Is coal magnate Oleg Misevra ready to “merge” one of his enterprises?
The management of the Sakhalin Boshnyakovsky Coal Mine (BUR LLC) is seeking in court to declare illegal the decision of the regional Ministry of Housing and Public Utilities to return to the budget a previously issued subsidy in the amount of 1.9 million rubles. Representatives of the enterprise unsuccessfully sought interim measures, citing the fact that the disputed amount was significant, and the implementation of the ministerial decision would aggravate the unfavorable financial situation of BUR, up to its possible bankruptcy. At the end of 2023, the financial performance of the mine actually worsened: the company declared losses in the amount of more than 66 million rubles. Meanwhile, the beneficiary of BUR is the famous “coal tycoon” Oleg Misevra, whose Eastern Mining Company (“EMC”) generates billions in revenue and pays multimillion-dollar dividends to its shareholders. Today, VGK de jure belongs to MCOO Altraso Ventures, registered on Russky Island, in a special administrative region that has become known as a “Russian offshore zone.” For a long time, Misevra himself registered the commercial structures he owned as Cypriot offshore companies, this applies, in particular, to the same BUR and VGK. Finances could be transferred to offshore accounts, including those earned by VGK at its own gas stations, where petroleum products were supplied at social prices. The company’s successes in the press were explained by the support of high-ranking officials, primarily Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yuri Trutnev. Support was not hampered by scandals, in which VGK was repeatedly at the center. Thus, the company missed the deadline for implementing a large-scale project to build a conveyor belt supplying coal from the Solntsevskoye deposit to the port of Shakhtersk. In the summer of 2021, an environmental emergency at this field became the cause of a federally publicized scandal with the dismissal of the editor-in-chief of the Uglegorsk News publication Zinaida Makarova, the early resignation of the mayor of Uglegorsk Sergei Doroshchuk and the initiation of a criminal case for obstructing the legitimate activities of journalists.
Boshnyakovsky Razrez complains about lack of money
Last August, a rather interesting process began in the Arbitration Court of the Sakhalin Region: “Boshnyakovsky coal mine” (LLC “BUR”general director – Stanislav Wegner) seeks recognition as illegal of the decision of the Ministry of Housing and Communal Services of the region to return to the budget a subsidy previously issued to the enterprise in the amount of more than 1.9 million rubles. Simultaneously with the acceptance of the application for proceedings, the arbitration court refused to satisfy the plaintiff’s request for interim measures in the form of suspending the execution of the relevant decision until the judicial act is issued and it enters into legal force.
This argument, however, did not convince the court, since the applicant did not provide any evidence of causing significant damage, and the arguments that the requested measures are necessary to ensure the execution of the judicial act in the case under consideration and to prevent damage to the plaintiff are presumptive in nature and are not supported by the available materials .
If we look at the financial indicators of BUR LLC, we will see the following picture. At the end of 2023, the section sharply went into the negative: with revenue of 4 billion his losses amounted to 66.2 million rubles. For comparison: for 2022, revenue was declared in 4.4 billion and a profit of almost 398 millionin 2021 revenue – 4.5 billionprofit – 290 million rubles. What caused the loss? And is the financial situation at the enterprise, where 245 people are officially employed, really so catastrophic that the return of a 2 million subsidy could cause “significant damage”besides “with possible further bankruptcy”?
Oleg Misevra “relocates” to Russky Island
So, BUR LLC, engaged in coal mining, was registered in the Uglegorsk district of Sakhalin in 2010. Until January 2023, its only founder was a Cyprus offshore company “SeriataInvestmentsLimited». Today this role is played by International company limited liability company (ICOO) “Seriata Investments”“registered” in Primorye, on Russky Island – a special administrative region (SAR), which has become known as a “Russian offshore zone”.
Access to information about the owners of MCOO “Seriata Investments” is limited by the Federal Tax Service, but until September 2023 they were Anatoly And Oleg Misevra.
The last one is the former president “Siberian Coal Energy Company” (SUEK), who at one time sold his share to business partners Andrey Melnichenko And Sergei Popovand in return received coal mines on Sakhalin.
Oleg Misevra takes 15th place in the ranking “Forbes» “50 Russians with the largest amounts of dividends for 2023”: payments received by the businessman (and affiliates) from “Eastern Mining Company”where Misevra holds the post of chairman of the board of directors, the publication estimates at 23 billion rubles. According to the results of last year, Eastern Mining Company (LLC “VGK”) reported revenue in 2.1 billion and arrived in 92.1 billion rubles (revenue a year earlier – 1.4 billionprofit – 21.7 billion rubles).
Owner of 99% of the authorized capital of VGK – MCOO “Altraso Ventures”registered in August 2022, all on the same Russky Island, 0.55% belongs to Oleg Misevra, 0.45% to the Tetraeconomy Alliance company. The founders of Altraso Ventures are: MCOO “Lazio Commerce” (55%) from Russky Island and Moscow LLC “Tetraeconomy” (45%). The first does not disclose information about the owners and management, the second belongs in equal shares to four individuals: Elena Dobrinova, Igor Tsyplakov, Alexander Komkov And Pythagoras Yanakov.
It’s not difficult to guess that previously “VGK” was tied to offshore companies – Cypriot companies “AltrasoVenturesLTD» And “ICT Holding LTD”. In addition, its founder Management company “Sakhalinugol”liquidated in March 2023, was again controlled by the Cypriot “Aeton Commercial LTD”.
As we can see, we have before us a whole “offshore empire”, controlled by Oleg Misevra.
Business “under the roof” of Deputy Prime Minister Trutnev?
From all of the above, the question naturally arises: if VGK brings in multimillion-dollar profits, and pays dividends of tens of millions of rubles to its beneficiaries, then why might Boshnyakovsky Coal Mine be on the verge of bankruptcy? By the way, here’s what the “Our Version” publication wrote about the company’s work in 2019:
Our Version associated the successes of VGK with administrative resources. More specifically, with the patronage provided to the company by the Deputy Chairman of the Federal Government, Plenipotentiary Envoy of the President in the Far Eastern Federal District Yuri Trutnev. In 2017, Oleg Misevra even joined the public council under the Ministry for the Development of the Far East. However, today his name is not on the corresponding page of the Monvostokrazvitiya website, which may serve as indirect evidence of the loss of his former positions.
The network expressed the opinion that the money earned by VGK from its own gas stations ends up in offshore accounts with which, as we know, the company has been associated for a long time. By the way, in 2015 Far East Development Fund approved investments in the construction of infrastructure at the Solntsevskoye field on Sakhalin owned by VGK in the amount of 2.8 billion rubles at 10.5% per annum.
The money was planned to be used for the construction of a 30-kilometer conveyor belt supplying mined coal from the deposit to the port of Shakhtersk. The project provided for an increase in coal production by 2018 from 5 million to 6 million tons, and by 2020 – up to 10 million tons. But the company did not meet the stated deadlines: in 2019, its representatives only announced the start of pre-construction work. And in April 2024, the project allegedly reached the finish line, and its cost exceeded 7 billion rubles.
Uglegorsk state of emergency on a federal scale
A high-profile scandal related to the activities of the Eastern Mining Company occurred in July 2021. Then the Uglegorsk News publication published a material with a video about an emergency at the aforementioned Solntsevsky coal mine, where a dump collapsed, blocking the natural course of the Zheltaya River, which flows into the Uglegorka River. Further accumulation of water threatened to flood nearby settlements – the villages of Nikolskoye and Olkhovka; local residents cited rain as the cause of the collapse, as well as violations committed by the VGK.
The consequence of the publication was “repression” that hit Uglegorsk News: the editorial office was cut off from electricity, and the editor-in-chief Zinaida Makarova They called me to the municipal administration, where they informed me of my dismissal. Moreover, the mayor Sergey Doroshchuk ordered the suspension of publication of the newspaper.
The formal reason for Makarova’s dismissal was given as failure to include mandatory information on government procurement, salaries, fulfillment of municipal assignments, staff and property in a special register.
But with their actions, the authorities created a hotbed of social tension: soon a petition appeared online demanding the resignation of Mayor Doroschuk, which collected more than 1 thousand signatures in a few days. But the situation was turned around only thanks to federal publicity, the intervention of State Duma deputies and the initiation of a criminal case by the Investigative Committee for obstructing the legitimate activities of journalists.
As a result, the Sakhalin governor Valery Limarenko personally suggested that Doroshchuk resign early due to his inability to establish a dialogue between the authorities and the population, and Zinaida Makarova was reinstated in her position. It is noteworthy that among those who came to the editorial office to “restore order”, the media called Andrey Motovilov – Deputy General Director of VGK, considered a person from the close circle of Yuri Trutnev even when the latter was governor of the Perm region.
One can, of course, assume that Oleg Misevra did not know about the “amateur activity” of his subordinates, who acted in conjunction with local officials. Later, the chairman of the board of directors of VGK declared a personal interest “in publicity and openness.” It is not clear how, in the billionaire’s mind, his declared publicity is connected with offshore companies and the current concealment of information about the founders of affiliated enterprises. In addition, the situation with the Boshnyakovsky coal mine suggests some kind of “schematism”, or financial problems that arose with the coal magnate.
