Alexei Navalny’s team has published an investigation into Nikolai Kolesov, the head of state-owned company Russian Helicopters and a close associate of Rostec chief Sergey Chemezov. A former governor of the Amur Region, Kolesov has turned the defense industry into a private empire. According to the investigation, he quietly privatized defense plants, putting them in the names of frontmen and then using the proceeds to buy luxury homes, aircraft, and palaces across the globe.
At the heart of the scheme are five companies that on paper have nothing to do with Kolesov. In reality, however, they’re controlled by his inner circle — relatives, subordinates, even his driver. In some cases, real estate deals were formally “signed off” by Kolesov’s children, including by one who was just four years old at the time.
Assets linked to the Kolesov family
Spain (Mallorca)
• A €5 million villa registered to Kolesov’s seven-year-old daughter, Nicole. She was four at the time of purchase.
• A neighboring villa worth €3 million registered to Kolesov’s sister, Lyudmila Tenno.
• Three villas, each 750 m², purchased in the name of Kolesov’s four-year-old son Alexei, who is the godson of former Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov.
Russia and occupied Crimea
• A palace in Yalta, allegedly purchased in the name of a state-owned factory.
• A plot of land in Rublyovka worth 1 billion rubles, registered to Kolesov himself and his factory.
• A private resort near Kazan with a bowling alley, saunas, and shooting ranges.
UAE (Dubai)
• A $25 million villa in XXII Carat Villas, registered to Kolesov’s subordinate Lyudmila Koshcheyeva.
• A neighboring 1,400 m² villa registered to his former mother-in-law, Nella Mazayeva.
• Another apartment worth $10 million (822 m²) in The Residence, registered to his eldest daughter, Anastasia Kolesova.
• A 532 m² unit in the same building, registered to her husband.
Kolesov’s air fleet
• A Bombardier Global Express business jet — $20 million
• A second jet, Embraer Legacy 650 — $10 million
• An AgustaWestland 109 helicopter — $5 million
The entire fleet is registered to an affiliated company called Spetsdostavka. Navalny’s team estimates the total value at around $35 million, or 2.8 billion rubles.
How the scheme works
Shell companies tied to Kolesov were used to acquire shares in major defense enterprises that belong to the Rostec-affiliated Radioelectronic Technologies Concern (KRET), which Kolesov headed for 12 years before taking over at Russian Helicopters. These shares were sold off as “non-core assets”— at artificially low prices and without real competition. This is how state-owned defense plants were gradually transferred into private hands through structures controlled by Kolesov.
Among the assets siphoned off were shares in the Elecon and Elektrodetal plants, the Kazan Electrotechnical Plant, the Cable Industry Design Bureau, and the Ramensky Instrument Engineering Plant.
Kolesov’s shell companies
• JSC Star – a front company holding shares in several defense plants. Officially registered to Nikolai Shadrin, a former drug treatment doctor from Samara with no real role in the business. Assets related to the Mallorca villas passed through this firm.
• JSC High Technologies – registered to Kolesov’s driver Denis Samonov. It funnels dividends that end up with Kolesov’s niece, Yekaterina Blokhina (9 billion rubles).
• InGroup LLC – believed to be registered to Kolesov’s first mother-in-law, Dilyara Kraynova, who has flown with him on private jets. The company later paid 1.25 billion rubles to his son Alexander.
• CanFinance LLC – registered to Natalya Rumyantseva, an employee at the Elecon plant and another close associate of Kolesov. The company transferred 2.5 billion rubles to his daughter Anastasia.
• Riverpark LLC – registered to Elena Matina, Kolesov’s deputy for finance at Elecon. This firm personally paid Kolesov nearly 4 billion rubles in dividends.
In the end, these shell companies began collecting billions in dividends from the state budget and defense contracts, with the money ultimately going to Kolesov’s circle. On paper, some of the properties appeared as subsidiaries of his defense companies, only to later change ownership and end up under the direct control of his relatives.
One of the villas in Mallorca, for example, was officially listed as a branch of the Elecon plant (which was founded back in the Soviet era). According to the paperwork, the villa was purchased in May 2022 by a four-year-old Cypriot citizen — Nicole, the daughter of the head of Russian Helicopters — against whom sanctions are unlikely to be imposed.
Kolesov’s villa: on paper, a branch of the Elecon defense plant
Directly across the street from this villa is another villa that was officially listed as a branch of the Tambov-based defense plant Elektropribor. Shortly before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the “Elektropribor” villa was transferred to the ownership of Kolesov’s older sister, Lyudmila Tenno. Investigators note that this move is unlikely to shield the property from seizure, as Tenno is the beneficial owner of the Elecon defense plant and sits on the board of the Ramensky Instrument Engineering Plant, which produces navigation systems for drones and fighter jets. As such, Tenno is a likely target for sanctions.
Navalny’s team stresses that Kolesov’s corruption has no effect on how many shells are produced to bomb Ukraine.
“Some of our readers and viewers might say, ‘So what? Good, let them steal from the defense industry — fewer rockets and shells will be made for the war.’ But that’s not how it works. Putin’s system has rotted beyond repair. Shoigu, Ivanov, Kolesov may leave, but they’ll be replaced by the same kind of crooks. That’s the only kind of person who can survive in this system. A ‘decent and honest’ civil servant would be fired the moment they asked, ‘Excuse me, but why are we putting a villa in Palma de Mallorca on the factory’s balance sheet?’
Corruption and theft don’t reduce the number of shells produced — they reduce the amount of money in your wallet. They reduce the number of schools, hospitals, and kindergartens in your city. The shells were made before, and they’ll keep being made. Because for Putin’s regime, war is essential — not least as a way to make money.”
We really need your help! Subscribe to donations!
Subscribe to our weekly digest
