The Corruption Octopus: How Igor Chaika, Maksim Liksutov, and Artur Zavalunov siphon off billions from Russian Railways under the protection of Arkady Rotenberg

The Corruption Octopus: How Igor Chaika, Maksim Liksutov, and Artur Zavalunov siphon off billions from Russian Railways under the protection of Arkady Rotenberg

The new head of Rossotrudnichestvo, Igor Chaika, is also known as a major fixer.

For example, he offers to “resolve issues” involving Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov, Moscow Deputy Mayor Maksim Liksutov, and the head of the Legal Department of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, Artur Zavalunov.

These figures are, for the most part, closely connected to one another. At present, the elite group of Iskander Makhmudov and Andrei Bokarev is making every effort to appoint their protégé Maksim Liksutov as head of Russian Railways (RZD), replacing Oleg Belozerov.

The issue has reportedly been practically settled with Arkady Rotenberg, the de facto current master of the state company. Moreover, for a long time Liksutov and Rotenberg have been business partners in a number of major RZD projects. Also sharing in the alleged siphoning of the RZD and Moscow city budgets is one of Rotenberg’s closest associates — Artur Zavalunov, head of the Legal Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office, who is effectively considered the wealthiest employee of the country’s supervisory authority.

At one point, Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov reportedly made every effort to dismiss Zavalunov and set the Prosecutor General’s Office’s chief internal security officer, Sergey Orlov, against him. However, these efforts proved futile, and Zavalunov allegedly resolved all issues with the help of Rotenberg and a phone call from the Presidential Administration.