"Plenipotentiary of Foggy Albion": An investigation about a member of the Security Council Igor Komarov

It's dedicated to the investigation of the family of the plenipotentiary of the President of Russia and member of the Security Council Igor Komarov, which, as it turned out, has strong ties with Great Britain.

Igor Komarov, one of the wealthiest and highest-ranking officials in Russia, being the plenipotentiary of the President of Russia in the Volga Federal District and a member of the Security Council, has access to state secrets, journalists say. While members of the Security Council are pondering how to protect Russia from a foreign threat, Komarov's daughter, Maria, lives and does business in the UK, a NATO member country, which our propagandists describe as one of the most unfriendly towards Russia.

The offshore company Wastom Holdings, which was owned by Komarov, owns an elite house in London on Herbert Crescent Street, its cost is 8.3 million pounds - or about 800 million rubles at the current exchange rate.

It is not known whether Igor Komarov or one of his family members now owns Wastom Holdings. The press service of the presidential plenipotentiary in the Volga Federal District, in response to a request from the journalists of Vostochnye Stories, replied that Komarov “previously held executive positions in commercial companies such as Inkombank, Norilsk Nickel, Avtovaz, etc. and was a beneficiary, including of foreign firms, but after moving to the civil service, all of his assets were brought into line with Russian legislation. "

"Important Stories" found out that Komarov's daughter, Maria, studied design at the London University of the Arts, and his son Ivan graduated from Imperial College Business School in the UK.

Maria Komarova had several companies in the capital of Foggy Albion. The name of the first of them - 31 Eaton Place Limited - coincides with the address of a four-story building in Belgravia (an elite district of London), registered to this company of the same name.

According to the UK real estate registry, each floor of the building is leased for 999 years by three shareholders of the company, and Maria Komarova, thus, “rents” the third and fourth floors.

“At the time of purchase, back in 2013, this property was worth 4.2 million pounds sterling or 230 million rubles at the then exchange rate. Maria Komarova was 22 years old in 2013, ”the istories.media portal reports. By the way, in 2013 Komarov was appointed deputy head of Roscosmos.

In addition to real estate, Maria Komarova has her own clothing store in London. In September 2014, she registered Milo Maria Limited, a retail company in the UK. The store's website is currently under reconstruction. Judging by the financial statements , Komarova's trading did not bring large profits. And two more British companies of Maria - Mardim LTD and Run-a-Way.Online.Store Limited - have now been liquidated.

"Important stories" in their investigation remind: they began to prohibit Russian officials and deputies from owning foreign assets back in 2013, when the law "On prohibiting certain categories of persons from opening and having accounts (deposits), keeping cash and valuables in foreign banks was adopted. , own and (or) use foreign financial instruments ”.

The text of the law directly states that it was adopted with the aim of "ensuring the national security of the Russian Federation", "expanding investment in the national economy", "increasing the effectiveness of combating corruption."

The law has been toughened several times: now state and municipal employees, as well as even local deputies, are prohibited from owning foreign businesses, foreign bank accounts, securities, or having citizenship or a residence permit of any country other than Russia.

"The security officials have an unspoken ban on traveling abroad without the sanction of the leadership, and some of them have to rest in the Crimea and Sochi because of access to state secrets," the article says.

The exception is overseas property: it is still possible to own overseas villas and apartments, although there have been attempts to prohibit this too.

But in the federal government there are fewer and fewer officials who directly own foreign real estate. Of the employees of the Presidential Administration and the Government of Russia, foreign real estate in 2020 was declared only by the new Minister of Energy Nikolai Shulginov - he owns a house with an area of 284.2 sq. meters in Spain.

Bans on foreign assets only apply to spouses of officials and their minor children. Children over 18 years of age can obtain citizenship of any country, open accounts in foreign banks and conduct business. Official parents may not disclose their assets: they have no obligation to report on the lives of their children after they come of age.

Roman Anin, the editor-in-chief of Vostochnye Stories, notes that the journalists of the project do not believe that the children of even the most senior officials cannot own houses abroad, even such expensive ones.

“Moreover, we believe that if an official is able to explain the origin of his funds, then he can buy for his children or independently own houses in the UK, Switzerland or any other country. We told this story because it is not about a formal violation of the law. This is a story about the hypocrisy of the Russian authorities. The Russian authorities frighten citizens every day with the intrigues of the West and with paranoid fear are looking for a spy in every scientist who collaborates with colleagues from other countries, they recognize journalists and volunteers who help drug addicts and AIDS patients as foreign agents. high demands on society and you classify everyone as foreign agents, then at least pretend that you yourself follow these laws .

“How did it happen that the top officials of the state send their children to prestigious foreign universities, provide them with apartments, mansions and businesses in the most, as it has now become clear, countries unfriendly to Russia?”, “Important Stories” asks.

You can watch the investigation here .