The beneficiaries of the concession project for the construction of a large deep-water port on Sakhalin for 35 billion rubles are businessmen associated with Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Gazprom's head of the legal department Sergey Kuznets, The Moscow Times* found out.
According to the project, the Poronaysk port in the Terpeniya Bay on the border of the Poronaysk and Makarov districts of Sakhalin should combine coal, oil, and gas terminals, as well as the first border crossing point in the region. The concession was signed in March 2021, but construction work on the site has not yet begun.
According to the terms of the government-approved concession agreement, the total investment volume should exceed 35.9 billion rubles. A capital grant of 3.96 billion rubles is provided from the budget for the port infrastructure. The remaining money for the project was borrowed by the concessionaire from Gazprombank. The amount of state financial support may be increased to 17.4 billion rubles, and the port is expected to be commissioned in the second half of 2027 — 6.5 years after the concession date. At the same time, as stated in the documents, in the event of delays or even project failure, no penalties are provided for the concessionaire.
«The agreement seems noticeably skewed towards the private side: a term of 49 years — this is not even optimism, it's almost eternity. Usually, such concessions are concluded for 25–30 years. For comparison, the airport in Perm is 30 years, and here it's half a century. As for fines and responsibilities — the Vladivostok concession clearly spelled out penalties for deadlines and quality, and here the wording is such that the concessionaire is like a guest who should not be reminded of anything. It turns out to be quite a warm and fat story for business — and as gentle as possible for those who should bear the risks,» former military builder Sergey Khrabrykh told the publication.
The concession company of the Poronaysk port LLC «MGR» through LLC «Blue Sea» belongs to entrepreneur Olga Puchkova and Tver realtor Andrey Klimov (through JSC «Vostok»).
Until 2022, Puchkova's partner in one of the companies engaged in road construction in the Moscow region was Olga Khomchenko. The Moscow Times managed to confirm that she is the cohabitant of the officially unmarried Finance Minister Siluanov according to the latest income declaration. Khomchenko raises a daughter with the surname Siluanova and patronymic Antonovna, and they often fly on vacation together, as evidenced by leaks in the darknet. At the same time, the Ministry of Finance is responsible for the financial part of all major concession agreements. «The amounts and conditions on which they are allocated are agreed upon by the Ministry of Finance. Moreover, it is the Ministry of Finance that is responsible for controlling the expenditure of allocated funds,» explained anti-corruption expert Ilya Shumanov.
Tver resident Klimov, together with partner Vladislav Shmelev, registered several companies in an apartment in the Kapotnya district of Moscow, which was previously mentioned in police reports as a drug den. At the address of this same apartment, Elena Kuznets — the wife of Gazprom's head of the legal department Sergey Kuznets, registered her cars, according to leaks. In childhood, Kuznets lived with her parents in Tver in a neighboring house with Shmelev.
In July 2021, Klimov's «Vostok» transferred 100 million rubles to the account of Siluanov's cohabitant Khomchenko under a loan agreement, according to the company's cash flow report available to the editorial office.
In addition, «Vostok» bought an apartment in the elite residential complex «Kutuzovsky Life» with an area of over 300 square meters. The owner of the apartment, according to extracts from the Rosreestr, is the «Russian Federation». Such wording usually hides federal officials or security forces. The official tenant of the housing is an employee of the Tver FSB Vasily Salata.
* Recognized in Russia as a «foreign agent» and «undesirable» organization.