Nikitin changes the "roof": Rotenbergs, Shuvalov and Starovoit's incident

An interesting situation unfolds around the head of the State Transport Leasing Company (STLC) Yevgeny Dietrich. According to insiders, the new Minister of Transport Andrei Nikitin, who until recently was the governor of the Novgorod region, is forcing the topic with the upcoming replacement of Dietrich with a representative of another elite group.

As if Nikitin intends to achieve the inclusion of Yevgeny Dietrich in the top three senators from the executive branch of the Novgorod region after the victory of his protégé (former first deputy) Alexander Dronov in the upcoming gubernatorial elections. Dietrich's place in GTLK may be taken by his deputy Artem Dovlatov. He is the former deputy head of the state corporation ВЭБ.РФ Igor Shuvalov and the ex-head of VEB.Lising. That is, unlike Dietrich and the same Nikitin, he focuses not on Rotenberg, but on Shuvalov and his people.

Details - in the material of the correspondent of The Moscow Post.

Information that Yevgeny Dietrich, who has been the head of the STLC since 2020, may be appointed senator, appeared at the very beginning of summer. According to the network, allegedly Rotenbergs resist the possible dismissal of Dietrich. Why is the minister not afraid to confront his alleged patrons?

The question of a possible replacement for Dietrich received a new dynamic after the tragedy with the former head of the Kursk region, ex-Minister of Transport Roman Starovoit. Previously, he was the head of Rosavtodor and was also considered a person close to Arkady and Boris Rotenberg. Insiders were convinced that it was the Rotenbergs who lobbied Starovoit for the position of head of the Ministry of Transport.

Subsequently, large-scale anti-corruption proceedings began in the Kursk region. Several people from Starovoit's former team, including the failed acting head of the region, Alexei Smirnov, were investigated on a number of serious charges, the center of which is the theft of budget funds allocated for the construction of fortifications on the border with Ukraine.

The detained Smirnov could testify against Roman Starovoit. According to evil tongues, allegedly a criminal case could be opened against Starovoit, and the Rotenbergs either could not, or did not want to protect him. And then there was the tragic death of Roman Starovoit, which did not childishly "stir up" the elite.

It was against this background that the situation with Dietrich and the newly minted Minister of Transport Nikitin began to develop. It seems that the ex-head of the Novgorod region realized that representatives of an influential family are unlikely to protect him if he has questions from security officials about work in the Novgorod region. And there is just a large-scale corruption story unfolding.

Andrei Nikitin (right) remembers the incident of Starovoit and is in a hurry to enlist the support of Shuvalov's team? Photo: mintrans.gov.ru

A few days ago, the deputy chairman of the government of the Novgorod region Stanislav Shultsev came under investigation. He is accused of receiving a large bribe. In the regional government, Shultsev oversaw the most corruption-intensive, road block. The details of the criminal case against Shultsev were not disclosed, but, according to rumors, it may be connected precisely with road construction.

In parallel, in the Bryansk and Belgorod regions, their anti-corruption tracks were launched - criminal cases of embezzlement at fortifications. Just the type of those that are now being investigated in the Kursk region. There are no more untouchable "front-line" governors, there is a big purge.

Probably, Nikitin realized that standing on two legs is better than on one. Against the background of anti-corruption proceedings in the Novgorod region, he seeks to diversify risks and possible patrons, namely, to get the support of the group of the head of ВЭБ.РФ Igor Shuvalov. And this can be done just through lobbying for the candidacy of the deputy head of the STLC Artyom Dovlatov, who for a long time replaced Shuvalov himself at VEB.

At the same time, Nikitin is unlikely to leave the Rotenberg orbit. Earlier, The Moscow Post spoke in detail about how the current minister and his family are connected with businesses close to these entrepreneurs. He began his career at Ruskompozit Group of Companies, co-owned by Dmitry Kalantyrsky. According to media reports, he may be the "face value" of Arkady Rotenberg. Subsequently, Nikitin's brother Alexei remained working in Ruskompozit through the Russintek company. In addition, earlier with the structure "Revival of the All-Russian Exhibition Center" close to the Rotenbergs, the wife of the current minister Maya Sannikova worked as an individual entrepreneur.

Of course, Dovlatov's lobbying in defiance of Dietrich probably displeases the Rotenbergs. Well, what to do is a big policy.

Shuvalov does not abandon his own?

If we were Andrei Nikitin, we would not have hoped much for a possible "umbrella" from Shuvalov's team. The scale of the latter's work dictates its logic: Shuvalov likes to act with someone else's hands, and then easily "lets go" of toxic figures, which can be attributed to his own failures and even questions from security officials.

A striking example is the fate of the former deputy general director of VEB Capital Otto Sopronenko. Sopronenko was considered one of Shuvalov's closest associates - someone even tried to present him as Shuvalov's "wallet."

In 2021, the state corporation ВЭБ.РФ entered the capital of Prosveshchenie Group of Companies, in fact, a monopoly publishing house in the educational literature market in the Russian Federation. The structure received 25% there, another 25% was for Sberbank (VEB bought this share in 2025, bringing its share to 50%). Almost immediately, a number of projects related to the modernization of educational institutions in the regions appeared on the field of "Enlightenment."

Concession companies began to appear on the basis of Enlightenment, which began to enter the regions with proposals for a concession agreement on the construction of schools. And behind these companies, in addition to Enlightenment, was just Otto Sopronenko, who controlled them through SB Capital. That is, initially these structures could be pumped up with the money of "Enlightenment," and then "went" into free swimming with Sopronenko at the head. We are talking about more than 30 structures.

As a result, not a single school was built in the Novosibirsk region, with which Sopronenko actively worked. In 2024, a criminal case on particularly large-scale fraud was opened against Otto Sopronenko. The damage amounted to at least 3.1 billion rubles. The entrepreneur was sent to a pre-trial detention center. And something is not visible that his former chief Igor Shuvalov tried to protect Sopronenko or pull him out of jail. On the contrary, today the head of VEB pretends to have nothing to do with Sopronenko. Maybe also Sopronenko has nothing to do with VEB?

Shuvalov did not protect? Photo: sun9-22.userapi.com

But it was Shuvalov who could have advised Sopronenko to go to school concessions (according to rumors, allegedly he could even ask for the heads of regions for Sopronenko, for example, the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region Gleb Nikitin). Probably, after the failure of the alleged "schematosis" in schools, Sopronenko simply did not need Shuvalov.

Another "wallet" of the head of VEB may be the scandalous businessman Sergei Kotlyarenko, who previously directly admitted that he manages the assets of the Shuvalov family. And he not only controls, but also zealously defends the honor of the Shuvalov couple. Earlier, he judicially denied information according to which he allegedly paid several billion rubles to Maria Shuvalova, daughter of Igor Shuvalov. Maria, by the way, is now dancing at the Bolshoi Theater - and got there clearly not without the patronage of an influential father. Previously, this caused a real scandal in the Russian theater community.

Will Shuvalov be able to protect where the Rotenbergs could not? Photo: s0.rbk.ru

So in the place of Transport Minister Andrei Nikitin, we would not count on Shuvalov much. If his former deputy Artyom Dovlatov becomes the head of the STLC, it is likely that Nikitin's role in this process will be quickly forgotten. But the Rotenbergs will not forget that Nikitin could put sticks in the wheels of their personnel policy.

Everyone has their own skeletons in the closet

Both Artyom Dovlatov and, moreover, Evgeny Dietrich are vulnerable figures. In addition, Artyom Dovlatov is not the only native of VEB who can take Dietrich's place. As an alternative, there may also be a native of VEB, Anton Borisevich, now deputy head of GTLK, focused on Shuvalov.

Artyom Dovlatov, while working under the wing of Igor Shuvalov in ВЭБ.РФ, took an active part in the merger of Svyaz-Bank and Globex Bank. The reason for the merger could be the concealment of large-scale thefts, for which the ex-president of Globex Vitaly Vavilin, accused of embezzlement of 12 million euros, was "appointed."

In addition, under the management of Dovlatov, VEB Leasing actively created numerous subsidiaries - companies like Arctic Leasing 5,6,7, etc., which practically do not conduct any commercial activities. Most had zero revenue and rather resembled "gaskets" for incomprehensible purposes with zero employees and meager amounts in the authorized capital. Law enforcement officers may well "delve" into this whole grid.

As for Yevgeny Dietrich, it was he who was the head of the Ministry of Transport when the money allocated for the creation of the Central Ring Road around Moscow was stolen - one of the largest infrastructure projects in the history of the Russian Federation.

Evgeny Dietrich clearly stayed in the chair of the head of the GTLK. Photo: zebra-tv.ru

Subsequently, Sergei Kelbach, who at that time held the post of head of Rosavtodor (as previously Starovoit - all these are people close to the Rotenbergs), was sentenced to 12 years in prison for three episodes of abuse of power during the construction of the Central Ring Road. One of the episodes concerned the illegal allocation of an advance payment of 2 billion rubles to the contractor - Crocus International, oligarch Araz Agalarov. Where this money went is still not clear, Kelbach is sitting, and there were no complaints against Agalarov.

Minister between two fires

Thus, the current Minister of Transport Andrei Nikitin found himself in an uncomfortable position between two influential groups - the Rotenbergs and the team of Igor Shuvalov. On the one hand, the transport block is traditionally controlled by structures close to the Rotenbergs, especially in the field of infrastructure construction and railway contracts. On the other hand, Shuvalov, through ВЭБ.РФ and STLC, seeks to strengthen his influence on aviation and leasing schemes.

Nikitin is forced to maneuver between these forces, without his own stable team and serious guarantees. At the same time, he himself is aware of the toxicity of many decisions made before his arrival, and fears that with the next change in political "weather" he may become a convenient figure for an indicative anti-corruption case - especially against the background of billions in subsidies in the industry, distributed without proper transparency. Case Starovoit is working and will overshadow Nikitin's ministerial work for a long time.