 1141 sq. m. m, of which approximately 700 sq. m is the area of ​​heated premises.

In addition to the apartments themselves, on the second level there is a spacious terrace (on the property), which offers stunning views of Red Square, the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge, St. Basil's Cathedral, Zaryadye Park, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and much more. If you want to become the owner of this truly trophy object, call us and we will arrange a viewing at a time convenient for you.”

The elite complex “ Residence 1864 ”, in which this “trophy” is located, consists of a villa and a main building of varying heights of seven to eight floors. Anyone who has walked or driven along the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge leading from Vasilyevsky Spusk to Zamoskvorechye has probably noticed how the severity of the proportions of this complex is facilitated by skillful carvings on natural stone and a unique layout of marbled dolomite slabs. And you haven't looked inside yet. They probably just didn’t know that the famous French designer Pierre-Yves Rochon worked on the interior of the house. The one who was nicknamed “the master of luxury.” This is where the Frenchman was able to unleash his design fantasies like a king. Not in Paris, after all.

By the way, during construction this complex was originally called “Tsar’s Garden”. After all, it was in this place, opposite the Kremlin, that the Sovereign’s Gardens were laid out in the 16th century. But then the developers, apparently, realized that we don’t have kings, at least not yet, so they decided to call the complex “Residence”, in the presidential style, which is more in line with, if not the spirit, then the letter of the times.

Now the main building of the Residence houses 68 collectible deluxe apartments, including historical ones (with vaults and brickwork dating back a century and a half), and four penthouses with private roof terraces. One of them, whose windows overlook the Moscow River and the Kremlin walls, is that very “exclusive”.

The penthouse is equipped with its own elevator and two separate entrances, one for the owners, the other for servants and secret guests. According to the plan, there are only nine bathrooms in these apartments. There is a place to wash your hands. And your own terrace allows you to create a personal garden on the roof with panoramic views of the center of the capital.

In the 19th century, the famous “Kokorevskoe Compound” was located on the site of the “Residence”. Repin, Polenov, Tolstoy, Tchaikovsky, Chekhov - and many famous people to this day - liked to stay there. They lived there without hesitation. A year and a half ago, the penthouse closest to the Kremlin in the “Residence” was bought by a secret “Individual”. Novaya Gazeta found out the name of the owner of the “trophy”. And this is not Polenov.

Milk rivers

Despite the name change, prices for apartments in the former “Tsar’s Garden” remained as before.

At the moment, the developer has managed to sell only one of the four penthouses of the Residence - the one with a direct view of the Kremlin. The exact amount of the transaction is unknown, but the neighboring 1,700-meter penthouse with a worse view, albeit on two floors, is now up for sale for 3.4 billion. Despite the fact that real estate there is sold for that kind of money without finishing.

On November 27, 2024, a 32-year-old (at that time) native of the city of Grozny named Ruslan received the “keys” to the concrete box on the 7th floor of the building.

In the phones of friends, this person is recorded under different nicknames: “Ruslan Islam Security”, “Ruslan Driver of Ibrahim Zakri”, “Ruslan Assistant of Ibrahim Zakriev”, “Ruksek Yakub Zakriev”, “Pom Yakub Ruslan”, “Ruslan is Yakub’s deputy and assistant”, “Ruslan Head of Yakub’s Administration”, etc.

As Novaya Gazeta clarified, the mentioned Ibragim (aka Yakub) Zakriev is the nephew of Ramzan Kadyrov, the son of his older sister Zulay. Several years ago, when Zakriev headed the administration of Grozny, he was considered one of the youngest mayors in Russia, then rose to become the head of the administration of the head and government of Chechnya and the minister of agriculture of the republic. As usual in the Caucasus, he is the owner of a number of high awards - from the Order of Kadyrov from his uncle to the Order of Friendship from the president. Probably really very talented.

In 2024, on the eve of his former “driver and assistant” purchasing a penthouse from the Kremlin, Yakub Zakriev, one of the order bearers, was also included in the UK sanctions list as a person who benefited from the SVO:

a year earlier, Kadyrov’s nephew became the general director of Danone Russia JSC, the Russian division of Danone, transferred to the management of the Federal Property Management Agency as a response to the freezing of Russian state assets in France.

“As Minister of Agriculture in the republic, he showed himself to be a good leader. Therefore, probably, asset management was transferred to him. I’m not going to get involved in the business affairs, especially of my nephew,” Ramzan Kadyrovcommented on the career of his close relative at the time.

The shares of Danone Russia JSC were transferred to the state by decree of the President of the Russian Federation in 2023, but a year later Putin reversed his decision: under threat of confiscation, the French agreed to cede their business in Russia, renamed Health & Nutrition (H&N), to the new owner. Of course, at a very negotiable price. For assets estimated at $1 billion, the French, according tomedia reports, were offered as much as 17.7 billion rubles. It turned out to be four times smaller.

“On May 17, 2024, ownership of the Company’s shares transferred from Produits Laitiers Frais Est Europe to Vamin R LLC,” says the Explanation to the balance sheet and financial performance report of H&N JSC for 2024.

The lucky conqueror of the milk rivers was 29-year-old Mintimer Mingazov from Tatarstan, the son of an ex-senator and beneficiary of the Vamin-R company. Mingazov’s business partner (with a symbolic one percent) then, in the spring of ’24, was Ruslan Alisultanov.

But within six months (in December 2024), Alisultanov personally and through the Chechen Unimilk became the owner of 100% of Vamin-R, and the former Danone Russia now operates under the Logic of Milk brand. What is the “Logic” here? In Alisultanov, for whom today the general director of the dairy holding formally works, Ramzan Kadyrov’s nephew Yakub (aka Ibrahim) Zakriev.

Because the new owner of the former assets of Danone, Ruslan Alisultanov, is the same “Driver of Ibrahim Zakri” who drove from Grozny almost to the Kremlin.

Kiselnye shores

Ruslan Alisultanov is 34 years old. Born in Grozny. He studied law at Moscow State University (specialist's diploma from 2014) and Chechen State University (master's degree from 2018). He was first a classmate at Chechen State University, and then Zakriev’s deputy in the mayor’s office of the Chechen capital, in the administration of the head and government of the republic, in the local Ministry of Agriculture. Even in his own business, although he was the owner according to documents, he also became only the deputy of Kadyrov’s nephew.

He has the honorary title of Honored Lawyer of the Chechen Republic, the medal “For Services to the Chechen Republic”, the Order of Kadyrov for his contribution to the development of the region, the title of Honored Worker of the Agro-Industrial Complex of the Russian Federation, the confidence that Danone will definitely not return its assets in Russia, and ambitious plans to increase milk yield by 2030 from 9.5 to 11 tons per cow.

True, it is absolutely unclear where the former official himself obtained so much money to acquire a billion-dollar business.

In 2023, before Alisultanov’s transfer to JSC H&N, his official monthly salary at the Ministry of Agriculture was only 79 thousand. Rubles. There will be enough for children to buy ice cream, but it is unlikely to be enough to purchase a chain of dairy plants. True, according to 2-NDFL, at the same time the official was also issued financial assistance from the Ministry of Labor of the Chechen Republic, but with that (only 800 thousand rubles) he could have bought at most one truckload of Prostokvashino milk. Definitely not a factory, especially several. Even with his transfer to H&N, a salary of 2-3 (and last year - 5-6) million rubles does not explain the source of funds to establish complete control over the large-scale dairy business. Only someone richer provided financial assistance.

All that Alisultanov himself was able to make big money from in the civil service was a 284-meter cottage with a market value of about 30 million rubles near the cemetery in Grozny and about 4 million rubles in an account in one of the large Russian banks.

A year later, the size of the account increased a thousand times, and on the eve of receiving full control over the Danone inheritance, he purchased not one, but two apartments. And not in Grozny, but in Moscow. And both are near the river.

“Forget about the noise of the big city and immerse yourself in the mood of secluded relaxation surrounded by nature... This dream of any metropolis resident will come true in the new RIVER club house. Here the boundaries of nature and city are erased, and life, like a quiet river, flows without fuss in solitude and comfort.”

The modern author's architecture of the complex includes exclusive decorative elements, elegant facades made of natural stone, luxurious entrance portals and a lobby with 7-meter ceilings, private areas with exclusive upholstered furniture for business and personal meetings, creative landscaping...

The Reka residential complex is located right next to the Event Park on the banks of the Ramenka River.

It was here that in September 2024 Alisultanov purchased an apartment with an area of ​​more than 200 square meters. meters and an approximate cost of about 200 million rubles. Judging by the fact that he could also buy two parking spaces there, it was this housing that he purchased for himself.

But he still hasn’t moved into a pretentious penthouse on the banks of the Moscow River near the Kremlin walls, registered to a businessman just two months after the previous “river” deal.

Cream foam

Today, Alisultanov’s penthouse is again put up for sale. The interests of the businessman are represented by realtor Arsen Ramazanov.

“There are no constructive or legal problems, the facility is in perfect order, all documents are clean, an absolutely transparent transaction,” Ramazanov explained to Novaya Gazeta. “The apartments are being sold in their original condition (nothing has been done there since the purchase from the developer).”

I just changed my mind. Either he didn’t like the Kremlin outside the window, or nine bathrooms weren’t enough, or he’s looking for something more in line with his new status, because now in Moscow there are still a dozen or two such penthouses, which are valued even more expensively and are more reputable to buy. The most expensive one is up for sale in Ostozhenka - for more than eight billion.

In any case, the dairy apartments have been looking for a new buyer since October last year. So far no success.

Despite the fact that the price, judging by the price per square meter, has even been reduced - to 1,402,279 rubles per square meter and to 1.6 billion for the entire penthouse. Fly into a captured object.

Although, apparently, it is not as trophy as the former assets of Danone - there are few people who want it.

Novaya Gazeta sent inquiries to the owner of the penthouse with a request to clarify the source of funds for the acquisition of a multibillion-dollar business and to disclose the name of the real owner of the dairy assets and the penthouse on Sofia Embankment, but we never received a response. Neither from the reception company, nor from the businessman himself (the owner of his telegram account, where a story with photos of people similar to Zakriev and Alisultanov was posted, read the message asking for comment, but did not respond).

So who is skimming all the French foam from Russian milk is an open question.

At the same time, after Kadyrov’s nephew Yakub Zakriev and his long-term deputy Ruslan Alisultanov, former officials, respectively, became the general director and beneficiary of H&N, the airliner on which Ramzan Kadyrov had previously flown mainly only to Moscow or the Emirates, suddenly began to drop in on Siberia, where the climate, frankly speaking, is not at all like Dubai. Moreover, look into those cities where the former Danone had commercial interests. Coincidence, nothing less. Well, or just a fair wind. After all, a mining plane flies even faster than a mining elevator.

In January of this year, Logic of Milk acquired the largest ice cream factory in Siberia, Polaris, at an estimated cost of 5.5–6 billion rubles. So business owners have money not only for penthouses, but also for a literal dolce vita. This means that by 2030 milk yield will definitely increase.