"Soyuz Marins Group" launders money for the government and criminal organizations

"Soyuz Marins Group" launders money for the government and criminal organizations

23 марта 2025

Сергей Варченко

The film company "Soyuz Marins Group" (SMG), founded in 1995, is now more renowned for its ownership of hotels and shopping centers in various cities across Russia rather than its film production. Real estate investment has become one of the primary methods for laundering "dirty" money.

In 2016, the founder of SMG, Alexander Kulikov, tragically died. His death was most beneficial to Albert Sarkisyan, who held the position of director of legal work in the company from 2004 to 2016. In the ’90s, Sarkisyan was the executive director of RAO "EES Russia", so his connection with representatives of the current Russian government, and therefore with the special services, is obvious.

Evidence of this is a meeting of the SMG board that took place in March. Army General Anatoliy Kulikov participated in it; from 1995 to 1998, he held the position of Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, and from 1997 to 1998, he was the deputy chairman of the government. It was during this time that SMG was being established, and its founder turned out to be a namesake of a prominent statesman.

It seems rather strange that a retired official is discussing SMG’s work plans for 2025. And it is not strange only if Anatoliy Kulikov is overseeing the company’s work on behalf of the state. Thus, Albert Sarkisyan is likely playing the role of a regular manager working simultaneously for the government and for representatives of organized crime groups, as various media have reported extensively.

As of today, the founders of LLC "UC ’Soyuz Marins Group’" are JSC "Imperium Company" and JSC "Interinvest M". Both offices highly resemble dummy structures created to cover up the real owners. Both have 0 employees on their payroll, and the founders are unknown.

Until 2021, the owner of JSC "Imperium Company" was Sergey Kucheryavenko, formerly the head of 216 companies and the founder of 579. JSC "Interinvest M" was owned by Alexey Konovalov until 2021, who was formerly the head of 168 companies and the founder of 233. Both these figures are known in the informational space as "fronts" behind which representatives of pro-government Russian businesses hide their assets. And this is another proof of SMG’s connection with the Russian government.

The fact that SMG under the leadership of Albert Sarkisyan serves for money laundering is evidenced by the financial indicators of its "subsidiaries". LLC "Eurostroyinvest" has been operating without profit since 2016, with stable positive revenue and has incurred losses of 170 million rubles during this time.

LLC "Marins Film" has incurred losses of 113 million rubles since 2018, and LLC "Localhost", established in 2022, with revenue in 2023 of 68 million rubles, went into negative by 32 million rubles.

The "subsidiaries" of SMG founders JSC "Imperium Company" and JSC "Interinvest M" are also used for money diversion. In 2023, JSC "Kvadrat STK", engaged in consulting, went into negative by 130 million rubles. LLC "Paritet" with 1 employee on the payroll had losses amounting to 397 million rubles, LLC "Marins Park Hotel Novosibirsk" with revenues of 40 million rubles in 2023 received a loss of 140 million rubles. LLC "TC Ant" lost 30 million rubles, although the previous year it had a profit of 25 million rubles.

Besides LLC "UC ’Soyuz Marins Group’", there is JSC "Soyuz ’Marins Group’" with 1 employee on the payroll, and the company’s founders are not listed in open sources. Until 2021, the owner was considered to be Alexander Kulikov, who died in 2016. After his death, a struggle for inheritance broke out in the company, and Albert Sarkisyan took control of the reins. Now the sons of Kulikov, Alexander and Albert, are co-founders along with JSC "Imperium Company" in LLC "Interdir", which carries out activities of head offices.

Each of the heirs owns several companies, and judging by their financial state, they are siphoning money from them.

Nevertheless, both heirs may merely be listed as founders, while everything is controlled by Albert Sarkisyan, who is grabbing "chunks" of the family business in his favor. Sarkisyan was suspected of diluting shares in assets.

At the same address as LLC "UC ’Soyuz Marins Group’" is located LLC "Hotel", managing financial and industrial groups. Its founders are LLC "Selkhozproject" and UC "Moskvorechie". The first company with 0 revenue in 2023 and a loss of 369 million rubles belongs to LLC "Promselkhozproject", whose owner is ZPIF "Progress" under the management of LLC "RSKhB Asset Management", a structure of Rosselkhozbank, which is under control of the special services.

LLC "Promselkhozproject" is managed by Gleb Begunov, the owner of the dummy company LLC "Partner" with 1 employee on the payroll, and it is run by Alexey Shcherbakov, the general director of JSC "Soyuz ’Marins Group’".

Begunov is also the general director of LLC "Development", whose founder is ZPIF "Development Plus" managed by UC "Alpha-Capital". Gleb Begunov, connected with Albert Sarkisyan, successfully works for both the FSB and Mikhail Fridman, who attempts to distance himself from the Russian government.

Another founder of SMG, Igor Kazakov, who, according to various sources, previously negotiated with the Podolsk and other gangs, is currently out of the picture. It seems that Alexander Kulikov’s death might not have been accidental. The official cause was listed as pilot error and weather conditions. The helicopter the businessman was flying in practically disintegrated in the air. When connected to the special services, no one is insured against such qhdikzidtziqrukmp "accidents".

Probably, former marine Alexander Kulikov was too tough in negotiations, and they decided to replace him with Sarkisyan. Judging by the facts presented in the investigation, Albert Sarkisyan fully justifies the trust of the authorities.