The Masters of Baimskaya: How the Arctic’s Premier Megaproject Became a Closed Club

Arctida investigates how a flagship Arctic investment in Russia remains tied to Kazakhstani billionaires despite the pressure of international sanctions

In early March 2026, the State Commission for Arctic Development convened under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev. Central to the agenda was the infrastructure rollout in Chukotka for the Baimskaya mining and processing plant — a crown jewel of Russia’s Arctic investment strategy.

While the project is officially managed by a Russian closed-end investment fund, evidence suggests that Baimskaya remains tethered to foreign beneficiaries, operating in the shadow of American sanctions.

"Driverless Mines" and a Trillion-Rouble Bet

The Baimskaya project is gargantuan. It involves the construction of a processing plant and open-pit mine at the Peschanka copper-gold deposit, supported by a year-round maritime terminal at Cape Nagloynyn and a road network connecting the site to the port of Pevek. The project is being realised through the "Project Finance Factory" mechanism, overseen by the Ministry of Economic Development in partnership with the state development corporation VEB.RF

With total investment exceeding 1 trillion roubles, the Baimskaya mining and processing plant is the cornerstone of Chukotka’s strategic development plan through 2030.

The Kremlin has touted Baimskaya as Russia’s first "smart" mine. The project envisions "autonomous pits" where copper ore is extracted by driverless machinery managed by remote operators. "RT-Business Development," a subsidiary of state-owned Rostec, is tipped to spearhead this hi-tech initiative.

Sanction-Induced Shuffling and the Trutnev Connection

The ownership structure of the Peschanka deposit is a "Who's Who" of the post-Soviet elite. Until 2018, it was held by Roman Abramovich and Alexander Abramov, before being sold to the Kazakhstani giant KAZ Minerals, controlled by billionaires Vladimir Kim and Oleg Novachuk. At the time, Norilsk Nickel had been touted as a primary suitor for the asset. By early 2018, the Russian company was preoccupied with a joint venture alongside Russian Platinum to develop the Chernogorskoye copper-nickel field in the Krasnoyarsk region. While KAZ Minerals brought extensive experience in managing large-scale open-pit copper mines in Kazakhstan, the Russian Arctic became a new frontier for the partners.Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent wave of Western sanctions, direct foreign ownership of Russian mineral deposits has effectively become impossible. In a strategic pivot, assets tied to the Baimskaya mining and processing plant were initially offloaded to Trianon Limited, a Kazakhstan-based entity controlled by Kim and Novachuk.

However, by the spring of 2024, as U.S. sanctions tightened around GDK Baimskaya, the project underwent a further restructuring. Control has now been transferred to a Russian closed-end investment fund (ZPIF) known as "Palmira Severa."

The fund is managed by Ruskapital Management Company LLC, which is wholly owned by its CEO, Oleg Balan.

Ruskapital’s corporate history includes the management of Reed Oil-Perm, an oil firm where Dmitry Trutnev — son of Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev — held a stake between 2018 and 2023.

The elder Trutnev has been a major figure behind the Baimskoye deposit's development. It was the Deputy Prime Minister himself who initiated talks with KAZ Minerals in 2018 regarding their "potential participation" in the project. Beyond high-level negotiations, Trutnev has personally conducted site inspections during the plant's construction. In 2023, he directed the Governor of Chukotka, Vladislav Kuznetsov, to provide the project with "unwavering support," underscoring his view that the facility will serve as the region's primary economic backbone once it is fully operational.

The Dubai Conduit: Kazakhstani Tycoons

In December 2025, an investigation by Sistema indicated that Vladimir Kim remains the project’s ultimate beneficiary. Long described as a confidant and financial proxy to Kazakhstan’s former president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kim’s influence appears to be channelled through a network of shell companies.

Construction at Baimskaya was managed by Vega Development, a firm founded by the Dubai-based entity Nord Rim DMCC, which is linked to Kim via his Bank RBK.

According to financial data obtained by Arсtida, Vega Development received over 10 billion roubles from Baimskaya for management services between 2024 and 2025. Approximately 2.5 billion roubles of this was subsequently funnelled to Odin Consulting FZE, another UAE-registered firm involved in the trade of mineral resources.

The trail also leads back to Kim’s partner, Oleg Novachuk. Novachuk remained a founder of Vega Development until March 2025. Furthermore, infrastructure for Chukotka’s mining sector is currently being built by Northern Engineering Solutions. This company shares an address with the now-defunct Baimskaya Energy and is owned by Nomad Construction Limited, a firm tied to Alen Baigazin, a long-standing business associate of Novachuk.Also, Baimskaya Energy was equally instrumental in the site's infrastructure rollout. Until mid-2025, the company’s director was recorded as Anna Novachuk, who, notably, shares a surname with the Kazakhstani billionaire.

The Baimskaya project reveals a striking paradox: while branded as a triumph of national sovereignty and Arctic development, bolstered by massive state subsidies, the project’s financial plumbing remains deeply integrated with foreign entities and offshore intermediaries. This also demonstrates the limited effect of the sanctions

Simultaneously, the proximity of firms linked to the family of a top-ranking official like Yury Trutnev suggests that Russia’s strategic "Arctic Frontier" is increasingly being managed as a closed commercial club for the few.