Ex Russian Deputy Defense Minister Owns Bulgarian ‘Golden Passport’

Alexander Vladimirovich Hapov, former Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Defense Industry of the Russian Federation (MINOBORONPROM) has received a Bulgarian “golden passport” against investment. He has also managed the “Fund for Assistance to Progress in the Field of High Technologies for Civil and Dual Purpose”, also known as Techno-Fund.

Alexander Hapov was appointed Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Defense Industry in October 1996 by a decree of the then-Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, when Boris Yeltsin was President of the Russian Federation. The Ministry was established in the same year and lasted only until 1997, when its functions were overtaken by the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Communications of Russia.

Information about Hapov’s activities during this period is scarce. In December 2002, he became the head of the non-profit organization Techno-Fund. The fund was closed in January 2008. Other companies with Hapov’s participation, in which he was a founder or manager, were also closed.

According to the generally accepted definition, a dual-use device or technology is a product or technology that is normally used for civilian purposes and is not intended for military use, but could potentially have a military application or be used for the production of military products.

Alexander Hapov became a Bulgarian citizen with Decree 178 of December 10, 2019, file number 8130/2018. A check in the Property Register and in the Company Register shows that he does not own property and does not participate in companies in Bulgaria. This means that Hapov did not invest in the real economy but probably bought government securities or deposited money in a Bulgarian bank, as the law on Bulgarian citizenship provided at the time.

BIRD.BG has data on the persons who have received “golden” passports as investors and is conducting a journalistic investigation into their connections with business and politics.

Top Russian bankers are among the new Bulgarians who have received golden passports against investments. These are Dmitri Kushaev, Credit Suisse Head Russia, Roman Nagaev, Head of Investment, Credit & Project Finance at the Russian investment bank VTB Capital and Igor Finogenov, former Chairman of the Management Board of the Eurasian Development Bank and a person close to people in power as evidenced by his photos with former President and former Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev. In the first article in the series, BIRD revealed the golden passport of Roman Savushkin, obtained at the time when he was the General Director of the United Wagon Company, a strategically important enterprise in Russia. The owner of a Russian oil company, Sergei Zakharov, also turned out to be a Bulgarian with a “golden passport”.

A hacker who has attacked Ukraine from Bulgarian territory also has received a Bulgarian “golden passport”. The goal of the attack has been demonstrating the capabilities of a cyber-attack system to a head of the Russian intelligence services.

In an interview with the French Le Monde, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov promised to assess “on a case-by-case basis” all “golden passports”, which he said amount to over 200. However, there is actually data on just over 100 new Bulgarians naturalized under the investment scheme.

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