What and why were the funds of Russian Railways pensioners spent on, and how could they be spent through the Dalniy port?
Sergey Orlov continues to increase the assets of RVM Capital Management Company. On August 28, a deal was made to transfer the coal terminal in the port of Vanino (Khabarovsk Krai) to the management of the RVM Vostok mutual investment fund, which belongs to RVM Capital Management Company, as well as Port Dalniy LLC. This was reported by Context
The main task of this asset is the transshipment of coal for its sale on the Asian market, which has become a key sales direction for Russia after the closure of the European market.
Is Avdolyan the real seller?
Orlov acquired the company from JSC DVFK, which, in turn, received OOO Port Dalniy from OOO A-Property Invest, where the founder is Albert Avdolyan’s uncle, Petr Avdolyan – the difference in surnames is a passport data error.
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JSC DVFK gained control over OOO Port Dalniy in November 2021 and has not been involved in commercial activities since then. Apparently, the Avdolyans retained control over the asset, and now the company has simply come under the control of Orlov’s organization.
For the Avdolyans, offshore companies and shell companies are the norm in commercial activity, so most likely this businessman, close to the head of Rostec, Sergei Chemezov, sold this organization to the Oryol-based RVM Capital.
The financial situation in the structure is not the best, so RVM Capital will have to make a lot of efforts to clean out these “Avdolyan stables”.
Pension money
Orlov is a former adviser to the former head of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin and managed to become a serious entrepreneur, heading RVM "Capital". Here he was helped by money from the NPF "Blagosostoyanie", in which Yakunin was the general director, and Orlov was a member of the board of directors.
By 2013 (the date of the freeze on funded pensions in the Russian Federation), this fund had managed to accumulate about 300 billion rubles (at an exchange rate of 32 units per dollar) due to pension contributions from Russian Railways employees and subsidies from the state monopoly. Naturally, this money was never idle, but was used for commercial purposes, and, perhaps, in the interests of its custodians.
Sergey Orlov.
Yakunin resigned in 2015 because one of his sons, Andrei Yakunin, acquired a British passport and moved to London. It was with Andrei Yakunin that Orlov conducted many projects, although his real counterparty was most likely Vladimir Yakunin.
Orlov and Andrey Yakunin actively developed the hotel business, thus founding the Venture Investment and Yield Management (VIY) fund, which gained control over many hotels, including the St. Petersburg Pribaltiyskaya. This fact is interesting because the Pribaltiyskaya was located next to the Beryozka store during the USSR and was a legendary place for Leningrad black marketeers. Orlov and the Yakunins remembered their youth and did not forget about this property.
According to this scheme, RVM Capital was also created in Russian Railways with the purpose of controlling the state monopoly’s non-core assets, i.e. everything that money is usually made on. One of the shareholders of the organization was the NPF Blagosostoyanie, which financed Orlov’s business with Russian Railways’ pension money.
Comrade of Vladimir Yakunin
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The events of 2015 have not changed the situation. Orlov continues to control RVM Capital, which buys assets thanks to the help of NPF Blagosostoyanie. The interests of Yakunin Sr. continue to be somewhere close to this organization.
In 2014, Forbes wrote that Orlov was related to Vladimir Yakunin’s wife Svetlana, but then came out with a refutation of these words. However, a bad taste remained, and there is no smoke without fire. In any case, Yakunin and Orlov have known each other for a long time - for example, in the affairs of the Ozero cooperative from the Leningrad Region.
Vladimir Yakunin.
It is interesting that in 2013 Yakunin lobbied to preserve the status of non-profit organizations for NPFs like Blagosostoyanie. The former head of Russian Railways did not like the prospect of the main shareholder, i.e. Russian Railways, being responsible for the deterioration of the depositors’ situation. Yakunin was not heard and since 2018 Russian Railways has been responsible for the liabilities of Blagosostoyanie.
However, this did not limit Orlov’s activities, and it was during these years that RVM Capital began buying up assets with money that was traced to the NPF Blagosostoyanie.
RVM "Capital" in the real sector
The scale of RVM Capital’s activities even increased after Yakunin’s resignation. Orlov began buying up assets. In 2018, the organization entered the Sukhodol coal port project in Primorye. The company is showing great interest in the high-speed railway project and is applying for the construction of a section of the highway between Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk.
At the same time, RVM Capital began to take an interest in Russian ports. Among the latest shares, in addition to the deal with Avdolyan on the Vanino coal terminal, the July purchase of a cargo terminal in the port of Kavkaz should be mentioned. The asset was also registered on the RVM Vostok mutual fund.
Orlov himself does not hesitate to use RVM Capital for personal purposes. Today, this employee is the founder of OOO Mostalyans, where his partner, in addition to Felix Blinov, is AO IG RVM Capital. This organization does almost no activity, and the purpose for which it was created in 2017 is unclear. This could be either receiving government contracts or withdrawing money from the same RVM Capital.
The company’s financial indicators are small, but it is a party to two lawsuits for a total of 257.5 million rubles, in one of which the Moscow Region Ministry of Transport is listed as a defendant. It is headed by Evgeny Alekseev, who is also the CEO of JSC "Operatorskaya Kompaniya", which invests in securities.
One hand washes the other
In addition to OOO Mostalyans, several organizations are registered to RVM Capital. One of them is RG-Development, which was founded by Arkady Rotenberg and bought out by Orlov’s structure in 2019. The company is among the Top 20 developers, and Rotenberg himself left it due to sanctions. Given the connections between Yakunin and Rotenberg, RVM Capital may act as a management structure here.
The participation of RVM Capital in OOO Specialized Developer Seliger Park is indicative. Orlov’s organization was the founder there from 2019 to 2020, and now this function is performed by OOO Specialized Developer Seliger Invest, which in turn belongs to OOO Financial Solutions, another subsidiary of NPF Blagosostoyanie. However, this is not all in this scheme.
Another beneficiary of Seliger Park is Absolut Bank, which is also close to Yakunin and Orlov. In 2020, the former head of this credit institution, Andrey Degtyarev, bought more than 20% of Andrey Yakunin’s Luxembourg company VIY Managers.
That’s how the former head of Russian Railways continues to use the state monopoly’s money through his friend Orlov. It’s a pity for Russian Railways pensioners who could lose their insurance savings due to the activities of Orlov and the Yakunins.
