As VChK-OGPU and Ructiminal.info discovered, Nikolai Shikhidi and Sofia Toros, Krasnodar entrepreneurs and relatives who are fighting in court over 18 plots of land seized from the Ministry of Defense in Lefortovo, are connected not only to businessman Alexander Chistyakov (husband of singer Glukoza) but also to billionaire Ivan Savvidi, owner of the Agrokom group. Local officials previously helped Shikhidi-Toros develop their business in their region—their friends worked in the Gelendzhik mayor's office, local offices of the Federal Tax Service, and the Treasury. Now the Shikhidis live in luxury, vacationing in Switzerland, buying luxury clothing and accessories, and enjoying life. And why not? Luck continues to favor them. At the end of June, the court lifted the seizure of the Moscow land, so now the Shikhidis (and those behind them) can safely launch the construction project. This means that the Ministry of Defense and the state are unlikely to be able to return the seized land.

Nikolai Shikhidi's mother, 76-year-old Sofia Toros (formerly Sofia Shikhidi), was the head of the Gelendzhik branch of the Federal Treasury Department of the Krasnodar Territory until 2012, when, as is well known, she went into business. At that time, Nikolai Shikhidi, as an individual entrepreneur, was driving private taxis—a traditional taxi business in resort towns. Both men went into construction and proved remarkably successful: they built high-rise buildings illegally on the golden resort lands, and then went to court to have the authorities recognize the construction as legal. Considering the presence of hundreds of equity holders, the buildings already built, and some other arguments, the courts were accommodating.

 

The entrepreneurs' first useful connections were apparently made by Georgy Shikhidi Sr.: until 2009, he was the director of the Edelweiss health resort (owned by the All-Russian Society of Disabled People), where he developed friendly relationships with numerous colleagues and guests. Furthermore, in the early 2000s, Shikhidi Sr. owned a fish canning company, FOB, which apparently received its supplies from the local Parizhskaya Kommuna Fishing Collective Farm, as well as the Dynamo-Gelendzhik Sports Hunting Club LLC. Georgy Shikhidi's business partner in the hunting farm from 2003 to 2016 was Viktor Khrestin, the mayor of Gelendzhik from 2008 to 2018. His share was then transferred to his brother, Anatoly Khrestin.

 

Interestingly, Anatoly Khrestin is also a founder of the FC Spartak-Gelendzhik Association, along with relatives of Shikhidi's other business partners: Aflaton Solakhov, the father of Pantelei and Ilya Solakhov; Pavel Ozerov, the son of Sergei Ozerov, the former mayor of Gelendzhik and former State Duma deputy; Ervand Egiazaryan, a relative of Mari Egiazaryan, the founder of the developers CIK and Gelenstroy, who, together with Dmitry Parfentyev, owned Lara LLC; Fotiy Eksizov, an honorary citizen of Gelendzhik, former director of the Gelendzhik factory of the Krasnodar Krayobuvbyt association, and former co-owner of Fos Shipping Management LLC, which leased the central passenger pier in Gelendzhik and organizes boat tours. Air tickets for the Solakhov family were purchased using Eksizov's email address.

 

Aflaton Solahov's son, Pantelei Solahov, co-owns SZ Aurora LLC, SZ Aurora-2, SZ Aurora-3, and SZ Aurora-4 with Nikolai Shikhidi. He is the former head of the desk audit department at the Federal Tax Service Inspectorate for Gelendzhik and a board member and vice president of the Federal National and Cultural Autonomy of Greeks in Russia. Incidentally, the daughter of another friend of Shikhidi's, Konstantin Feodosiadi, also worked at the Federal Tax Service; according to leaked data, he flew with him to Moscow. Maria headed the debt collection department at the same tax service in 2014.

 

The head of the autonomous region for Greeks in Russia and Solahov's boss is billionaire Ivan Savvidi ($1.7 billion according to Forbes), owner of a large business empire headed by the Agrokom Group, owner of numerous assets in Greece, former owner of Donskoy Tabak, and former State Duma deputy for United Russia. Savvidi, who was labeled a bandit oligarch after his atrocious act at a football match, attempting to snatch a pistol, remains an influential figure in both Russia and Greece, where, among other things, he owns the port of Thessaloniki.

 

To be continued