Behind the Scenes of Dubai: Hidden Properties of Wealthy Russians and Ukrainians

It is no secret that Dubai, with its blue beaches, luxury hotels and villas, famous skyscrapers, glitzy shops, and reputation as a financial hub in the Middle East, is also a destination for tax evasion or money that has been obtained illegally, often laundered through real estate purchases. "Dubai Unlocked" is the title of a research project that relies on leaked data from the Dubai Land Department and state-owned urban service companies, primarily from 2020 to 2022, revealing the owners of properties in Dubai among political figures and their relatives, or individuals accused of committing crimes or sanctioned in various countries. This vast data set has been obtained by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS), a research institute based in Washington, and subsequently shared with the Norwegian financial database E24 and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP); subsequently, investigative journalists from 70 media outlets in various countries have analyzed these data, including property registration documents and information about their owners. This is not the first time information regarding Dubai properties belonging to political officials suspected of financial corruption or businessmen involved in organized crime or supporting terrorism worldwide has been published, but the scale of this recent revelation is unprecedented. It has been reported that in 2022, 198,000 properties in the United Arab Emirates worth over $90 billion belonged to foreign owners. In the new investigation, journalists have focused on the status of over a thousand properties owned by 200 important or suspected figures. Alongside African dictators, some Iranian entities and officials, including certain economic criminals, government officials from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, financiers of Hezbollah, etc., this investigation has also unveiled property owners in Dubai among current and former officials of Russia and Ukraine. The United Arab Emirates is an economic paradise in a tense region. The independent publication "Vazhniye Istorii," which participated in the investigation of the leaked documents from Dubai properties, has found properties belonging to Russian politicians, lawmakers, and criminals, as well as their relatives, and it is reported that the first part of these findings has been published. Politicians: Alexander Odudov, who in 2020 was the brother-in-law of the Russian Prime Minister, purchased two apartments worth over $2 million in a luxury complex in Palm Jumeirah. Near this complex, several rooms in a luxury hotel and several apartments in a skyscraper worth $2.7 billion belong to Hassan Muhammad Taymaskhanov, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Tatarstan. The cousin of the head of the office of Ramzan Kadyrov, the President of Chechnya, also owns apartments worth six million dollars in Dubai. Lawmakers: The value of the penthouse owned by Grigory Anikif, a Duma representative, is over $13 million. His wife also has two apartments with a private beach plot worth three million dollars, and his ex-wife has an apartment worth over a million dollars. In the same year that this Russian lawmaker bought these properties in Dubai, he was accused of selling expired ventilators to a hospital on the brink of the COVID-19 pandemic; the court has yet to rule on this case. Beghan Aghayev, a Russian lawmaker from Chechnya who is under Western sanctions, owns an apartment in Dubai that rents for $100,000 a year. State-owned company executives: Pavel Ipatov, Deputy Director General of the Atomic Energy Organization, owns a villa worth seven million dollars; his wife also has several apartments and villas worth about 20 million dollars, and his daughter has a villa worth over six million dollars in Dubai. Vasily Nikonov, head of the energy department at Rosneft, purchased a property worth at least two million dollars in Dubai one month after the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine. Criminals: Marina Goldberg, the wife of "Shakro Young," a leader of a criminal group, owns an apartment in Dubai worth over five million dollars. An apartment worth $600,000 in the same complex belongs to Anna Chapman, a Russian spy who was arrested in the U.S. in 2010 but returned to Russia during a prisoner exchange. Vadim Bazarov, a former head of the anti-corruption office who himself is accused of bribery, has properties worth $1.8 million in Dubai. Ukrainians owning properties in Dubai: A research group - "Sledstvenfo" and the Ukrainian section of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty - have published the first part of their findings after examining a vast amount of documents from "Dubai Unlocked." Among the property owners in Dubai are ministers, lawmakers, judges, prosecutors, state-owned company executives, and of course their relatives. Most of these individuals are from the administration of Viktor Yanukovych, the former president of Ukraine, who Russia claims was overthrown during an illegal coup but is referred to in Ukraine as a symbol of financial corruption. Now he and many of his close associates reside in Russia. Additionally, Mykola Zlochevsky, who was the Minister of Environment in Yanukovych's government, owns a property in Dubai worth $11 million. Meanwhile, he was being prosecuted in Ukraine for committing organized crimes, and Ukraine had requested his extradition from Interpol. It has been reported that last year, after he accepted responsibility and paid a fine equivalent to $15 million, this case was closed. Oleg Kornilov, who was the prosecutor of Odessa during Yanukovych's time, purchased a property worth about half a million dollars in Dubai. After Yanukovych's overthrow, he was dismissed from his position and filed a lawsuit against the court. While this case was under review, he purchased at least another apartment worth $200,000 in Dubai, although his official income has never shown sufficient assets for these transactions. He has told reporters that he does not own property in Dubai. Svetlana Yemelyanova, the ex-wife of a famous judge during Yanukovych's time, also has a property worth $1.8 million in Dubai. Investigative journalists had previously reported that the two still live together and that the divorce was merely a tool to hide the judge's assets, which have never matched his official income. Director of Motor Sich: Illegal collaborations with Iran and property in Dubai. The new report indicates that Vyacheslav Boguslayev, the former director of Motor Sich, along with his son, owned at least 19 apartments and office properties worth $15 million in Dubai, including in the Burj Khalifa, but most of them have been sold. "Motor Sich," one of the largest manufacturers of aircraft and helicopter engines in the world, has been confiscated by the Ukrainian government following the onset of Russia's large-scale military invasion, and its director is being prosecuted for selling military equipment to Russia. Documents obtained by the Ukrainian Attorney General's Office also indicate that this factory had collaborated with Iranian companies under Western sanctions for years. Why Dubai? The new investigation identifies Dubai as one of the key money laundering hubs in the world. Until recently, the United Arab Emirates had no commitment to extradite criminals to other countries. Naturally, individuals who were fugitives from the law and wanted to hide their assets from law enforcement considered this country. This situation led the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to add the United Arab Emirates to the list of countries with inadequate anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing systems in the spring of 2022. UAE officials, in order to repair their international image, were forced to take steps to increase transparency regarding the capital attracted to this country. The FATF welcomed what it called "significant progress" and removed the UAE from its blacklist. According to a new statement from the organization "Transparency International," this decision by the FATF was made while the recent revelations expose the continuation of money laundering in the United Arab Emirates. According to this statement, it is essential for UAE officials to implement effective mechanisms to identify and prevent the entry of dirty money into this country and to conduct comprehensive investigations into all cases of money laundering revealed by the "Dubai Unlocked" investigation. Since the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates has maintained close relations with Russia and has become a major hub for the transfer of goods and technologies under Western sanctions to Russia. Dubai has also become the most important destination for tourism, transportation, and especially trade for Russia in the Middle East, although there are many challenges for Russian traders in the UAE under U.S. pressure.