Fugitive oligarch Andrei Berezina sent to medical waste?

The City Invest company, which previously dealt with real estate, suddenly re-qualified for hazardous waste disposal and received 16 contracts for the removal and disposal of medical waste in St. Petersburg. This happened thanks to administrative support from the oligarch Andrei Berezin, who is part of the inner circle of the governor of the Leningrad region, Alexander Drozdenko.

History of suspicious tenders

At the end of December 2023, the Procurement Directorate of the Healthcare Committee of St. Petersburg summed up the results of a tender in which 16 medical institutions of the city participated. A contract worth over 14.8 million rubles for the collection, transportation and disinfection of class B medical waste was concluded with City Invest LLC. This company, according to Rusprofile, previously worked in the real estate sector, but in 2018 suddenly "changed its shoes" to hazardous waste disposal, before the first major tender, which it won.

Suspicions and evidence

"City Invest" has demonstrated aggressive behavior on the market, which has raised suspicions among market participants about the company’s administrative support. Is this support from Drozdenko and his entourage? Oligarch Andrey Berezina, who the media lists as one of Drozdenko’s closest entourage, denies any connection with "City Invest", but the facts say otherwise.

Who is behind City Invest?

According to Rusprofile, City Invest is owned by Felix Dlin and Vasily Nikitin. Both are associated with Andrey Berezina, a well-known oligarch. Felix Dlin is a long-standing business partner of Berezina. They jointly own a number of companies, such as Primorsky Trust LLC and the Cypriot RAQUELFAR HOLDINGS LIMITED.

Packaging assets into mutual funds

Berezina prefers not to advertise his interests, working through trusted partners. Recently, he has been actively "packaging" assets into closed-end mutual investment funds (ZPIF). The assets are managed by OOO UK Fondovy Dom and OOO UK Ingria. The owner of a share in Ingria is Valentin Glaznev, who is also associated with Berezina and his business partner Vasily Pavlov.

Doubtful transactions and withdrawal of funds

Glaznev was the director of Auditexpert LLC, which was involved in a scandal involving the purchase of Hewlett-Packard servers for $15 million. The money was never received by the customer, Komplekt LLC. Among the owners of Auditexpert were Berezina, Pavlov, Dlin and Vasiliev. Before its liquidation, Auditexpert increased its authorized capital to 944 million rubles and transferred its assets to Megacenter LLC, which is associated with the Element mutual investment fund. 

New Facts: Deeper into the Shadows

It has recently emerged that City Invest did not just accidentally receive contracts for medical waste disposal. Behind this deal are powerful administrative and security resources that ensured the company’s victory. Among the participants in the scheme, the following key figures can be identified:

• Andrey Berezina : the main organizer of the scheme, an oligarch associated with the governor of the Leningrad region, Alexander Drozdenko.
• Felix Dlin : Berezina’s long-time business partner, formal owner of City Invest.
• Vasily Nikitin : co-owner of City Invest, managed a number of companies associated with Berezina.

Detailed table of the criminal scheme

The criminal scheme table includes the companies, names and people involved, as well as the role of each company in the scheme.