Bio:

 

  Igor Khanukovich Yusufov was born in 1956 in Derbent, Dagestan ASSR. He graduated from the Faculty of Energy at Novocherkassk Polytechnic Institute in 1979 and from the All-Union Academy of Foreign Trade in 1991.

In 1979 - 1984, he worked as an engineer at Mosenergo generating company.

In 1984 - 1987, he was a senior expert at the construction of Havana thermal power stations on Cuba.

In 1991 - 1992, he was deputy chairman of the Committee on Protection of Russia's foreign economic interests.

In 1993, he was the Deputy Minister of the RF Foreign Economic Relations.

In 1994 - 1996, he held an executive position in Rosvooruzhenie, Russian state intermediary agency for export and import of military and dual-purpose products, technologies and services.

In 1996 - 1997, he was the Deputy Minister of Industry responsible for gold and diamonds. As deputy minister, he was elected to the board of directors of Lenzoloto gold-mining corporation.

In 1998 - 1999, he was the first deputy chairman and then the chairman of the Russian State Committee on State Reserves.

In 1999 - 2001, he was the director-general of Russian State Reserves Agency.

In 2001 - 2004, he was the Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation.

In 2004 – 2011, he was the RF Presidential Envoy for International Energy Cooperationand the Ambassador at Large of the RF Ministry of Foreign Affairs

From 2011 to present - Carries out a private investment activity through the "Energy" Fund, established by him.

Awards

Order for Merits to the Fatherland 4th Grade (2006) 

He is married and has two sons. One of the sons, Vitaly, owns shipyards in Germany.

Source: Wikipedia 

 

Dossier: 

Reports say that as far back as the early 1990s Yusufov started working for RevivalFoundation for Social Development of Russia  headed by  president of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR Boris Yeltsin and then by vice-president Alexander Rutskoi.

In 1991-1992 Yusufov was deputy chairman of the Committee on Protection of Russia's foreign economic interests under the President of the RSFSR. The Committee was founded by Rutskoi and Alexander Sterligov and headed by «Cheka official and German translator " Nikholai Yermakov.

Source: Vremya Novostey, 18 June 2001

In 1998 Yusufov was appointed first deputy chairman and later became acting chairman of the RF State Committee on State Reserves. In December 1998, he was appointed chairman of the Committee and in May 1999 his position was officially renamed as director-general of Russian State Reserves Agency. Yusufov's agency was called ''the best mechanism of federal influence on the regions and the most important resource beyond the control of the State Duma".  In particular, the agency made barter transactions to provide regions with fuel during winter   and spring planting seasons, so Yusufov   was well known among  government officials, governors and large companies. He was reported to be a man of Mikhail Kasyanov, who in 1999 – 2000 was the RF Minister of Finance.

Source: Noviye Izvestiya, 3 October 2004

 

In 2001 Yusuf was appointed Minister of Energy. As head of the Ministry he was elected chairman of the boards of directors of Rosneft public corporation and Transnefteprodukt public corporation. In 2003, he was also elected to the board of directors of Gazprom public corporation.

Yusufov left his position in spring 2004 after resignation of Kasyanov’s cabinet and restructuring the government that resulted in elimination of the ministry.

Source: Vedomosti, 25 February 2004

 

In April 2009, Yusufov was to be nominated as Secretary General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum.  However, he refused to take the position since «the purpose of the organization was not entirely clear". In June 2009, high-ranking Russian diplomats called Yusufov "the best candidate" to replace Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin. However, Zurabov became the ambassador.

Source: Kommersant, 22 June 2009

 

On 8 April 2011, Dmitry Medvedev dismissed Yusufov. Medvedev's press secretary Natalya Timakova said that   Yusufov's resignation was related to the elimination of his post.

However, reports say that he was dismissed because his son Vitaly had purchased almost 20% of shares of the Bank of Moscow from banker Andrei Borodin now hiding in the UK.

Source: RBC, 8 April 2011

 

 In November 2011, former president of the Bank of Moscow Andrei Borodin stated in an interview that Yusufov openly said that he represented interests of President Dmitry Medvedev, who sought state control of the Bank of Moscow. According to Borodin, Yusufov said ’’ I am going to buy your stake in the Bank of Moscow at a low price and you have no choice, because otherwise you will lose everything.  In a couple of years, we will sell the stake to VTB bank and share the profit between myself, Medvedev and Kostin.''

Borodin said ‘‘He always talked plain: we are establishing ''retirement fund'', or ‘‘future financial empire'', for '' the young man'' as he called president Medvedev.  That is the very words he used.''

Source: Vedomosti, 21 November 2011

 

After the accident, occurred August 17, 2009 at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power plant RTS Commission identified a number of causes of the incident and announced the list of persons, whose activities in October 2009, contributed to the accident. And Yusufov was also named among them, when he was the head of the Ministry of Energy, "... has not created mechanisms for real state control and supervision over the safe operation of power facilities."

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev dismissed Yusufov in April 8, 2011. Presidential press secretary Natalya Timakova said that the resignation of Yusufov was due to the discontinuation of the appropriate post. However, in a press was pointed out the possible connection of his dismissal with the acquisition by his son Vitaly almost twenty percent of the shares of Bank of Moscow from banker Andrei Borodin, hiding in the UK.

"Profile" publication, dedicated to Yusufov 2001, reported Yusufov nickname: According to the publication, in the Ministry of Energy he "sight unseen" was called a "comrade Saahov".

Yusufov is married. He has two sons. The eldest son, Vitaly, a graduate of the faculty of international economic relations and international business MGIMO, was mentioned in mass media as the director of the Moscow branch of the company Nord Stream AG, the operator of the project "Nord Stream". He left this post after he bought from the German authorities of the federal state of Mecklenburg - Western Pomerania two bankrupt shipyard of shipbuilding holding Wadan Yards in 2009. The deal amounted to 40.5 million euros. It was reported that Vitaly bought it with his father, but later exactly Vitaly was mentioned as the owner of Nordic Yards Company, created specifically for this transaction; it is noted that he made the transaction as the CEO of Gevor IV AG company. Analysts pointed out that, despite the fact that the buyer has acquired a shipyard as a private person; the deal was supported "at the highest level." It was reported that this kind of support "was necessary because of a previous bad experience of cooperation with Russian investors" (the previous owner, Russian Andrey Burlakov was arrested on charges of fraud in large scale in December 2009. For the bail of shipyards Vitaly Yusufov bought a fifth of the shares of "Bank of Moscow" in April 2011.

Mass media also wrote about the younger son of Yusufov Maxim: in the years when he was a child, Yusufov-elder called the education his son a favorite hobby. According to data for 2010, Maxim Yusufov studied at the Moscow School of Economics.

Lenta.ru, 2011

 

FAS allowed 31-year-old Vitaly Yusufov to increase a stake in Bank of Moscow to 50%.

Vitaly Yusufov, a 31-year-old son of former Energy Minister Igor Yusufov, will become the owner of nearly 50% stake in Bank of Moscow. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has allowed the Cypriot company Losanp Trade Limited, acting in the interests of Yusufov Jr., to purchase 30.08% of the voting shares of the bank. Now Losanp Trade owns 19.91% shares of the Bank of Moscow - Vitaly Yusufov bought them from the former bank president Andrei Borodin, as it became known in spring of this year.

Izvestiya, June 9, 2011

 

Shortly before the attack in the restaurant "Hutorok" Anna Etkina gave evidences in the court in New York against an ex-representative of the president Igor Yusufov.

The shooting in the capital's restaurant "Hutorok" of businessman Andrei Burlakov and the ex-deputy head of the Mira-Bank Anna Etkina may be associated with the investigation of the case in the United States about the scam with the assets of the German shipbuilding company Wadan Yards. One of the figurants in this case is a former Russian Energy Minister Igor Yusufov, said "Izvestiya" the representative of Etkina Vladislav Tkachenko. According to him, the killer shot Burlakov and seriously wounded Etkina after she gave testimony in a US court against Yusufov.

... - Etkina is a key witness in the case - she gave testimony in a US court against Igor Yusufov and returned to Moscow. And after that, the killer shot her - said "Izvestiya" the lawyer.

Izvestiya, May 25, 2012

 

Professor of GU Higher School of Economics Ivan Rodionov, the expert of "the Company" believes that the risk of starting the privatization is clearly higher than the potential profits. "The complexity of the privatization of large companies is in the confrontation between the two centers of authority - the presidents and prime minister's. - He said. - Some members of the second center would like to include these companies in their sphere of influence. But there is no such desire at the presidential center. First, it is not really understand, how it will affect the national interests, the observance of which is responsible the guarantor of the constitution, and secondly, the uncertainty that the new center will be able to force these companies to operate more efficiently after privatization than now. "

"The prime minister's center" specifies Kagarlitskiy: in the report of the Institute of Globalization and Social Movements (IGSM) "Unnecessary privatization: disarmament before the crisis," is stating that the Deputy Prime Minister Dvorkovich "was actively participated in the creation of a "personal" pool of Medvedev businessman." Suleiman Kerimov, Ahmed Bilalov, Igor Yusufov and Michael Abizov are called among them. "As a result the new privatization plan became a reflection of the growing influence of Dvorkovich in certain business circles," notes "Ko", referring to the report's authors. The weight of this pool should not be underestimated: the experts say about the concentration total capital amounting to some $ 50 billion in the hands of the aforementioned "new liberals".

Trud, 25.12.2012g.

 

... Meanwhile, the brother of Yusufov Gennady thanks to the fund "Vozrozhdenie" became a stockbroker. The Fund paid for the two seats on the Stock Exchange "Conversion", which acts as an intermediary between the Russian enterprises of the military-industrial complex, and Western firms. Through the exchange, for example, the military plants turn on rare earth metals on children's food. Prosecutor's check that followed in 1993 accused several officials that for the purchase of food for the Moscow region from the budget to the Swiss accounts went $ 14.5 million, and the product was purchased on $ 1.7 million only. But this and other investigations ended with nothing.

In the early 1990s, The Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations (MFER) supervised the arms trade also. Annual trade turnover exceeded $ 1 billion - huge money in those days. However, as the former government adviser on defense and security General Viktor Samoilov said, many country-buyers calculated for the supply of arms by barter mostly. China has supplied to Russian coats and cheap cameras, Malaysia - palm oil. In 1993, Samoilov suggested to the Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin to create a company-monopolist "Rosvooruzhenie". And he became its CEO. To implement barter goods and work with exotic currencies, such as the Indian rupee, "Rosvooruzhenie" established a subsidiary company "Rosvooruzhenie Trading" (RVT). And then Samoilov remembered about Yusufov, whom he had known by the Committee on the protection of economic interests of Russia, and invited former Deputy Director of the Foreign Economic Relations in the directors.

Yusufov oversaw contracts for the supply of the barter of goods, logistics, customs clearance and foreign exchange calculations. For three years the cumulative turnover of RVT reached $ 4 billion. According to Yusufov, the commission of was 2-3%. However, one of the former managers of "Rosvooruzhenie" says that by order of the Deputy Finance Minister Andrei Vavilov RVT commission payments could exceed 30%. On the Forbes question, Vavilov answered that "does not remember it." Anyway, RVT profit for the three years amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars. Who got the money?

With the support of Yusufov shareholders of RVT almost immediately became the foreign trade organizations "Prodintorg", "Raznoimport", "Novoeksport". Yusufov himself also had the package. The share of "Rosvooruzhenie" according to Samoilov, decreased to 20%.

According to Yusufov, "Rosvooruzhenie" remained a controlling stake of 51%, and he himself "had not even a half of the remaining 49%." And that was enough for Yusufov to put together in RVT a huge for the time capital in dozens or even hundreds of millions of dollars over three years. "All shareholders are well earned," - he being modest.

... Eldest son, Vitaly, who was a student at the MGIMO then, Minister Yusufov often led to the meeting in the Ministry, and represented him in the gas and oil companies. And in 2004, 25-year-old Yusufov started his career in "Gazexport" as an assistant of general director Alexander Medvedev. It was he who recommended the young employer to Nord Stream, the company for the construction of the pipeline "Nord Stream". In 2006, Yusufov Jr. became the head of the Moscow branch of the company.

Vitaly Yusufov often was in Nord Stream's offices in Switzerland and Germany, where he met with the head of the company, the former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and the then Minister of Economy of Germany Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. In the area of Mecklenburg - Western Pomerania, where the final point of the pipeline and very shipyards are located, he made the acquaintance with local politicians. Therefore, when they in August 2009 in Sochi announced Vitaly Yusufov «an effective and successful investor," on higher level, he was not a stranger for the Germans. A spokesman of Medvedev recalled that the name of Yusufov was named to the president by the German side.

Forbes, 27.11.2013

 

In April 2008, an acquaintance of Igor Yusufov, an employee of the Foreign Intelligence Korotaev Alexey went to his office at the Old Square, where a former minister worked as the president's special representative for international energy cooperation from 2004. Korotaev brought Andrei Burlakov with him, a deputy director of the State Financial Leasing Company (FLC). The firm engaged in aircraft leasing not very successfully and has created a shipbuilding group more, based on the purchased Petrozavodsk "Avangard" plant. Shortly before the visit to Yusufov, Burlakov learned from one of the employees of the group, former manager of Swedish shipping company that the Norwegian company Aker Yards is selling part of its assets, including the German shipyard. He decided to find financing and to buy back the assets for themselves. PricewaterhouseCoopers has estimated them in € 250 million. Burlakov had only € 50 million.

Yusufov listened to visitors with great interest. "The idea seemed sound and stated to me", - he says. After all, in his version, it was a question about buying the German shipyards by FLC, not Burlakov. Yusufov flew to Germany, got acquainted on the spot with the shipbuilding business, and agreed with the Swiss bank Credit Suisse for a loan of € 200 million. The main owner of the shipyards became Luxembourg Company FLC West. It was 75% owned by offshore company from the British Virgin Islands Templestowe, 25%, as Yusufov considered, had FLC. Who was behind Templestowe?

In June 2008, Yusufov Sr. traveled to Oslo to get acquainted with the management of the parent company. In July Templestowe transferred the first payment by € 80 million, and on the same day at the law firm Wikborg Rein shining Burlakov signed purchase documents.

... In autumn 2008, the global financial crisis broke out. Shipyard at that time owed to suppliers, public utilities, workers. Banks do not lend the company; the company introduced the external management, and then declared a bankruptcy. As a result, Wadan Yards were under the control of municipal German authorities. Vitaly Yusufov became the official owner of the shipyards, paying about € 40 million. He claims that he won the competition for the shipyard, as he agreed to save 1,200 jobs, as well as to get back € 374 million of loans of German banks.

In the autumn of 2009, when Yusufov Jr. already took over shipyards, Burlakov and his Vice-President of Finance in Wadan Yards Etkina were imprisoned in Butyrka. They were charged with a designing a scheme on a conclusion of FLC money to the controlled companies. As it turned out, only 1% belonged to FLC West state leasing company, while the remaining 25% - to Burlakov. In spring 2010, both were released on bail, but in September 2011 in Moscow cafe a hired killer shot them. Burlakov died Etkina treated for serious injuries for a long time. The criminal case of Burlakov murder and an attempt on Etkina was at a standstill, but investigators were preparing to transfer her criminal case to the court. She disappeared in Israel. In the case of the murder, the father and the son Yusufovs were witnesses. Conduct investigations Investigation Committee concluded that the motive for the killing was not related to the activities of Wadan Yards. Tom Eynertsen, a former top manager of Wadan Yards, told investigators on the case of Burlakov that Igor Yusufov also was the owner of the company except him, who "presided [at a number of meetings] as the primary owner."

"Vek". 28/11/2013

 

In mid-September 2010 Yusufov senior on the phone offered Andrey Borodin, President and co-owner of the Bank of Moscow, to meet. The call didn't surprise Borodin, because he met Yusufov a few years earlier, when the officer inquired whether the bank has assets for sale. According to Borodin, Yusufov insisted that Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov was about to withdraw, and the bank would be sold. He himself was ready to become a "buyer and a broker of private shareholders packages." The largest private shareholders were very Borodin and deputy chairman of the board of directors of the bank Lev Alaluev. Directly they owned about 20%, still about 6.4% had two companies, the beneficiaries of which were considered Borodin and Alaluev. Numerous physical persons owned approximately 3%. Borodin wasn't going to sell anything, and the conversation did not happen.

Borodin said that pressure was exerted on him by FTB also: "Persuasions and affections gave way to threats." And from the very beginning of the negotiations Yusufov participated in them. According to Yusufov himself, when it became known that FTB will buy only the city pack first, he came to the bank chairman Andrei Kostin, whom he knew from the 1990s, and "advised his son to friendly shareholders for the purchase of the minority package." According to Borodin Yusufov convinced him that he was acting in the interest of President Medvedev, Kostin and his own. "I did not do anything in the interests of Medvedev - now says Yusufov older. - I was just helping Vitaly." Medvedev press secretary does not consider it possible to comment on the reasoning of man, who is suspected of embezzlement in the BoM.

... As a result, Borodin was squeezed. "The bank was already practically not mine" - he sighs. According to him, Yusuf Jr. joined the negotiations in February 2011. He bought out the stake of Alaluev and Borodin on the loan of the Bank of Moscow. Formally, the credit was issued to Nordic Yards on bail of shares of this company, "Kuzbassrazrezuglya" and other securities. The day before the transition of the city package of Moscow Bank to FTB, 21 February 2010, the credit to shipyards at $ 1.13 billion was approved. Yusufov received money March 10 and soon completed a deal with Borodin. He and Alaluev received for their shares of $ 800 million. 25 March 2010, Borodin flew to London, where he is still; - he received a political asylum in the UK.

By July 2011, FTB agreed to consolidate more than 75% stake of the Bank of Moscow to get 295 billion rubles on its reorganization from the Deposit Insurance Agency. Vitaly Yusufov also sold his stake. How much has he earned in the transaction? Kostin said that "no one [of the minority shareholders, who sold their packages to FTB] earn money on these stocks." FTB and Yusufov didn't call the transaction amount. Borodin, referring to a competent person, admits that the mediation Yusufov earned $ 300 million.

"Ruspres". 27/11/2013

Fighting in the capital's restaurant "Courchevel" between the former FSS officer Andrei Murzikov and State Duma deputy Denis Voronenkov of domestic conflict turns into shootouts. Anne Etkina, a partner of deputy director of the Financial Leasing Company (FLC) Andrei Burlakov, shot September 29, 2011 in Moscow restaurant "Hutorok", identified murder organizers in the fighters. Etkina herself then also was seriously wounded by a killer.  Etkina wrote about her suspicions against Murzikov and Voronenkov in an appeal to the General Prosecutor Yuri Chaika and Israeli special services.

... Murder of Burlakov took place on September 29, 2011 in the capital's restaurant "Hutorok". The businessman arrived there with a partner Anna Etkina at a meeting with the journalist Maxim Gladkiy. During the conversation, a man of medium height came up to their table and shot Burlakov and Etkina from a pistol with a silencer. Immediately after that, the killer ran out into the street and disappeared. Businessman died on the spot, and Etkina survived, although she was injured in the face and chest.

Investigation is still dealing with the reasons of the attempt on Burlakov and Etkina. According to one version, it could be due to the scandal with the German shipyards Wadan Yards. Several years ago, businessmen suspected of fraud on three billion rubles, allocated for the modernization of the Russian aircraft industry. As the investigation suggested, the money they spent on the purchase of assets of Wadan Yards.

Subsequently Burlakov relatives claimed that the former president's special representative on energy cooperation Igor Yusufov could stand behind the murder. For a month before the murder, Burlakov tried to initiate a criminal case against the son of Igor Yusufov - Vitaly, and to achieve the arrest of shares of Bank of Moscow, that Vitaly owns. Burlakov and Etkina argued that the Yusufovs allegedly took part in the raider attacks of shipyards Wadan Yards.

Izvestiya, 9/12/2013

 

Yusufov Family is a model of modern business, associated with the high patronage, opaque schemes, rollbacks and outright criminality. The most notoriety has Igor Yusufov - former Minister of Energy, distinguished himself as in a public service, as in commercial enterprises. Moreover, the more lost the state, the more grew the financial condition of the authoritative Dagestan clan. But at the same time, no one has ever dared to go against him, knowing that the president Dmitry Medvedev himself protects it, with which the head of the family has a long-standing and very specific relationship.

Pavel Borodin, the former co-owner of the Bank of Moscow, hiding in London, told about the nature of these relations in his time. He says that the same Yusufov forced him to sell the shares at a lower price, instead of guaranteeing the inviolability of the banker and the opportunity to leave the country. Later, the state Bank "FTB", which has become the final owner of the securities, paid for them at $ 300 million more and in one of the interview Borodin said that Yusufov required the sale of shares to him at a substantial discount in the interest of "a young man", by which was meant Dmitry Medvedev....

Now on the Russian business sky lit up another star: Lev Yusufov, brother of Igor, declared his readiness to extract oil on the Caspian shelf. As the head of the State oil company of the Republic of Dagestan (SOCRD) he promises for several years to produce 6-7 million tons of oil and 7.5 billion cubic meters of gas...

Now Yusufov is also engaged in oil projects - Nefte Petroleum Limited controlled by him, together with NOVATEK is going to develop Yarudeyskoye oil field in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District (YaNAO). Its reserves are estimated at 47 million tons. NOVATEK owns the license, he owns 51% of the project, and another 49% belong to Nefte Petroleum. At the end of last year "Sberbank CIB» estimated investments in the project in 2014 at about $ 720 million. But recently Novatek filed a lawsuit, demanding to eliminate Nefte Petroleum Limited of the joint venture, alleging that the company of former Minister ceased to finance the project and prevented the other shareholders to raise funds.

"Ruspres". 12/11/2014

 

In contrast to Spiegel, the former Russian Energy Minister Igor Yusufov prefers not to respond to the scandalous revelations. Once more there was a scandal in 2002, coupled with an attempt of Yusufov to appoint a beloved employee as his deputy, officer silently obeyed instructions, received from above, to share sex and service. Yusufov ignored incriminating publication, as well as numerous allegations of corruption and nepotism, but because of it he remained a minister for two more years. Then he was appointed as the special representative of President Medvedev on energy cooperation, and now heads the "Energy" Fund, through which many responsible investment in oil and gas industry pass. In particular, subject of the interests of retired civil servant is a State Oil and Gas Company of Dagestan, which, with the support of the head of the republic Ramzan Abdulatipov, is headed by his brother - Lev Yusufov. The younger generation of the family in the person of the legal son of the former Minister Vitaly Yusufov with the support of the senior expands business abroad - in Europe and Brazil. Yusufov Jr., who became president of the company Nordic Yards, left quite a bit before joining the club of billionaires.

"Ruspres". 24/12/2014

 

Former Energy Minister Igor Yusufov - about the development of his oil and gas projects, the price of oil and the conflict with the "Novatek"

- Your brother Lev Yusufov led the state oil company of the Republic of Dagestan, which is going to work on the Caspian shelf - Are you related to it?

- I first learned about this project from mass media.

And these initiatives are irrelevant to me.

 

Assets of Igor Yusufov

 

Yarudeyskoye deposit («YARGEO"). Share of the structure of the fund "Energy" - 49%. Start of production - 2015. From 2016 production should reach 3.5 million tons per year. Investments in the 2014-2016 biennium - $ 1.5 billion, recoverable reserves on the category C1 + C2 - 46 million tons (data of "Novatek"). 15 sites in Western and Eastern Siberia reserves of these areas by C3 category in the KMAA are estimated at 19 million tons of crude oil, in the Tomsk region - 21 million tons of oil. Reserves at sites in the Krasnoyarsk region on the category D1 + D2 - in 180 million tons of oil and 540 billion cubic meters of gas, in Yakutia - in 2 million tons of oil and 114 billion cubic meters of gas (hereinafter - fund data). Karasevskoye and South-Tanlovskoe deposit (the "Yamal" project) Inventories (C1 + C2) - 21.8 million tons of oil and 21.5 billion cubic meters of gas. Start of production - the end of 2016, the expected volume - 3 million tons of oil and 1 billion cubic meters of gas per year. Investment - $ 900 million. Hotogo-Murbayskoe deposit (Yakutia) Inventories (C1 + C2) to 10 billion cubic meters of gas and 58 million cubic meters of helium.

Vedomosti, 02.02.2015

 

Internet resource Rumafia.com continues publishing materials of criminal case on activities of Aslan Gagiev group, which accounts dozens of murders. In this article we present interrogation report of Norwegian citizen Tom Eynertsen, who was a top-manager of an “Aker Yards ASA” company. This company sold two shipyards to public corporation “FLC” – a state – owned enterprise. Deputy Director of “FLC” Andrey Burlakov attracted to the deal a president’s special representative of international energy cooperation and a member of a director council of “Gazprom” Igor Yusufov and his son Vitaliy. Then a conflict occurs between Yusufov and Burlakov, in which the last one was murdered. Members of Gagiev criminal group committed a crime. During the interrogation Yusufov himself categorically denied any implication to the deal with shipyards and criminal events, related to it. However, Tom Eynertsen, interrogated at the request of Russian investigators in Oslo, denied such testimony of Yusufov. From his words, the once president’s special representative was one of the main protagonists in the deal.

"Rumafia.com". 09/02/2016

 

Businessman Vitaly Yusufov sold his German shipyards Nordic Yards, because he cannot load them with Russian orders. First, relations were not enough, and then the devaluation prevented, according to expert

In early March, one of the Malaysian company Genting Group announced that it is buying the German shipyard Nordic Yards for € 230.6 million. Since 2009, a Russian businessman Vitaly Yusufov called himself the owner of the shipyards, son of the former president's special representative for international energy cooperation Igor Yusufov. RBC tried to understand how profitable this investment for Yusufov was.

Former colleague of Burlakov on FLC Anna Etkina in an interview with Forbes explained everything easier: Burlakov wanted to buy shipyards, but he did not have enough money, and he decided to involve Igor Yusufov. So the partnership developed. However, it did not work out: FLC was in default because of the crisis, a criminal case was brought on Burlakov, he became an undesirable partner, and conflict occurred between shipyards owners. It ended with bankruptcy for shipyards and selling at auction. Burlakov was arrested, then released on bail and later, in 2011, was shot and killed.

"RBC". 03/10/2016