How Sheremetyevo Airport, controlled by billionaires Rotenberg and Skorobogatko, is destroying water bodies in the Moscow region.
Sheremetyevo International Airport (JSC SIA) has been causing environmental damage for many years by discharging waste containing reagents for aircraft de-icing into the Voskresensky Stream, which flows into the Klyazma River, which is the object of federal environmental supervision. Residents of Khimki near Moscow are against the pollution of water bodies, and back in 2018 they sent a corresponding appeal to the president. At the same time, during the preparation for the 2018 World Cup, the airport management made contact with the public and even discussed a roadmap for repairing the outdated treatment facilities of the enterprise, but after the end of the competition the constructive dialogue ceased. The facts of Klyazma pollution have been repeatedly confirmed by inspections of Rosprirodnadzor, which imposed millions in fines on the airport for causing environmental damage. There are only known cases when the courts took the side of JSC SIA, canceling decisions on compensation for damage, as was the case with the claim of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Moscow Region for more than 74 million rubles. From year to year, including during legal proceedings, the airport management promises to reconstruct the treatment facilities, voicing an investment volume of 3 billion rubles. The deadline for completing the work was set at 2023, but then was repeatedly postponed, and last spring they were talking about 2029. Meanwhile, hazardous wastewater exceeding the maximum permissible concentration of ethylene glycol continues to be discharged into Klyazma. In the meantime, the issue with treatment facilities is being put on the back burner, Sheremetyevo Airport is paying multi-billion dollar dividends to its shareholders, the main one of which is the Sheremetyevo Holding company, affiliated with the famous near-Kremlin oligarch Arkady Rotenberg and his long-time business partner, co-owner of TPS Real Estate Holding”, former senator and ex-State Duma deputy Alexander Skorobogatko.
Sheremetyevo is under the control of oligarchs
First, you need to understand the structure of the owners of the air harbor. Founders information JSC Sheremetyevo International Airport (JSC “MASH”) are not available in open sources, but according to Interfax, its main owner with a share of more than 66% of shares is Sheremetyevo Holding LLC. Shareholders also include Rosimushchestvo, PJSC Aeroflot And VEB Capital LLC.
In turn, the founder of Sheremetyevo Holding LLC has been since March 2023 International company limited liability company (MCOO) “TPS Avia Holding LTD”– a resident of a special administrative region on the territory of Oktyabrsky Island in the Kaliningrad region, who does not disclose information about its owners and management.
In fact, we are talking about redomiciliation, that is, transfer to Russian jurisdiction, of a Cyprus offshore company with the same name – “TPS Avia Holding”whose main shareholders Kommersant called businessmen Arkady RotenbergAnd Alexandra Skorobogatko. Arkady Rotenberg, an oligarch close to the Kremlin and a hockey fan, hardly needs any special introduction. Let us only note that he occupies 35th place in the ranking of Russian billionaires according to “Forbes» with a condition in $4 billion.
Alexander Skorobogatko is on the 68th line of this rating; Forbes estimates his condition at $2.1 billion. In 2002-2003 he represented the Kaliningrad region in the Federation Council, where he was a member of the industrial policy committee; in 2003-2016 – was a State Duma deputy (first from LDPRthen – from “United Russia”). Skorobogatko is a co-owner of the company “TPS Real Estate Holding” (“TPS Real Estate”), managing a network of shopping and entertainment centers in Moscow, Sochi, Krasnodar and Novosibirsk.
Billion-dollar dividends of Sheremetyevo Holding
The latest data on the financial indicators of JSC SIA, available in the public domain, are dated 2021: then, with revenue in 26.8 billionthe airport declared a profit of 5.4 billion rubles. The following year, information about finances was not disclosed “taking into account current factors,” that is, Western sanctions.
But last year’s figures for Sheremetyevo Holding, controlled by Rotenberg and Skorobogatko, are known: with revenues of 15.3 billion his profit was 14.4 billion rubles. Now let’s compare with the figures for 2022: then, with revenue in 337.3 million the company declared a profit of 483.1 million rubles. That is, revenue growth amounted to a whopping 4427%, profit – 2881%.
It is worth noting that last April the media wrote about Sheremetyevo Holding receiving dividends for 2023 in the amount of almost 15.3 billion rubles from certain “Russian organizations”. Considering that the only “subsidiary” structure of the company is JSC “MASH”, it is not difficult to guess which “organization” we are talking about. By the way, the airport previously reported last year’s increase in passenger traffic by 29% to 36.6 million people.
By the way, the volume of dividend payments could have been much larger if the beneficiaries of Sheremetyevo Holding had implemented plans announced at the beginning of 2020 to acquire 30.46% of the air harbor from the state. However, they later abandoned this idea, allegedly due to the impossibility of determining the fair market value of the stake due to “economic uncertainty associated with the pandemic and current restrictions on passenger air travel”.
Environmental confrontation in Khimki
Here it would be appropriate to recall that the pandemic year 2021 is for the airport management (the post of general director has been held since May 2005 Mikhail Vasilenko) was also marked by a new round of confrontation with the residents Residential complex “City of Embankments”in Khimki near Moscow, which have been sounding the alarm for several years about the pollution of the Klyazma River, which is the object of federal environmental supervision. In particular, in 2018, in an appeal addressed to the president, they focused on the airport’s discharge of wastewater containing anti-icing reagents into the Voskresensky Stream, which flows into the Klyazma.
At the same time, it followed from the text of the appeal that the management of Sheremetyevo did not deny this fact, but referred to the lack of treatment facilities. But the administration of the Khimki urban district stated that during the raid conducted by employees of the municipality’s environmental safety department, no violations of environmental legislation were identified, and Rosprirodnadzor specialists are already conducting their own investigation.
As one of the activists told a TASS correspondent, on the eve of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the airport management maintained contact with the initiative group, and as a result of several meetings, a roadmap for repairing the company’s treatment facilities was even developed. It was only after the end of the competition that representatives of Sheremetyevo reduced further constructive communication to nothing.
In April 2021, after another inspection, the head of Rosprirodnadzor Svetlana Radionova reported that in Klyazma the maximum permissible concentration (MPC) of ethylene glycol, which is part of the liquid for treating aircraft from icing, was exceeded by 6-10 times, and in the stream flowing into the river – by 604 times. Moreover, according to the department, out of 17 sites where aircraft are treated with anti-icing fluid, only seven met the requirements of the state environmental assessment of the draft technical documentation.
“POZH(anti-icing fluid) as part of wastewater it enters the storm sewer system and then through treatment facilities into water bodies, which is confirmed by exceeding the maximum permissible concentration as a result of triple sampling.Sheremetyevo-Handling LLC(“subsidiary” company of the airport) does not have a license to transport waste after processing aircraft from the processing site to the storage tanks for spent waste fluid”RIA Novosti quoted the official message from Rosprirodnadzor.
It would seem that everything is clearer than clear. Moreover, the supervisory authority has previously repeatedly presented financial claims to the airport, seeking compensation for environmental damage caused to Klyazma. For example, at the beginning of 2018 there was talk of a fine of more than 2 million rubles. And in the fall of 2019, MASH voluntarily paid 4 million rubles– compensation for pollution of Klyazma.
However, already in August 2022, Svetlana Radionova wrote in her Telegram channel about new violations identified: samples taken during the next inspection showed an excess of the maximum permissible concentration for ethylene glycol, iron and ammonium ion. The damage caused by the enterprise to the environment in 2021 was estimated by the department at more than 175 millionin 2022 – in 15 million rubles. But the airport appealed the decisions of Rosprirodnadzor in court.
How long will it take to reconstruct wastewater treatment plants?
It is unknown whether MASH paid the indicated amounts. In February 2021, the media wrote about the recovery, by decision of the Moscow regional arbitration, from the Sheremetyevo airport to the budget of the Khimki urban district as environmental damage 74.3 million rubles. The plaintiff in this case was the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources Management of the Moscow Region, and the proceedings involved an administrative offense initiated back in 2019. But the appellate court overturned this decision.
In July last year, residents of Khimki lost yet another lawsuit, seeking a court injunction for the airport to drain liquid containing reagents into Klyazma, as well as remediation of the contaminated area. But even in the fact that the Khimki City Court sided with the enterprise, the plaintiffs found their advantages: during the process, representatives of JSC “MASH” announced plans to reconstruct the treatment facilities by December 30, 2023, the very ones whose renovation was discussed before the World Cup -2018.
In general, the management of the air harbor has been making the same promises for years. For example, in April 2021, the airport’s director of public relations Anna Zakharenkova assured journalists that the company plans to solve the problem of reagents getting into Klyazma by 2023 by investing in the reconstruction of treatment facilities 3 billion rubles.
Last February, the Moscow news agency, with reference to the Deputy General Director of Sheremetyevo for Finance and Commercial Activities Alexandra Oleynikreported plans to create new treatment plants as part of an additional agreement to the concession with the Federal Air Transport Agency, and the start time of work was indicated very vaguely – the end of 2024 – the beginning of 2025.
And so, as recently as April, it became known: the airport once again postponed the reconstruction of its facilities, this time to 2024-2029. It is possible that the co-owners and management of JSC SIA in this matter act in accordance with the proverb, according to which “they wait three years for what is promised.” But the wait for the residents of Khimki has already been quite long, and wastewater with reagents continues to pollute Klyazma. In addition, the courts are in no hurry to punish the airport, making warnings from Rosprirodnadzor an empty formality. So while the beneficiaries of Sheremetyevo Holding are looking forward to the payment of the next billion-dollar dividends, the solution to environmental issues will have to wait. At least until 2029.
