Deal with Savvidi and profit on the lands of the Ministry of Defense: how the clan Nikolai Shikhidi and Sofia Toros squeezed out 18 plots in Lefortovo for the sake of Swiss luxury

As the media found out, Krasnodar entrepreneurs-relatives Nikolai Shikhidi and Sofia Toros, who are fighting in the courts for 18 plots of land in Lefortovo seized from the Ministry of Defense, turned out to be connected not only with businessman Alexander Chistyakov (husband of singer Glukoza), but also with the owner of the group «Agrok», billionaire Ivan Savvidi.

Previously, local officials helped promote business in their Shihidi-Toros region — friends of businessmen worked in the Gelendzhik mayor’s office, local departments of the Federal Tax Service and the Treasury. Now Shihidi bathe in luxury, go on vacation to Switzerland, buy clothes and accessories from elite brands and enjoy life. Why not - luck continues to accompany them. At the end of June, the court lifted the seizure of Moscow land, so now Shihidi (and those behind them) can calmly launch the construction project. This means that the Ministry of Defense and the state are unlikely to be able to return the pressed areas.

Nikolai Shikhidi’s mother, 76-year-old Sofia Toros (formerly Sofia Shikhidi), was the head of the Gelendzhik department of the Federal Treasury Department of the Krasnodar Territory until 2012, and then, as you know, went into business. At that time, Nikolai Shikhidi, as an individual entrepreneur, was engaged in the private transportation of — traditional taxi activities for resort towns. Both went into construction and turned out to be surprisingly successful: they were engaged in unauthorized construction of high-rise buildings on golden resort lands, and then through the court demanded that the authorities recognize the buildings as legal. Considering the presence of hundreds of shareholders, already built houses and some other arguments, the courts met halfway.

The first useful acquaintances for entrepreneurs were obviously provided by Georgy Shikhidi Sr.: until 2009, he was the director of the dispensary «Edelweiss» (owned by the All-Russian Society of Disabled People), where he began friendly relations with a lot of colleagues and guests. In addition, at the beginning of the 2000s, Shihidi Sr. had a company «FOB» for canning fish - obviously, he received it from the local «Fishing collective farm Paris Commune», as well as LLC «Sports Hunting Club «Dynamo-Gelendzhik». Georgy Shikhidi’s hunting business partner from 2003 to 2016 was Viktor Khrestin, the mayor of Gelendzhik from 2008 to 2018. Then his share was transferred to his brother, Anatoly Khrestin.

It is interesting that Anatoly Khrestin is also one of the founders of the Association of FC «Spartak-Gelendzhik», and with him there were relatives of Shikhidi’s other business partners: Aflaton Solakhov - the father of Pantelei and Ilya Solakhov; Pavel Ozerov is the son of Sergei Ozerov, ex-mayor of Gelendzhik and former State Duma deputy; Ervand Yeghiazaryan is a relative of Marie Yeghiazaryan, founder of the developers «CEC» and «Gelenstroy», which, together with Dmitry Parfentyev, owned «Lara» LLC; Fotiy Exizov — is an honorary citizen of Gelendzhik, ex-director of the Gelendzhik factory of the association «Krasnodarrayobuvbyt» and ex-co-owner of «Fos Shiping Management» LLC, which rented the central passenger pier in Gelendzhik and organizes boat trips on ships. Air tickets for members of the Solakhov family were purchased using the Eksizov email.

The son of Aflaton Solakhov, Pantelei Solakhov, together with Nikolai Shikhidi, owns LLC «SZ Aurora», «SZ Aurora-2», «SZ Aurora-3» and «SZ Aurora-4». This is the former head of the desk inspection department of the Federal Tax Service Inspectorate for Gelendzhik, and also a member of the council and vice-president of the Federal National-Cultural Autonomy of Greeks of Russia. By the way, the daughter of Shikhidi’s other friend, Konstantin Feodosiadi, also worked at the Federal Tax Service, with whom, according to leaks, he flew to Moscow together. In 2014, Maria headed the debt settlement department at the same inspectorate.

The head of the autonomy of the Greeks of Russia and Solakhov’s boss is billionaire Ivan Savvidi ($1.7 billion according to Forbes), owner of a large business empire led by the «Agrokom» group, owner of numerous assets in Greece, ex-owner of «Don tobacco» and former State Duma deputy from «United Russia».