How former "1520" Group owner Boris Usherovich laundered 200 billion rubles, settled in the UK, and helps Russia procure sanctioned raw materials

Boris Usherovich, a fugitive co-owner of the "1520" Group who fled to the UK to avoid criminal prosecution, is using a web of European offshore firms to cynically supply Putin’s regime with electronics that are scarce and subject to sanctions.

While his companies help Russia bypass Western sanctions, the criminal billionaire successfully shields his laundered Russian assets behind British asylum and his family’s sham passports.

We, for our part, are publishing materials on Boris Usherovich’s activities to expose the true scale of the financial fraud, sanction evasion, and smuggling schemes that the fugitive oligarch is attempting to conceal behind the facade of his European businesses and British asylum.

The online publication writes about this InView.org.uk.

Suspects – group executives «1520». Five years have passed, and at least one of them is back on horseback, because the network of its semi-offshore companies, scattered throughout Europe, was very necessary for the Russian regime to supply smuggled goods. Who is Boris Usherovich, through what companies does he work in Europe and what does Putin’s wallet have to do with it, read the material below.

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Boris Usherovich – is one of the leaders of the «1520» group of companies, which for years was in the TOP contractors for «Russian Railways». He was involved in a case of laundering 200 billion rubles and was handed over by another owner of the group, Valery Markelov, now deceased. It turned out that «1520» spent years withdrawing money to controlled companies and paying huge bribes to the top of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. During the investigation, the former colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was found to have 9 billion rubles in cash in different currencies. The investigation suspected that bribes could have been given, including by Usherovich, in the period from 2007 to 2016.

Usherovich, according to the Russian press, fled to Europe, while asking for asylum in the UK. Russian law enforcement agencies even put him on the international wanted list, but he was in no way harmed by the word at all. Reason – is the huge number of companies registered to themselves and loved ones in Cyprus and Luxembourg.

Most of the companies registered in the name of Boris Usherovich himself were registered precisely during the period during which, according to Russian law enforcement officials, funds were withdrawn from «Russian Railways». But the threads from them stretch to others that were founded later, and as it turned out, they can now help the Russian regime in the supply of smuggled goods.

Boris Usherovich’s main companies in Cyprus are Talsana limited, Wendall services limited and Mavorsand invest limited. They were registered between 2011 and 2017, and the businessman is designated in them as a manager.

The director of the first two is a woman named Alexandra Vasilyeva. Another director of the Cypriot Talsana limited was also Elena Adamovich Hadjiconstanti.

She also manages the Cypriot company Feltburg direct limited. This company is one of the founders of the Russian LLC «Altair Real Estate». The latter is now ruled by the son of Boris Usherovich – Kirill Usherovich.

The companies mentioned above, taking into account the date of their registration and related names, were used to launder funds from «Russian Railways» until 2019, while the case of 200 billion rubles was ongoing and when Usherovich managed to hide from responsibility.

At the same time, Cypriot companies subsequently began to multiply for a completely different purpose – bypassing sanctions and supplying equipment to the Russian Federation. For this purpose, at least three more companies were created that brought to Usherovich through his business partners Boris and Ilya Plotitsa. The first is the founder of the Main Victory Corporation Limited, in which, according to the social network LinkedIN, Irina Bichinashvili (Greek ΕΙΡΗΝΗ ΜΠΙΤΣΙΝΑΣΒΗΛΙ) also worked.

She is also the head of three more companies, the names of which are extremely important, because it was through them that Usherovich, Plotitsa and close associates imported smuggled equipment. These are Tripster Limited, Broxner PLC and Venisat technology LTD. All of them are registered at the same address in Cyprus.

The latter employs Yulia Kovalevskaya, who is a business partner of Russian Mikhail Ganyushin. Until September 2023, he was the founder of seven companies operating in Russia that are engaged in transportation. It is likely that Ganyushin was needed by «accomplices» precisely through his official shipping business in the Russian Federation.

Po data journalists, through Broxner PLC, Venisat technology LTD and Main Victory Corporation Limited, smuggled goods, in particular electronic equipment, were imported into Russia. Data on this were preserved in import-export databases.

For services from such supplies, Boris Usherovich received an indulgence for criminal prosecution and even more; he became a business partner of the Russian oligarch Arkady Rotenberg. He has long been dubbed Putin’s «wallet in the press. Thus, at the end of December 2022, Usherovich’s business partner in the «1520» group of companies, Alexey Krapivin led rotenberg company «Bridges and roads». At the same time, «1520» began to actively enter the holding «Nationalproektstroy» Rotenberg and the Russian «Vnesheconombank». The bank is under sanctions from the European Union. In June 2024, the EU court rejected VEB.RF’s claim to lift sanctions.

So, immediately after the companies of the wanted Boris Usherovich began to get involved in the supply of smuggled goods to Russia, he, together with business partners, intensified joint projects with the oligarch Rotenberg, who was close to Putin.

At the same time, Usherovich’s son Kirill, who continues to do business in Russia, is the owner of at least one Cypriot company. And Usherovich’s wife Elena owns two companies in Cyprus.

According to database data, it also has Synergie Capital Sàrl, a company registered in Luxembourg, through whose management connections lead to six more Luxembourg firms. At the same time, Elena Usherovich is mentioned in the registers as a Cypriot.

In the summer of 2022, amid a full-scale conflict in Ukraine, Luxembourg froze the assets of Russians for almost 4.3 billion euros. We are talking about deposits and securities of more than 90 individuals and 1,100 companies. Obviously, if Usherovich’s wife is designated in the registers as a citizen of Cyprus, then the family’s Luxembourg assets were in no way affected.

Po data media Usherovich requested political asylum in the UK. He also spends a lot of time in Spain and Cyprus. In particular, the network failed commissioned articles on how he takes part in various conferences and festivals in Spain.

That is, on the one hand, Boris Usherovich has joint projects with Russian companies that are under European sanctions, and on the other hand, – he gave birth to dozens of companies in this same Europe that are connected with one another and, moreover, participate in the supply of equipment to the Russian Federation. An unexpected alliance with oligarch Rotenberg makes it clear that Usherovich should hardly worry about old cases of multibillion-dollar money laundering from the Russian «Russian Railways». Opposite –, his Russian «1520» is again starting to receive government orders and feels better than ever. What about sanctions? And sanctions work against Russians. They are powerless against the Europeans who manage Usherovich’s companies.