Kirill Shamalov, the alleged former son-in-law of the President of Russia, CEO of Ladoga Management, commented on the Vital Stories investigation , which said he paid $ 100 to buy a 3.8% stake in Sibur. His commentary was published by RBC.

The conditions for my participation in the program [motivation for the top management of Sibur] did not differ from the conditions of Dmitry Konov, Mikhail Karisalov, Pavel Maly, Mikhail Mikhailov and other top managers. This circumstance makes it possible to focus public attention on the fact thatany reasoning about the uniqueness of my position in the option program is untrue, speculative and aimed at discrediting my business reputation…

The head of Sibur Dmitry Konov previously confirmed that Shamalov paid $ 100.02 for a 3.8% stake in the company, but the deal contained several more conditions. So, Shamalov, like other participants in the program, took on a proportional part of the debt of Themis Holdings, which owned shares of Sibur.

Important Stories wrote that Kirill Shamalov received a 3.8% stake in Sibur in 2013, shortly after he married the alleged daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Katerina Tikhonova. According to Shamalov himself, these shares could be worth $ 380 million.

Kirill Shamalov also owned a 17% stake in Sibur, which he bought in 2014 from businessman Gennady Timchenko, a friend of Vladimir Putin. In 2017, amid a divorce from Katerina Tikhonova, Shamalov sold these shares, which, according  to Bloomberg, he initially received as a guarantee of trust from Putin.

In early December, Vostochnye Stories published an investigation based on the correspondence of Kirill Shamalov, which was presented to journalists by an anonymous source. The investigation talked about the marriage of Kirill Shamalov and Katerina Tikhonova, the property that the couple owned, and their divorce.

On December 17, Vladimir Putin commented on the investigation of Important Stories at an annual press conference. He  said that Shamalov’s correspondence had been handed over to journalists by the US State Department, and he called the investigation itself a “compilation.” Putin noted that he had not read to the end of the publication of the publication.

(C)MEDUZA 2020