Media: People from Putin’s circle have seized Yanuckovych’s estate in Crimea
Possession of the villa of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych at Cape Aya in the Crimea was transferred to the Bereg Company, associated with Gennady Timchenko, Nikolay Shamalov, Sergey Rudnov and Sergey Roldugin: all friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as reported by the Municipal Scanner volunteer project which reports on corruption in Russia .
The former recreational resort at Cape Aya was privatized by the Yanukovych family in 2007 at the same time as Mezhyhirya. After the purchase, a fence was erected around the property, relic trees were cut down and construction began.
After Yanukovych’s escape and the annexation of Crimea, the Sevastopol prosecutor's office appealed to the court, asking to demolish unauthorized buildings such as a boiler, structures protecting sea bank and a checkpoint on the territory of the villa. On May 18, 2015, the court decided to dismantle them but the Sevastopol City Court overturned the decision and nothing was demolished.
In the summer of 2015, a pro-Russian activist and Moscow municipal deputy, Vladimir Garnachuk tried to inspect the construction at Cape Aya but saw only a high fence and the security guards that said that he would "not get home” if he attempted egress.
In January 2016, Governor Sergey Menaylo, now a representative of Putin in Siberia, said during a press conference that he was trying to conduct the demolition of a fence around the villa, and said that it could be transferred to the Russian authorities.
The fence was never demolished and the ownership of the estate passed to Putin's friends. In May 2016, all the facilities belonging to Nord-2007 LLC, which was under the control of the Yanukovych family, were transferred to Shans LLC. The latter is registered in St. Petersburg together with Zagorodnaya Sreda LLC, which is owned by "Support for Entrepreneurship Initiatives," an entity owned by Yury and Boris Kovalchuks who are co-owners of Bank Rossiya and Putin's friends.
On June 16, 2017, Shans sold the villa on Cape Aya to Bereg company, and the land near the villa was rented out to Bereg. Rosreestr’s data shows that construction of the villa on Cape Aya proceeds apace and is already 70-90% finished.
Bereg LLC was established on May 31, 2017. Its General Director is Pavel Zaitsev, who also manages the company that owns Bereg: JSC Golden Gate. Pavel Zaitsev is also the General Director of the non-profit partnership "Development of the Market of Effective Investments" that belongs to Gennady Timchenko (co-owner of Bank Rossiya) and Pyotr Kolbin (former butcher, former shareholder of Gunvor and another friend of Putin since 1954), co-founder of non-profit partnership “Revival of traditions and culture of suburban recreation, South Park" together with Nikolay Shamalov, co-owner of Bank Rossiya and co-founder of the non-profit partnership "Revival of Maritime Traditions," along with a member of the board of directors of Bank Rossiya, Dmitry Mansurov.
Bereg and Golden Gate are registered in a building pledged as mortgage to Rossiya bank. Volna LLC, which owns this building through Ikar LLC belongs to Sergey Rudnov, the son of the late Oleg Rudnov. Oleg Rudnov is the founder of the Baltic media group, Putin's friend. From 2009 to 2012, Volna belonged to a cellist and friend of Putin, Sergey Roldugin, and co-founder of the non-profit partnership "Support for Children's Sports," Vladislav Kopylov.