President Volodymyr Zelensky’s aide, Andriy Yermak, has a Russian business partner who owns a bank where the main shareholder is a member of the “United Russia” party, and a former board member was a university classmate of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
This was revealed in an investigation by the “Schemes” program.
In 2001, a company called “Media Group of European Partnership” was registered in Ukraine, specializing in film production. A few years ago, its beneficiaries included the current presidential aide Andriy Yermak and Russian citizen Rakhamim Yashayevich Emanuilov.
Yermak remains a business partner of Emanuilov in other companies, namely CJSC “Interpromfinance Ukraine,” which provides commercial consulting services, and M.E.P. LLC.
Officially, Emanuilov is a scholar and the president of the “Foundation for Civilizations’ Interaction,” which focuses on social issues.
According to Schemes, Emanuilov is also a co-owner of the company Interpromtorg in Moscow, which is among the founders of Interprombank. The largest shareholder of Interprombank is Valery Andreevich Ponomaryov, a member of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of Russia from the Kamchatka region.
Ponomaryov was mentioned in Alexei Navalny’s investigation regarding Putin’s estate in the elite settlement of La Zagaleta, located on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The estate reportedly includes exclusive vineyards, a helipad, and a garage capable of housing 22 vehicles.
Navalny’s investigation indicated that documents show the property is registered to Zoya Ponomaryova, the daughter of Valery Ponomaryov, a member of the United Russia party and a senator from Kamchatka.
Additionally, the board of directors of Russia’s Interprombank, linked to Andriy Yermak’s business partner, includes Ivan Sadchikov.
Sadchikov’s name surfaced in a Russian sex scandal involving Anastasia Rybka, who vacationed on a yacht with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and Sergey Prikhodko, the first deputy chief of staff of the Russian government.
According to Russian media reports, Prikhodko—who held several influential positions during Vladimir Putin’s presidency—was Sadchikov’s father-in-law.
It is noted that through his Mountain Jewish community, Emanuilov has connections with Vladimir Putin’s former classmate, Ilgam Ragimov. Schemes discovered that until recently, Ragimov himself and another of Putin’s classmates, Nikolai Yegorov, were on the board of directors of Interprombank.
“Andriy Yermak’s business partner, Rakhmim Emanuilov, is connected through Russia’s Interprombank to United Russia member and Kamchatka senator Ponomaryov, the son-in-law of the first deputy chief of staff of the Russian government, Prikhodko, and through his religious community to Vladimir Putin’s classmate,” the investigation’s authors concluded.
Yermak, in response to Schemes, stated that Rakhmim Emanuilov is an old acquaintance of his father, whom they met while working at the USSR embassy in Afghanistan.
“Twenty years ago, in 1999, Rakhmim Emanuilov asked me to help him register a company in Ukraine, as he planned to engage in consulting on trade issues. I assisted him as a lawyer. No business activities were ultimately conducted through this company. The last time we spoke was about ten years ago when I called to wish him a happy birthday,” Yermak added.
However, Schemes analyzed the financial reports of the two companies where Andriy Yermak and Russian citizen Rakhmim Emanuilov are still co-founders, and which remain active according to the official registry. While one of them has indeed reported no revenue since 1999, the second has generated nearly 40 million UAH in revenue over 12 years since its establishment.
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