“Ricochet” from December 2, 2019. Investigation into Kostin and Asker-zade

Hello! My name is Stanislav Kryuchkov. Today we’ll look into the details of the new investigation by the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF) and Alexei Navalny into what, as the politician himself says, does not appear in the media and is not discussed on forums: forbidden love at taxpayers’ expense—that is, at our expense. “Yacht. Plane. Girl” is a story about the tenderness of feelings and their financial backing. About how beautiful all this looks and, most importantly, how legally the chairman of the board of the state-owned bank VTB lives his life, as does Nailya Asker-zade, a fairly well-known journalist from one of the federal TV channels. There are not many details, but ACF believes that certain aspects of each of these people’s lives are of public interest. Politician Alexei Navalny will be joining us shortly. But before we discuss the investigation, let me put a question to our vote. In your view, is the story of the luxurious lifestyle of public figures closely affiliated with the state a matter of public interest, or is it a private story, the interest in which is more voyeuristic than civic? Yes, this is a story of public significance: 101 20 11. This is a private story, albeit a jaw-dropping one for many: 101 20 22. The voting is now open. Alexei Navalny is joining us now. Alexei, good evening!

Good evening!

Alexei, you fight corruption. Explain why what you spoke about today, to all the world, in your view bears the hallmarks of this unquestionably harmful phenomenon.

Without a doubt, what we discussed today, despite the fact that it really can be described as some kind of love story or a story of some secret affair, an illicit affair, is a matter of public interest and not just the private life of a state banker and a TV presenter. Because this is not simply a story about them having lovers; it is a story about the level of consumption. Because when a presenter on a state TV channel has, from who knows where, a yacht at her disposal and travels around the world on a private jet worth $60 million, it is fairly obvious that we must ask both her and the state banker who supports her where all this money came from. And it is quite obvious to us that VTB, which already has a rather dismal reputation as a highly corrupt bank, is being looted daily by banker Kostin, including in order to provide a truly fantastical standard of living for his beloved, Nailya Asker-zade. Let them love each other as much as they want. Just not at our expense.

And why do you believe that banker Kostin, not exactly the poorest man in this country, is financing his private life at the state’s expense, with state money, rather than from his own savings, so to speak?

A. Navalny: Over 10 years, we’ve handed more than 1 trillion rubles to Kostin’s bank so he could solve its problems

It’s simple math. There can be no doubt here. Banker Kostin, of course, despite heading a loss-making bank that has for many years received constant state support—in the last 10 years, you and I have handed more than 1 trillion rubles to this bank so it could deal with its problems—earns a salary of several million dollars a year. But just from the daily and monthly expenses of Nailya Asker-zade, a presenter on Channel One, we can see that these are far greater sums. For example, simply operating this jet costs 30 million rubles a month. And that does not include the yacht with a crew of 15. We did not even count jewelry or anything else. Just the most basic things—real estate, a yacht, and a plane—already amount to billions of rubles even by the most conservative estimate. So banker Kostin quite clearly could not have financed this from legal sources.

Besides the yacht and the plane, your investigation also mentions real estate and offshore companies. What documentary tails, traces, so to speak, of the connection between these friends were you able to track, and how, strictly speaking, complete is this investigation or this result, if I may put it that way?

Well, as far as the real estate is concerned, this is absolutely a 100 percent result, because official data from Russia’s state property registry, Rosreestr, show that there was property owned either directly by VTB or, for example, by the deputy chairman of VTB, [inaudible]. Secondly, in some cases we see, for example, that she owns real estate—an enormous house on Rublyovka (an elite residential area west of Moscow). That house belongs to the same offshore company to which banker Kostin’s personal apartment is registered. So the connections here are absolutely irrefutable. As for the yacht and the plane, they are registered to offshore companies in jurisdictions that cannot be traced. But the fact that she uses them—she is photographed endlessly on the yacht... And in the course of our investigation, we proved it visually by comparing photos from her Instagram with photos of this yacht that we took. At the very least, it is an indisputable fact that she uses the yacht and uses the plane. And if you use them... You probably would not be allowed onto a private jet for free and allowed to fly on it endlessly. Nor would I. And they would not let us onto the yacht or allow us to sail on it to the Maldives. But she sails. So someone has to be paying for it. A. Navalny: A state founded and run by corrupt people, of course, does not want to prosecute itself

Your investigation places considerable emphasis on the idea that Kostin believes we should not know any of this. Not even so much about the financial relationship as about the relationship itself. What do you mean when you say that?

Well, in fact, that is how the investigation began. Because the facts I mentioned about journalist Asker-zade’s real estate had, generally speaking, been published before. In our investigation, the new part concerns the yacht and the plane, but the real estate was mostly known earlier. And yet all this information has been declared by our state to be literally top secret. And it is astonishing, but there is no other kind of information, including extremism or anything else, that gets blocked so often. In the literal sense, thousands of blocking orders have been issued by Roskomnadzor (Russia’s media and internet regulator) in connection with lawsuits by VTB concerning information specifically related to Nailya Asker-zade, banker Kostin, and their real estate.

And how are we supposed to live with this now? What, exactly, should be done about it? The public has now learned of it thanks to you.

Well, as usual, we will formalize the process. I am still a shareholder in VTB. I have been suing this bank since 2008. So I will file an official criminal complaint. We will demand an audit of VTB by the Accounts Chamber, where Alexei Kudrin sits, a well-known champion of transparency (at least he says he is), and by the Central Bank. So at the very least, we will formalize these demands. But it seems to me that the most important thing is simply for everyone to know about it and ask questions. The position of a state banker is, after all, a fairly public one. Kostin constantly appears at various economic forums, some of which he organizes himself, and talks about his wonderful bank. And it is necessary that at the very least business journalists, ordinary people, and businesspeople simply ask him: “Please explain how your bank operates—how is it that planes disappear from its balance sheet?”

Tell me, let’s say this story has now been laid out, it has entered the public space and, like all your investigations, is drawing quite a lot of attention. Has there ever been any reaction from those institutions to which you routinely address formal requests and statements? Three weeks ago, you and I spoke about Moscow prosecutor Denis Popov. Is there anything there?

Well, in recent years, to be honest, there has been a formal reaction, but it is always of the sort Medvedev gave after our investigation “He Is Not Dimon to You,” when he said it was all “nonsense, murk, and stew.” In other words, of course, they simply ignore this kind of information, because it exposes them completely and they have nothing to say. Though there are, of course, some exotic variations.

A. Navalny: The facts I mentioned about journalist Asker-zade’s real estate had, generally speaking, been published before As you may remember, after our investigation into corrupt procurement in the National Guard (Rosgvardiya), the head of the National Guard challenged me to a duel instead of explaining why he was buying carrots at three times the price. So a state founded and run by corrupt people, of course, does not want to prosecute itself. That is absolutely true. Nevertheless, we will continue our work, because that is what the Anti-Corruption Foundation exists for.

That was Alexei Navalny. Watch his investigation on YouTube—“Yacht. Plane. Girl. Forbidden Love.” I had put the following question to a vote: in your view, is this a story of public significance, or a private, albeit jaw-dropping, story of a possible relationship between two people? Ninety-three percent of those who joined us this hour believe that yes, this is a story of public significance. And 7 percent believe that it is private life. This was Stanislav Kryuchkov. “Ricochet.” Thank you. Goodbye.