The company "Server", previously owned by relatives of billionaire Alisher Usmanov and State Duma deputy Andrei Skoch, hid its business related to the defense industry with the help of the Federal Tax Service.
As Sobesednik has found out, Gulnoz Kocharova, the niece of Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, was a co-owner of Server LLC, which is engaged in warehousing and storage activities, until early June. The second co-owner is Elena Likhach, formally the former wife of State Duma deputy Andrei Skoch, who has been repeatedly linked to the Solntsevskaya organized crime group and international criminal Semyon Mogilevich.
According to Rucriminal.info, Server LLC was established in 2010, and Elena Shilova has been the company’s CEO since 2013. In 2023, the company received revenue of 217 million rubles and a profit of 86 million rubles. Its only subsidiary, Cargo Fer-Trans LLC, which is engaged in auxiliary activities related to railway transport, earned even more, with revenue in 2023 amounting to 8.3 billion rubles and profit of 2.3 billion rubles. This company was established in 2021 and is headed by Sergey Kulakov, who denies affiliation with Alisher Usmanov, despite the fact that Cargo Fer-Trans LLC is registered at the same address as the Russian billionaire’s structures - USM Gold LLC, USM Cement LLC. Until 2022, USM Urban Mining LLC was located at the same address until June 2022.
Gulnara Kocharova’s husband, Vakhtang Ernstovich Kocharov, was a co-founder of Server LLC until September 2021. Until 2023, Kocharov was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Metalloinvest Trading AG, which is engaged in the export of products of the Russian Metalloinvest of Alisher Usmanov. Back in 2019, Vakhtang Kocharov became Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors and Executive Director of all of Metalloinvest. Since 2023, the businessman has resigned from all positions and lives in Switzerland, fleeing sanctions.
In 2019, at the instigation of Vakhtang Kocharov, Metalloinvest donated 250 million rubles to the Voskresenie charitable foundation, which was responsible for the construction of the main temple of the Russian Armed Forces, which was being built in the Patriot Park near Moscow. It was under the jurisdiction of former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, who was arrested in late April. The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel previously wrote about embezzlement during the construction of the facility . The FGAU "TsVVPKiO VS RF "Patriot" has not indicated its contractors since 2018, although it has contracts with suppliers worth 4.5 billion rubles. This money could have gone to companies in Ivanov’s pocket.
After Vakhtang Kocharov, the founders of Server LLC before Gulnoz Kocharova and Elena Likhach were Konstantin Selemizidi and Karen Gasparyan. Both now own companies operating in the real estate sector. Karen Gasparyan’s co-founder in Restart LLC is Artush Gasparyan, who owns Fermetorg LLC, which is engaged in wholesale trade in metals and metal ores. A company with 2 employees on staff can be used to drain money from Metalloinvest.
In the first half of 2022, Cargo Fer-Trans LLC became the largest buyer of new gondola cars - 2,000 units, ahead of other large companies. According to Sobesednik, gondola cars can transport ore for the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK), which is used to make armor plates for Russian military equipment.
It was not for nothing that the Federal Tax Service classified the contracts of Server LLC and its subsidiary Cargo Fer-Trans LLC. The connection of these companies through Vakhtang Kocharov, who lives in Switzerland, with Metalloinvest, billionaire Alisher Usmanov and State Duma deputy Andrei Skoch is obvious. And these people definitely do not need close ties with the Ministry of Defense.
