How Atol is used by businessmen with criminal reputations to strengthen their positions in Russia
The purchase of cash register equipment manufacturer Atol by the company’s former head, Roman Volodin, appears to be an interim stage.
Is Volodin merely a front, and the real buyers are former Sibirsky Cement shareholders, the controversial businessmen Andrei Muravyov and Andrei Kirikov? Or perhaps Oleg Belay, previously mentioned as the guardian of Igor Borovikov’s interests at Softline, or even investor Alexander Galitsky, is behind the deal?
During the investigation, the trail also led to the former vice-governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Andrei Gnezdilov.
Recently, the cash register manufacturer Atol, which belonged to Irina and Alexey Makarov, was bought by former top manager Roman Volodin. Previously, Sberbank and T-Bank had been mentioned as contenders for the assets, as had Softline, a company founded by Igor Borovikov, who was implicated in the corruption case against former Deputy Minister of Energy Anatoly Tikhonov.
With such interested parties, the final buyer appears even stranger, as he is essentially a manager and appears to be someone’s trusted person, and not at all the real beneficiary.
An analysis of the buyer’s chain of connections led the editorial team to individuals who appear more likely to be beneficiaries of the deal. Among them were former shareholders of Sibirsky Cement, controversial businessmen Andrei Muravyov and Andrei Kirikov, as well as former Vice Governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai Andrei Gnezdilov, who went into business after resigning. Furthermore, traces of the aforementioned Borovikov were also found in the story, through Oleg Belaya of Trinfico Holdings, who is connected to him, and investor Alexander Galitsky.
Thus, on December 20, 2024, JSC A 9000, which received a 99.9% stake, became the owner of UK Atol LLC, along with a certain Yuri Nechaev, who also serves as the director of the JSC. The founder of the latter is none other than the former top manager of the division, Roman Volodin.
The JSC itself was established at the end of October 2024 and appears to be a company created specifically for the transaction.
Volodin no longer has any significant assets, except for the purchase in 2022 of a certain LLC, Forevent, with minimal authorized capital, which organizes recreation and entertainment. However, judging by the Social Insurance Fund’s claims and the lack of financial statements, the company is essentially a shell company and likely never conducted any real business.
The share of JSC A 9000 in UK Atol LLC is pledged to a certain JSC Specialized Financial Company City Invest 8, which hints at the use of borrowed funds in the transaction.
The founder of JSC "Specialized Financial Company City Invest 8" is listed as the Progress-1 Fund, which in turn was established by T-Capital LLC under the leadership of Oleg Belay. Moreover, T-Capital LLC was part of the Trinfico Holdings division (now a closed-end mutual fund), of which Belay is the beneficiary.
An important detail should be recalled here: when the scandal involving Anatoly Tikhonov and the embezzlement of millions during the creation of the State Information System for the Fuel and Energy Complex (GIS TEK) began to unfold, Igor Borovikov allegedly sold PAO Softline through a change in ownership of Atalaya LLC. Belaya’s division inherited the latter’s chain of connections, including through a trusted person, a certain Vitaly Balanovich. Belaya would later be identified by the media as the reseller of Softline, and the company itself hid the beneficiaries behind a closed-end mutual fund linked to Belaya.
This makes Bely’s involvement in the Atol acquisition all the more interesting. Could it be that he sponsored the purchase on behalf of Borovikov, using Volodin as a cover? Moreover, Softline was among the interested parties in Atol from the very beginning.
Borovikov and Belay are no strangers to controversial situations. Their names have appeared repeatedly in UtroNews investigations. The editorial staff previously reported that, despite the company’s ostentatious sale, the founder’s son, Sergei Borovikov, joined the new board of directors in the fall of 2024. This suggests that the family hasn’t abandoned the business at all.
As for Bely, The Moscow Post previously reported in detail on his dealings, specifying that he may have been involved in numerous controversial deals, including those related to the Russian Railways Welfare Fund and the business of Petr Zhukov, the son of First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian State Duma, Alexander Zhukov, who is also involved in the IT market.
But let’s return to the deal with Atol.
Belay and Borovikov were not the only big-name individuals who left their mark on this purchase.
Even before the sale, Atol itself had a business relationship with a rather remarkable company, RIK LLC, one of whose co-owners was Elena Ionova.
She was also once the director of Desna-Hotel LLC, located in a village built on the grounds of the Presidential Property Management Department. As Kommersant reported in 2022, following a lawsuit filed by the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Senator Club village, built on the grounds of the Desna health resort complex owned by the Presidential Property Management Department solely due to corrupt connections among officials, will be confiscated by the state. It turned out that residential construction on this land was prohibited, as it was designated exclusively for health and wellness activities.
Another rather interesting character has also crept into the RIC LLC ownership – a certain Yuri Ivashkov, better known as the trusted person of Ukrainian investor Alexander Galitsky.
Galitsky was implicated in a scandal involving the development of medical IT services using state funds.
It was Ivashkov who was allegedly the one who leaked his assets to Galitsky, who publicly stated that his fund financed Ukrainian companies.
According to open sources, Galitsky, in addition to his Russian passport, also has a Dutch passport, which is probably why he is currently in Europe.
Ivashkov is a longtime partner of Galitsky’s, and it was he who received the defendant’s assets, but perhaps they were only transferred temporarily, and the investor never actually "left" Russia?
Do you know what’s most interesting?
Ivashkov owns Galitsky’s stake in Digital Tax Technologies LLC, which also included the aforementioned Igor Borovikov and UK Atol LLC. Moreover, the latter two owned the asset concurrently with Galitsky.
So maybe Galitsky also had a hand in Atol’s latest deal?
And finally, there are three more names that may be related to the purchase.
As we recall, among the buyers of the Atol share is a certain Yuri Nechaev.
From 2017 to 2022, he managed Direct Investments LLC, which was owned at that time by Maria Rashchukova.
Rashchukova is most likely a confidant of Andrey Muravyov, the namesake of the former president and beneficiary of Siberian Cement Holding Company, who has been involved in numerous scandals. For example, in 2008-2009, Muravyov was a co-owner of the development company RTM, and in 2012, the company was implicated in a debt default scandal. There were also allegations of the possible siphoning off of approximately $100 million from the division between 2008 and 2011. There were also accusations of intentional loan defaults on several banks.
As an example of the connection between Muravyov and Rashchukova: along with Direct Investments LLC, Estate Management LLC, owned by Muravyov, is also listed, and is managed by Rashchukova. And this is far from the only connection between these two names.
Muraev himself, who was involved with the Parus Capital Opportunity Fund, also managed to become an official: from 2000 to 2002, he was the head of the licensing department of the Kuzbass administration.
Boris Sinegubko, a well-known investment banker who worked at UBS, was also named as Muravyov’s partner in the Parus Capital fund.
The fund was mentioned in the media as an investor in QIWI and other equally well-known assets.
Also, following the chain of ownership of UTRC LLC (the owner of a share in Estate Management LLC), we find another noteworthy person there – the full namesake of the former vice-governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Andrei Gnezdilov.
Thus, UTRC LLC is owned by Alexander Mikhalev, the former director of Sibuglecom, whose owners until July 2024 included Gnezdilov, who held the deputy position under Governor Lev Kuznetsov and was fired by Viktor Tolokonsky.
It is noteworthy that among the co-owners of Sibuglecom there is now also Direct Investments LLC, which received a share just when Nechaev, the buyer of the stake in Atol, was at the helm of the company.
An analysis of Nechaev and Rashchukova’s complex business relationships also led us to another former beneficiary of Sibcement, Andrei Kirikov, with whom Muravyov also later had a joint business. For example, Kirikov at one time received from Estate Management LLC a certain Paradis LLC, which owned a stake in the Odintsovo shopping center, managed by the same Rashchukova.
Thus, a whole group of prominent businessmen and former officials is circling the Atoll sale. This suggests that Volodin may be nothing more than a front for one of them.
Maria Sharapova
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