State racketeering under the cover of the Prosecutor General’s Office: how Sergey Shoigu, Maksim Vorobyev, and Gleb Frank are taking over the fishing industry in the Russian Far East

State racketeering under the cover of the Prosecutor General’s Office: how Sergey Shoigu, Maksim Vorobyev, and Gleb Frank are taking over the fishing industry in the Russian Far East

It has become known that behind the attempt to imprison the “crab king” Igor Mikhnov, as well as behind the lawsuits of the Prosecutor General’s Office regarding the nationalization of industry enterprises, stand Gleb Frank—the son-in-law of Gennady Timchenko—Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyev, and former Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu.

Gleb Frank has long been a business partner of Maksim Vorobyev (Andrey Vorobyev’s brother). Together they created the Russian Fishery Company (RFC).

The Vorobyov family has for decades been considered Shoigu’s “godchildren” in politics. Yury Vorobyov (the governor’s father) has been one of Shoigu’s closest associates since the founding of the Ministry of Emergency Situations (EMERCOM).

Gleb Frank became the key figure in a large-scale reform of the fishing industry, dubbed the “crab redistribution.” He receives active support from his father-in-law, Gennady Timchenko.

For a long time, quotas for crab fishing and other aquatic biological resources were distributed under the “historical principle.” RFC (Frank, Vorobyev, Shoigu) actively lobbied for a transition to an auction-based system.

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The reform was implemented, allowing Frank’s and Vorobyov’s structures to displace old Far Eastern players, securing the largest lots at auctions. The remaining quotas began to be taken from fishing companies by means of a scheme already tested in the Far East: the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) recognizes foreign control over aquatic bioresource harvesting, and the Prosecutor General’s Office then seizes everything in favor of the state; afterwards, either Rosrybolovstvo holds new auctions or Rosimushchestvo directly transfers the quotas with companies to Frank’s structures. In this case, it does not matter whether there is actual foreign control—the key is that it is stated in the FAS decision.

For those fishing companies from whom it is not possible to seize assets through nationalization, criminal cases are prepared.

Connections are not limited to the fishing industry but also extend to real estate development, where the interests of Shoigu (through the Ministry of Defense) and Frank (Timchenko) intersected:

Structures close to Gleb Frank showed interest in developing elite land plots in the Russian Far East.

Often, intermediaries in such schemes were figures from Shoigu’s circle (including the now-arrested former deputy minister Timur Ivanov), who oversaw state construction contracts and land transfers.

Григорий Дудник

Корреспондент

Следит за прокурорским корпусом: резонансные дела, избирательное правосудие и связи надзорных органов с криминалом.