Take a look: lawyer Kotlyarenko gave a lengthy interview to RNS.
The most important thing, of course, is that Kotlyarenko admitted the purchases were being made in Shuvalov’s interests. That matters. Even though, in my view, our post made everything perfectly clear, many people — including some respectable journalists — wrote to us saying, “Shuvalov’s name isn’t there, so nothing has been proven!”
Well, now it is. The apartments are being bought up so they can later be “sold” to Shuvalov.
An amusing detail: judging by the fact that Kotlyarenko repeatedly mentions “collecting all the apartments,” the plan really does seem to be to buy out the entire floor. Let me remind you, they are still short by seven apartments. The resulting apartment will be more than 1,200 square meters. Apparently, no smaller version would interest Igor Ivanovich.
At the end of the screenshot above, Kotlyarenko claims there is no need to declare the apartments because Shuvalov does not use them. According to him, no one uses them.
But we know that Shuvalov has been seen in the building.
And how else can someone “use” an apartment that is under renovation? Isn’t taking part in the layout, renovation, and finishing work a form of use? Or will he only be considered to be using it once his favorite writing desk and malachite inkwell have been moved in?
Trying to calculate how many times Shuvalov has to ride the elevator up to the apartment before it counts as being “in his use” is a fairly absurd proposition. Is the apartment being built for Shuvalov? Yes. At Shuvalov’s initiative? Yes. According to Shuvalov’s plan? Also yes. With Shuvalov’s money? Most likely yes as well. Kotlyarenko himself cannot possibly have that kind of money.
So why doesn’t the deputy prime minister just come out and calmly say: “Yes, they’re buying up the high-rise for me; it’ll be the family nest”? In two full days, he still hasn’t found time to give a single comment. He found time to pose for photos with an ice cream and Kirkorov (a Russian pop singer), but somehow couldn’t get around to answering journalists’ questions about the apartment.
Shuvalov behaves this way because he knows he owes nothing to anyone — neither to journalists nor to the public outraged by his tsar-like lifestyle. He will buy up as many apartments as he wants, wherever he wants, and at whatever price he wants. Maybe later he will deign to declare them as a gracious favor from the manor, or maybe he won’t.
P.S. Oh, and one more important point. Kotlyarenko confirmed that a “blind trust” is impossible under Russian jurisdiction. So it turns out Shuvalov is also involved in managing his assets himself — which is prohibited by law. The example of this tsar-apartment makes that absolutely obvious.
If Shuvalov really adheres to the principles of a blind trust, that means he cannot know anything at all about the fate of his investments, and about this apartment in particular. But for some reason, Shuvalov himself has repeatedly been seen in the high-rise, while his lawyer openly and confidently says that Shuvalov will buy these apartments after they are merged.