The Anti-Corruption Foundation, or FBK, says it traced the financing behind the purchase of a 34% stake in Ozon to a company owned by Gennady Timchenko.
The shares had previously belonged to Baring Vostok and were acquired through structures linked to businessman Alexander Chachava.
FBK identified a loan of 51,230,297,000 rubles received by a company called Stratosfera. After examining corporate financial statements, investigators found the same amount among loans issued by a company called Optima. According to FBK, an almost identical sum had in turn been provided to Optima by Delta, a company owned by Timchenko.
Based on the financing chain, FBK makes the broader claim that the Ozon stake was acquired in the interests of Vladimir Putin. That conclusion should not be presented as an independently established fact: the documents cited in the investigation trace the financing to a Timchenko-owned structure, while the claim about Putin as the ultimate beneficiary is FBK’s interpretation.