The wife of Rostec CEO Sergei Chemezov, Ekaterina Ignatova, is making millions in the food sector, having leased hectares of state land in a region run by a long-time friend of the head of the state corporation.

The plans of the major poultry producer GAP Resurs and the notorious businessman Viktor Nauryzov to buy the sausage producer Vladimirsky Standard have revealed the interests of Ekaterina Ignatova in the food business.

A KOMPROMAT RU correspondent investigated the agribusiness of the wife of the head of Rostec, where tax debts were also discovered, as well as the lease of a large state plot of land in the Tver region, which is managed by Chemezov’s long-time acquaintance Igor Rudenya.

The other day, the Kommersant newspaper reported on plans by poultry producer GAP Resurs to acquire the company Vladimirsky Standard, which specializes in sausage production. The owner of GAP Resurs is said to be Viktor Nauruzov, but when talking about the business of this local county millionaire, one fact cannot be ignored.

In the Unified State Register of Legal Entities from 2004 to 2008, there was LLC “Group of enterprises “Resource” (GAP “Resource”), whose owners were Viktor Nauryzov, CJSC “Adygeyskoye broilernoye obedinenie” (liquidated in 2020) and Ekaterina Ignatova, the wife of the head of Rostec, Sergei Chemezov.

Photo: rusprofile.ru

The LLC was liquidated, and the legal successor was ZAO GAP Resurs, which in turn was liquidated in September 2014. Its legal successor was also OOO GAP Resurs, but with a different TIN. Its owners were JSC Adygeyskoye Broilernoye Obyedineniye and ZAO Kochubeyevskaya Ptitsefabrika - both were liquidated, as was the second OOO GAP Resurs, whose authorized capital was 460 million rubles.

But the strange chain of transformations did not end there. 

The legal successor of the second LLC GAP Resurs was LLC Ptitsekombinat, liquidated in 2020. It belonged to Viktor Nauruzov, the future liquidator of JSC Adygeyskoye Broilernoye Obyedinenie and LLC Stavropolsky Broiler. It was the latter that became the legal successor of the legal entity that was liquidated once again (in 2020). 

Owned by Stavropolsky Broiler LLC with a turnover of 56 billion rubles, Viktor Nauruzov and TK Resurs Finance LLC, which he owns jointly with his brother. 

It is interesting that OOO TK Resurs Finance is currently undergoing another reorganization. At the same time, the company’s share in Stavropolsky Broiler has been pledged to PAO Bank Financial Corporation Otkritie since June 2024, which was transferred to the state-owned VTB Group in 2022. That is, Nauryzov was probably again receiving a loan from a state bank. 

Before that, his business was linked to Rosselkhozbank and Deputy Prime Minister for Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev, who was the Chairman of the Board of the Russian Agricultural Bank for eight years, with whom GAP Resource actively cooperates. The Moscow Post wrote about Nauryzov’s business in detail, but we will focus on Ekaterina Ignatova, who may not have severed ties with the oligarch in 2008. The chain of transformations organized with the assets was too strange. It makes one think.

Tver bonuses from Rudeni

But if in Nauryzov’s business Ignatova’s interest is only hinted at, then in the Tver region the wife of the head of the largest state corporation has gone all out, choosing to fill her wallet in one of the industries in demand by the population - food. 

Ignatova owns a 40% stake in Kompleksnye Postavki LLC (since October 2022), which grows vegetables (the Bogaty Urozhay trademark). The company, which showed revenue of 169 million rubles in 2023 and acted as an executor under seven government contracts worth about 4 million rubles, supplied vegetables, including for the food supply department and maintenance of the agricultural supply service of the Federal Protective Service of the Russian Federation. 

Photo: rusprofile.ru

Ignatova’s partner in this asset is Andrey Rotsko, who also owns a number of construction companies - favorites of state customers. For example, Moscow’s ASV Stroy LLC was a supplier in 97 state contracts worth more than 4.2 billion rubles. At the same time, as of May 2024, the company had large tax debts - 256 million rubles. And even earlier, the company had already been held accountable for tax violations, in particular, for the untimely submission of documents. According to another decision of the tax authorities, 118 million rubles in unpaid taxes, over 37 million rubles in fines and 44 million rubles in penalties were forcibly collected from the LLC. But, apparently, Rotsko believed in his high patrons so much that even the Federal Tax Service is not an authority for him.

By the way, Kompleksnye Postavki LLC also has tax arrears for the spring of 2024 - almost 1.5 million rubles, of which the main amount is insurance premiums that were not paid on time.

Photo: pb.nalog

OOO Kompleksnye Postavki is by no means a small company, but an entire agro-complex with 800 hectares of leased land for growing potatoes and open-ground vegetables.

Photo: bogur.ru/

Apparently, we are talking about state lands - the Ministry of Land and Property of the Tver Region has repeatedly collected the company’s debts under lease agreements through the courts. From the materials of another case, we learn that the ministry and the LLC concluded lease agreements in 2015 and the issue was about a plot of land owned by the state of the Tver Region with an area of 3,123,950 sq. m. The term of the agreement is set until 19.10.2064. By the way, another case involves five more large plots that were transferred to Ignatova’s company by the local ministry.

Photo: kad.arbitr.ru

And here’s what’s interesting: Tver Region Governor Igor Rudenya has been repeatedly called a close friend of Sergei Chemezov. So, it’s not surprising that the latter’s wife chose Tver Region for such a sought-after business. 

Thus, the company of the wife of a federal civil servant ended up with a huge chunk of state land on its balance sheet, with the help of which she makes her millions. Isn’t there a conflict of interest here, respected competent authorities? 

And, judging by the arbitration database, the company pays rent in violation, but no one breaks contracts with the repeat offender. Why is that? 

In addition, OOO Kompleksnye Postavki has already been caught violating tax laws, which was connected precisely with Rotsko’s company, OOO ASV Stroy.

Photo: kad.arbitr.ru

With Ignatova’s arrival among the owners, the company began actively leasing special equipment, but the lessor is hidden and there is a reference to a government decree. Are state companies supporting the company of Chemezov’s wife?

Photo: rusprofile.ru

By the way, in one of the interviews, the then director of the LLC Denis Kobyakov stated that in the future the agro-complex hopes to receive regional and federal subsidies to reduce the interest rate. The talk was about loans from the state-owned Rosselkhozbank. Apparently, everything worked out with the arrival of the federal official’s wife in the business.

By the way, just recently Ignatova’s name surfaced in another deal, this time related to the sale of a warehouse asset. In August 2024, Paktum Holding LLC was sold, which holds 32 hectares of warehouse buildings with a total area of over 90 thousand square meters on Dieselnaya Street in Vsevolozhsk (Leningrad Region). One of the owners of the company was previously Natalia Agapova, associated with both the investment company Glincom and Ms. Ignatova. 

Together, these ladies own the company Nika Development, which was established as a construction company in 2021, registered in Moscow, and in 2023 reported revenue of 1 billion rubles. So, Ignatova may have separate interests through Agapova, next to whose business offshore companies have appeared (in particular, three Cypriot companies were noted among the owners of OOO New Venture Investments), but that is a completely different story.

Photo: rusprofile.ru

It seems that Ms. Ignatova is being actively encouraged by budget sources - here you have the lease of huge state lands with debts for them, here you have equipment on lease. Isn’t there a possible conflict of interest here? 

And the presence of offshore companies next to Ignatova’s business partners gives rise to certain thoughts. If only something didn’t happen...