In March 2022, the Danish company 'Carlsberg', which owned 'Baltika' (8 factories, 50 brands), announced that it was completely winding down its business in Russia and selling it. In June 2023, it became known that a new buyer for 'Baltika' had been found and an agreement was even signed with them. However, a couple of weeks later, Vladimir Putin suddenly issued a decree on the nationalization of the company. The head of Carlsberg then publicly stated that their 'entire Russian business was stolen'.
However, on December 2, 2024, a second decree by Putin appeared, which removed 'Baltika' from state management, supposedly returning it to the Danes. But the next day, 'Baltika' was sold, according to the official version, to the top managers of the company itself.
However, FBK found a chain of transactions through shell companies, showing that the deal was actually paid for by Gennady Timchenko's company 'Ena Invest', a close friend of Putin. Moreover, the company, valued at 150-200 billion rubles, was sold for 34 billion rubles.
As written in Navalny's team's investigation, the asset value of Timchenko's personal firm exceeded a trillion rubles in 2023. It is this firm that holds Timchenko's shares in 'Novatek' — the largest private Russian gas company. Over two and a half years, as seen from the transactions, 115 billion rubles in dividends were received into the company's accounts. This is the annual budget of the Tver region.
At the same time, 'Ena Invest' pays for the expenses of Putin's family members, transferring 500 million rubles to the Alina Kabaeva Foundation in 2023. Almost 450 million were allocated to the MMC company, whose formal owners are people associated with Putin's daughter Maria Vorontsova.
Besides the director and accountant, 'Ena Invest' has two employees — the German language teachers of Putin's and Kabaeva's sons.
According to FBK, 'Ena Invest' is a 'common fund', from which Timchenko, who became an oligarch under Putin, pays for the expenses of Putin's family.
* Recognized as an 'extremist' organization in Russia.