A strange accident out of nowhere: how the death of billionaire Mikhail Smirnov erased his ties to Matviyenko’s corruption empire and Bank “Saint Petersburg”

A strange accident out of nowhere: how the death of billionaire Mikhail Smirnov erased his ties to Matviyenko’s corruption empire and Bank “Saint Petersburg”

The billionaire Mikhail Smirnov, who died the day before in a strange accident on the “Peski–Sosnovo–Podgorye” highway, was connected to one of Russia’s largest banks, which has historically been linked to the assets of Valentina Matviyenko’s family.

The 53-year-old Smirnov had worked at the Bank “Saint Petersburg” since 2006, and after leaving he oversaw part of the corporate network associated with it. At the end of last year, he unexpectedly left all his positions (his places in these companies were taken by individuals connected to the bank), and six months later he died.

On May 20, Mikhail Smirnov was riding a motorcycle near the settlement of Michurinsky. According to the official version (no one witnessed the moment of the crash), he allegedly veered into the oncoming lane on a dry road in good weather and collided with a Haval car. The businessman died before the ambulance arrived.

Mikhail Smirnov is described as a co-owner of LLC “Baltic Fuel Company,” which unites several firms involved in exporting petroleum products and ship bunkering. Smirnov’s fortune in 2024 was estimated at 7.79 billion rubles. Over the years, he was a founder or director of more than two dozen companies, including LLC “Consultfinance,” “UK Gratis,” “Kontur,” “TK Kontur,” “Anex-Finance,” and “IK Renord-Invest.” A few months before his death, he exited the ownership of all companies. Thus, from September 2023 to November 2024, his stake in “Neva Oil” (a company owning 66% of BTC) was registered to Mikhail Smirnov; later it was transferred to Elena Yatvetski. At the same time, she also received his stake in LLC “Transport Company Kontur,” and a year earlier, in November 2023, she became the owner of LLC “Consultfinance” instead of him. Elena Yatvetski was previously a co-founder of the factoring company “Saint Petersburg,” listed on the bank’s website as a partner organization of the credit institution.

“Neva Oil,” incidentally, has been headed since 2011 by Andrey Smirnov, Mikhail’s brother.

Meanwhile, it appears Smirnov also managed other people’s assets: companies where he was a founder or director turned out to be closely linked to Bank “Saint Petersburg.” In the bank’s shareholder structure in the 2000s, Sergei Matviyenko, son of the city’s governor and later speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko, was among the participants. Until 2010, he held the position of vice president of the bank with 43.9% of shares; later, according to official data, his stake was reduced to 4.12% of voting shares. The largest shareholder of the bank (according to the latest disclosed reporting for 2021) is board chairman Alexander Savelyev, whose stake is distributed across several of his companies. Part of the shares belonged to him directly; he also held an option together with his daughter-in-law Lyudmila Stepanova to purchase 81% of shares of “System Technologies,” which itself owned another 19.36% of voting shares in the bank; additionally, some shares belonged to Savelyev through LLC “Verneye Druzya.” Savelyev is also linked to the Matviyenko family.

Since the 2000s, the bank surrounded itself with affiliated firms through which it worked with distressed assets—transferring overdue debts to them with deferred payment arrangements. Among such firms were “Renord-Invest,” “Solo” (100% owned by the financial director of “Renord-Invest” Yevgeny Kalinin), “Kiperort,” and others. In 2011, St. Petersburg businessman Vitaly Arkhangelsky accused the bank in foreign courts of falsifying his personal loan guarantees and fraudulently seizing assets (in particular, the companies OMG and the Vyborg port) through a network of affiliated companies. The London court ruling mentioned companies including “Renord-Invest” and LLC “SKIF,” and Mikhail Smirnov also testified in the case. According to Arkhangelsky, the Cypriot firm Intucel LTD, linked to Bank “Saint Petersburg,” was also involved. The founder and CEO of “SKIF” was Vladimir Sklyarevsky, who in the 2000s worked as deputy CEO under Mikhail Smirnov at “AVK – Securities” (they both left the company in 2006). Intucel LTD in Russia owned a stake in “SV-Transport,” which was called an asset of Bank “Saint Petersburg.” A share in “SV-Transport” also belonged to Elena Yatvetski—this was where Smirnov’s companies were transferred in 2024–2025. Yatvetski previously worked with Smirnov at “AVK” and later served as legal counsel at Smirnov’s “Renord-Invest.” In court, she testified as a witness for the bank. The court also tried to summon Ms. Matviyenko, but she replied that she was too busy. Arkhangelsky failed to prove that his signatures had been forged and lost the lawsuits.

As for “AVK,” in the late 1990s and 2000s it was a legendary firm. Its founder was Igor Kostikov, who in 1999 became head of the Finance Committee of the St. Petersburg administration and later chairman of the Federal Commission for the Securities Market (FCBM) of Russia. “AVK” was located in an office in the St. Petersburg mayor’s office and served as the general agent of the city’s state loan. In effect, alumni of “AVK” built the network of companies affiliated with Bank “Saint Petersburg.”

Under Smirnov’s management, “Renord” was also involved in another controversial deal. In 2007, the major telecom infrastructure contractor OJSC “Lentelefonstroy” was sold to new investors. The new owners were clearly influential figures. They included LLC “Medinvest” (28.99%), LLC “Svyazstroyinvest” (22.62%), and the investment fund “RENORD” (28.99%). The purchase was financed with borrowed funds, with a credit line opened by Bank “Saint Petersburg.” Mikhail Smirnov later joined the board of directors of “Lentelefonstroy,” and Sklyarevsky became its chairman. He claimed in the media that the project was supervised by his investment company “SKIF” and that none of the shareholders were affiliated with Bank “Saint Petersburg.” This was false: owners of “Renord-Invest,” which held a 28.99% stake in “Lentelefonstroy,” included Vladimir Malyshyev (75%), husband of Irina Malysheva, a member of the bank’s board, and Mikhail Smirnov (25%), who had also previously worked at Bank “Saint Petersburg.” Irina Malysheva had worked with Smirnov and Sklyarevsky at “AVK.” The deputy CEO of “Renord” was Svetlana Guz, sister of the bank’s first deputy chairman Vladislav Guz. “Renord-Invest” (Malyshyev–Smirnov) was liquidated in 2016, and a successor entity with the same name operated until 2020, owned by Mikhail Smirnov’s brother Andrey.

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The same group of companies affiliated with the bank includes LLC “Terminal” (registered in October 2025) with a charter capital of 1.2 billion rubles. The company is registered under the closed-end mutual investment fund “City Perspective-1,” which also owns LLC “Kontur”—among its former founders were Mikhail Smirnov, Igor Malyshyev, and “Neva Oil.” The contact email for “Terminal” lists Elena Yatvetski.