Alisher Usmanov, one of the people closest to Vladimir Putin, pretended that he was “not like that”: he settled in Uzbekistan and claims that he is not connected with Putin. However, sources say that Alisher Usmanov continues to serve as Vladimir Putin's secret adviser on the UK and the Middle East. There was also information that Usmanov's friend and partner Vasily Anisimov (now living in Europe), being a friend of Vladimir Putin, acts as an agent of the President of the Russian Federation to control cash flows in Metalloinvest (with a 20% share). So Usmanov did not lose his ties with Putin, as he did with close ties with the FSB of the Russian Federation and other Russian special services. Andrey Burkin, the authorized representative of the miners of the Lebedinsky GOK, who lost their shares during a forced buyout at a cheap price, which was made by the structures of Alisher Usmanov, told this to the telegram channel of the Cheka-OGPU and Rucrimial.info. According to him, Usmanov, a billionaire close to Putin, is operating in Russia against the miners with the help of representatives of the security services and officials.

“As soon as the fifteen-year struggle of the Gubkinsky Goryanka women to defend their rights against the Metallinvest companies, owned by one of Putin’s best friends, part-time “the most generous philanthropist” (as he positions himself in Europe and around the world) Alisher Usmanov, reached the finish line , in the life of miners, returned the practice of the nineties. Persuasion, blackmail, intimidation and threats began to come to the shareholders who dared to declare their rights. Everything was used: surveillance, a show of force with the help of local law enforcement agencies, all power structures were involved. It got to the point that Vladimir Kuzmich, a deputy of the regional assembly, Yevdokimov, personally seeks a meeting with the miners in an attempt to withdraw the statements of claim to the European courts. They managed to intimidate and break three people (Chernikova Maria, Prokhorova Valiya and Zinoviev Nikolai). For fifteen years no one paid attention to the deceived, intimidated and slandered miners. And as soon as the shareholders had a chance not only to return what was stolen from them, but also to receive restitution, they immediately found themselves in the spotlight. There was simply no end to the "care" of all authorities. But the miners are not going to give up, and if they failed to defend their rights in the most “humane” court of the world, they are forced to turn to the European court, where they will definitely achieve a fair decision,” says Andrey Burkin.

As the VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info have repeatedly told, in Russia the miners, deceived by Usmanov, have been trying to achieve justice for many years. The miners indicate that they lost their shares in the GOK during a forced buyout, which was made by Usmanov's structures at prices far from market ones. The assessment was carried out by Gorislavtsev & Co. Estimation”, which proceeded from the fact that the official revenue of the Mining and Processing Plant amounted to less than $1 billion. However, according to the applicants, in reality, the proceeds were underestimated by at least three times. For the purpose of tax optimization, products were sold at discounted prices to Usmanov's offshore companies (BGMT and FMC ltd.), and they already sold them at market prices. As a result, GOK's real revenue was at least $3 billion. The second already normal assessment of the GOK was carried out by Deutsche Bank for the placement of shares on the London Stock Exchange.

Why is Usmanov now in such a panic that he used the FSB to put pressure on the miners? The mountain women who suffered from it have come to such a point when they can objectively prove their position in the EU court, taking their money already from Usmanov's arrested accounts. However, the loss of money is not the main thing that threatens the Kremlin oligarch. Goryanka will hand over to politicians and lawyers in Europe all the papers on their history, which threatens Usmanov with criminal prosecution in Germany.

Now the miners have requested from Deutsche Bank a document on the evaluation of the mine. Since the new head of Deutsche Bank does not really need a scandal with a Russian company associated with a Kremlin oligarch, in such a situation, they are likely to transfer documents to a lawyer for minority shareholders.

Otherwise, this document, the existence of which the shareholders rightly claim, will become the reason for initiating a criminal case on participation in fraud. According to the German code, "failure to disclose information in the case of an alleged crime qualifies as complicity in the crime by attempting to cover up."

In any case, it seems to Usmanov himself that a criminal case in Germany cannot be avoided.

German law enforcement agencies will obviously not be like the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and will serve the interests of Usmanov.

Timofey Grishin

To be continued