Oligarchs, “united russia” Members, and a Brother from the Administration: the Real Owners of Construction Projects in Ukraine’s Temporarily Occupied Territories Have Been Identified

The kremlin has turned Ukraine’s war-torn and occupied territories into a profitable business for itself. As of August 2026, large-scale mortgage-backed construction is underway in the occupied areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions: more than 1.3 million square meters of housing are being built. While local residents have been waiting for years for compensation for their lost homes, and their surviving properties are being confiscated under the pretext of being “ownerless”, russian developers are receiving preferential loans at 3%, free land leases, and tax amnesties.

One of the main beneficiaries of this scheme turned out to be russian oligarch vladimir yevtushenkov (founder of afk “sistema”). His company (the “etalon” group) is active in construction projects in Mariupol and Luhansk through the proxy firm “rsk”. Having received over 26.5 billion rubles in preferential loans from the russian state-owned bank “vtb”, yevtushenkov is building residential complexes on the sites of demolished buildings in Mariupol. It is symbolic that the company’s entry into the market of the occupied territories coincided with the oligarch’s attempt to challenge European sanctions in the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The family of sergei kolunov, a state duma member from “united russia”, is also actively profiting from the Mariupol tragedy. The “sadovoye koltso” group, owned by his family and led by his son, a singer ilya kolunov, is constructing more than 80,000 square meters of housing in the city. Having received 12 billion rubles in preferential financing, the company is building the “house by the sea” residential complex near Azovstal – right on the sites where, after the city was stormed, there were burned-out buildings and mass graves. Meanwhile, the mp himself chairs the relevant construction committees and ignores complaints from defrauded residents.

In occupied Luhansk region, the largest loans for mortgage-backed construction (over 15.7 billion rubles) were awarded to the moscow-based company “everest”, which had never built housing before. It is owned by the son of a former kalmykia interior ministry official, bulat nurgushiev. His younger brother, azamat nurgushiev, currently works as an aide in the secretariat of the head of the russian president’s administration, which explains the “inconspicuous” firm’s sudden access to vast state resources.

The chief overseer and “architect” of this enrichment scheme is deputy prime minister of the rf marat khusnullin. It is the agencies under his authority that grant developers the status of “free economic zone” participants. Among those receiving preferential treatment were not only oligarch yevtushenkov, his neighbor in the elite “serebryany bor” residential complex in moscow, but also companies linked to developer pavel tyo (capital group), with whom khusnullin had spent years vacationing in Nice and Paris.

Profits from real estate development in the occupied cities are reaching a record 30% margin – at least twice as high as the average in russia. Apartments in these new buildings are purchased first of all by russians themselves using preferential mortgages at 2%. Native Mariupol residents, who have been stripped of their property, cannot afford to buy new apartments at a price of 170,000 rubles per square meter – the maximum compensation from the occupiers covers less than half the cost of such housing.

To suppress discontent among local residents whose homes are being demolished or confiscated, the occupying administration is resorting to repression. Before each of putin’s “direct line” sessions, activists who try to complain about the developers’ arbitrary actions and the confiscation of housing are summoned to law enforcement agencies and issued official warnings about “extremist activity”.