Many of those who worked or are still working for Putin’s regime have recently begun to change their stance. This trend has become especially common after Ukraine intensified its successful strikes on military facilities and oil refining enterprises, when even Putin’s servants started to realize that the operation was not going according to plan. One such example is Ilya Remeslo, who had been actively working for the Russian presidential administration since 2015 and fighting against opposition figures such as Navalny and the FBK, but has now begun expressing opposition views. One example of this was his post regarding the strike on the oil refinery in Tuapse, where he wrote that it’s time to put an end to «all of this», and that no gains from the war are worth the destruction of Russian cities and the harm done to the health of their residents.
This is not his first statement of this kind. In fact, he gained significant attention after a post on his Telegram channel titled “Five Reasons Why I Stopped Supporting Vladimir Putin.”
Surprisingly, after this statement he was not arrested, but was only placed in a psychiatric hospital for some time (many believe this was done by his relatives in order to protect him from arrest). After being released from the hospital, Remeslo continued to criticize Putin, the so-called “special military operation,” and everything connected to it, even giving a lengthy interview to Ksenia Sobchak and Echo of Moscow.
However, our article is not about another case of people working for the Kremlin changing their position, but rather about how the former Kremlin propagandist and lawyer is also connected to the Tuapse oil refinery that we mentioned at the very beginning.
The fact is that during 2013–2014, Ilya Remeslo was directly involved in a case concerning embezzlement in the reconstruction project of LLC “RN-Tuapse Oil Refinery.” This is how things often turn out with “patriots” in Russia. So, let us go through the events step by step and in chronological order.
Back in 2007, Rosneft officially announced an investment project and plans for reconstruction, declaring its intention to invest around $2 billion and begin construction in the third quarter of 2007. In 2009, large-scale construction and installation work effectively began, including the construction of the ELOU-AVT-12 crude oil primary processing unit, while in 2011–2013 the key facilities of the first phase were commissioned.
One of the main contractors for this project was KMUS-2 - one of the largest enterprises in southern Russia in the field of construction and reconstruction of fuel and energy infrastructure facilities, trunk pipelines, and chemical production facilities. The company had been involved in the reconstruction project of LLC “RN-Tuapse Oil Refinery” commissioned by Rosneft since 2011. According to information published on the company’s website, “KMUS-2” replaced heat exchanger units, furnaces, overpass structures, and storage tanks at the refinery with a total capacity exceeding 120,000 cubic meters.
At approximately the same time, specifically on October 21, 2009 - LLC “Master-Torg” (Taxpayer ID: 7814449817) was registered in Saint Petersburg at Rimsky-Korsakov Avenue, Building 33, Block K, Letter A, Apartment Premises 1N. Its sole founder was Stanislav Sergeyevich Ovchinnikov (Taxpayer ID: 781900440800). Here is the full list of companies where he was a founder and/or director, and this list already strongly suggests involvement in fictitious business activities.
In November 2013, the director of LLC “Master-Torg” became Ilya Borisovich Remeslo (Taxpayer ID: 781412018094).
Let us take a look at who Ilya Remeslo was in 2013.
According to Remeslo’s own statements, back in 2011–2012 he had even been a supporter of Alexei Navalny, but by 2013 he had already begun working for Putin’s presidential administration and, as we mentioned above, became the director of the aforementioned company.
Returning to the case that connects Ilya Remeslo and the Tuapse Oil Refinery, we are referring to the specific court case No. A32-6471/2017.
Based on agreements between LLC “RN-Tuapse Oil Refinery” and KMUS-2, the latter, acting as the general contractor, engaged LLC “Impex Electro” as a subcontractor for installation work, while LLC “Master-Torg” acted as the supplier of self-heating cables, electric pipeline heating cabinets, and related components. In turn, the suppliers of inventory and materials for LLC “Master-Torg” were LLC “Estetika” and LLC “Stroytorg,” while the cargo carrier was LLC “BTK Partner.”
Contract No. 14-09 between KMUS-2 and LLC “Master-Torg” was signed on October 20, 2011, for the supply of cable products and electrical equipment for the installation of a pipeline electric heating system at the “Tuapse Oil Refinery” facility in the city of Tuapse, Krasnodar Krai. The actual execution of the contract began in 2013.
According to the documents, in fulfillment of this contract, LLC “Master-Torg” supplied inventory and materials worth 576,087,340 rubles and 99 kopecks: 524,056,948 rubles and 56 kopecks in 2013, and 52,030,392 rubles and 43 kopecks in 2014.
However, in 2016, a field tax audit of KMUS-2 concerning the correctness of tax calculation and the timely payment (withholding and transfer) of taxes for the period from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2014 reached a different conclusion. This was documented in the field tax audit report dated June 7, 2016, No. 20-21/156/900, which questioned the actual supply of goods.
Following the review of this report, the inspection authority issued decision No. 10-21/163/1112 dated November 1, 2016, on bringing the company to responsibility for committing a tax offense. According to this decision, KMUS-2 was held liable under Paragraph 1 of Article 122, and Articles 123 and 126 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. The company was fined a total of 46,104,537 rubles, ordered to pay tax arrears totaling 198,789,380 rubles, and charged penalties amounting to 63,644,025 rubles. In addition, the company was instructed to withhold and transfer personal income tax (PIT) to the budget in the amount of 2,831,690 rubles.
Simply said: during 2013–2014, according to the documentation submitted to KMUS-2, LLC “Master-Torg” allegedly supplied goods to LLC “RN-Tuapse Oil Refinery” worth 576,087,340 rubles. Based on this, KMUS-2 filed the corresponding tax declarations. However, the tax audit failed to find evidence confirming the actual delivery of the goods, identifying only formal paperwork and document circulation. As a result, the tax authorities issued a decision imposing additional tax liabilities on KMUS-2 along with fines for violations of tax legislation.
One more interesting detail: according to the case materials, Ilya Remeslo appears as the director who signed the documents under which the alleged supply of goods supposedly took place:
In addition, the audit revealed that LLC “Master-Torg” displays all the signs of a shell company, lacking the premises, facilities, and capacity to fulfill the contract.
This tax audit took place in 2016, so let us take a look at what Ilya Remeslo had become by that point. By then, Ilya Remeslo was already fully working for the Russian presidential administration and was actively engaged in activities against Alexei Navalny and the Anti-Corruption Foundation in the interests of the presidential administration.
The head of the legal department of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, Vyacheslav Gimadi, describes Remeslo as “part of Putin’s vertical of power” since at least 2015, “when he ‘appeared’ during the searches of the FBK, accompanied the FBK case in the media with fake lawsuits and denunciations,” and also acted as a fake “witness” against Alexei Navalny and his associates.
By 2016, he was already actively operating as a blogger, lawyer, and author of materials directed against the Russian opposition. In the same year, Remeslo filed complaints with Russian law enforcement authorities under Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“extremism”). The most well-known case was his appeal to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation against blogger Anton Nosik over his statements about Syria.
That same year, in 2016, he became a laureate of the “Truth and Justice” award from the All-Russia People’s Front foundation for “anti-corruption investigations.” He was also nominated in 2016 for the “I Am a Citizen!” award from the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation in the category of “civic journalism.” In media appearances at the time, he commented on the projects and activities of opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky, in particular criticizing his project “Open Media.”
Returning to the case involving KMUS-2, LLC “Master-Torg,” and LLC “RN-Tuapse Oil Refinery.”
KMUS-2 filed a claim with the Arbitration Court of Krasnodar Krai against the Interdistrict Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service of Russia, seeking to invalidate the decision dated November 1, 2016, No. 10-21/163/1112, concerning liability for committing a tax offense.
Initially, by decision of the Arbitration Court of Krasnodar Krai dated July 14, 2017, in case No. A32-6471/2017, the decision of the Interdistrict Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service for Major Taxpayers in Krasnodar Krai dated November 1, 2016, No. 10/21/163/1112, was declared invalid. However, the Arbitration Court of Appeal in Rostov-on-Don overturned the decision of the Arbitration Court of Krasnodar Krai in case No. A32-6471/2017.
Then, on March 28, 2018, the Arbitration Court of the North Caucasus District, acting as the cassation court, ruled that the decision of the arbitration appellate court dated December 29, 2017, in case No. A32-6471/2017 should remain unchanged, while the cassation appeal should be dismissed.
Thus, the court of final instance confirmed the findings of the tax inspection and the legality of its report and decision concerning violations of tax legislation, which had been based on the absence of evidence of the actual (physical) performance by LLC “Master-Torg” of its contractual obligations. This ruling ultimately led to bankruptcy proceedings against KMUS-2, while LLC “Master-Torg” itself was liquidated in December 2016, literally one month later.
Thus, the court established that no real delivery of goods had taken place. So what happened to the general director of LLC “Master-Torg,” Ilya Remeslo? Based on the materials of the tax audit, which confirmed the fictitious nature of the supplies, a criminal case would have been opened and he would have faced imprisonment. But we should remember that by 2016, Ilya Remeslo had already become a fairly significant part of Putin’s political machinery.
The key point is that during the field audit, a handwriting examination was conducted (incidentally, the only one) regarding the signature of the general director of LLC “Master-Torg,” Remeslo I.B. According to expert conclusion No. EBP-1-557/2016 dated March 29, 2016, Remeslo’s actual signature did not match the signature appearing on the primary documentation. The documents of LLC “Master-Torg” — including invoices, VAT invoices, and appendices to the contract — which had been accepted and processed by KMUS-2, were signed by another person rather than Remeslo himself. Consequently, the information contained in those documents could not be considered reliable.
Why this examination was conducted solely within the framework of a tax audit, and why no criminal case was ever initiated regarding the fictitious document circulation, remains unknown.
Moreover, as Remeslo himself later confirmed, he did not sign the documents. Accordingly, he was considered “innocent” and uninvolved :)
HAPPY END
