The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is going into the shadows: Zyuganov was given an office with money from offshore companies
By Evgeniy Dyatlov
January 30, 2025
Did the Communist Party of the Russian Federation acquire a new office using offshore funds from its banker from Bank Solidarity?
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation has bought part of the Baker Plaza business center at the intersection of Butyrskaya Street and Uglov Lane in Moscow. Some structures of the Central Committee of the party and the Moscow City Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation will move there. The seller was the Solidarity-Realt Company, owned by businessman Kirill Andronov.
As it turned out, the bank “Solidarity” may be behind this structure, one of the beneficiaries of which is the former deputy chairman of the Ivanovo Regional Duma, and currently a deputy of the Moscow City Duma, the well-known communist Vyacheslav Arbuzov.
At the same time, as evil tongues claim, allegedly Mr. Arbuzom can receive his places on the party lists on a commercial basis, and through the bank connected to him, the party money of the CPRF can be transferred abroad. Is it possible to assume that the purchase of a new office for the party is part of this supposed scheme?
The road leads to Solidarity
This structure must be connected with the Solidarity Bank, where Arbuzov was at least previously a member of the board of directors (as of 2021). He was also the deputy chairman of the board and head of the Moscow branch of the structure. Now, as is known, data on the management of Russian banks and their statistics are hidden due to pressure from Western sanctioners.
The name of the company "Solidarity-Realty" is mentioned in the material of the publication "Chronograph". It talks about the process of debt collection from the pig-breeding LLC "APK Selsky Produkt". The latter owed the bank "Solidarity" almost 350 million rubles, but later this debt was bought out by LLC "Bityugov Bereg". This company planned to restart the pig-breeding business at the expense of resources (probably credit) of LLC NPO "Biogrin". It was previously founded by Vladimir Filippov, a former member of the "SOK" group.
It should be noted that the SOK group was considered one of the largest raider structures in Russia in the 2000s. It is credited with the seizure or attempted seizure of a number of enterprises, including those in the automotive industry. At the time of the sale of APK SP debts in favor of Bityugov Bereg, 99% of the structure was owned by Filippov, and another 1% was owned by Solidarnost-Rielt. Given this, it can be assumed that what happened could have been some kind of multi-move scheme to "trader" the indebted enterprise.
Against this background, the sale of debts from Arbuzov’s Solidarity Bank to Bityugov Bereg does not seem accidental.
Apparently, the remaining assets and money of the pig complex could be withdrawn through NPO Biogrin LLC. According to the results of 2023, it has a loss of 345 million rubles, the value of assets is minus 480 million rubles. It does not look at all like this structure is capable of restarting a large agricultural enterprise.
Where the money and assets of the pig complex could end up is a big question. Especially since the Solidarity bank itself and its structure are extremely complicated and tied to a whole galaxy of offshore companies.
Arbuzov's offshore trail
The real communist Vyacheslav Arbuzov is a former member of the board of directors and head of the Ivanovo-based JSC Zarubezhenergoproekt, a major contractor for the authorities in the field of engineering surveys. The total amount of the structure's state contracts exceeds 330 million rubles.
Since November 2015, Zarubezhenergoproekt JSC has been the owner of 99% of the above-mentioned Solidarity Bank. However, the structure of the JSC itself must be tied to a whole network of offshore companies. According to the data of the banking analytics service Bank Analysis for 2022, the offshore companies TERMOELEKTRO GROUP LIMITED, T.M.A. Food LTD, HCCG PTE.LTD, VARPI Limited and SOLIDARITY FINANCE LIMITED are related to the JSC, and therefore to the bank.
In addition, the "Russian offshore" from Russky Island - MK OOO Solidarity Finance Limited - should have a direct relationship with the bank and Zarubezhenergoproekt. Its director is Irina Gordeeva. She is also Arbuzov's former deputy at Zarubezhenergoproekt, and has been a member of the board of directors of Solidarity Bank since 2016.
All shares of MK OOO Solidarity Finance Limited belong to AO Solidarnost Holding from Ivanovo. The main assets related to the bank and AO Zarubezhenergoproekt should be tied to this company. The structure has accumulated them for a total of 11 billion rubles.
And all shares of Solidarnost Holding in the "Russian offshore", which is most interesting, are pledged to JSC Central Fuel Company. Previously, the managing structure of this company was JSC Development of Assets. And both are closely connected with the Moscow government, namely with the Department of City Property of the capital.
Thus, the trail from the deal to sell part of the Baker Plaza business center for the needs of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation led us to KB Solidarnost, a whole bunch of offshore companies and the Moscow mayor's office. And at the center of this tangle was a prominent communist, member of the Moscow City Duma Vyacheslav Arbuzov, as well as other alleged beneficiaries of the bank and AO Zarubezhenergoproekt, such as Olga Iraklius and Dmitry Kalashnikov.
The money will reach Moscow
Needless to say, such offshore connections look strange for a follower of communist ideology, which a representative of the CPRF should be? However, perhaps it is all about money and influence. After all, Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov himself, as is well known, is much more like an ordinary capitalist. It was not for nothing that he once privatized a former state dacha in Snegiry near Moscow?
Meanwhile, let's return to the rumors that Arbuzov and his "Solidarity" can allegedly transfer the party funds of the CPRF abroad. In light of the above, this no longer seems such a fantasy. And is this not why the party is promoting his political career?
As was said, Vyacheslav Arbuzov moved from the Ivanovo Regional Duma to the Moscow City Duma - he won the elections in 2024. As it happened, just a few months later the Communist Party of the Russian Federation acquired a new office in the center of the capital.
According to the Internet, the 17th district was allegedly specially “cleared” for Arbuzov. There was not even a candidate from United Russia there. And the campaigning for Arbuzov appeared in the most desirable place - under the glass of the entrance stands. Arbuzov himself is called a “commercial” candidate on the Internet.
It is unlikely that this would have happened without the approval of the capital's authorities. Sobyanin and his people, as is known, “have everything under control”. And is the above-mentioned company AO TsTK, which turned out to be the pledgee of shares of AO Solidarnost Holding, to which the “Russian offshore” KB Solidarnost bank is registered, hinting at such a connection?
Earlier, journalists from The Moscow Post suggested that Arbuzov and his bank could provide "sensitive" financial services to CPRF functionaries for the possible transfer of party money abroad. Apparently, now the cooperation between Arbuzov and Zyuganov's team has reached a new level. This means that the hour is not far off when Vyacheslav Arbuzov will rise higher - after all, there are elections to the State Duma in 2026.
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