“Black sky” of billionaire Andrey Melnichenko

The notoriously famous businessman under sanctions, Andrey Melnichenko, who has contaminated several regions of Russia with his coal-fired thermal power plants (TPPs), owns a large number of movable and immovable assets, yet he cannot use either the mansions or the yachts.

And, as they say, misfortune never comes alone: Mr. Melnichenko suddenly caught the attention of the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office, which filed a lawsuit to recover the shares of the company "Sibeco" in favor of the state. Although this frenzy around Melnichenko lasted only a few months — in the end, the prosecutors retreated — but, as they say, the aftertaste remained.

So, have they surrounded him from all sides? Not so long ago, Andrey Melnichenko and his wife – former Serbian model Sandra Nikolic and their two kids lived comfortably in fairy-tale Switzerland, without a care. But suddenly sanctions occurred, and the family had to move to the UAE. Why not have gone to Krasnoyarsk, he could have looked at the black sky of the city choking from the operations of the coal king of Siberia Melnichenko’s TPPs. He could have chewed on the air there; they say you can chew the air! And in Krasnoyarsk, the billionaire’s Siberian Generating Company (SGC) has long been called the "Death of Krasnoyarsk City".

Today, the Melnichenko family has settled with flair in the UAE, in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, but in his interviews, Mr. Billionaire complains that the climate is not the same, the children miss their Swiss friends and toys, and the wife’s tender skin is peeling from the sun. It is rightly said, some have thin soup, while others have little pearls. Now would be the perfect time to relocate to Krasnoyarsk, where you can’t even see if the skin is peeling because the city lives in the mode of that very "black sky" for 45-60 days each year due to the operation of coal “monsters”.

It is noted that Melnichenko’s coal companies have virtuously and ingeniously blocked the gasification of the Krasnoyarsk Territory at the governmental level for more than 15 years to preserve the volume of coal sales.

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Yet Melnichenko earned all his immeasurable wealth on Russian soil, so why has he put the Krasnoyarsk Territory with its population of 2.838 million people on the brink of survival? And, as it turns out, it is not only in Krasnoyarsk.

Bloody beef lungs

However, despite the sanctions, Mr. Melnichenko’s business affairs are going quite well.

Andrey Melnichenko

For 2024, the company "Eurokhim" increased its sales volume of nitric acid, melange, and specialty chemicals to Russian factories, which produce rocket fuel and gunpowder, fourfold.

Furthermore, Siberian Coal Energy Company (SUEK), owned by Mr. Melnichenko, is among the top five global coal suppliers and has assets in 12 regions of Russia, including the Krasnoyarsk Territory (Borodinsky, Nazarovsky, Berezovsky coal mines), Kuzbass, Khakassia, Buryatia, Primorsky, Zabaikalskiy, and Khabarovsk Territories.

However, the high-calorie coal with low sulfur and nitrogen content, which meets international environmental standards, is exported, while lower-grade brown coal of the technological brand 2B is destined for Russian inhabitants.

This brown coal is the primary fuel source for boiler houses, thermal power plants (TPPs), GRES-2 and private houses in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, as well as in the Novosibirsk Region and the Altai.

They say Melnichenko is unaware of the "black sky" mode in Krasnoyarsk, even though he owns three TPPs that burn brown coal.

"Black sky" in Krasnoyarsk

Bloody beef lungs have been repeatedly left at the doors of Melnichenko’s companies in Krasnoyarsk. Live crayfish have been released as well: a significant increase in cancer diseases has been noted in the city (and in the region too).

For a while, the whole of Krasnoyarsk was covered with graffiti depicting the silhouette of a TPP shrouded in black smoke and another interpretation of the abbreviation SGC — not the Siberian Generating Company, but "Death of Krasnoyarsk City".

Working TPP-2 of Krasnoyarsk

The "black sky" mode in Krasnoyarsk, when in calm weather you can’t breathe due to soot particles, and the sun is not visible, has been a concern for residents for a very long time. But a miracle happens before the arrival of top officials: the air is suddenly purified. Apparently, the boiler houses are switched to decent fuel?

Apart from Krasnoyarsk, the cities of Chernogorsk, Abakan, and Minusinsk are also among the top cities with the most polluted air.

After all, SUEK is engaged in open-pit coal mining, during which coal dust is blown everywhere by gusts of wind. And the locals use low-quality Balakhtin coal, which is ten times farther than from local mines.

"Black sky" of Krasnoyarsk

But the coal from these mines is of high quality, but Mr. Melnichenko needs that coal for export deliveries.

Driven out of Switzerland and Italy

Let’s also recall that Andrey Melnichenko does not leave the Forbes list: today his fortune is more than 25 billion of the "green".

The main directions of the billionaire’s business are the extraction of minerals, the production of mineral fertilizers, and the generation of electricity.

Andrey Melnichenko

The billionaire has been under sanctions since 2022. Since then, he has been litigating to lift the restrictions: he supposedly has no ties to the Kremlin. Also, Melnichenko points to his complete apolitical. After the imposition of sanctions by the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the billionaire’s assets around the world were frozen.

Mr. Melnichenko continues to fight fiercely for the removal of sanctions. But in January 2025, the European Union court dismissed Melnichenko’s request for exclusion from the EU sanctions list.

In the court’s decision, it was noted that Andrey Melnichenko resides in the town of St. Moritz, the canton of Graubünden (Switzerland).

St. Moritz, canton of Graubünden

Switzerland initiated the process of revoking Melnichenko’s residence permit, citing the billionaire’s prolonged absence from the country, although since 2009, Melnichenko resided with his family in his own home in the ski resort of St. Moritz: the residence is located on the Suvretta slope.

He had to catapult from Switzerland to the UAE.

Furthermore, Mr. Melnichenko is the owner of "Sailing Yacht A", the largest sailing yacht in the world.

The Melnichenkos

The price of this "toy" is €530 million. Three masts, each taller than Big Ben. Fully refueling the yacht costs $500,000: that’s in case of an absence of favorable winds.

On March 11, 2022, the Italian Financial Guard, within the framework of the EU sanctions imposed on Melnichenko, arrested the yacht in the port of Trieste.

And the authorities of the Isle of Man annulled the vessel’s registration.

Yacht "A" of Melnichenko

It is unknown what happened to the Boeing business jet (£42 million) and the Bentley (£200,000) that remained on Yacht "A" during the arrest.

Driven out of France and Britain

But losses were not confined to chocolate Switzerland and sunny Italy.

The billionaire lost his favorite villa "Altair" in Antibes on the picturesque French Riviera. In September 2005, he celebrated his wedding with Serbian model Sandra Nikolic at this villa: several hundred guests attended the event.

For the wedding ceremony, a replica of an old Russian chapel was specially built at the villa. 

Andrey Melnichenko and Sandra Nikolic

And in March 2022, a ban was imposed on the use, sale, or lease of the "Altair" villa: the luxurious residence on the Riviera became inaccessible to the Melnichenko family.

After France, the United Kingdom delivered its blow: the British authorities prohibited the use of the luxurious Harewood Estate near Windsor Castle in Berkshire. The 14-hectare land includes a mansion, a SPA center, a pool, and a house for the servants. The purchase in 2005 cost Melnichenko £30 million.

The Times wrote that Melnichenko also owns a maisonette – a kind of small apartment house on Eaton Place. The cost is £10 million. The maisonette is located in the prestigious Belgravia area. He bought this property in 2011 through the company Valton Limited.

b2bhint.com

The company is registered in Bermuda.

Shown the door in the USA

The USA also didn’t stand aside.

Melnichenko owned a duplex penthouse of 260 square meters in New York. The price? $11 million. This apartment is located in a historic high-rise, which was once a luxury hotel at the address: Intercontinental, 110 Central Park South.

Owned by Melnichenko — a 260-square-meter duplex penthouse in New York

The billionaire’s wife Sandra Nikolic-Melnichenko acquired this luxurious penthouse back in 2010.

In 2019, another penthouse with five bathrooms in the same building was purchased for $13 million. These apartments with panoramic views of Central Park are among the most expensive on the Manhattan real estate market.

But the sanctions deprived the Melnichenko family of these assets as well.

However, in Moscow, Mr. Melnichenko owns an apartment — 300 square meters — in the elite residential complex "Gruber Haus" on New Arbat. From the window, he can see the Russian Government House and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building.

A few years ago, Melnichenko bought more than 3 hectares in the elite cottage settlement "Gribovo" near the village of Borodki in the Odintsovo district. This estate with its forest, landscaped park, and lake can be worth over a billion rubles.

But something keeps Mr. Melnichenko from going to Russia, apparently frightened by the story involving his longtime friend Mikhail Abyzov.

The investigation is over, forget it

Major troubles befell Mr. Melnichenko in August 2023 in Moscow, notably from a source he probably didn’t expect such a surprise.

The Russian General Prosecutor’s Office accused Mr. Melnichenko of bribing Mikhail Abyzov during the purchase of the energy company "Sibeco". Recall that Mr. Abyzov was detained in the spring of 2019 on charges of large-scale fraud.

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This story is very intriguing. Melnichenko and Abyzov have known each other for a long time because they studied together in the mathematical school at Moscow State University.

In February 2018, Kuzbassenergo (part of Melnichenko’s structures) acquired 78% of the shares of the company "Sibeco" from structures formerly owned by the “minister without portfolio” Mikhail Abyzov.

Mikhail Abyzov

According to the investigation, the shares of the structures controlled by Abyzov were bought at an inflated price, and the money was transferred to Cyprus.

Companies "Sibeco" then owned 6 TPPs in Novosibirsk, Kuybyshev, and Biysk. The defendants in the case were specified as Kuzbassenergo companies, which are part of the Siberian Generating Company (SGC) and the Khakassia Repair and Maintenance Company (AO "KHRK").

SGC was involved in the proceedings as a third party.

The representative of the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office stated that the former owner of "Sibeco", Mikhail Abyzov, while being a state official, engaged in entrepreneurial activity in violation of the law. To conceal his participation in the company’s capital, he allegedly offered his old friend Melnichenko to buy the company’s shares.

31.9 billion shares of "Sibeco" were sold to the "Khakassia Repair and Maintenance Company", and later were bought by Kuzbassenergo.

And AO "Kuzbassenergo" became the full owner of "Sibeco".

At that time, many wondered whether the General Prosecutor’s Office would limit itself to a civil suit or would initiate a criminal prosecution?

Andrey Melnichenko

After all, it would be difficult to prove violations by the legal entities involved in the purchase: the 2017 deal for purchasing "Sibeco" shares was approved by FAS. And Melnichenko’s Siberian energy holdings already closely cooperated with government bodies: they agreed upon tariffs and received benefits.

Recall that Mr. Melnichenko doesn’t possess Russian assets directly, hiding behind offshore trusts, and "Sibeco" is the largest energy company in Siberia, managing several hydroelectric power plants, power stations, and TPPs.

Abyzov also had additional assets — AO "RES" and AO "Electromagistral" — power grid companies in the Novosibirsk Region. At that time, the market value of these packages was estimated to be 40 billion rubles.

In October 2023, the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office withdrew its claim against Mr. Melnichenko. This was reported by RBC.

So, is Mr. Melnichenko really apolitical? And does he truly have no ties with the Kremlin? How else can we explain why the Krasnoyarsk Territory cannot switch to gas if the region continues to operate the polluted coal enterprises of the apolitical billionaire?

But let us return once again to the case of Abyzov’s shares, as Anatoly Chubais played a significant role in Abyzov’s fate. Melnichenko and Abyzov have known each other, as they say, since their youth.

In the early 2000s, Abyzov received the post of the first deputy chairman of RAO UES: he became Chubais’ right hand.

Anatoly Chubais

It was during this time that Abyzov was able to defend his pivotal asset — “Novosibirskenergo” — in disputes with the prosecution.

At that time, the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office initiated a criminal case against officials, who allowed the sale of "Novosibirskenergo" shares to Abyzov’s structures for a market value of 40 million dollars for only 570 thousand “greenbacks”.

Soon after, the company "Novosibirskenergo" was renamed "Sibeco" and hidden offshore, allowing Abyzov not to declare it when he became the “minister without portfolio”.

The calendar then marked the year 2012.

When Abyzov began working in Chubais’ team, Melnichenko was already a co-owner of MDM Bank. The bank soon became a substantial shareholder of RAO "UES" and participated in the redistribution of energy assets as part of the reform initiated by Mr. Chubais. Melnichenko’s and Abyzov’s interests intersected in the public sphere in 2018.

On February 7, 2018, a purchase and sale agreement for securities was concluded between Melnichenko and Abyzov in Cyprus. Experts estimated the transaction’s value to be 20–24 billion rubles.

In October 2020, the court seized 32.54 billion rubles from Abyzov in favor of the state.

Deputy Prosecutor General (at that time) Viktor Grin demanded the seizure of the money.

Viktor Grin

After all, Mikhail Abyzov since 2012 secretly owned five Cypriot offshore companies through which he, serving as a minister, managed the company "Sibeco".

It appears Melnichenko came to the rescue of his friend Misha. And he narrowly avoided a criminal case himself. However, it’s not yet late.

"Maldives" with mercury from Melnichenko

It seems that after purchasing shares of the company "Sibeko," Mr. Melnichenko found himself in yet another unpleasant story.

After the billionaire bought the company from Abyzov, he began implementing certain reforms. For instance, Novosibirsk TPP-5 switched from burning bituminous coal to lignite. To explain: lignite is 4–6 times cheaper than bituminous coal. But for all living things—this is a disaster. Bituminous coal contains 90–98% carbon, while lignite contains 60–70%. And the waste is significantly more.

The amount of lignite, unlike regular coal, needs to be burned more to achieve the same temperatures. The coal used by TPP-5 contains a huge amount of cadmium and mercury.

In Novosibirsk, it’s better not to wear white clothes as they instantly get covered in soot.

TPP-5, Novosibirsk

After such "modernization" Melnichenko-style, air pollution in Novosibirsk sharply increased. The number of ash dumps around the city is growing. In 2019, they covered over 500 hectares, and today—almost 600 hectares.

The level of air pollution in Novosibirsk today is very high.

It turns out that all of Krasnoyarsk has been polluted by Mr. Melnichenko’s plague enterprises. And now he’s set his sights on the city of scientists.

And yet the Novosibirsk "Maldives" appeared.

Novosibirsk, local "Maldives"

This body of water is an ash dump where waste from TPP-5 is discharged. The liquid with processed waste is drained into a pit through pipes.

The turquoise color resulted from calcium salts and oxides of various metals dissolved in the technical water.

Today, the "Maldives" are closed for visits. The facility is patrolled by the Rosguard.

And there are signs by the reservoir saying "No swimming allowed!" Yet bloggers come to these "Maldives" from all over the country. And even from abroad, they break through to the shores of the technical reservoir to take pictures.

Novosibirsk, ash dump TPP-5

And this turquoise lake has gained another name: "Deadly."

At what cost does Mr. Melnichenko continue to build his wealth? "Black skies" in Krasnoyarsk, polluted Novosibirsk, the Deadly lake near Novosibirsk...

And why didn’t Mr. Melnichenko fuel his yacht "A" worth 530 million euros with lignite? He dares not? And this "black sky" seems to have hovered over the billionaire’s head for a long time, considering he has been expelled from everywhere, deprived of mansions, penthouses, yachts, business jets...

But when will Mr. Melnichenko answer for the operations of his numerous dirty and dangerous enterprises? In the Russian Federation, Andrey Melnichenko is not raising the standard of living; he is raising the number of cancer cases.