Oligarchic vineyard: how Novikov, Lebedev and the Kovalchuk denominations created a closed empire in Gelendzhik for Putin’s friends

This coming weekend there will be a closed opening of one of the most significant and favorite projects of Yuri and Mikhail Kovalchuk (and not only) - the Lev Golitsyn Wine Museum, which is the founder of winemaking in Russia. This museum will become part of the «wine city», covering an area of 3 thousand square meters. m. in Gelendzhik. 

According to sources, some kind of sacred significance is attached to the object and it is expected that all «of their own» for the Kovalchuks will be there. As the investigation showed, the «most important » museum was built by the same structures that reconstructed the famous «palace in Gelendzhik» (also called «Putin’s palace»).

The Lev Golitsyn Museum is part of the «White Cape» complex in Gelendzhik on the shores of Gelendzhik Bay (the territory of the ex-boarding house «Builder»). The project has been developed since 2020 and was positioned as the first «wine city» in Russia (larger than in French Bordeaux).
Investor - bank «Russia» of Putin’s friends Kovalchuk (the bank owns the Massandra, Inkerman, and Novy Svet» wineries). Project manager — restaurateur Dmitry Levitsky (creator of bars «Pistol dolls» and chains «Honey, I’ll call back»).

It is planned that the museum will include an immersive model of a winery, modern laboratories and embassy restaurants of Russian wineries.

Construction was carried out by the company «Velesstroy», known as the general contractor for the reconstruction of Putin’s palace near Gelendzhik. The company «Polytechstroy-Svargo», headed by Alexey Borodin (ex-adviser to the head of Roscosmos and ex-assistant to the plenipotentiary representative in the Volga Federal District Igor Komarov) also participated in the work.

Restaurateur Arkady Novikov (Putin’s confidant in the 2012 and 2018 elections) is related to the project: according to Levitsky, it was he who invited him to join the creation of the complex. The name «White Cape» and the corporate identity of the complex were developed by Artemy Lebedev’s studio; the project was originally called «Wine City».

Legal entity of the project - LLC «Torik». The first co-founder was Dmitry Levitsky himself, in April 2025 he transferred his 30% stake in the company to his own LLC «Persimmon Management Group». Another 70% of «Torik» belongs to 36-year-old St. Petersburg resident Olga Viktorovna Siruk.

Siruk is a representative of the Kovalchuks in «wine» projects: she is also listed as a project manager in the development service of the St. Petersburg JSC «New service bureau» (JSC «NSB»).

Now the founders of «NSB» are hidden from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, but until the beginning of 2022, four individuals were co-owners of the company: Nikolai Klishin - son of the chairman of the board of AB «Russia» Mikhail Klishin; Tatyana Salova - ex-director of «Igor Drive» LLC Yuri Kovalchuk and Mikhail Shelomov; Andrey Teterevlev — director of the companies «Relax» (owned by Svetlana Krivonogikh) and «Profit» (co-owners - Krivonogikh and through a chain of legal entities Yuri and Tatyana Kovalchuk); as well as Andrey Fedorenko — co-founder of LLC «Accounting and Registration Center», which is connected with the «Russia» bank and is located at the same address as it.

It is worth noting that the famous palace near Gelendzhik, after its construction, was also associated with Yuri Kovalchuk. The corporate mail of the St. Petersburg company «Binom», for which the palace is registered, is located on the domain llcinvest.ru. It belongs to the company «Standard», controlled by Yuri Kovalchuk. Journalist Oleg Roldugin found out this fact, which, apparently, was the real reason for his persecution. Roldugin also established that the residence on Valdai, according to documents, is not an official residence at all. All buildings are registered to the structures of Yuri Kovalchuk, and the Kremlin simply rents them. Therefore, even if Russia has a new president, the residence on Valdai will remain with the current owners