Golden passport? Not for Critics of Putin!

Russian multimillionaire Dmitry Zimin and his son Boris are big investors in the tourism industry in Bulgaria and their business sustains thousands of jobs. In Russia, however, they are considered “foreign agents” because of their criticism of Putin’s regime and their support for Alexei Navalny. The Zimins have tried to obtain Bulgarian citizenship as golden passport investors, but have hit a wall, unlike influential Russian bankers close to the Kremlin regime, who have invested nothing in the real economy.

The Zimin father and son are the majority shareholders in Libena, the second owner of hotels on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast after the Albena resort. Before the pandemic, the Libena hotel group registered 1 million nights a year and 500,000 in 2021. Some 96% of the guests in their hotels are foreigners.

Boris and Dmitry Zimin made an attempt to obtain Bulgarian citizenship in 2011 for special merits in the public and economic sectors, but their application sank into the government’s bureaucratic morass and was not approved.

After the possibility of citizenship against investment was introduced in Bulgaria, Dmitry and Boris Zimin bought government securities for BGN 1 million and presented them to the Bulgarian Investment Agency at the Ministry of Economy. This also did not work.

“No one has ever formally refused us, but simply the documents have never reached the Presidency,” their lawyer told BIRD.

No approval for a Navalny sponsor

Dmitry and Boris Zimin support opposition projects in Russia. Boris Zimin has been one of the first sponsors of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his Anti-Corruption Fund since its founding. In 2020, it was Zimin who paid for the private medical plane that transported to Germany the poisoned with Novichok Navalny.

Due to his opposition activities, in 2015 Zimin’s “Dynasty” Fund was declared a “foreign agent”. As a result, he suspended the Fund’s activities in the Russian Federation.

Dmitry Zimin and his son have obtained Cypriot passports and then Israeli ones. They have not been granted Bulgarian passports, despite their real investments in the country, which generate thousands of jobs and income from tourism.

Approval for bankers or a hacker close to the Kremlin

Unlike the opposition Zimins, Russians close to the Kremlin have been granted citizenship on merit or golden passports without investing anything in the real economy, according to BIRD’s investigations.

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.

A check in the Property Register shows that they do not own property in Bulgaria, and a check in the Trade Register shows that they do not own or manage companies, i.e. they have not invested in the real economy, but probably have bought government securities or have deposited money in a Bulgarian bank, as provided by the law on Bulgarian citizenship.

A hacker who has attacked Ukraine from Bulgarian territory also 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

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Разследващата журналистика е разузнаването на гражданите. BIRD се финансира от дарения. Ние не публикуваме реклами. Не получаваме държавни субсидии. Не разчитаме на грантове. Финансирането чрез малки дарения от читатели е гаранция за нашата независимост. Включете се, за да продължим да разкриваме злоупотреби и да държим отговорни властимащите. Използваме Вашите пари за хонорари на журналистите, командировки, изграждане и поддръжка на нашите информационни системи, такси за фирмени и имотни регистри у нас и по света, придобиване на техника и специално оборудване, осигуряване на нашата безопасност и други важни работни мисии. Важно: Ако дарявате всеки месец това ще ни даде възможност да планираме и организираме нашата работа. Благодарим Ви! Нас ни има, защото Вас Ви има!

This post is also available in: Български (Bulgarian)