A friend of Vice-Governor Sokolov was found among the citizens of Malta

Businessman Konstantin Khodosovsky, who owns road companies, was found to have Maltese citizenship. He is a close friend of the Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg Maxim Sokolov. Previously, suspicions were expressed that friendship with an official could explain the entrepreneur’s luck in receiving government contracts for road construction.

The Maltese authorities published in the Official Gazette a list of persons who underwent the naturalization procedure and received citizenship of the country in 2020. Document in your Telegram channel опубликовал General Director of Transparency International (NPO recognized as a foreign agent) Ilya Shumanov.

Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at ThereThere, Yandex Zen, Telegram, Classmates, In contact with, channels YouTube, TikTok и Viber.
To subscribe to notifications in your browser, click here.

The list contains many names and surnames of businessmen from post-Soviet countries, including from Russia. Among them was Konstantin Khodosovsky, the owner of the road construction companies Tekhnosphere and Tekhnosphere Engineering, as well as a minority shareholder of LSR Group.

Edition "Version" published material, which noted that the businessman’s companies were unusually “lucky” to win tenders for the construction and repair of highways in the regions of the Russian Federation. In many government procurements, contracts with firms were concluded as the only suppliers after the auctions were declared invalid, since other participants did not appear. The media noted the strangeness that for some reason Khodosovsky has no competitors in a very profitable area, and the FAS was not interested in procurement, and in such circumstances billions were earned. Journalists found an explanation for the “financial miracle” in the close relations of the businessman with high-ranking officials.

For many years, Khodosovsky has been a good friend of the family of the current vice-governor of St. Petersburg for transport, and in the past, the head of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, Maxim Sokolov. Together with the official and his son-in-law, he regularly goes hunting. Khodosovsky also participated financially in the life of the family - he made a “donation” to the “Revival of the Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God” fund, co-founded by Sokolov’s son-in-law and the father of his wife, Yuri Ryskov. In addition, the businessman used apartments in the elite X-Home complex near the Gulf of Finland in Repino, which was built by the Territory of Investments company. The latter is considered an asset of the family of the vice-governor and his companions. Maxim Sokolov has friendly relations with the head of LSR Andrei Molchanov, whose shares are owned by Khodosovsky.

The media drew attention to the fact that in 2020-2021, the transport block of St. Petersburg was reformatted and many leadership positions were occupied by people associated with Sokolov. In such circumstances, it was possible that conditions were being created for the entry of friendly construction companies into the market, among which were LSR and the Technosphere Group of Companies.

Let us recall that until 2020, in order to obtain Maltese citizenship, a foreigner needed to know the language and history of the country, continuously reside in the state for more than five years and have a residence permit, or invest at least 650 euros in the state’s economy. From November 000, passports are issued to foreigners only on the basis of direct investment for exceptional merit in accordance with the Maltese Citizenship Law.