Vladimir Ashurkov, financier and partner of Alexei Navalny, gave Three-hour interview Journalist Yuri Dod. In the 2000s, Ashurkov worked as CFO of the Port of St. Petersburg and top director of Alpha Group. Since 2010, he has been involved in investigations into Alexei Navalny. He subsequently became CEO of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) and held this position until 2023. In an interview with Dodio, Ashurkov answered questions about the recent scandals surrounding the Anti-Corruption Foundation, including whether Navalny’s associates took oligarchs’ money, why they cooperated with Alexander Zheleznyak, a former shareholder of Probusinessbank, and who started the letter in support of billionaire Mikhail Fridman. Here are the most important quotes.
Did Ashurkov ask for money from the oligarchs?
Earlier, in an interview with Yuri Dodo, former Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alfred Koch stated the following:
- In 2012, Vladimir Ashurkov, then executive director of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, asked Koch and his fellow “oligarchs” for $100 million. In exchange for the help, Ashurkov, according to Koch, promised to give Gazprom to sponsors once Navalny’s associates came to power. It is not known whether Navalny was aware of this proposal – Koch says he did not ask the politician because he is sure that “Ashurkov was driving a fool.”
- In 2012, Koch Navalny gave money to the “movement” ($50,000) through journalist and human rights activist Olga Romanova. “He accepted them gratefully,” Koch said. “Then he had lunch with me.”
This is not true. This is not the first time Koch has said this. I thought maybe I had some kind of amnesia because I didn’t remember it. But I watched his interview with you, there are lies upon lies. This did not happen. A man who lies often cannot come up with such a thing.
Did Koch sponsor FBK?
There was one moment, the beginning of 2014. Navalny wrote me or said that he was supposed to hand over $100,000 to Koch, and he was supposed to hand it over to [правозащитница] Olga Romanova. Olya and I met. She said that when she got the money, she would hand it over. But for some reason this did not happen. In April 2014, I actually left Moscow. I don’t know why the spears were broken in this matter. If I had access to this money, of course, I would have taken it and used it for FBK’s needs. The money did not reach us. Koch has some kind of envy or [обида на] The valuable advice he tried to share with us was not taken into consideration.
Did Ashurkov discourage Navalny from going to Russia?
I deeply regret that this was the moment when I could not leave the UK because I was waiting for documents. I couldn’t come to him [Навальному] To Germany and we see each other, but we talked via Zoom. My friends and colleagues at that moment were Lenya Volkov, Masha Pevchikh and, of course, Yulia [Навальная] I spent all the time with him after that. They were closer to this decision.
When he came out of the coma, I felt an obligation not only to comfort him, but also to make him understand that he had different options: to stay longer in Germany, and not necessarily to return directly to Russia. Our first call, after he came out of the coma and began to come to his senses… We started talking to him, I realized that there was no point in talking to him about this matter at all. He made the decision to return to Russia. <…> So he had no other ideas and no other choice but to return to Russia.
Is Zheleznyak a volunteer or treasurer of FBK?
In October 2024, politician and blogger Maxim Katz released an investigation into Alexander Zheleznyak and Sergey Leontiev, the former owners of Probusinessbank, which was deprived of its license. Katz accused them of stealing money from bank customers. He also stated that the businessmen tried to “wash” their reputation after they left Russia for the United States to escape criminal prosecution. According to the author of the investigation, the Anti-Corruption Foundation helped them in this. Zelezniak established the legal entity of the Anti-Corruption Foundation in the United States in 2021. Quoting the organization’s report, Katz described Zelezniak as the foundation’s “key decision maker.”
FBK responded that they examined the schemes for the alleged withdrawal of funds from Probusinessbank. The fund said that Zheleznyak and Leontiev did not steal $470 million, which Katz accused them of. FBK also rejected any “protection” for bankers.
According to Navalny’s associates, after FBK was declared an “extremist” organization in Russia in 2021, they needed to create an American legal entity, and Zheleznyak volunteered “to do all the administrative work himself” and did not ask the organization “for anything in return.” Navalny’s associates claimed that Zeleznyak, who is registered as treasurer of the US legal entity FBK, “does not make any decisions.”
After the Katz investigation was published, Ashurkov said that Zelezniak was a member of the AFC board until July 2022. Zelezniak himself announced his resignation from FIFA shortly after the Katz investigation was published.
It was in 2021, that FBK was recognized as an extremist organisation. We need to rebuild our entire financial infrastructure, and we need to register a new legal entity. It is more convenient to raise funds using the Stripe system if you have a legal entity in the USA. We decided to register a non-profit organization in America. There was no one who could do this. We were looking for such a person. <…> And Lenya [Волков] “The new person who will do this is Alexander Zheleznyak,” he told me. I didn’t know him at the time, but it was clear that he was a man with financial experience who had lived in Boston for several years and had coordinated some pro-Navalny associations in several American cities. We hired him to help us register this non-profit organization, comply with all legal requirements, and open and manage a bank account. Then we didn’t have the time or opportunity to check the person. <…>
In 2023, various investigations emerged about what was happening at Prohibition Bank. It seems to me that then we had the opportunity to discuss this matter and decide to replace the person about whom these posts appeared with another person. Unfortunately, we didn’t do it quickly. He worked for a time as cashier. Not as a decision maker, or as a board member, but as a technical person managing a bank account. In the end we decided to part ways with him. Unfortunately, later than it could and should have been. It was really wrong.
Who had the idea to support Friedman?
When did the total invasion begin? [России в Украину]Friedman and other Alpha shareholders were subject to sanctions. I contacted him and thought it would be interesting to meet him. In this meeting we discussed the situation. My conviction, while involved in politics within Navalny’s team, was that a political force that aspires to power in Russia must be in contact with the Russian business elite with all the advantages and advantages that exist. It was clear that Friedman was not much interested in these contacts before the war. After he was subjected to sanctions, this might have become an interesting matter for him. I decided to have such a dialogue.
I met Friedman. Lenny Volkov and I had the idea that under the current circumstances it would be a good idea to try to attract the Russian business elite to the side of the West, against Putin. We had the idea that it would be possible to exempt businessmen from Western sanctions in response to some actions to distance themselves from Putin’s regime, condemn the war, and help Ukraine. We began such a dialogue with Friedman, and held two meetings in London. Friedman has been pushing for an exit from sanctions. He asked a number of Russian public figures for messages of support. He directed this to Lena. It was him [Волкова] Make the decision to sign or not to sign. He had the option not to sign, but he decided to sign.
The other aspect was whether this matter should be discussed with colleagues at FBK. <…> I told him that this was a risk and that it might be worth discussing this message with my colleagues. He had the position of head of the political direction of the Anti-Corruption Foundation and Navalny’s team. This is part of his mandate, and he has the right to sign such a letter. Then he admitted that it was a mistake.