Moscow, one of the biggest cities of the World, is a state within a state. It has own kind of president – the mayor – as well as ministers and departments. The city budget is huge and the ways the government operates are far from being straight. Here is a short article about Natalia Sergunina, the deputy mayor of Moscow. She is known for being notoriously poor, if we believe her tax declaration. But in fact she controls a lion’s share of real estate and profitable venues. Her connection to Pavel Tyo is also undisputed. According to sources Natalia Sergunina and Pavel Tyo have covertly withdrawn as much as $200 million from Russia and invested in Britain.
Deputy Mayor of Moscow Natalia Sergunina stands out from her colleagues in three ways – her privacy, the lowest income, and surprisingly, the least fame. The latter is strange because she led the most corrupt sectors of the capital for many years – the economy and city property. However, very little was known about Sergunina until recently.
Her notoriety increased after rumours surfaced about an alleged romance between Sergunina and Yegor Krid (or Creed?). Supposedly, after the start of their relationship, the deputy mayor’s birthdate even disappeared from the Moscow City Hall website. However, it seems that this romance is a PR stunt. The motives behind this misinformation are unknown, but it garnered more public attention than the Navalny FBK investigation into Sergunina’s income and her relatives’ business.
A brief background: Natalia Alexeevna Sergunina was born in 1978 and graduated from Moscow State University in 2000 with a degree in law, quickly making a remarkable career.
There are two secrets to her success. The first is her father, Alexei Sergunin, who served as a military judge for many years and ended his career in the Ministry of Justice. Thanks to her father, Sergunina began her career in the Ministry of Property Relations of the Russian Federation. After heading the Moscow City Department of Property, her father became the owner of expensive properties in the city.
The second secret is her husband, supposedly already ex, but such information is uncertain, as officials can keep secrets better than spies. However, at the beginning of her career, Natalia met Movladi Natsaev, a man from the Caucasus seven years her senior. They became spouses, and a daughter named Elizabeth was born to them.
Mr. Natsaev was listed in the Moscow City Police Department’s database in 2000 with the label “criminal contingent.” However, he was not an ordinary criminal; he was closely connected to the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, a significant factor in Russian power circles.
According to rucriminal.info, two Mercedes cars registered to Movladi Natsaev bear license plates with the letters “KRA,” familiar to every Chechen as they stand for Kadyrov Ramzan Akhmatovich. Ordinary Chechens would face serious consequences for using such plates on their cars.
After meeting Movladi, Sergunina’s career soared. Gradually, Natsaev himself emerged from the shadows, establishing various companies from 2006 onwards. Although Sergunina is officially divorced from Natsaev, his business career formally does not concern her. However, insiders claim that the divorce is only a formality, supporting the theory that the Krid romance rumours are a fake.
Returning to the official, according to her anti-corruption declaration, Sergunina lives on a single salary in a rented apartment.
Last year’s increase in income was explained by the sale of a plot of land. Nevertheless, as you understand, this cannot be true. Our system of power does not work like that, especially considering Sergunina’s role in Moscow’s government – overseeing the economy and city property.
This was brilliantly confirmed by the FBK in its investigation two years ago. According to FBK, Sergunina’s family and close associates acquired property worth 6.5 billion rubles at undervalued prices through fictitious auctions. The real estate was allegedly purchased by offshore companies linked to Lazare Safaniev, the husband of Sergunina’s sister (also known as Aaron-Eliezer ben Telmit Safaniev).
Safaniev is not only a believer but also a miracle worker. His company “Aviapark” was involved in developing the Hodynskoye Polye territory, previously owned by city authorities. The organization was supposed to build an aviation and space museum and a park, with an investment of 4.3 billion rubles. Sergunina supervised the development project.
“And here we have a miracle we are so familiar with. The city decides to divest itself of this asset completely,” notes Navalny.
The new owner of 33% of the company’s share capital became Sergunina’s relative, her sister’s husband, Lazare Safaniev. The remaining two-thirds of the shares went to an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands, with unknown beneficiaries. The museum and park were never built.
Through a chain of offshore companies, Lazare Safaniev’s company acquired historical real estate from the city and opened hotels there. Safaniev also owns the business centre “Bronnaya Plaza” and 40% of the “October” cinema on Novy Arbat. Sergunina’s sister Irina owns two pavilions at VDNKh, housing the restaurants “Ottepeli” and “Moskovskoye Nebo.”
Sergunina is also associated with the Uzbek businessman Pavel Tyo. In 2018, two departments and the tender committee of the Moscow City Hall, led by Sergunina, moved to the Moscow City complex of skyscrapers. No open tender was announced, but it became known that the beneficiary was the company Capital Group, headed by Pavel Tyo since 2016. He received 6.39 billion rubles for the purchase of the premises.
The accompanying renovation, undertaken by the Capital Group subsidiary “Inventprof,” received 3.075 billion rubles for the work. The project’s customer was not the city hall but the State Unitary Enterprise “REM,” also under Sergunina’s leadership. Subsequently, “REM” entered into an agreement with the same Capital Group for the construction of a residential complex nearby, costing the city budget an additional 8.894 billion rubles.
The relocation of Moscow’s departments was deemed unprecedented in cost in the city’s modern history. There were also reports in the media linking Pavel Tyo and Natalia Sergunina not only through business but also suggesting a personal connection, such as the mention of a necklace and ring from the French brand Van Cleef & Arpels worth 2.3 million rubles – reportedly a gift from Tyo.
However, law enforcement authorities did not find any evidence of corruption in Sergunina’s work. Instead, her business qualities were highly appreciated in the Moscow City Hall. After the mayoral elections in 2018, Natalia Sergunina assumed the position of the first deputy mayor and became the head of the mayor’s office and the Moscow government.
