“Family” business of the collaborator Ilya Ponomaryov in Russia. Mysteries of the Cyprus offshore “Alberg Investments Ltd” and the Moscow firm “Energy Consulting-Management”.
In the last days of August 2022, a group of fugitive Russian citizens declared in the Kiev region about the creation of an armed underground on the territory of Russia. As the place to carry out their “inaugural meeting” they chose a little town Irpen to which Ukrainian Nazis had on the eve awarded the title “Hero-City” and from which western mass media unsuccessfully tried to create a symbol of “atrocities of the Russians”.
At this get-together a one page so-called “Irpen declaration” was adopted. In it, on behalf of some three extremist organizations – “Freedom of Russia Legion”, “Russian Volunteer Corps” and “National Republican Army” – was announced the creation of “the organization of armed resistance” to the Russian authorities. Moreover, in this document was announced the creation of a “Political Center”, the coordination of which “is assigned to Ponomaryov Ilya Vladimirovich”, former deputy of the Russian State Duma from the party “A Just Russia”. The fighters gathered by Ponomaryov are united only by a hatred to historic Russia, as they differ in their political attitudes: the so-called “Freedom of Russia Legion” is composed of radical leftists, in the “Russian Volunteer Corps” downright Neo-Nazis do their Hitler salutes. Unknown until recently, “National Republican Army” allegedly functions only on the territory of Russia, and it has on board “two of every sort”.
Ilya Ponomaryov (on the far right) demonstrates the “Irpen Declaration” on creation of armed underground in Russia. Ponomaryov’s Bandar-logs.
Ten days before the Irpen meeting, in the Moscow region terrorists had killed Darya Dugina, the daughter of a famous Russian philosopher. Almost immediately, Ilya Ponomaryov took responsibility of this high-profile murder, more properly, he pointed out at a completely unknown until that moment “The National Republican Army”, which allegedly functions in underground on the territory of the Russian Federation and very nearly comes under his personal command.
Ilya Ponomaryov, a deputy of the Russian Parliament, robbed the Innovation Center Skolkovo and then, in June 2014, fled to the United States; in 2016 he received Ukrainian citizenship. At the beginning of this year, Ilya Ponomaryov registered a Russian language media outlet “Utro Fevralya” (Morning of February) and found common ground with Alexey Arestovich, Zelensky’s adviser on information war.
From that moment on, this fosterling of Khodorkovsky, on a daily basis, on his pages in social media and in mass media calls to armed overthrow of the constitutional power structure in Russia. “We support civic protests, partisan movement inside Russia, which develops itself (beginning with setting on fire military commissariats and so on)”, said this former Russian deputy in his Telegram channel and continues: “We are not going to depose Putin with the help of foreign hands, but with ours”.
Scans of Ponomaryov’s pages in social media with calls for armed insurrection.
At present, oppositional activity of Ponomaryov, who has declared war against his motherland, is clearly qualified as “organization of armed rebellion”, or, as Article 279 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation puts it, as “active participation in it for the purpose of overthrowing or forcibly changing the constitutional system of the Russian Federation, or of breaching the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation”. This offense against the state is punished by incarceration for a period up to 20 years.
At the beginning of October, Ponomaryov gave an interview to “Novaya Gazeta Europe”, combat leaflet of Russian collaborators, in which he openly declared: “In this war, Bandera would have been my ally”. Such is this follower of Stepan Bandera who stands now under the flag of Ukrainian Nazism and terror. A Bandar-log.
OLIGARCHIC COMMUNIST
According to the acknowledgement of Ponomaryov himself, two persons have especially influenced his life – a representative of the Soviet party nomenclature Boris Nikolayevich Ponomaryov (1905 -1995) and the oligarch Michael Borisovich Khodorkovsky*.
“I am a communist, and I stick to a Marxist position”, said Ilya Ponomaryov in 2012, when he was still a deputy of the Russian State Parliament. “Boris Ponomaryov, a Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, was my related grandfather. My full grandfather supported the movement “Solidarnosc” in Poland, he was a Soviet diplomat and was one of the authors of introducing martial law in Poland in order to prevent a Soviet intervention in this country. That is why he fell out of favor and ran afoul of Boris Ponomaryov”.
In this struggle of the two nomenclature grandfathers little Ilya supported the ideologically adjusted position of his more distant relative – that of Boris Nikolayevich, and, from that moment on, he, allegedly, has always placed ideological considerations over relational.
Ponomaryov and Navalny** – two spiders
And Mikhail Khodorkovsky to whom the 20 years old Ilya was snuggled up, taught the young Ponomaryov to place business interests over kindred. The oligarch saw at once how to benefit from using this offspring of a nomenclature family, and started to push him to top managerial positions. In 1998-2001, Ponomaryov held a position of head of the office of information technologies of the company Yukos. Simultaneously, he was vice-president of the company “Yukos EP” which dealt with the directorate of oil exploration and oil extraction, as well as vice-president of the Yukos affiliate “Sibintek” (Siberian Internet Company). Ponomaryov was as well head of the company “Arrava Internet Management” that was supported by Yukos and registered in the Californian city San Mateo (United States of America).
Copy of the record in Ponamaryov’s employment history booklet regarding his work in the firm “Arrava”
Khodorkovsky had ushered Ponomaryov into oligarchic business, and connections that he had received there helped him to do a trick – abandon the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) and jump to the party “A Just Russia” in order to become a guaranteed place in the party list of deputy candidates.
To assess the level of influential connections of the young nomenclature offspring at the end of the 1990s and beginning of the 2000s, one can take into account only his work in the company “Arrava’. In 2000-2001 the so-called project “Advisers” was being worked out in this firm, and it was headed by Maksud Shadayev, the current Minister of Digital Development.
The agency “Regnum” notes: “Shadayev, before starting his way as civil servant, also worked as head of the project “Advisers” of the CJSC “Arrave Internet Management” (he was then 21 years old, until 2004). This joint stock company, according to the Integrated State Register of Legal Persons (EGRUL), existed from August 2002 to October 2015. Its founders were Ruslan Kryazhev and Pyotr Kvitezh, and Ilya Ponomaryov was general director of it from December 2002. The latter was itemized as co-founder of the Foundation for Support of Free Mass Media, autonomous commercial organization (ANO) “Institute of Siberia”, Foundation for Development of electronic democracy, autonomous commercial organization for the Development of venture entrepreneurship “Foundation of Innovative Entrepreneurship”. All these companies, apart from the first foundation, have been already liquidated. Ponomaryov was as well director of the liquidated, as of today, the CJSC “Aimsystema”.
Then Ponomaryov and Shadayev worked together for some time in the company IBS. It is known from reports of the agency TASS that in the group IBS Ponomaryov supervised projects within the framework of the Federal Special Program (FTsP) “Electronic Russia”. Shadayev left IBS and went to the Ministry of Communications, and Ponomaryov, at that time, became a contractor of the Ministry of Communications. He was also adviser of Viktor Vekselberg, the president of the Foundation “Skolkovo”.
By the way, according to a strange coincidence, Ponomaryov and Shadayev received diplomas of higher education in one and the same non-core institute, which has nothing to do at all with IT-technologies – in the Russian State Social University (RGSU).
In December 2007, Ponomaryov was elected to the State Duma of the 5th calling through the lists of the party “A Just Russia” from Novosibirsk region. In march 2014 he was the sole deputy to vote against the agreement of the reintegration of the Crimea and Sevastopol. In August of the same year, he immigrated. In June 2016 the State Duma terminated his deputy status. In May 2019, on one of the last days of his presidency in Ukraine, Pyort Poroshenko rewarded this assiduous opposition politician with Ukrainian citizenship.
“FAMILY” BUSINESS OF THE COLLABORATOR
Ponomaryov himself told in his Telegram channel about where he gets money for his subversive activity against Russia:
“About money: At present moment, this is, in general, my personal money, from February, from the beginning of the war, I have invested in all this more than a million dollars. I was working, I was doing business”.
Screenshots of the message by Ponomaryov
It turns out that in recent years this avid abhorrer of Russia has safely continued to make business in Russia. Information about this has, from time to time, emerged in Russian business press. For instance, at the beginning of 2019, the newspaper “Kommersant” described a conflict around the firm “Start IT” or “Старт Ай-Ти” (until October 2018 it was called “Spinnakersupport Russia” and acted as an affiliate of the American company “Spinnaker Support”), during which the ears of Ponomaryov’s “family” business became apparent.
“in Russia, the company “Spinnaker Support” (which specializes in outside technical software support of the German company SAP and American company Oracle) had a partner – the IT firm “Energy Consulting” which provided technical support for the oil company “Tatneft” and other clients. According to the agency “Spark-Interfax”, “Spinnakersupport Russia” was registered in March 2017 as a 100% “affiliate” of the company “Investconsulting” belonging to the Cyprus firm “Atberg Investments Ltd” and to Ilya Ponomaryov.
In October 2018, 99,89% in “Spinnakersupport Russia” became the firm “Energy Consulting Management (its beneficiary is Mikhail Ponomaryov), the rest 0.13% is owned by “Investconsulting”, wrote the newspaper “Kommersant”.
According to finance reports, a year ago, on the balance of the company “Investconsulting” was more than 20 million rubles. Ponomaryov owned the firm “Investconsulting” together with the Cyprus offshore company “Atberg Investments”.
The business-card of the OJSC “Investconsulting Ltd”
General director – Ponomaryov Ilya Vladimirovich, (individual taxpayer identification number INN 504401399908)
Founders and participants: company “Atberg Investments Limited”, Cyprus, and Ponomaryov Ilya Vladimirovich
Registered capital: 19 277 600 rubles.
Finances, as of the end of 2021, balance: 20.1 million rubles.
On September 7, the registration authority took a decision concerning the forthcoming exclusion of this legal person from the Integrated State Registry of Legal Persons (EGRUL) because the company had provided unreliable information about its whereabouts.
Apparently, in October 2018, the fugitive former deputy Ilya Vladimirovich Ponomaryov decided to hide his software technical support business and handed over the firm “Spinnakersupport Russia”, renamed as OJSC “Start IT”, to a member of numerous clan of the Ponomaryov family – to Mikhail Vladimirovich Ponomaryov, who controls the firm “Energy Consulting-Management”.
Business Card of the OJSC “Energy Consulting-Management” Ltd, Individual Taxpayer Identification Number INN 7725541218. Acting enterprise
Founders and participants: OJSC “Consulting Group “Club’s Investments” (99%) and the Cyprus company “Atberg Investments Limited” (1%).
Finances as of the end 2021, balance: 592.4 million rubles.
“Energy Consulting-Management” is a rich firm, and a year ago, on its balance there was more than half a billion rubles. And it had two beneficiaries – Mikhail Vladimirovich Ponomaryov and the firm “Atberg Investments”, i.e. the same Cyprus offshore with which Ilya Vladimirovich Ponomaryov had founded the company “Investconsulting” and “Spinnakersupport Russia” (alias “Start IT”).
On September 7, 2022, the State Registrar announced a possible liquidation of the firm “Investconsulting” in connection with presenting of unreliable information. But, most likely, it will not noticeably effect the finance situation of the Bandar-log Ponomaryov. Money pumping could be continued through the offshore firm “Atberg Investments”, which also is a founder of the “friendly” firm “Energy Consulting Management” (“Investconsulting” and “Energy Consulting Management” were registered at the same address).
The arrangement of the Ponomaryovs business clan compiled in accordance with the data of the electronic card-index “Kontur. Fokus”. Being an ally of Bandera, Bandar-log Ilya Ponomaryov sucks “energy” from Russia.
As of yet, we don’t assert that Mikhail Vladimirovich Ponomaryov is a relative, a blood brother of Ilya Vladimirovich Ponomaryov, despite matching of their family names and patronyms. Still, the Ponomaryovs is a big and ramified clan. One cannot exclude this big Russian “family” IT-company is financing followers of Ukrainian Nazism under the tactful guidance of the collaborator Ilya Ponomaryov.
To be continued.
The author is Alexey Chelnokov, Agency of Federal Investigation FLB.ru
* Mikhail Khodorkovsky, on 20.05.2022, was acknowledged as physical person carrying out functions of a foreign agent.
** Alexey Navalny, head of the extremist organization FBK prohibited in Russia (the decision of the Moscow City Court from 09.06.2021): he is serving now his sentence for fraud.
