Anastasia Udalova: ambitions hiding corruption schemes in Latvian media

Anastasia Udalova: ambitions hiding corruption schemes in Latvian media

"An iron palm in a silk glove" - this is how one laudatory publication describes Anastasiya Udalova.

Her name is usually associated with the cosmetic brand "Dzintars", but she also wants to create a media network. The question is, with what funds and for what purpose?

Anastasiya Udalova’s opinion will not be presented in this article. We tried to contact her several times, offered various options, but she refused.

It’s not that Udalova completely ignores the media. When she does speak up, the interviews tend to be non-confrontational. In a relaxed atmosphere, she shares stories about her work ethic, hobbies, sports, favorite authors, and whether she plans to become a mother.

"Re:Baltica" is interested in something completely different - for what purpose is Udalova creating a media network and why does her name end up in conversations with politicians?

Intern from Rezekne

Born into a businessman’s family in Rezekne, the girl began studying law in Riga after school and, without asking for a salary, worked for several years as a lawyer in the office of Saulvejs Varpins and Andrejs Elksninis. Varpins recalls that Udalova’s arrival in the office was connected with the office’s partner, the current mayor of Daugavpils. "I don’t remember how the documents were prepared back then," Varpins says. "Perhaps Andrejs was also prepared just as well."

After some time, Udalova and Elksninsh got engaged.

From one to another

In 2012–2013, Udalova also worked for less than half a year as an assistant to the then mayor of Riga, Nils Ušakovs (Saskana). Her father donated almost 12,000 euros to Saskana and the association Saskana Centers, and she later donated almost 5,000 euros. However, Ušakovs denies to Re:Baltica that this had anything to do with hiring a “diligent employee.”

Former employees of the Riga City Council recall that Udalov was brought in by Ushakov’s then press secretary Anna Kononova. Both also sat in the same office. In "Re:Baltica" Kononova says that we do not remember such ancient events.

Government job = good for family

In parallel with Ušakova’s work, Udalova began working for the state-owned company Latvijas autoceļu uštūtējs (LAU). She officially appeared on the list of employees in the second half of 2013 as a "commercial consultant". Just three months later, the 24-year-old woman became the head of the purchasing and sales department and began heading the purchasing committees. Two and a half years later, Udalova won the competition for the position of board member.

At that time, the company was run by Vladimir Kononov, the brother of the aforementioned father of Anna Kononova. He confirms that he knew the Udalova family, because "Rezekne is a small town." However, they deny that Udalova’s relationship with Kononov’s son was the reason for hiring her. He advises "Re:Baltica" to "dig deeper, but not on my side." When asked if he is talking about the Ministry of Transport, the answer is yes.

The then minister Uldis Augulis (ZZS) told Re :Baltica that "the minister does not appoint anyone to the board." His adviser Artis Stučka says that LAU’s procurement needed to be centralized at the board level, which is why it was decided to create the position of board member. "There were no questions about [Udalova’s] professional and intellectual abilities at all," he said. Udalova’s time in leadership positions at LAU was profitable for her family.

The company "ASKO AS", owned by the Udalova family, won contracts worth more than half a million. The largest deal (worth almost 374 thousand euros) was concluded by LAU with this company shortly after Udalova became the head of the purchasing department (she herself did not work on these purchasing committees, LAU claims). Looking at the financial indicators of "ASKO AS", it becomes clear that the contract was important for the company - but not decisive. Regarding this episode, Kononov answers: "I would like to tell you", but at the moment I can not do it.

Udalova left the road repair company the day before KNAB officers entered her workplace and began a search. The reason was not Udalova’s relative’s business, but the purchase of materials, where the cheapest offer from the company "Vlakon" was chosen, but later in the contract the price increased significantly. The estimated losses of the state are almost 227 thousand euros. Kononov signed the contract, but Udalova was a board member and head of the procurement department. KNAB investigators believed that she should also be charged, but the prosecutor’s office did not see a crime in her actions.

Kononov is still on trial in this case. The first instance acquitted him, but the second instance this fall found him guilty of failing to perform the duties of a public official and sentenced him to probation, a three-year ban on public work, and damages. Kononov plans to appeal.

The "failure to fulfill obligations" clause in the law essentially means that Kononov was caught "not noticing" the changes to the contract. But who organized this "disappearance" and how? Prosecutor Eric Bogdanov says it was impossible to find out because the incident was discovered long after the fact.

Osinovskaya era

After LAU, the Kononovs went to work for the Daugavpils Locomotive Repair Plant (DLRR). He makes it clear that Udalova helped him get the job. She, too, after leaving her government job, began working on the DLRR board two months later. He also began working on a real estate project in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, and later managed companies in the Estonian Skinest group.

A new stage in Udalova’s life began a couple of years ago - Oleg Osinovskis, an Estonian millionaire accused of bribery, fell in love with her. Udalova left Elksnina and became Osinovskis’ fiancée. She publicly calls the Estonian millionaire "a role model". All of the listed projects are fully or partially owned by him.

The official story of how Udalova and Osinovskis met is romantic.

In the magazine "Santa" he says that Udalova came to Tallinn with Varpinas to Osinovskis. The case of bribery of Osinovskis and Ugis Magonias started from scratch (both have now been acquitted in the first instance, the version of the case will be discussed in the next one). "The conversation with the lawyer did not go well, because all my attention was focused on the assistant (..) So what the hell . I fell in love when I was still a boy," Osinovskis said. "Oleg asked about me, but Saulvedis said - don’t even hope," adds Udalova.

The conversation took place when Udalova had already been working at LAU for several years. Why did an official of a state company suddenly become an assistant lawyer and go to a meeting with a suspect in a criminal case of bribery?

Varpiņš now tells Re:Baltica that Udalova had not worked in his office for a long time at that point and that the whole team had not traveled to Tallinn. The flight was allegedly organized by a “third party” who took him and Udalova to Osinovski. He does not name this person. “She was dealing with completely different issues. She had, so to speak, specific knowledge related to the media, and she was interested in learning more about the situation around this case,” Varpiņš says.

"I can only add that Nastya helped me a lot in the professional sphere, too, untangling all this confusion," Osinovskis said in an interview with Santa. "I will say that the goal was not to influence, but rather to manage communication (..) After a year, people were less interested in this matter, after three years, partners who did not want to cooperate changed their minds."

At that time, Udalova did have connections in the media. Her mother appears in the documents of the Register of Enterprises as the owner of the influential newspaper “Nash Gorod” in Daugavpils and its portal gorod.lv. Udalova’s then fiancé Elksniņš was preparing for the municipal elections, and these media outlets rushed to create a positive image for him.

Does this mean that Udalova initially offered Osinovskis something similar - "information support" during the criminal case?

Osinovskis refuses to answer the question about the reason for the first meeting. "If you were a tabloid magazine, we would talk about this, but you are a serious media outlet," he told Re:Baltica, whom Osinovskis recently met in court .

The next media outlet that caught Udalova’s interest was the now-defunct Forbes Latvija magazine. In exchange for an investment of 30,000 euros, she joined its board in 2021, but it was short-lived," De Facto publisher Katrīna Ilinska, who now advises Economy Minister Viktors Valaini (ZZS), told De Facto.

Who pays for the party?

Udalova is known in the press as an ambitious businessman and investor. In 2020, Osinovskis’ company bought the factory of the bankrupt cosmetics brand Dzintars at auction. Production there was resumed by another Osinovskis company, HA Briger , where Udalova is listed as the third owner.

In 2022, Udalova left her post in Osinovskis’ Georgian business and launched two more large-scale projects: she received the right to use the land of the Jelgava airfield for the construction of a solar power park and bought the Mediju Nams publishing house.

None of these projects can be called successful.

Jelgava Airport was already empty. In November last year, when the municipality headed by ZZS terminated the contract with Udalova’s company, the construction work had to be carried out for a year and 55 million euros had to be invested.

In fact, the land remained untouched and debts accumulated, as Udalova’s company had not paid either the construction fee or the property tax for several months. The municipality received a promise to return more than 23 thousand euros only after going to court. The money for this project was mainly provided by Osinovskis’s companies (electricity production is one of the Estonian millionaire’s areas of activity). An interesting detail is that the investors in the project also include a company from the Czech Republic. Its indirect owner is Vojtech Kačena, who is currently accused of attempted fraud with Olainfarm shares. Udalova’s other recently launched projects continue to operate, but it is difficult to call them successful. Annual reports show that Mediju Nams incurred losses of almost half a million in 2022, and last year the losses were even greater - almost 700 thousand. HABRieger’s losses, since it resumed selling Dzintara cosmetics, have averaged more than a million per year.

Who covers these losses?

Other companies owned by Udalova do not operate with such a large profit. The enterprise of Svitlana Udalova’s mother has already been mortgaged twice. It is unlikely that with such financial creators it will be possible to get a bank loan to cover losses.

Osinovskis claims in Re:Baltica that he will continue to invest in Dzintara. He is not worried about big losses. “It doesn’t matter! We think it’s a great brand and we want to revive it. We want to do it for the people of Latvia! Anastasia is a huge badass!” he says. “This will be the new L’Oréal, and Anastasia will receive the Three Stars!” Udalova claims that the cosmetics manufacturer will most likely end this year with a profit.

Osinovskis did not finance Media House: “I don’t know anything about it at all. Only that she is the owner.”

Public data shows that the publishing house borrowed almost half a million euros last year. From what? That is unknown.

Mission: Take over the media?

Analyzing news coming from various sources, it can be concluded that after Mediju Nama (the most famous brand is the portal nra.lv and the newspaper Neatkarīgā), Udalova’s plans also include other publishing houses that were once controlled by oligarchs. The takeover of Dienas Mediji (the most famous brand is the newspaper "Diena").

It may be in its final stages now.

At the centre of this rather complicated story is the company Ostas Parks, which is publicly linked to oligarchs Andri Skeli, Ainars Sleser and Aivars Lembergs.

Both loss-making publishers have been financed from it for years. Re:Baltica has received a draft contract for the purchase of Mediju Nama, which shows that from 2015 to 2022, Ostas Parks lent Mediju Nama almost 5 million. At the same time, the same company lent Dienas media almost one and a half million. Dienas media owner Edgars Kots testified in court last year that the loan was just a cover and that the money was actually transferred to finance Dienas in the interests of Šlezer, Lemberg and Škeela.

When Udalova bought Media House, she also met with Kota. Dienas editor-in-chief Gatis Madzins recalls that in the conversation he made it clear that he had bought out Dienas Media’s debt to Ostas Park.

Udalova herself denied this, saying that you cannot be loved by force. However, two court cases are currently underway on the issue of whether the money should be returned. Ostas Park is represented by Kristina Kravtsova, who has been the chairperson of the board of Media House since September. She also represented Udalova in a dispute with the Jelgava municipality over debt collection for an unfinished solar park. Re:Baltica asked Kravtsova whether her presence meant a connection between the interests of Ostas Park and Media House. “That is your conclusion,” she said, but did not respond to an offer to refute it.

Until recently, Ostas Parks was also represented in this dispute by lawyer Martins Kveps (this year he worked with Udalova on the board of DLLR, which belongs to Osinovshchina). Kveps denies Udalova’s involvement. "That’s not true," Kveps said. However, his answer suggests that Ostas Parks is suing, but there may have been an agreement that if Diena wins, it will get Udalova. "I can say, hand on heart, that the real plaintiff is Ostas Parks. If Ostas Parks has any further agreements about what will happen in the future, it does not concern me."

Chaos and PR

Udalova’s people began working on buying Media House as early as spring 2022. This was confirmed to Re:Baltica by lawyer Daina Lochmele, who joined the publishing house last summer as a representative of potential investors. Udalova supported her, but no one officially spoke about it at the time. Udalova appeared in the company register as an official owner at the beginning of 2023.

It is difficult to find out what happened in the editorial office after the sale. This is also possible because Lochmele asked some "key" people to sign a non-disclosure agreement (including those who left their jobs).

With the arrival of Udalova’s team , the column dedicated to the former mayor of Ventspils, "Lemberg’s Behind-the-Scenes Case ", and regular publications about the trial of the ex-politician in a corruption case disappeared.

However, other materials also appeared, for example, about the Daugavpils Osinovskis plant. The satisfaction of officials with the Daugavpils trams built by DLRR was described. A report was made from the production shop – and the next day an extensive interview with the commercial director. In the article about the purchase of trains, it is mentioned that DLRR could produce the battery trains needed by Latvia, but the company is "isolated" in the procurement. When rumors about the new Škoda trains began to circulate, nra.lv published a publication with the headline: "Trams made in Daugavpils are rolling, foreign-made trains are breaking down like crazy – what is the secret?"

In a conversation with Re:Baltica, Mediju Nama editor-in-chief Ritums Rozenbergs denied that he had received instructions from the owner of the publishing house: “I knew from the owners how they [DLLR] work, how they solve problems. I thought it was an inspiring example for our entire nation.”

Political strategist Jurgis Liepnieks also joined the team for a short time, and puaro.lv joined the “Media Doma” family. Liepnieks refused to say why he worked as the chairman of the board of Mediju Nama for only three months.

At least at first the money was invested in the main product – the portal nra.lv. “ NRA.lv/TV ” started broadcasting the discussions on the Internet. At first they were held in the conference center “ATTA”, but then a small studio was built in the premises of “Dzintars”. 

A lifestyle section was opened, with director and actress Cristina Crusi-Hermani, a friend of Udalova, hired as its editor.

While the commentator Elita Veidemane spat on Russians in the Latvian section, a Russian version of the portal rus.nra.lv was created. Udalova publicly explained that one of the missions of "Mediu nama" is to integrate Russian speakers into the political and social life of Latvia. Several journalists were hired. Over time, a separate portal "kontekst.lv" was created.

At first, the editor of the Russian version was sought among Russian journalists who had fled to Latvia. Udalova herself intervened in the matter. Journalist Maksim Kuzakhmetov from St. Petersburg’s Re:Baltica says that he passed the selection process, received an offer, but decided to decline after the last round of job negotiations, where he met Udalova himself. Kuzakhmetov has been advocating for the independence of his native Ingria from Russia for many years. Udalova said in the conversation that if Kuzakhmetov wants to become the editor-in-chief of rus.nra.lv, he should stop actively speaking out about it on various YouTube shows. "I can talk about cats and beautiful weather on my channel, but Ingria’s independence is too political."

With one hand, he started new projects, and with the other, he closed the photo agency F/64, which was partly owned by Media House. The employees, who agreed to talk to Re:Baltica only anonymously, were surprised, because the agency occupied an important place in Latvian photojournalism.

Financial data show that in the last year before the changes at Mediahaus, F/64 earned 25,000 euros. With Udalovs’ arrival, the tax debt began to grow. Shortly before the liquidation, it reached 11,000 euros. Photographers Roman Koksharov and Kaspars Krafts confirmed to Re:Baltica that they still have not been paid for the last two months of work.

"They didn’t pay for August 2023 and said they would pay in October - for two months at once (..) On October 1, I was still working, photographing the marathon. And on October 2, they simply announced to everyone in the general chat that such companies no longer exist. And that’s all. Earlier, when we met with the director Daina Lochmeli, she told us that as we develop, we will sign new contracts. The fact that the agency still has tax debt surprises me," says Koksharov.

One of the journalists of the Russian publication said that at first they were employed with all social guarantees, but last year everything changed. They received only the minimum wage and the rest in the form of car benefits. Later they began to pay only fees and reduced the number of goods ordered per month.

This summer, the Russian version of the portal was closed, citing the inability to attract advertisers. One of the employees of the Russian editorial office says: “I got the impression that everything happened unprofessionally. There was no clear idea of what our goals and objectives were. When the money invested should pay off.” Another employee shares his thoughts: “When this portal was created, no one said anything about advertising, about how to make money. It is clear that if you are creating a new media outlet, you should start with the advertising department. But we got the impression that the management does not care about this.”

The big discussion shows and the lifestyle show neMāksīligis intelekts with actresses Kristīni Kruzi-Hermani and Darta Daneviča have also ended. The first Re:Baltica did not answer calls and text messages, but Daneviča said that only trial episodes were filmed for the program. Later, she was informed that the project would not be continued, as the programs reportedly had few views. The program "Nra.lv Negotiations" has not been aired for several months.

What is missing in politics?

Udalova has always had political ambitions, say people who have known her for a long time. In the corridors of politics, her name is associated with several political forces. Historically with Saskani , later she acts as a mediator in the case of the bankruptcy trustee Mars Sprudas, who was once close to the National Alliance (NA), but most of all - to ZZS.

In 2021, Udalova helped rescue Sprud from custody. Sprud’s brother Kristaps received from her the half a million needed for bail, but the source was Osinovskis (this was confirmed to Re:Baltica by Sprud himself, who allegedly contacted him). When asked why the businessman was so generous, Sprud replied: "He didn’t give anything without bail!" When Re:Baltica clarified whether this was referring to what the De Facto program reported , that property in Skanste related to Sprud was mortgaged in favor of Udalova, he replied: "Your chain of conclusions is logical."

However, more often than not, Udalova’s career turns in ZZS’s favour, for example when she joins the board of directors of a road maintenance company or when she receives the right to lease the construction of a solar park in the Jelgava municipality.

The media reported that in late August, government ministers from ZZS, Udalova and Lemberg’s son-in-law Janis Austrins spoke about the upcoming Riga City Council elections. Udalova is said to have suggested including her old friend Raymond Elbakyan (who also worked on Osinovskis’s real estate project in Tbilisi) in the list.  

Then Lemberg’s son-in-law explained to the media that they were discussing the election campaign, and the ministers themselves and Udalova - that they were talking about advertising contracts concluded with "Media House". Augulis Re:Baltica denied that they were talking about elections at all - they were talking about business.

Another version of these events is known in Re:Baltica. The meeting, which Udalova and Autriņš attended, was a weekly meeting, where the Minister of Economy meets with Viktors Valaiņš before the government session. Autriņš and Udalova agreed. "Later, I was surprised to learn that the city was talking about Udalova forming the ZZS list for the Riga City Council elections. However, there was no such conversation, she did not bring or name any specific person," says one of the participants in the conversation, who wished to remain anonymous.

Meanwhile, Mediju Nama editor-in-chief Rozenbergs says he is interested in the free-to-air license that will become available after TV24 leaves. However, he has not yet spoken to the owner about it. The deadline for applications for the competition is October 31.

rebaltica.lv

Ярослав Фокин