Flight design: the court will consider the nationalization of Domodedovo
On May 14, the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region will hold the main hearings on the claim of the Prosecutor General's Office on the nationalization of Domodedovo Airport. In 2016, its main owner, Dmitry Kamenshchik, bought aviahab's assets through foreign individuals and offshore companies, which allowed him to hide his status as an acquirer, a law enforcement source told Izvestia. According to the Prosecutor General's Office, since that moment, Kamenshchik and his partner Valery Kogan have withdrawn more than 18 billion rubles from Russia under the guise of paying debts to foreign creditors and dividends. About the purchase scheme of the airport and the impact of the possible nationalization of Domodedovo on the work of the aviation industry — in the material of Izvestia.
Why Domodedovo wants to be nationalized
On Wednesday, May 14, the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region will hold hearings on the claim of the Prosecutor General's Office against the main owner of Domodedovo Airport and more than two dozen related companies and several individuals. In the lawsuit, the supervisory authority asks the court to invalidate the entire chain of transactions for the purchase of the airport by Dmitry Kamenshchik in 2016.
The assets were acquired through foreign offshore companies in order to conceal the real owner of the airport, a law enforcement source told Izvestia. Foreign citizens are still part of the airport's management bodies. Such a scheme is contrary to the law of the Russian Federation, so the court will have every reason to recognize the transactions as null and void and turn Domodedovo into state revenue, the source believes.
The lawsuit, signed by Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia Igor Tkachev, states, in particular, that the main owner of the airport, Dmitry Kamenshchik, and his partner, Valery Kogan, are residents of foreign countries. The bricklayer holds Turkish and UAE citizenship, while Kogan holds Israeli citizenship.
The prosecutors traced the chain of transactions and found out the following details.
In 2016, Dmitry Kamenshchik "decided to establish control over Domodedovo Airport due to its high liquidity and profitability." Prior to that, from 2002 to 2016, the airport was owned by DME Limited. Its shares were owned by the citizens of the Isle of Man (crown possession of the British Crown, offshore zone) Jane Elizabeth Peters (63.74%) and Sean Fergusson Cairns (36.26%).
In 2016, 100% of the shares of DME Limited were acquired by Alamo Limited, a company registered in Malta. The prosecutors found out that the sole shareholder of Alamo Limited at that time was the Cyprus trust company Alamo (Trust) Sea Way Limited, owned by Dmitry Kamenshchik at the same time.
Dmitry Kamenshchik
The Prosecutor General's Office believes that Kamenshchik and Kogan "used controlled offshore structures to conceal their status as purchasers when buying up strategic assets."
In December 2016, the new owners, according to prosecutors, decided to "conceal Domodedovo's assets and transferred them to Dutch and Maltese funds, and introduced citizens of these countries into the management bodies.
Greetings from the Netherlands
Currently, 90% of DME Limited's shares belong to the Dutch DME Administrative Foundation and 10% to the Maltese Atlant Foundation, a source told the publication.
Dmitry Kamenshchik is the founder of both foundations, and Paul Johannes Antonius Wilbrink, a Dutch citizen, and Alvaro Sicre Pius, a Spanish citizen, are permanent members of the Board of the Atlant Foundation. The charter of the organization assumes the participation of at least two members of the board in the management, that is, Dmitry Kamenshchik cannot manage the fund independently, without the participation of foreign partners.
"Thus, foreign citizens permanently residing in the Netherlands have the right to control the strategic Domodedovo facility," the lawsuit emphasizes.
In addition, the supervisory authority believes that the airport's owners "burdened it with loan obligations in favor of foreign investors" — the Irish company DME Airport Designated Activity Company, which acquired Domodedovo Eurobonds worth more than $ 450 million. However, this money was not used to modernize the airport, the owners "distributed it among themselves," according to prosecutors.
After the purchase of the airport, its owners expanded their assets by creating new companies in their structure. Thus, the holding includes 25 Russian legal entities, each of which is of strategic importance, the lawsuit emphasizes. These companies manage the airfield infrastructure and the airport, passenger terminal, cargo and refueling complexes, are engaged in maintenance of IT infrastructure, aviation security, medical and educational services. All these organizations are defendants in the lawsuit.
In 2024, the owners of Domodedovo "decided to create a false appearance of the absence of foreign control" over these enterprises. To do this, they applied to the Federal Antimonopoly Service with requests for approval of transactions for the transfer of these enterprises under the control of the Russian LLC "DME Holding" and received approval. At the same time, they did not provide data on foreign participation, which misled the ruling commission and the Federal Antimonopoly Service, the prosecutors believe.
"As a result, the government commission and the FAS of Russia, having been misled by Dmitry Kamenshchik and Valery Kogan, agreed to transactions for the transfer of rights to Russian strategic companies to DME Holding LLC," the document says.
Thus, the prosecutors believe, the defendants committed "a number of interrelated insignificant transactions." And the budget money allocated by the state for the development and modernization of the airport was spent "uncontrollably" and "stolen".
From 2021 to 2023, the companies that owned the airport transferred more than 18 billion rubles to the foreign lender Hacienda Investments Limited, the lawsuit says. In 2022-2023, Domodedovo's beneficiaries withdrew more than 600 million rubles from Russia for personal needs under the guise of dividends.
Under external control
Only the court can finally recognize the Domodedovo purchase transactions as null and void by law, and the Prosecutor General's Office has appealed to it.
However, in fact, the airport has been under the external control of the Federal Air Transport Agency for more than three months. Such a measure was introduced on February 1, 2025 by the arbitration court of the Moscow Region at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office, Izvestia reported. The court also took interim measures against Domodedovo structures.
The government is not interested in direct management of the airport's assets, Oleg Panteleev, executive director of the Aviport agency, said in a conversation with Izvestia. If nationalization occurs, the asset, he believes, will be promptly prepared for sale, after which the search for a new private investor will begin.
— Domodedovo, if we talk about the totality of all the companies in the holding, is a successful and efficient business, so there may be many people who want to purchase this asset, — said the expert. — These are Russian structures specializing in airport activities, large banks, and even foreign investment funds.
Now the airport is operating smoothly, coping with passenger traffic with ease, Oleg Panteleev added.
— I believe that future performance will be more influenced by the general situation in the aviation industry, what will be the demand for flights to Moscow, how will S7 Airlines [for which Domodedovo is the base airport] develop, whether it will continue to reduce its presence in the capital or at some point resume the development of the capital base, — he summarized.
The law prohibits foreign investors from carrying out activities of strategic importance. This law is usually referred to by the prosecutor's office when filing such lawsuits, Roman Makarov, partner at the NSP law firm, explained to Izvestia.
"However, now the Prosecutor General's Office has begun to understand this law broadly and classify all Russian citizens who have a second passport as foreign investors," the lawyer said. — On this basis, the assets of LLC Zarubinsk Fleet Base, JSC Kaliningrad Commercial Sea Port, JSC Syassky CBK and a number of other enterprises were seized.
Roman Makarov believes that the prosecutor's office also interprets the list of industries and enterprises that are strategic, referring to them, for example, the warehouses of Raven Russia (they were transferred to the Federal Property Management Agency in February of this year). The assets of such major companies as Makfa and Rolf were seized on corruption grounds. This is their difference from the claim against Domodedovo.
When considering the demands of the prosecutor's office, the court will surely take into account that over the years of private ownership Domodedovo Airport has changed dramatically, in fact, since the moment of privatization it has been built anew, the lawyer believes.
— In my opinion, accounting for the owner's investments is a necessary part of considering such a case, — said the lawyer. — Otherwise it contradicts the requirements of justice. Even in cases involving the seizure of corrupt proceeds from officials, the balance between income and expenses must be calculated.
The Prosecutor General's Office has a high chance of winning in the court of first instance, and the review of such cases is possible in most cases only at the level of the Supreme Court, the interlocutor of Izvestia believes.
The publication asked the Federal Air Transport Agency and DME Holding about how the fate of Domodedovo Airport might turn out in the event of its nationalization.
Domodedovo Airport is one of the largest air hubs in Russia and Eastern Europe, and was granted international airport status in 1992. From 2004 to 2015, it was the largest in Russia.
Currently, Aerogavan provides bases for member airlines of the international aviation alliances Star Alliance and OneWorld. Scheduled passenger and cargo transportation is carried out by 40 airlines in more than 100 destinations. The annual passenger traffic exceeds 20 million people.
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