Inside Russia’s power networks: the Radionov clan, SOGAZ money flows, and FAS approvals
The media have uncovered who else belongs to the inner circle of the head of Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources (Rosprirodnadzor), Svetlana Radionova, and helps her resolve various issues. They also examined what corruption schemes are allegedly being built by her brother, Grigory Radionov, deputy head of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS).
As our project previously reported, brother and sister Radionov, while still working in the prosecutor’s office, maintained close ties with the criminal group of Aslan Gagiev (Dzhako) and allegedly traveled on its behalf to “settle disputes” with bankers.
One such figure is 37-year-old Yulia Lysenkova, a native of the Ivanovo region and a former employee of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise CLATI for the Central Federal District. In 2024, Radionova even included her in Rosprirodnadzor’s personnel reserve. It was Yulia Lysenkova’s phone number and email address that were used to purchase tickets for the 2018 FIFA World Cup for a large group led by Radionova and the head of SOGAZ, Anton Ustinov, who is described as her common-law husband.
In addition to them, tickets were purchased for Svetlana Radionova’s brother, now deputy head of the FAS of the Russian Federation Grigory Radionov; his common-law wife and mother of his two children, Oksana Gonchar; her father, Yuri Gonchar; Radionova’s assistant Maria Makarchuk (with whom Yulia regularly shared the same phone); Makarchuk’s husband Ruslan Makarchuk; as well as Mikhail Zakharov, owner of the company “Main Insurance Agent.” The latter is part of Ustinov’s close circle.
We have previously reported that Radionova and her former classmate Anton Ustinov allegedly organized the withdrawal of funds from SOGAZ to controlled individual entrepreneurs and companies. This process is reportedly overseen by Radionova’s personal assistant, Lyubov Kharitonova. Numerous relatives and friends are involved in the scheme, including individual entrepreneur Tatyana Sivak, a former university classmate of Kharitonova at the Rostov State Transport University; Kharitonova’s father, individual entrepreneur Oleg Guzhikhin; her former mother-in-law, Tatyana Lukyanova, who also registered as an individual entrepreneur; as well as the mother of another Radionova assistant, Maria Makarchuk — individual entrepreneur Lidiya Makarova.
Grigory Radionov, the younger brother of Svetlana Radionova, who also previously worked in the prosecutor’s office and now serves as deputy head of Russia’s FAS, reportedly has other interests. His father-in-law, Yuri Gonchar (father of Radionov’s common-law wife Oksana Gonchar), who is registered in Izhevsk, regularly traveled to Novokuznetsk and stayed at the Park Inn by Radisson Novokuznetsk hotel.
Through LLC “N-Capital,” the hotel is part of JSC “Inrusinvest,” which belongs to the family of businessman Alexander Govor. The company’s subsidiaries are currently managed by his son, Roman Govor. Sources say that it was there, away from “prying ears,” that Yuri Gonchar and Roman Govor discussed highly important and lucrative matters.
In 2022, several major deals crucial to Govor were under consideration, all of which required approval from the FAS, where Grigory Radionov was already working. In the spring, Govor decided to acquire McDonald’s Russian assets (which later became “Vkusno — i tochka”), and in November he applied to purchase 100% of the Russian assets of the logistics company HAVI Russia (Rulog LLC), which owned 14 distribution centers across Russia and worked with IKEA, McDonald’s, and BP.
The FAS reported that it received Govor’s petition to purchase the fast-food chain on May 30, and approval was granted just three days later, on June 2. However, the antimonopoly service took more than a month to decide on the acquisition of HAVI. This deal was far less publicized in the media, making it unlikely that its fate was closely monitored by the Kremlin or officials on Staraya Square.
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