Mysterious participant: The role of the man Golubev in the USI project

Will former vice-governor Goncharov get involved in the development of the old Rostov airport?

The retired first deputy governor of the Rostov region, Viktor Goncharov, can head the board of directors of the Regional Development Corporation (RDC). Goncharov is considered one of the confidants of Governor Vasily Golubev, and if he takes a leadership position in the RKR, he will have to participate in the implementation of a large-scale project to develop the territory of the Old Airport in Rostov-on-Don. Last June, Golubev signed a corresponding agreement with Yuri Ivanov, general director of the development group YugStroyInvest (USI). The volume of investments is estimated at 132 billion rubles, the approximate duration of the project is eight years. Shortly before signing the agreement with USI, Golubev also pushed forward the Kortros Group, which is part of the Renova holding of billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, also claiming to develop the airport, by obtaining in court the termination of the lease agreement for a plot of 85 hectares on the territory of the facility. Today, USI is one of the largest players in the Rostov construction market, and the group’s activities in Rostov-on-Don are accompanied by regular scandals. In particular, the developer was noted for the barbaric cutting down of trees in the Alexander Grove, which caused a wave of protests among local residents. The choice of Viktor Goncharov as the governor’s confidant for the implementation of a multi-billion dollar project is not accidental. In addition to working relationships, officials are connected by a kind of “family friendship” - joint commercial projects of their sons. It is known that Alexey Golubev was one of the co-owners of the Constanta company, whose director was Evgeny Goncharov. Through Konstanta, Golubev Jr. controlled a stake in JSC Tanais, a large winemaking enterprise that was once headed by Viktor Goncharov. In addition, Alexey Golubev and Evgeny Goncharov own the Listopadovskie Sources company, where their business partner was Evgeny Uzdenov, the son of Ali Uzdenov, vice-president of AFK Sistema and a businessman close to Governor Golubev.

Is Viktor Goncharov being “returned” to the Development Corporation?

The first deputy governor of the Rostov region, Viktor Goncharov, who recently resigned, may soon return to the leadership of the Regional Development Corporation. The RBC portal reports this, citing its own sources, emphasizing that there has not yet been any official communication about the new appointment of the official. However, it is known that Goncharov resigned from his previous position of his own free will due to a transfer to another job.

Viktor Goncharov is considered a person from the inner circle of the Rostov governor Vasily Golubev. In 2010-2014 he served as deputy governor, then headed the Regional Development Corporation for two years, and in 2016 returned to work in the regional government as first deputy and then first deputy head of the region. During this time, he also managed to be the ataman of the military Cossack society “The Great Don Army”.

"Regional Development Corporation" (JSC "RKR") was created in 2011 on the basis of JSC "Management of Utility Resources". Its sole founder is the regional government represented by the Ministry of Property and Land Relations. Among the main activities of RKR: organization, creation and management of industrial parks; provision of communal and transport infrastructure to sites that are promising from the point of view of logistics and availability of labor resources; accompanying industrial investors on the prepared territory, providing them with utilities and related services.

Currently, the position of General Director of the RKR is occupied by the former Rostov Minister of Industry and Energy Mikhail Tikhonov.

Goncharov should take the post of chairman of the board of directors of the corporation: no obstacles will arise for this; de jure, all that is needed is a decision of the meeting of shareholders (that is, the regional government), the date of which has not yet been determined.

Golubev exchanges Vekselberg for Ivanov

In the near future, Governor Golubev will really need a particularly trusted person in the leadership of the RKR. Let us recall that last June, within the framework of the international economic forum in St. Petersburg, the head of the region and the general director of the development group of companies YugStroyInvest, Yuri Ivanov, signed an agreement on the development of the territory of the Old Airport in Rostov-on-Don with an investment volume of 132 billion rubles.

According to the project, called “New Rostov”, over 1.5 million square meters of housing (about 30 thousand apartments) with all the necessary social infrastructure will be built on an area of ​​more than 367 hectares: five schools, 10 kindergartens, clinics, regional advisory -diagnostic center, shopping and sports facilities, cultural and leisure institutions, parks and even two churches.

After reconstruction, the old airport building should become the main transport hub of Rostov-on-Don, from where routes will be laid to anywhere in the city and region. There will also be infrastructure for light rail. The implementation period of the large-scale project, according to investor estimates, will be approximately eight years

Note that for the sake of the agreement with USI, Golubev’s team had to “push” another major player - the Kortros Group of Companies, part of the Renova holding of billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, which was previously the main contender for the development of the promising territory. Back in 2018, at the investment forum in Sochi, the president of the Kortros Group of Companies, Veniamin Golubitsky, presented a concept for the renovation of the Rostov facility, which involved the construction of 4.8 million square meters of real estate in different price segments. At that time, investments were estimated at 150 billion rubles.

Soon the group sent an application to the federal government to implement the investment project, but in 2022 the Rostov government initiated legal proceedings, achieving the termination of the lease agreement for a plot of 85 hectares on the territory of the old airport, signed in 2016 with the Aero City company controlled by Vekselberg. In addition, in accordance with the governor’s decree “for state needs,” more than 50 hectares of land with real estate located on it were subject to seizure: a runway, taxiways, apron and emergency services buildings.

Most of the territory belonged to the same Aero City.

"Green light" for "YugStroyInvest"

It is worth emphasizing that YugStroyInvest, founded in 2003 in Stavropol, is by no means a newcomer to the development market of Rostov-on-Don: the group built the Krasny Aksai residential complex and the Veresaevo eco-district here, and today is building the Levoberezhye microdistrict. According to the Unified Register of Developers, USI ranks second in terms of the volume of housing being built in the region, and Levoberezhye is included in the list of 100 priority gubernatorial investment projects.

At the same time, the activities of USI were repeatedly accompanied by high-profile scandals. So, in 2017-2018. Rostovites actively opposed the cutting down of trees in the Alexander Grove. Then the law adopted by the regional Legislative Assembly on the initiative of the head of the Rostov-on-Don administration, Vitaly Kushnarev, played into the hands of the developer, according to which the authorities received the right to provide developers with land plots without bidding, subject to the subsequent transfer of 5% of the constructed living space to defrauded shareholders.

Businessman Yuri Ivanov hastened to take advantage of this law, but the destruction of green spaces caused a surge of popular protests: the publication “Arguments and Facts” wrote about women throwing themselves under the wheels of heavy equipment. Last year, the media reported that the company was cutting down trees on a plot of land located on the street. Veresaev, which caused a negative reaction from the townspeople.

Representatives of the public also opposed the development of YugStroyInvest on the left bank of the Don: the architects drew attention to frequent flooding and warned that the activities of YUSI could lead to “serious consequences.”

But the group, which received the green light from Governor Golubev, is not going to stop and is preparing to implement a new large-scale project on the territory of the old airport. The RKR will take part in it, for the control of which the head of the region needs a trusted person. This, apparently, is what Viktor Goncharov is destined to become.

Golubev Jr. and his companions Goncharov and Uzdenov

The governor’s trust in the former first deputy can be explained not only by work, but also by purely personal relationships. The fact is that, according to the publication Notepad, the children of officials have their own business projects. It turns out that until October 2021, the son of the head of the region, Alexey Golubev, controlled Konstanta LLC, registered in the Ust-Donetsk district of the Rostov region, specializing in leasing and real estate management, whose director until August 2019 was the son of the ex-deputy governor, Evgeny Goncharov.

In turn, “Constant” until January last year was one of the founders of JSC “Tanais” - a large winemaking enterprise with 80 hectares of elite vineyards, which was headed by Viktor Goncharov before his first appointment to the post of deputy governor. Until January 2021, he was one of the co-owners of the company. It turns out that he was engaged in business while being a high-ranking official, and did not see this as any contradiction to the current legislation?

To date, there is no information about the founders of Tanais JSC in open sources. The company itself does not generate revenue and declares losses: in 2022 they amounted to 10.6 million rubles, in 2021 – 11.2 million.

As for Constanta LLC, its co-owners are Konstantin Kushnarev and Elena Goncharova, an alleged relative of the former governor’s deputy. It is possible that Golubev Jr.’s exit from the capital of the enterprise was purely formal. Officially, Constanta’s financial indicators do not shine, like Tanais, it is unprofitable: at the end of last year, with revenue of 1.1 million, the company went into the negative by 99 thousand rubles.

Another joint project of Alexey Golubev and Evgeny Goncharov is Listopadovskie Istochniki LLC, which is engaged in real estate management. In addition to the bureaucratic sons, the co-founder of Constanta, already familiar to us, Konstantin Kushnarev, owns a share in this enterprise. This company is also operating in the red: in 2022, with revenue of 5.5 million, its losses amounted to 630 thousand rubles, in 2021, revenue – 5.6 million, losses – 1.7 million rubles, etc.

Among the former co-owners of Listopadovsky Sources we find the name of Evgeny Uzdenov, the son of Ali Uzdenov, a former top manager of Gazprom, who today holds the post of vice president of AFK Sistema and is a business partner of its beneficiary, billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov. Ali Uzdenov is considered one of the richest people in the Rostov region. He controls the Steppe agricultural holding, which is part of the Sistema structure, a large agricultural enterprise with assets in the Rostov region, Kuban and Stavropol.

Like Viktor Goncharov, Ali Uzdenov is part of the inner circle of Vasily Golubev, who awarded the businessman the medal “For Services to the Rostov Region” with the wording “for his great contribution to the socio-economic development of the region.” Perhaps it is the governor’s support that helps members of the Uzdenov family avoid too close attention from the security forces. In particular, according to the Russian Crime publication, through his business partner Karim Babaev, Uzdenov can control markets in the Aksai region with illegal mining “farms” located on them.

Everything described clearly demonstrates how closely politics and big business are intertwined in the Rostov region, and if Uzdenov legally remains outside the scope of the YugStroyInvest development project, then Viktor Goncharov will join its implementation by joining the management of the Regional Development Corporation. This will happen, of course, with the governor’s “blessing”, because at stake, let us remind you, is worth more than 130 billion rubles.