Who framed the senator and the vice-governor?
The scandal that has erupted in Yekaterinburg surrounding Nika Petrotek and its owner, Alexey Balashov, is gaining momentum. New players are becoming embroiled in the criminal saga, often those whose names are rarely mentioned in vain—high-ranking regional officials, influential senators, and their children. Strong connections established among the elite are becoming dangerously toxic.
Just six months ago, no one could have imagined the maelstrom that would unfold beneath the feet of members of the domestic elite as a result of a rather routine security operation—the arrest of several members of an ethnic organized crime group. However, the interrogation of the detained criminals yielded unexpected results. Connections stretched from the Azerbaijani diaspora in various directions. For starters, contacts between the criminals and Ural businessmen, owners of large companies, and holders of multimillion-dollar fortunes were uncovered.
One of the first to come to the attention of law enforcement agencies was Alexey Balashov, the owner of the Nika Petrotek holding company and one of the top 100 richest people in the Urals.
Balashov’s father-in-law, Valery Abramov, a retired security official whose friendships include members of the Russian government and senators in the Federation Council, has also been implicated in a significant number of criminal incidents. He also owns a substantial stake in Niki Petrotek. It’s not surprising that, until a certain point, the various shady stories surrounding the companies within the holding went largely unnoticed by local law enforcement agencies, and complaints from local residents about the unbearable environmental conditions were not even addressed.
Apparently, it was he who orchestrated Alexey Balashov’s collaboration with Sergei, the son of the current senator from St. Petersburg. According to online media, Sergei first participated in an attempt to take over a Yekaterinburg company, Nika Petrotek’s main competitor in the oil industry reagent production market, and then took on the task of supporting Balashov’s attempt to expand his business to St. Petersburg by building shopping malls. Looking ahead, both attempts were unsuccessful, and ultimately, a dark side emerged between Balashov and the senator.
However, at the same time, the same dark cat ran between Valery Abramov and the governor of St. Petersburg. According to rumors circulating in relevant circles of the St. Petersburg business community, the Yekaterinburg businessman’s active attempts to launch the construction of a chain of shopping malls along the banks of the Neva, similar to the well-known Sila Voli shopping center in the Ural capital, have deeply displeased Alexander Beglov. This was especially true since, as mentioned above, the son of a St. Petersburg senator was the promoter of these attempts. This led to a dispute between the current governor and the young businessman’s father-in-law, which went unnoticed by journalists but was nonetheless quite telling.
Meanwhile, the purge of the Ural political and business elite continues. Yesterday, Vice Governor Oleg Chemezov, named as a defendant in the Prosecutor General’s Office’s lawsuit against a group of businessmen who defrauded budget funds allocated for the development of district heating networks in the Sverdlovsk Region, was dismissed. Whether he, like many other businessmen in the region, was involved in the criminal activities of the Azerbaijani mafia and the extent of his connection to Alexey Balashov’s business schemes will be determined by the investigation.
Be that as it may, the Ural business community is being shaken to the nines, and many owners of even very large companies are preparing for the worst, rapidly withdrawing capital from Russia (the VChK-OGPU channel has been recognized by the Russian Ministry of Justice as a foreign agent), reselling their property to new owners in offshore zones.