The Prosecutor General’s Office takes away 8 hectares in Barvikha

The Prosecutor General’s Office demands the seizure of 13 land plots in the village of Barvikha and the village of Zhukovka, which were used by the Barvikha sanatorium and were, according to the supervisory agency, illegally privatized in the early 2000s. RBC got acquainted with the essence of the claim filed by the department at the end of January 2024 in the Odintsovo court of the Moscow region. Its contents were confirmed by a source familiar with the details of the case. The lawsuit of Deputy Prosecutor General Igor Tkachev was sent to the Odintsovo City Court on January 22 of this year. Two days later it was accepted for production, the statement says. civil case card . The lawsuit was filed “in order to eliminate the negative consequences of the defendants’ unlawful seizure and use of recreational lands in violation of the law.” The plaintiff defends an indefinite number of persons and interests of Russia (*aggressor country).

On March 12, the court began hearings – then TASS reported that the prosecutor’s office was demanding the return to the state of about 100 hectares of privatized land that previously belonged to the Barvikha sanatorium. However, from the claim, which RBC has read, it follows that we are talking about 13 specific land plots comprising 99 hectares of land assigned to the Barvikha clinical sanatorium, which has been under the jurisdiction of the Presidential Administration since 1994. The total area of ​​the disputed lands that appear in the lawsuit is, according to Rosreestr, 8.02 hectares.

What is the sanatorium “Barvikha”

The construction of the Barvikha sanatorium for the Kremlin’s medical and sanitary administration was carried out from 1930 to 1935 according to the design of the architect Boris Iofan; a plot with a total area of ​​over 300 hectares was allocated for its construction. The estate of Baroness Meyendorff at the end of the 19th century with all its buildings also went to him. During the war, a hospital operated on the territory of the sanatorium; in 1944, it was transferred back to the Kremlin’s medical department. In 1992–1994, the sanatorium was transferred to the medical center of the Presidential Administration. Three years later, he was assigned a perpetual right to 316 hectares in Zhukovka for use for recreational purposes.

Which lands are the subject of dispute?

According to the version of the Prosecutor General’s Office, set out in the statement of claim, in the early 2000s, 99 hectares of the Barvikha territory were illegally seized from state property by the presidential administration and institutions under his control. The forest plot was taken out of federal ownership, transferred to a private investor and designated for individual residential development, “covering these actions” with the need to implement an investment project – the reconstruction of the Meyendorf estate. The Country-Pro company was chosen as an investor, which, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, that moment belonged to Oleg Yushkin and Ekaterina Bakleneva. This company, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office, received ownership of part of the sanatorium’s lands in exchange for the reconstruction of the Meyendorff estate and landscaping of the castle grounds (landscape work was envisaged, cleaning of the pond, demolition of the old water tower, construction of a chapel, redecoration of the chambers and replacement of elevators in the main building of the sanatorium ” Barvikha”). The corresponding agreement was signed in 2001 between the company, the clinical sanatorium “Barvikha” and the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Rublevo-Uspensky LOC”, to which “Country-Pro” was subsequently to transfer ownership of 7 hectares.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the authorities of the Moscow region were also misled about the project and allowed the transfer of state lands to the investor. The decree on the transfer of 99 hectares of land of the Barvikha sanatorium into the ownership of Country-Pro for individual housing construction was signed in August 2001 by the then governor of the Moscow region Boris Gromov. According to the prosecution, regional authorities did not have the authority to dispose of land plots. And Country-Pro received the lands themselves at a reduced price. It follows from the claim that Country-Pro paid 54.4 million rubles for them, although their market value at that time was estimated at 13 billion rubles. In addition, no tenders were held to transfer the lands, as required by law, the department claims.

The transfer of land led to the loss of “the potential of the medical and recreational territory” and a reduction in the property complex of the sanatorium, the Prosecutor General’s Office insists. As a result of the actions of participants in the investment project, state land was illegally alienated into private ownership. At the same time, the purpose of the sites “in fact still remained recreational.”

Elite appeared in Zhukovka cottage village “Meiendorf Gardens”. Now it contains about 360 objects, the area of ​​each of which ranges from 500 to 50 thousand square meters. m. For their construction, plots ranging from 3 to 50 hectares were divided. The cost of many cottages and land plots is not disclosed here due to closed sales, as follows from the information on the websites of consulting companies and brokers. On average, the price for a cottage here starts from $10 million (925 million rubles at the current exchange rate), according to the Slavyansky Dvor agency. Some lots are estimated at $30–35 million (RUB 2.7–3.2 billion), according to the NF Group website.

In 2007, the property manager, with the goal of “false appearance of protecting the state,” appealed to the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region for the return of 11.5 hectares, it follows from the statement of claim. The claim from the Barvikha sanatorium and the property manager against Country-Pro was accepted for consideration by the court. However, the plaintiffs subsequently abandoned the claim – the dispute was settled, during which 2.5 hectares were given to the sanatorium, the Prosecutor General’s Office indicates.

After this, Country-Pro, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office, began “dividing the land” with the goal of subsequent sale for the construction of houses. The company itself ceased to function in 2009; Irina Kalgina acted as liquidator. She is also a co-owner of the Meiendorf Gardens company, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. This company, according to Rosreestr, owned a number of plots on the former territories of the sanatorium under easement rights.

Who is the lawsuit filed against?

The defendants in the claim of the Prosecutor General’s Office are the owners of 13 plots formed from the lands transferred to Country-Pro. This is the international commercial company Kensway Limited, registered in the state of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as six individuals: the ex-owner of Uralchem Dmitry MazepinChairman of the Supervisory Board of Sistema Bank Alexey Bogachev, wife of restaurateur Arkady Novikov Nadezhda Advokatova, mother co-founder of Mercury Zoya Strunina, Ekaterina Janashia (the plot was bought by her husband, a developer Mikhail Khubutia) and businessman Valery Goldyshev. The plots were acquired by them in 2013–2022. The third parties in the claim are the Administration of the President, the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Clinical Sanatorium “Barvikha”, the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Hotel Complex “President-Hotel” UDP, the government of the Moscow region, the Ministry of Property Relations of the Moscow region, the administration of Odintsovo city ​​district, Federal Agency for State Property Management, Office of the Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography of the Moscow Region.

Also named as third parties in the lawsuit are eight commercial companies, including four foreign ones, and 11 individuals, including those who previously owned the disputed plots and then sold them. Among them are businessmen Dmitry Smychkovsky And Sergey Govyadin.

Smychkovsky in Russia (*aggressor country) is accused of giving a bribe of $1 million to officers of the Investigative Committee, including the former head of the Main Investigation Department for Moscow Alexander Drymanov, for the release from the pre-trial detention center of criminal authority Andrei Kochuykov (known by the nickname Italian). Britain in 2019 refused to extradite him at Moscow’s request.

Who else is involved?

The company Labini Investments Limited is indicated as a third party in the case materials. She previously, according to SPARK, acted as a co-owner of structures associated with Alexei Bogachev. It was this company, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office, that sold the plot to the businessman. Structures associated with him once bought about 3.5 hectares in Zhukovka from a former State Duma deputy Ildara Samieva, wrote Kommersant. He is now declared bankrupt. The businessman’s bankruptcy trustee tried to challenge the deal to sell this plot several years ago. The ex-deputy himself was not involved in the case of alienation of the sanatorium’s lands, but Rosa and Rafik Samiev, the Cypriot Trofense Holding Limited and businessman Sergei Govyadin, who, according to the manager, participated in the sale of the plots, are listed as third parties.

Also involved as third parties were the companies Megapolis AG and Polarus Estate, the main beneficiary of which, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, is Evgenia Guryeva. She was previously a co-owner of the Guryev Foundation, co-founded by Andrey Guryev – co-owner of the fertilizer manufacturer PhosAgro. Megapolis AG, according to information from the Prosecutor General’s Office, sold the plot to Advokatova.

What does the Prosecutor General’s Office seek?

The statement of claim of the Prosecutor General’s Office was written based on the results of a prosecutor’s audit of the legality of the use of specially protected areas (when it was carried out is not specified). From the contents of the claim it follows that the audit revealed facts of illegal “disposal from the possession of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country) of highly liquid land plots intended for sanatorium and other medical and health activities.” Officials of the Presidential Administration and institutions subordinate to it “acted clearly contrary to the public interests of the state and society, in fact, in favor of the defendants in the case, thus, they could not express the actual will of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country),” the lawsuit says. The dishonest behavior of the defendants continues to this day, since the implementation of rights to land plots and their development have not been completed.

The Deputy Prosecutor General asks to “reclaim 13 plots from the illegal possession” of the defendants in favor of the state. The area of ​​individual plots ranges from 30 acres to 2 hectares. For example, the prosecutor’s office demands the confiscation of a plot of 1.35 hectares from Dmitry Mazepin, about 1.4 hectares from Bogachev, and two plots of 2.1 hectares and 8.3 acres from businessman Gordyshev. The prosecutor’s office is asking Ekaterina Dzhanashia to reclaim three plots of land – two of 30 acres and one of 37 acres.

The Deputy Prosecutor General also petitioned for the imposition of interim measures on land plots – this is the seizure, a ban on registration actions, a ban on issuing permits for construction, reconstruction and operation of buildings and structures, etc. On January 24, the Odintsovo City Court partially satisfied the plaintiff’s demands – in particular, it prohibited the Rosreestr office for the Moscow Region from carrying out state cadastral registration, state registration of rights, and also making changes to the information of the Unified State Register of Real Estate in relation to the disputed plots. The court prohibited the defendants from, among other things, constructing and reconstructing real estate on these sites.

What land owners say

Developer Mikhail Khubutia in conversation with RBC called the lawsuit for the nationalization of land in Barvikha lawlessness. He claims his family pays taxes on the property, but “they want to take it away for a commercial project.” Khubutia said that he broke up with Ekaterina Janashia, but maintained good relations. “We remained on good terms and planned to re-register the land to build a medical spa hotel. However, the Presidential Administration decided to develop a development project on this site. There are old houses there that are for rent, there are new houses there, and a large hotel is under construction,” said Khubutia. The objections to the claim of the Prosecutor General’s Office from one of the third parties indicate that the plaintiff’s arguments are erroneous and contradict the circumstances of the case. The legality of the transaction is confirmed, in particular, by the decree of Governor Gromov, signed in 2001, on the refusal of the sanatorium from a plot of 99 hectares and documents confirming this decision, signed by the administrative bodies of the Odintsovo district, noted in the objections (RBC has read the materials). According to the same resolution, the Ministry of Property Relations of the Moscow Region signed a purchase and sale agreement for this plot with Country-Pro LLC.

The objections to the claim also draw attention to the fact that at that time the decisions of the administrative bodies of the Odintsovo district and the authorities of the Moscow region complied with the requirements of the current legislation. And the goal of the investment agreement – the reconstruction of Meyendorff Castle and the territories of the multifunctional complex of the Presidential Administration for holding international meetings and negotiations – was achieved. Meyendorff Castle and its territory have the status of the state residence of the President of Russia (*aggressor country).

Meyendorff Castle

The materials of one of the third parties also indicate that the property manager and the Barvikha sanatorium did not lose their assets: “the disposal of land plots was proportionately compensated by the improvement of the remaining territory and the creation of the Barvikha state residence on the basis of the restored Meyendorff castle.” This was an exchange of ineffective property (unused land plots) for another (the Barvikha state residence), the document notes: the land buyers, under an agreement, freed the territory of Meyendorff Castle from workshops, garages and private gardens; They made a fence around the perimeter of the estate, landscaped the territory of the park of the Barvikha sanatorium, reclaimed the landfill, repaired the bridge, carried out sanitary cleaning of the forest and removed forest debris. They also built a chapel and fenced off a war memorial.