Last week we published an investigation into the head of Gazprom, Alexei Miller. One of Putin's closest friends. The person who has been running the state gas monopoly for more than two decades. One of the richest people in the world.A thief and a criminal
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Gazprom isn't just a gas supplier. It’s Putin’s favourite toy,a universal weapon with which he terrorises Europe and keeps the war going. It’s just about time you all meet Mr. Miller. You’ll be quite surprised. And somehow Miller still hasn’t been properly sanctioned yet.
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Back in 1999 when Putin was picked by Yeltsin as his successor, he didn’t want to become the president of Russia. Putin’s close associate at the time, Boris Berezovsky, claimed that Putin asked for a different position instead. He wanted to become the head of Gazprom.
As soon as Putin assumed the presidential office, he started to literally micro manage Gazprom. Personally. Very soon, in 2001, Putin invited his old friend, who used to be his secretary in the early 90s, to become the head of Gazprom. Miller had zero experience. No one knew him
But that didn’t matter. The job was simple. Miller had to restructure Gazprom in such a way that it always pays money to Putin’s closest friends. Rotenberg and Timchenko became billionaires because Gazprom started giving them all of its construction contracts non-competitively.
The assets previously owned by Gazprom (media companies, insurance business, etc.) ended up in the hands of the Rossiya Bank owners. Which also were people dearest to Putin, like Yuri Kovalchuk and Svetlana Krivonogikh, Putin’s mistress and the mother of their 19 y.o. daughter.
And in exchange for helping Putin eviscerate the company that was meant to provide a better life for all Russian, Alexei Miller got a wild card. He could steal as much as he wanted. And he wanted a lot. I remind you everything you will see below belongs to a civil servant.
This palace is called Millerhof. One of the largest Gazprom’s contractors, Ziyad Manasir, built it for Miller as a gift. A kickback from billions of dollars worth of contracts. But the gift got spoiled, someone leaked the story to the press and Miller decided not to live there.
Let’s have a look inside, why not. The palace still belongs to an offshore company from the Seychelles controlled by Alexei Miller. It’s being rented out as a wedding venue. Fun fact: one of the seasons of the Russian edition of 'The Bachelor' was filmed there.
So what happens next? The very same person, a Gazprom contractor Ziyad Manasir, builds a replacement palace for Alexei Miller. 37 km away from the first one.
This one finally suited Miller. The main building is 8,500 m2 large which makes it the largest residential building we have ever filmed in the Moscow region. The estate also includes a 3,000 m2 guest house, servants’ quarters and a stable. Its total value is roughly $300m.
Inside of the Gazprom head’s house you can find a bowling alley, a mini golf course, an ice rink, and even a separate room for presents. A 300 m2 space dedicated exclusively to displaying Miller’s gifts (i.e. bribes, Miller is not allowed to accept gifts worth more than $55)
Up until last week no one knew who this palace belonged to. This information is classified. The owner’s name was replaced by the words ‘Russian Federation’. This is a common way for Putin’s cronies to hide their assets.
But we managed to prove it belongs to Miller by tracking his Gazprom branded helicopter. Miller uses it to travel from the airport to his palace. Wise decision given the Moscow traffic. Not that wise in terms of leaving a trace.
We have also found out that in 2020 the palace was formally purchased by a lady called Marina Yentaltseva. Remember how I told you that it’s super common for Russian government officials to have secret families? Well, here we go again.
Alexei Miller is officially married to Irina Miller, but he has actually been living with another woman, Marina Yentaltseva, for at least a decade. There is a twist as well. Yentaltseva happens to be the head of Putin’s protocol, his chief secretary and also a civil servant.
Yentaltseva has worked with Putin since the very early 90s. Putin mentions her as one of the closest family friends in his memoirs. Yentaltseva was taking care of Putin’s kids when his wife Ludmila was unwell. She spent weekends and holidays with Putins.
Yentaltseva only resigned two years ago. Her total income for the last 10 years of civil service was ~$750,000. And soon after she ‘bought’ this house.
Miller and Yentaltseva’s son-in-law also works for Gazprom. He is the head of procurement. He’s just 34, but he and his wife (Yentaltseva’s daughter) own 3 Lamborghinis, 2 G-Wagens, an SLR McLaren, a Nissan GTR, a 1961 Corvette and a Mercedes Pullman limo worth a total of $4.3 m.
They also own an apartment in St Petersburg. 558 m2 including a lovely terrace overlooking the Gazprom office and the Gazprom stadium. It’s worth around $14 million.
I almost forgot to mention that Miller’s 34-year-old son-in-law earns a shocking $13 million a year at Gazprom. The heads of Shell, BP and Eni will probably be deeply traumatised by this.
While working on this story, we have found so many assets, houses, flats and villas that no thread in the world would be enough to cover everything. Therefore, I refer you to our full investigation in English. miller.navalny.com
As for Ziyad Manasir, the Gazprom contractor who built the two palaces for Miller, his business had been taken away from him. By Alexei Miller himself. A big chunk of it is now controlled by the very same offshore company from the Seychelles that owns Miller’s palaces.
We have established that this company is formally owned by a random person who acts as a nominee for Miller. He’s a Ukrainian national living in Dubai, and his uncle used to work for the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU). Welcome to Russia, this is how business is done here.
Here is a really important part. Alexei Miller who has been instrumental in creating and running this monstrous corruption scheme is still not on the EU sanctions list. Back in 2014 there was an unconfirmed leak that ‘the European partners of Gazprom’ lobbied for his exclusion.
True or not, it is now Day 121 of the war, and the point of no return has been crossed 121 times. Miller is still not sanctioned. I assume that’s because it may make buying gas from Gazprom troublesome. Well, maybe one shouldn’t do any business with Gazprom.
If you live in the EU your politicians may tell you that sanctioning Gazprom isn’t possible. That you will still need its gas. Maybe. But you definitely don’t need Miller and his family being allowed to move freely around Europe, buying properties and stashing cash in the banks.
Here is the list of those who are directly involved in embezzlement of Gazprom and profit from it on a daily basis. We demand that they are included in the EU sanctions list immediately. If that means that Miller would have to resign as the head of Gazprom, I won’t be too upset.
I have got more. By the way, the Tregubs need to be urgently sanctioned by the UK as well, as they own property there, purchased with the proceeds from their criminal Gazprom deals.
This investigation took us a few very long weeks to make. It was probably one of the most complex cases we have ever worked on. We have produced a 90min long video (with Eng subs) and a special website (also available in English).
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miller.navalny.com
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miller.navalny.com
If you like the work of the Anti-Corruption Foundation and want to help us make more investigations like this, you can support our work here. Thank you and let’s get Miller sanctioned.
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