It’s a miracle: Relatives of Putin’s former bodyguards, appointed as governors, are suddenly rich
Relatives of Putin’s former bodyguards have suddenly become rich and successful businessmen after the Russian president decided to appoint his bodyguards as governors, according to a study published by the Russian news outlet Proyekt.
Four members of the Federal Protective Service (FSO) became governors, although only two have retained the position to this day. Their relatives have apparently had better luck, because, as the article points out, they have been making good money by collaborating with state-owned enterprises.
Dmitry Mironov was appointed governor of the Yaroslav province in 2016, and was reelected one year later. Immediately afterwards, his brother Yevgeny became a co-owner of the major construction company SK Rustrest with an annual revenue of $42.2 million.
According to Proyekt, at the time the company restored four railway stations in Moscow – Paveletsky, Leningradsky, Belorussky and Yaroslavsky, and provided services to Russian Railways and Gazprom. In addition, Yevgeny Mironov suddenly became the business partner of one of Russia’s wealthiest citizens – Viktor Kharitonin.
The Mironovs’ father, Yury, wasn’t left out either – he was given shares in two private security companies – Guard Service XXI and Saturn, which signed a $540,000 transport infrastructure security contract with the Moscow-based state budgetary institution Gormost in 2018, and another $546,000 contract in 2019.
Mironov’s wife, Tatyana Lyay, lives in Moscow’s prestigious Sokol District in an apartment worth an estimated $420,000. However, Mironov’s income in the last five years has been no more than $50,000 per year.
Another of Putin’s former bodyguards, Alexey Dyumin, became head of the Tula province in 2016. Before this, he had managed to work as Deputy Defense Minister and to obtain the title Hero of Russia (presumably for his part in a special operation to evacuate former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych to Russia).
In 2014, the governor’s brother, Artem Dyumin, who had been working as a tennis instructor, became a successful builder of elite property in the most expensive regions of the Russian capital. He also joined the board of directors of the Olympic Sports Complex, which belongs to billionaires God Nisanov and Zarakh Iliev.
In 2016, the governor himself was found to possess a 344 m2 apartment in Moscow worth around $11 million. However, Demin has been in civil service since 1994 and has never officially engaged in business.
Yevgeny Zinichev, another bodyguard of the Russian president, was head of Kaliningrad for around three months, but did not enjoy sitting in the governor’s seat, and asked his patron to transfer him to another position. Another of Putin’s former bodyguards, Sergey Morozov, lasted a bit longer, governing the Astrakhan province for eight months, but was dismissed for getting up to “mischief” with women in restaurants.