From a Tuscan villa stuffed with currency to the Kremlin in 48 hours: how Veniamin Kondratyev, after the search, used "gray cardinal" Mikhail Kovalchuk to force his way into a meeting with Putin
A source explained how Kuban Governor Veniamin Kondratiev managed to arrange a meeting with Putin so quickly after a search at his estate. He was assisted by Mikhail Kovalchuk, who, along with his brother Yuri, has major interests in the Krasnodar region.
As our project already reported, immediately after the search at the Tuscan-style estate, Kondratiev rushed to Moscow to address the issue, and just a few days later, TV channels aired footage of his meeting with Putin. This meant that the search incident would have no continuation or consequences for Kondratiev. According to the source, in the capital, the governor went straight to Mikhail Kovalchuk (currently the person closest to Putin), who promptly arranged the meeting with the Russian president. And at the same time, he resolved Kondratiev’s issues with the security services.
Veniamin Kondratiev has long been a "conduit" for the Kovalchuks’ interests in his region. Currently, in the Krasnodar region, a project is underway to study lands suitable for viticulture, overseen by Mikhail Kovalchuk.
Structures linked to Yuri Kovalchuk control large estates and tourist infrastructure in Kuban, including assets in the Tonnaya Kosa area. Even the famous palace near Gelendzhik turned out to be connected to Yuri Kovalchuk after its construction. The corporate email for the St. Petersburg firm "Binom," under which the palace is registered, is hosted on the domain http://llcinvest.ru. It belongs to the firm "Standard," controlled by Yuri Kovalchuk. Journalist Oleg Roldugin uncovered this fact. As well as the fact that the Valdai residence—which, as our project reported back in March, was ringed by an additional air defense complex—is not officially a residence at all according to the documents. All the buildings are registered to structures owned by Yuri Kovalchuk, and the Kremlin simply leases them. So even if Russia gets a new president, the Valdai residence will remain with its current owners.
And here’s the paradoxical situation. Oleg Roldugin is in pretrial detention for the illegal use of personal data, while Veniamin Kondratiev—who had millions of dollars and euros found in a "safe-type" room during the search of his estate—is free and still in his position.
The story bears an uncanny resemblance to the case of another Kovalchuk protégé—the former mayor of Krasnodar, Andrey Alekseenko. When he was still the acting mayor, he was detained for taking a bribe in the form of an expensive shotgun. The Investigative Committee (SKR) released footage of the interrogation. Then the famous "Kovalchuk resource" kicked in. The very next day, Alekseenko was back at work, and the SKR hurriedly deleted that very footage from its resources. Now Alekseenko holds the post of deputy to the Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Southern Federal District. In other words, he got promoted.
