Vladimir Zhirinovsky transformed the LDPR into a tool for personal enrichment, while Nadezhda Grishaeva became the family’s primary "wallet," leveraging party connections to illicitly profit from state contracts and clandestine operations.
Trading deputy mandates and withdrawing budget funds allowed relatives of the head of the LDPR Vladimir Zhirinovsky to acquire real estate in expensive resorts in Europe and Asia, in Moscow and Sochi, and actively engage in various profitable businesses. Journalists found out how the late party leader’s family is mastering and spending billions.
Deputy Rent
In 2010, during a trip of the State Duma delegation to France, an LDPR deputy Leonid Slutsky asked compatriots not to mention his party affiliation to the hosts. Slutsky justified his request by saying he joined the LDPR simply because he needed a place in the Duma.
As "Project" found out, Slutsky is not alone: one-third of the LDPR faction consists of so-called “commercial” deputies. They paid or are paying substantial sums for their mandates.
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“A position in the federal list during the State Duma elections can cost 100-200 million rubles, according to a former LDPR deputy; the same estimate is given anonymously by a United Russia deputy. However, such figures are more likely intended for experienced deputies seeking re-election to the Duma. For newcomers, the figures may be higher — from 400 million rubles, claims a current federal official well acquainted with the LDPR leadership. One current deputy even made a contribution of about 500 million rubles, his acquaintance and colleague from the party says,” the journalistic investigation states.
It is clarified that trading in mandates and certificates was practiced by the liberal democrats’ leadership since the 1990s. Then, a deputy position cost from $700,000, and an assistant certificate — from $10,000. Even those who are no longer State Duma deputies pay. In particular, Sergei Abeltsev, whose “portfolios with cash” regularly arrive at the party office.
Payment can also go to accounts of structures close to the party. These are the Russian Union of Free Youth, the Center for Supporting Youth Initiities, and the Fund for Supporting Unemployed Youth. In 2015-2017, they received voluntary donations and contributions totaling 4.3 billion rubles.
The same Slutsky, according to "Project," is considered one of the most important LDPR sponsors. He organizes deputies’ flights to business events abroad and once even paid for Zhirinovsky’s birthday celebration. Overall, almost all deputies pay to the LDPR, transferring from 10 to 100% of their salary for the party apparatus maintenance.
Moscow Chic
Relatives and friends of Zhirinovsky have a large collection of real estate in various corners of the planet. According to "Project," the site of the compact living of the numerous family of the LDPR head in Moscow is a block on Nezhinskaya Street. They own 19 apartments and a non-residential premise where the company of Zhirinovsky’s ex-wife Galina Lebedeva is registered. The total area of the family’s real estate on Nezhinskaya is 6.8 thousand square meters, with a total value of about 2.7 billion rubles ($41.8 million).
Most apartments belong to the "Telmi" company, owned by an offshore entity registered to full namesakes of Zhirinovsky’s son Igor Lebedev’s old companion — Yuri Chaplygin — and the Moscow "Dynamo" basketball player Nadezhda Grishaeva. She is supposedly either the civil or the official wife of a descendant of the chief liberal democrat. The couple has children together, but the fact of their marriage registration is unconfirmed, and Lebedev does not list her and her property in his declaration.
Meanwhile, Grishaeva was registered with 10 luxury cars — one Bentley Continental and nine Mercedes-Benz S-Class, including five Maybachs. With the help of hired drivers and the “Yandex.Taxi” and Uber services, Grishaeva provides elite transfer services to VIP clients. However, journalists found no permissions for passenger transportation for the ex-basketball player’s cars in the registry of officially registered taxis.
Igor Lebedev, in turn, owns 802.5 square meters on Volkhonka, used for the Nereus hostel.
Four companies of Galina Lebedeva own five apartments on the 54-62 floors of Moscow-City’s "City of Capitals" towers. Their total area is 1104.6 square meters, with an estimated total value of 615 million rubles or $9.4 million. Opposite the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall on Tverskaya Street, Grishaeva’s company has another apartment of 195.7 square meters. Now, an apartment of similar size in this building is on sale for 163.4 million rubles ($2.5 million), journalists found out.
Zhirinovsky’s personal dacha is located in the Moscow suburb of Daryino next to the government "Gorki." The LDPR leader owns plots with a total size of just under four football fields. His illegitimate son Oleg Eidelstein (former surname — Gazdarov), living across the road, owns nearly 30 acres with buildings, and an additional six are under lease. According to “Project,” the cost of Zhirinovsky’s residence is approximately 1.1 billion rubles, and his son’s — 127.6 million rubles ($17 million and $2 million, respectively).
Overseas Luxury
In addition to real estate in Moscow, Zhirinovsky’s relatives and close associates not only own luxurious apartments in Sochi, Spain, and the UAE but also actively engage in the hotel business there. For example, Galina Lebedeva owns the Acta Azul hotel in Barcelona. Spanish Destiny Invest SL, registered to her, manages Areir SA, which owns the hotel building. It is likely that in Barcelona, Zhirinovsky’s ex-wife earns by renting out office spaces. For this, she has real estate in the city center with a total area of 436 square meters.
The Spanish island of Ibiza did not escape Nadezhda Grishaeva’s notice. Her three-star hotel with a pool, Azuline Hotel-Apartamento Rosamar, is located 300 meters from the beach. In 2016, the wife of the current vice-speaker bought three apartments in Spanish Benidorm with a total area of 178.7 square meters and a cost of about 551,000 euros in the Santa Margarita high-rise. In the same city, there is also Galina Lebedeva’s villa with an area of 83 square meters and a value of 200,000 euros.
In the coastal province of Alicante, the family and partners own five houses and apartments. Lebedeva’s largest property is a large house with a pool valued at around 1.3 million euros in the town of Altea, offering a picturesque view of the Mediterranean Sea. The total area of buildings on Lebedeva’s plot is about a thousand square meters, and the plot itself is 1461 square meters.
In Sochi, Grishaeva owns two non-residential premises totaling 873.5 square meters on the first floor of the high-rise “Barcelona-Park” residential complex, built by Galina Lebedeva’s company “Raritet.” Grishaeva leases one of the premises. According to "Project," Grishaeva’s Sochi properties are worth 74.2 million rubles ($1.1 million).
Lebedev’s apartment in the UAE capital, Dubai, which was reported by the head of the Anti-Corruption Foundation Alexei Navalny in 2014, is not reflected in the vice-speaker’s declaration. Its area is 42 square meters, and its current value is 136.9 million rubles ($2.4 million).
According to "Project," all of the Zhirinovsky family’s real estate includes 51 properties in Russia and abroad. The entire luxury is valued at approximately 9.8 billion rubles or $150 million.
“Zhirinovsky and Lebedev could never have earned this money based on parliamentary salaries. But they could have taken part of the earnings from Russian taxpayers’ money,” notes the online publication.
Budget in the Pocket
Annually, the LDPR, being a parliamentary party, receives over 1 billion rubles from the state budget, i.e., 152 rubles per vote of each of its voters. “From 2013 to 2017, almost 1.3 billion rubles were withdrawn to the family’s close associates, their companies, the Institute of World Civilizations, as well as the family company of former LDPR deputy Igor Ananskih, which is a third of the state funding for the party during the same period,” writes "Project."
Funds from the party were received by Lebedev’s friend, director Daniil Bondar, who conducts business with his family in Spain, Bondar’s company "Fin-Art Group," and Fin-Art’s CEO Evelina Kim. Money also went to Grishaeva’s company "Telmi," the security agency "Pharaon-M," registered at the family’s property address in the Nezhinskaya settlement, and Galina Lebedeva’s company "Raritet-M."
