Funding the aggressor’s budget on Ukrainian defense contracts: How Denis Shtilerman continues to sue for real estate in Russia and pay taxes there

05 мая 2026 г.

Koba Dzhauriya

Several days ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy congratulated employees of the country’s defense-industrial sector on their professional holiday.

In his statement, he emphasized a number of achievements by Ukrainian weapons manufacturers, including the development of a long-range missile called “Flamingo” by the company Fire Point.

The company’s head and chief engineer, Denis Shtilerman, is described as a former Russian citizen and an employee of a military institute in Russia. He has stated that he stopped working there after Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity. However, according to registry data, there are indications that his involvement with Russian structures may have continued.

Denis Shtilerman is a mysterious figure. If you listen to recent interviews, his life looks like a well-thought-out script. After a physics and mathematics school in Kyiv, from which the outstanding Boris Paton graduated, Shtilerman went to study in Moscow. This happened right in August 1991, when Ukraine became an independent state. That is, he managed to automatically become a citizen of Ukraine and, after moving to the RF, also obtained a passport there.

However, back then he had a different surname – Danylov. According to Shtilerman himself, his father took a more Slavic surname to hide his Jewish roots. Denis Leonidovich became Shtilerman only after moving to Ukraine. In Russia, he is known precisely under the surname Danylov. Moreover, he is known including in criminal records.

According to Russian registries, Danylov Denis Leonidovich received an individual tax number in the Moscow region in August 2004.

And already in September, he became a co-founder of LLC «Agro-Alliance», which was engaged in growing grain crops in the Krasnodar Territory. A rather atypical activity for a graduate of one of Russia’s most famous engineering universities – the Moscow Physics and Technology Institute. At least, in a interview, Shtilerman himself spoke about graduating from the Moscow higher education institution with honors.

In 2005, LLC «Agro-Alliance» ceased operations, and its successor became LLC «Agro-Alliance». Denis Danylov was also listed among the founders. Moreover, he remained in the company’s structure until December 2021. Although in the interview, he said that he stopped working for the Russian state since 2014.

Danylov-Shtilerman was also part of the Russian LLC «SIB» from 2005 to 2006, which was engaged in renting out its own non-residential premises in Moscow.

It is difficult to say which of these companies brought Denis Shtilerman big money. However, he managed to become a shareholder in LLC «Agrofirma Pirogovo», which previously was called LLC «Deimos». This company privatized «golden» lands in the Moscow region in 2011, where so-called «sovkhozes» were previously located. In 2014, a criminal case was opened regarding the illegal acquisition of land plot rights.

According to registries as of 2023, the court case was still ongoing. Moreover, with the direct participation of the developer of Ukrainian «Flamingo» missiles, Denis Danylov-Shtilerman.

From the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated November 5, 2024, it is known that in June 2023, Danylov Denys, a shareholder of the company «Lesnye prostory» (a cottage town on lands privatized by LLC «Agrofirma Pirogovo»), was denied claims against a number of companies and private individuals for the transfer of two land plots to them in February 2021. Essentially, this document confirms that as of 2023, Denis Shtilerman continued litigation in Russia for his land plots.

In the Russian segment of the network, auction lots of the debtor Denis Danylov have also been preserved. These are land plots that he pledged for loans in Russian banks. These plots were sold including in 2023, already after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In addition to Danylov’s debtor plots, shares of the enterprises «Lesnye prostory» and «Systemic Integration of Business» (this is the same LLC «SIB» founded by Danilov in the 2000s) were also sold in Russia.

In interviews with Ukrainian journalists, Denis Shtilerman said that his ex-wife and two children continued to live in Moscow until the end of last year. Allegedly, the wife refused to leave the capital of the aggressor country, and it was only possible to persuade her after publishing his previous surname Danylov in Ukrainian media, which she bears.

In reality, Shtilerman’s wife leads a fairly open lifestyle. Her social networks are fully open, and she actively shares her daily life with subscribers. Thus, the secrecy of the special operation to evacuate his wife and children, which Shtilerman talks about, is very doubtful. According to the woman’s photos, she has been in Dubai with her children at least since December 2025. They visit sights, have fun, and relax.

Svetlana Danylova in Dubai’s Miracle Garden flower garden

In the world’s largest aquarium SeaWorld in Abu Dhabi

At the immersive art exhibition AyaDubai

Danylov-Shtilerman claims that a figure from Mindich’s tapes, the so-called scheme accountant Igor Fursenko, helped him evacuate his family from Moscow to a safe place. He is currently an employee of «Fire point».

As of April 13, 2026, Danylov Denis remains the founder and head of LLC «Flounder», registered in Moscow. The company is engaged in non-specialized trade and has an office on the Garden Ring, next to the «Lenkom» theater and the Museum of Modern Russian History.

In interviews, Shtilerman stated that he lost his Russian citizenship in 2016-2018 and also managed to serve time in a Russian prison. According to him, for political reasons, but according to registry data – under the article «fraud».

Despite active activities in Russia, Denis Shtilerman did not forget about his homeland. Back in 1997, he founded LLC «Polar-invest» in Kyiv with the activity «operations with securities». Two years later, Yehor Skalyha joined the company, on whom the rocket development company «Flamingo» «Fire point» was later registered.

Skalyha is Shtilerman’s classmate from the Kyiv school. Despite his physics and mathematics past, his friend did not become either a physicist or an engineer. Yehor Skalyha went into the film industry. Since 2007, he has been a co-founder of Private Enterprise «ET Point». His partner is Andrey Kirhizov, who has an PE with the activity «film production». Together they shot advertising videos and films.

After the full-scale invasion, Yehor Skalyha mobilized to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In 2024, he was awarded the Order «For Merit» by the President of Ukraine. In a post about receiving the award, he mentioned his film past, which connects him to Vladimir Zelenskyy.

Currently, LLC «Polar-invest» is headed by Dmitriy Demchuk. Together with Yehor Skalyha, they are also part of the public organization «Don’t Miss». «Polar-invest» has a long-standing litigation with the state «Ukrnafta» over unpaid dividends and sharply increased its net profit in 2025. Whereas in previous years, the company was in significant minus.

Dmitriy Demchuk is also the founder of the NGO «Public Hub». The organization’s website states that it is supported by Denis Shtilerman, Yehor Skalyha, and Iryna Terekh, who, however, are not members of the NGO. All of them are part of «Fire point». Among those expressing support is Yaroslav Pilunskyi. He is one of the most famous Ukrainian cinematographers who mobilized to the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

On Yehor Skalyha’s Facebook page, there are a lot of photos with his godfather Dmytro Chervonyi, who is also involved in film and music production. That is, the concentration of filmmakers around Shtilerman and his «Fire point» is, to put it mildly, surprising. Especially strange is that in the interview, he claims that Skaliga has no relation to the film industry and shot «only one film», which is an obvious lie.

In addition to filmmakers, Shtilerman has good business relations with lawyers. In particular, according to him, his close friend is Maksim Baryshnikov. He is also listed in the list of those supporting the NGO «Public Hub».

Baryshnikov is the founder of the legal company «BKB» and is a member of the public organization «Kyiv City Jewish Community». Together with Shtilerman, who, although bears a Jewish surname, is a Christian, they worked on the project to expel Russia from the UN.

Another lawyer close to Shtilerman is Artem Ustyuhov. Together with Yehor Skalyha and the company «Fire point», they are co-founders of LLC «Project 900». The company was founded in 2024 with a charter capital of 36 million hryvnias. In 2025, its capital was 25 million. Whereas in 2026, it sharply dropped to 1000 hryvnias. What the company does is currently unknown, as its financial reports are essentially empty.

Artem Ustyuhov also heads the NGO «Anti-Corruption Ukraine», which in 2021 owed 22 thousand hryvnias for rent to the communal enterprise of the Obolon district of the capital. It is unlikely that the organization conducts active activities, as there are no mentions of it on the network.

The life story of Denis Shtilerman that he tells in interviews resembles a good script. In which an outstanding engineer is imprisoned by the FSB for his political views, but still does not lose hope of returning illegally privatized lands near Moscow and continues to do business in the occupying country. For a more cinematic effect, his wife stays living in Moscow until the end of 2025 and then moves to Dubai so conspiratorially that any visitor to social networks can find out about it. The concentration of people from the film industry around Shtilerman suggests that part of the life story and affairs may indeed be fictional. Otherwise, it is impossible to explain how a former employee of the Russian Ministry of Defence Institute became one of the leading producers of drones and missiles in Ukraine. Especially considering his active companies in the RF.