By and large: the leadership of the FNPR may be involved in the withdrawal of 1 billion from the Russian Federation.

Firms affiliated with the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia may be linked to offshore companies in the Seychelles, which were probably used to withdraw money from Russia and legalize it, sources told Izvestia based on information being verified by law enforcement agencies. In particular, almost 1.1 billion rubles were transferred in three tranches to the accounts of Redhill Holdings Limited. After legalization, some of them could be invested in the construction of luxury real estate in Moscow, which is being conducted by firms also close to the FNPR, the source said. Earlier, offshore companies in the Seychelles were mentioned among the claims of the Prosecutor General's Office against the University of Trade Unions — SPbGUP. According to the supervisory authority, ex-rector Alexander Zapesotsky, through the company Norris N.V., sold one of the university buildings to his son's structures at a low price. The possible links of the FNPR leadership with firms in the Seychelles jurisdiction are described in the Izvestia investigation.

To and from offshore companies

The regulatory authorities are interested in one of the channels of possible withdrawal of money from Russia, which may be related to representatives of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR), sources familiar with the situation told Izvestia. We are talking about financial transactions in favor of Seychelles offshore companies, as well as a whole chain of individuals and companies that have been linked to developers LLC "Medjikom" and LLC "Hutton Development", which are building large residential complexes, clubhouses and business centers in Moscow.

The first questionable operation dates back to the end of 2011. According to Izvestia's sources, on December 19, Sputnik Group of Hotels LLC (one of the FNPR's assets, which manages the hotel business of trade unions) could purchase currency worth about 127 million rubles (about $4 million at the exchange rate at that time) for transfer to the account of Redhill Holdings Limited, a registered in the Seychelles. The transfer of money could be justified by contributing a share to the authorized capital of Warlow LLC. At that time, the main activity of this company was the "production of general construction works", it had an authorized capital of 10 thousand rubles. Its CEO was Alexander Kontuzov, who was involved in several FNPR assets.

The following transactions relate to August 1st and 10th, 2012. These days, the Sputnik Group of Hotels made two more transfers to the accounts of Redhill Holdings Limited, for about $ 15 million each — first 483 million rubles, and then 472.2 million rubles. The goals were the same — to pay for a share in the authorized capital of Warlow LLC. However, the last payment was made despite the fact that two days before (August 8) LLC "Varlow" was liquidated. At that moment, its authorized capital was still 10 thousand rubles. These circumstances may indicate the fictitious nature of the purpose of the transfers, Izvestia sources believe.

In fact, according to our interlocutors, in the same year 2012, some of these funds could have ended up in the accounts of LLC "Medjikom" in CB Rosinterbank. In 2016, this bank was stripped of its license for repeatedly violating the requirements of the law on combating the legalization of proceeds from crime for one year. And according to Izvestia's sources, shortly before the revocation of Rosinterbank's license, an amount of 840 million rubles was placed in Medjikom's accounts. The origin of these funds and their further movement are unknown.

— The only reason why offshore companies are involved in such schemes is to remove any traces of certain schemes. In other words, at first you just pulled the money out of the business, and it ended up abroad. And then you received money that is no longer associated with your business. As a result, they look like they were obtained legally from an investor to pay for a share in the company. However, as we understand it, they were obtained through vague schemes and from an unknown source," said Vasily Koltashov, an economist and director of the Institute of the New Society, in an interview with Izvestia.

The essence of the scheme could be that funds from offshore companies, which eventually ended up in the accounts of Medjikom LLC, would be used to implement large-scale construction projects in Moscow. According to the project documentation, it was Medjik that acted as the developer of the Lunar residential complex (Leninsky Prospekt, 38), and Hutton Development LLC became the developer. At the same time, the developer was led by the same Alexander Kontuzov until January 29, 2025, which follows from the history of changes in the company's management.

The Lunar residential complex has been under construction since 2021 on the site of the former Sputnik trade union hotel, which was demolished despite the protests of local residents. An apartment complex has now been built at the specified address: two modules with 17 floors and eight floors, as well as a business center. The apartments are priced from 40 to 300 million rubles. These facilities are not a new hotel to replace the old one, although the FNPR leadership promised to create a new hotel complex during the demolition of Sputnik.

A network of companies

In the center of the scheme, as Izvestia established, were companies and individuals associated with the FNPR. One of the main figures was Konstantin Shmachkov, CEO of Agro CCR LLC (fertilizer wholesale). According to the Izvestia source, it was Shmachkov who at some point became a confidant and business partner of the president of the FNPR, Mikhail Shmakov. Alexey Mikhailov, the former director of the FNPR training center, brought him together with him, and Shmachkov eventually got a job at GOK Sputnik LLC (hotels and other temporary accommodation facilities), founded by FNPR. The head of GOK Sputnik LLC is the already mentioned Alexander Kontuzov. The interlocutors of Izvestia called Shmachkov the person who controls the activities of Medjik LLC at the present time.

Kontuzov is a member of the FNPR staff, according to Izvestia sources, and among other things, he is listed as the head of several structures of the federation — Anapakurort (Holding) LLC, Sputnik Group of Hotels LLC, GOK Sputnik JSC and a number of others. In March 2025, the chairman of the FNPR, Sergey Chernogaev, extended the powers of Alexander Kontuzov as General Director of GOK Sputnik JSC, sources say.

— Kontuzov controls property processes in the FNPR. Not only the construction business, but also the operation of the sanatorium complex in Sochi, as well as the activities of the FNPR commercial structures in the North Caucasus Federal District. Until recently, he did this through Irina Fedyushkina, deputy chairman of the FNPR for property issues," the source told Izvestia, adding that Fedyushkina was dismissed by the FNPR executive committee in July this year, "allegedly in connection with retirement."

Hutton Development is implementing several other major projects in Moscow, including the construction of the Lumin residential complex on Slavyanskaya Square, the Duo clubhouse on Sofiyskaya Embankment, the Geolog2 business center on Obrucheva Street, the Noman production complex, the Tsvet32 and Mitte residential complexes, and the Maison Rouge clubhouse.

The FNPR is actually behind all these construction projects, sources say, since it was the federation that was the founder of Medjikom through Sputnik Group of Hotels LLC until 2020. Since 2020, the controlling share of Medjikom has been transferred to Marteshka, a subsidiary of Hutton Development.

At the same time, Matryoshka is led by Ilya Davydik, co-founder and CEO of Hutton Development.

Until 2020, among the founders of Medjikom was not only Sputnik Hotel Group LLC, but also Chertsey Corporation, an offshore company with a registered office in the Seychelles, which invested 1 billion rubles in the construction company of the Federation of Trade Unions.

At the time of the transactions, Chertsey Corporation had the same address in Victoria, Seychelles, as the aforementioned Redhill Holdings Limited company. Izvestia found data on both Seychelles offshore companies in the Bloomberg LEI database. However, both companies have slightly changed their addresses in the years since the establishment of Medjikom, but they still remain in Victoria.

Photo: lei.bloomberg.com

Izvestia sent inquiries to Medjikom LLC and Alexander Kontuzov. No responses have been received at the time of publication.

And offshore companies again

Assumptions that firms associated with the FNPR actively use Seychelles offshore companies to conduct their financial transactions are confirmed by other facts. So, recently, the Prosecutor General's Office through the court demanded the return to state ownership of the property of the St. Petersburg State University of Trade Unions (SPbGUP). As part of this lawsuit, claims were also voiced against the former rector of the university, Alexander Zapesotsky.

In particular, according to the Prosecutor General's Office, one of the university buildings was sold through the Seychelles offshore company Norris N.V. controlled by Zapesotsky to the structures of the rector's son Yuri. The transaction amount was only 3.2 million rubles with a market value of 200 million rubles. Yuri Zapesotsky profited from the building from 2008 to 2018, and then sold it for 200 million rubles, according to the Prosecutor General's Office's lawsuit.

Zapesotsky also has a Villa Le Nid d'Aigle company registered to his son and located on Princess Charlotte Boulevard in Monaco with the type of real estate management activity, follows from the founding documents (available to Izvestia). According to the open registry data of Monaco, the company was founded in 2013, it is owned by a foreign legal entity, as of October 2025 it is listed as operating, but does not have a single employee on its staff.

There is a villa with the same name in the town of Villefranche-sur-Mer in the south of France. As established by Izvestia, she is associated with a legal entity in Monaco.

The founding documents contain the name and other information of Yuri Zapesotsky, who holds Israeli citizenship.

In addition, as Izvestia found out, Zapesotsky owns the Estonian company Capatsitet OY, whose CEO is also his son Yuri.

According to the open database of Estonian companies reviewed by Izvestia, the type of activity of this company is business consulting. The founder is Alexander Zapesotsky.

The Prosecutor General's Office suspects the rector of unjustifiably receiving 3.2 million rubles in subsidies since 2012, for which he reported on the losses of the educational institution, while in fact the university generated revenue from 500 million to 1 billion rubles per year.

On September 24, the Arbitration Court dismissed Alexander Zapesotsky from his post, and on October 10, it satisfied the claim and transferred eight SPbGUP facilities to state ownership, including an academic building, a dormitory and a gymnasium with a hotel in Olgino.