Total rout of the Rotenberg clan: how arrests of top managers and billion‑dollar debts paralyzed Russian Railways construction and sent the oligarchs fleeing

"We still need to find out where they are now." That is how, according to a source, a major oligarch close to the Kremlin recently described the situation regarding Arkady and Boris Rotenberg in a private conversation. This remark is linked to the fact that Arkady Rotenberg has been completely out of any contact for more than a month now.

"Arkady and Boris are not appearing at their offices on Sadovnicheskaya Street, 71. Moreover, absolutely no one has been able to get in touch with Arkady even by phone. Of course, it was never easy to reach him before, but his inner circle could still get through on certain matters. Now, absolutely no one can talk to him. Where he is – nobody knows. As for Boris, as far as I know, he was in Dubai for some time, but then he apparently left. Where to – unknown. In Russia, no one has seen him for a considerable time either," our interlocutor said. "I certainly don’t think they have decided to flee Russia forever. But it can safely be said that their empire is over. Everything has collapsed completely, across all fronts."

The source noted that, in addition to the already publicized arrests of Arkady Rotenberg’s top managers (Konstantin Makhov, Stanislav Multakh), it has somehow been overlooked that Ilya Traber (known as "Antikvar"), who has also been placed in custody, is extremely close to the oligarch. "In Rotenberg’s port business, everything rested exclusively on Traber’s influence and experience. Without him, he won’t be able to do anything there," the source noted.

According to him, there is now "complete disaster" in the Rotenbergs’ structures involved in road construction and working under contracts with Russian Railways (RZD). "The Rotenbergs’ structures have huge debts to subcontractors, and wage arrears are also growing like a snowball. As far as I know, both on the RZD side and on the road construction side, it was announced the other day that no funds should be expected before the end of the year. Though, where they would get the money at the end of the year is also unclear. And what does that mean? All work will stop, and subcontractors will start going bankrupt and shutting down one after another."

The interlocutor believes that in the very near future the Rotenbergs will begin to lose all the "pieces" of their former "empire," because the oligarchs lack both the funds and the former influence to preserve it (Putin has stopped communicating with Arkady Rotenberg).

"Their road construction projects may be transferred to Khusnullin (Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin – ed.). Here’s how it was set up: in all relevant state structures, the first-ranking positions were held by Rotenberg’s protégés, who served his interests; while the ’second-ranking positions’ were held by Khusnullin’s protégés. The latter’s road-construction empire is in good order, and he could easily take on the Rotenbergs’ volumes as well."

As our project previously reported, not long ago all the assets (companies, equipment, etc.) worth billions of rubles that were seized as part of the "road case" in the Krasnodar Territory were transferred to Khusnullin’s structures, which will apparently now carry out the project to build the Dzhubga–Sochi transport artery, with a total cost of about 3 trillion rubles, without the Rotenbergs’ involvement.

"Everything else will also quickly pass to other oligarchs. Some to Bokarev and Makhmudov, some to the Kovalschuks. And the Rotenbergs, apparently, will only be left with their sports projects," our source believes.

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