Offshore “shield” of the head of Gazprom Neft: how the Gurinov family buys up London with Dyukov’s money, simulating a business split to bypass sanctions

27 апреля 2026 г.

Mikhail Zhurenkov

Vadim Gurinov, described as the manager of assets linked to Gazprom Neft CEO Alexander Dyukov, together with his family, reportedly owns several companies in London that control significant real estate, including a high-end residential complex in Soho.

His assets in Russia are said to be overseen by his wife, Galina Gurinova, along with long-time business associates.

Following the outbreak of war, the family reportedly redistributed control over their holdings to mitigate sanctions risks: Gurinov assumed responsibility for luxury UK real estate and offshore operations tied to Russian oil and chemical sectors, while Galina Gurinova took over domestic business assets. She is reported to own nearly 75% of the SERVICE-TELECOM group, a stake that appears to have been acquired through borrowed funds and is pledged to the sanctioned Gazprombank.

Offshore “shield” of the head of Gazprom Neft: how the Gurinov family buys up London with Dyukov’s money, simulating a business split to bypass sanctions

In 2025, JSC GK SERVICE-TELECOM generated revenue of 8.8 billion rubles and reported a net loss of 3.7 billion. Gurinov’s wife’s company is included in the list of systemically important enterprises in the Russian Federation. It builds towers for telecom operators in Russia, a key element of the state-run national project "Data Economy." On its website, SERVICE-TELECOM states that the company is the leader in the Russian tower infrastructure market, managing over 22,457 communication facilities.

Offshore “shield” of the head of Gazprom Neft: how the Gurinov family buys up London with Dyukov’s money, simulating a business split to bypass sanctions

Given that the Gurinov family continues to live and conduct large-scale business abroad, they have sought to conceal their family involvement in the Russian economy. In 2025, LLC GK SERVICE-TELECOM was transformed into a joint-stock company of the same name, removing its current founders from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. The remaining companies of Galina Gurinova were also merged. However, judging by the fact that the newly formed company is still managed by Gurinov’s man, Nikolai Berdin (former director of Gurinov’s firms in London), the composition of the founders has not fundamentally changed. Incidentally, the Berdin family owns approximately 5% of the group. SERVICE-TELECOM also manages four active Moscow firms: JSC NBK, ST-T LLC, ST-ET LLC, and ST-NATSPROEKT LLC. NBK, for example, manages non-residential properties, with net assets of 8.5 billion rubles as of the end of December 2025.

Furthermore, Galina Gurinova left the founders of the Voronezh-based company Kontur-S, but her husband’s brother, Artem Gurinov, is currently a shareholder there. This company, with revenues of 240,000 rubles, earned over 9 million in net profit. Kontur-S shared a phone number with St. Petersburg-based Olt Service, which served as a link to the Belarusian KhimTekhInzhenering, a company of the Avestra Group, in which Vadim Gurinov holds a stake through the Cypriot company Avestra Group Holding Ltd. Avestra actively trades Russian chemicals and oil.

Offshore “shield” of the head of Gazprom Neft: how the Gurinov family buys up London with Dyukov’s money, simulating a business split to bypass sanctions

The only asset currently directly owned by Vadim Gurinov in Russia is a 1% stake in Aurora LLC (the rest is held by his wife). Through this company, they own Industrial Hemp Processing Technologies LLC.

In the UK, Gurinov owns the London-based GO REAL ESTATE MANAGEMENT LTD and GO REAL ESTATE HOLDING. Another 60% of GO REAL ESTATE is owned through Hay Hill Investments Ltd by 70-year-old Evgeny Okun, whose company was planning to build a 21-story residential complex on the site of old industrial warehouses in London. The company even owned a plot of land at Islay Wharf, Lochnager Street, London E14 0LA, which it owned through London-based SN ISLAY WHARF LIMITED and obtained development loans through a couple of associated companies. The project was generally approved by London City Hall.

Meanwhile, associated companies (SN HAMPTON LIMITED, SN Islay Wharf, STANDARD HOUSE DEV LTD, and others) have been siphoning off millions of pounds in recent years, including loans within their own group. After 2023, the companies were drowning in loans and debt—several of them borrowed from the writer’s son, financier Oleg Radzinsky—and now external administrators are trying to sort this out. Their job will be difficult, as these British companies were used to funnel enormous sums of money, possibly including funds from Russia.

Offshore “shield” of the head of Gazprom Neft: how the Gurinov family buys up London with Dyukov’s money, simulating a business split to bypass sanctions

Vadim Gurinov also controls London-based New End Developments Limited, and his daughter, Valeria, is one of its directors. New End Developments has a subsidiary, HALAMAR (GOLDEN SQUARE) LIMITED. At the end of 2024, this company’s assets totaled £59 million, as HALAMAR is the owner of a luxury residential complex in the heart of London’s Soho (Golden Square No. 37).

In February of this year, Gurinov decided to issue 923 additional shares in New End Developments Limited. This move is typically taken when there is an investor interested in acquiring a stake in the company. Gurinov disclosed the ownership structure of the British company, signing the document on behalf of himself and ICESTONE INVEST LTD (BVI). Gurinov used this company as a "technical wallet" in March 2022, transferring 75,400 depositary receipts for Gazprom shares ($702,000) to it. However, he then had to hastily return them due to the new law onThe mandatory deconversion of receipts, but this time through the courts, exposing his offshore company.

Offshore “shield” of the head of Gazprom Neft: how the Gurinov family buys up London with Dyukov’s money, simulating a business split to bypass sanctions

Gurinov’s acquisition of large assets is linked to his friendship with Gazprom Neft CEO Alexander Dyukov. The St. Petersburg businessman had worked for Dyukov at Sibur since the early 2000s and even managed to secure a job there for his university friend Dmitry Kostygin (who later became a billionaire, owned 49% of Lenta with August Meyer, went bankrupt, and was brought to trial). Kostygin managed the Yaroslavl Tire Plant (YTP), part of the holding company, and under his watchful eye, the plant suffered a loss of 89 million rubles in two years. A few years later, thanks to his friendship with Dyukov, Gurinov acquired personal control of Sibur’s entire tire business—he himself painstakingly amassed these assets into the Cordiant Group. Incidentally, in parallel with his tire business, Gurinov was also building his own personal security force: for many years, his assets were guarded by private security companies registered to St. Petersburg businessman Andrei Petrov.

Offshore “shield” of the head of Gazprom Neft: how the Gurinov family buys up London with Dyukov’s money, simulating a business split to bypass sanctions

Specifically, these included NOP Tobol-Omsk, which guarded the Omsk tire plant, and YASHZ-BEZOPASNOST, which guarded the Yaroslavl tire plant Cordianta. After the sale of Alexei Mordashov’s Severgroup tire business, the private security companies also changed founders, and Petrov resigned from their leadership positions. Now, under the slogan "Preserving What Has Been Achieved," Mordashov is forming these private security companies into a large security holding company, Aquilon, with divisions in various regions of the country. His personal army protects hypermarkets (Lenta’s business), oil and gas companies, Nordgold mines in Yakutia and the Amur Region, and more.

Since the early 2000s, Petrov, a former director of private security companies, was part of a tight-knit group of St. Petersburg co-owners of ARCOR Holdings Inc. (Bahamas), through which Gurinov controlled 100% of the Lyubimy Krai Confectionery Association. Kostygin and Gurinov and Dyukov’s longtime associate, St. Petersburg native Alexander Uteshev, also held stakes in ARCOR. In Russia, Uteshev heads the Gurinov family business, Aurora LLC. Previously, Uteshev was also the CEO of Uran-Invest, one of the companies that holds Dyukov’s stake in Sibur (the stake was valued at $500-700 million before the war).