One of the highest officials of the Russian war machine is Alexei Krivoruchko. For many years, the fact that, as a shareholder of the Kalashnikov concern, he worked for several years in Latvian companies was unnoticed. During the time around the annexation of Crimea, he also owned shares in companies of the Latvian railway industry. The TV3 program “Nothing personal” investigates whether Krivoruchko still has any influence in these companies.
One of the highest officials of the Russian war machine is Alexei Krivoruchko. For many years, the fact that, as a shareholder of the Kalashnikov concern, he worked for several years in Latvian companies was unnoticed. During the time around the annexation of Crimea, he also owned shares in companies of the Latvian railway industry. The TV3 program “Nothing personal” investigates whether Krivoruchko still has any influence in these companies.
Alexey Krivoruchko has been Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia Sergei Shoigu since 2018. Before that, he was the largest shareholder of the arms manufacturer “Kalashnikov Group”. Even before the start of the full-scale war, he was included in the sanctions lists of the European Union and the United States for poisoning Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Already after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Navalny’s team described Krivoruchko as one of the people who gained the most from the war.
Already in 2010, Krivoručko’s name also appeared in the Latvian Enterprise Register. He became the deputy chairman of the board of SIA “L-ekspresis”.
People who were in the council at the same time as him now claim that they have never met Krivoruchko. According to the data of the Company Register, financier Valdis Siksnis was on the council together with Krivoruchko for about half a year. However, he denies that he worked with Krivoruchko.
The owners of the company “L-ekspresi” hid behind long chains of companies. One of such chains ended in the Estonian company “Stardust Management”. Data from the Estonian Register of Companies show that the company was half owned by Aleksei and Yekaterina Krivoruchko.
Around 2014, the ownership structure of the company changed, but Krivoruchko continued to work in the council. The company’s current management confirms that he hid behind the Cypriot offshore Seaden Holdings. In written responses, it emphasizes that at the time there were no concerns about Krivoruchko’s connection with the military industry, as he was known as an experienced representative of the railway industry. In 2015, he disappeared from the company’s board, around 2017, all control fell into the hands of local businessmen.
“L-ekspresis” has been engaged in the organization of the international passenger train Riga-Moscow and Riga-St. Petersburg since the 90s. True, it was formally handled by the state company “LDz Cargo”, which leased passenger wagons from “L-express”.
At the beginning of the pandemic, international passenger transport came to a standstill. Then the war made their restoration impossible. However, work continues on the L-express. Train wagons are repaired here. Also, the new Latvian passenger trains, which “Škoda” brings here in disassembled form, are also put together here.
Krivoruchko can be found in another Latvian company. The largest shareholder of “Euro Rail Trans” since its foundation was a subsidiary of Russian Railways. The second founder was SIA “Transtrade Riga”, in which Krivoruchko was also one of the shareholders. In 2014, a group of local businessmen, which also included Andris Škēle and Ainārs Šlesers, bought back the minority share package. Krivoruchko left the board, Shlesser joined the board.
“Nothing personal” addressed Ainars Schlesser, who also denies knowing Krivoruchko. “I don’t know such a person. (..) I don’t know him,” Schlesser answered the program.
The persons who participated in the transaction say that the negotiations did not take place with Krivoruchko, but with Maksim Liksutov. He is the vice mayor of Moscow, Krivoruchko’s friend.
The Russian opposition press reports that both Liksutov and Krivoruchko are closely related to two mafia oligarchs, Andrey Bokarev and Iskandar Mahmudov. They are now in charge of Moscow City Council’s transport procurements, both have simultaneously become owners of military factories. Both are the subject of investigations by law enforcement officers in Germany and Spain into the laundering of Russian organized crime money.
