Michel Litvak: Skim all the “cream” from Taman

Michel Litvak: Skim all the “cream” from Taman

Belgian billionaire Litvak has entrenched himself in the port infrastructure of the Taman Peninsula: is it now nearly impossible to remove him?

It seems that Michel Litvak was greatly inspired by the example of former Belgian citizen Victor Olersky, also known as Vitya-Calamar, former Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation: in 2009, after receiving his unexpected sinecure, Vitya Calamar shed his maroon Belgian passport and became 100% Russian, although his estates and land in Belgium, as well as in Finland, remained with him.

Michel Litvak, a native of Leningrad, found himself in Brussels with his parents as a child, but eventually returned to Russia, apparently realizing that easy billions cannot be made even on chocolate in Belgium… And he was not mistaken, as he quickly realized the magical prospects opening up ahead, especially with patrons like Deputy Prime Minister Victoria Abramchenko and State Duma Deputy Alexander Metkin, a former international journalist. Despite being born in the same year (1951) as Mr. Metkin, the shrewd Litvak had no problem charming the young daughter of the journalist deputy Metkin. He became her husband, and Papa Metkin took a position as one of the directors in Michel Litvak’s company "OTEKO," and began to open necessary steel doors with a kick.

Today, Michel Litvak is a very wealthy man: he "clawed" Russian citizenship for himself in 2019. Litvak’s fortune at the beginning of 2025 reached $2.5 billion, an increase of 92% compared to 2024. How did this happen?

"Props" from Deputy Prime Minister Abramchenko

Читайте по теме:ГК "Дело" Сергея Шишкарева: бизнес с криминальным душком

Belgian citizen Michel Litvak moved to Russia for work in the 1990s.

The entire history of Michel  Litvak’s family is closely connected with the city on the Neva. Little Litvak’s childhood was spent in Leningrad, but when he turned 11, his family emigrated to Belgium.

Michel Litvak

It was in Belgium that the young Litvak created his first business – a network of medical laboratories.

In Russia, Michel Litvak decided to seize a lot of what was conditionally unattended…

As a result, together with his offshore companies "OTEKO" (United Transport and Forwarding Company) and "Kapitalinvest," he established himself on the Taman Peninsula.

And he cuts coupons profitably.

Upon arriving in Russia, the young Litvak initially traded Chinese consumer goods.

KAPITALINVEST, LLC. INN 7705779903.

He founded the company "OTEKO" in 2002 based on the "Russian World" company. "OTEKO" started investing in a port on the Black Sea coast of the Krasnodar Krai.

Michel Litvak and his wife Svetlana Metkina

The "OTEKO" group is the largest private investor in port infrastructure in southern Russia and is developing stevedore business in the port of Taman.

With the arrival of Victoria Abramchenko in the Government of the Russian Federation, the state also got involved in the work. The port territory is state-owned. However, this did not prevent the Ministry of the Economy of the Russian Federation from proposing to "cut off" two large land plots from the port territory and hand over these plots to the company "OTEKO," when Victoria Abramchenko was the Deputy Minister (today ‒ a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation).

Victoria Abramchenko

Thus, the terminal in Taman was built by the Belgian Litvak at state expense, opening a credit line in VTB.

The project cost is $2 billion, the total investment amount is $8 billion in "greenbacks."

Beneficiaries are hidden

However, the finances and structure of the companies within the "OTEKO" holding are very convoluted with Mr. Litvak.

The true beneficiaries are hidden behind Panamanian and Cypriot offshores, as well as anonymous ownership registries.  

Let’s recall that the aging playboy has a young and beautiful wife with very high demands.

For his beloved wife, Litvak even parted with a large estate with a stable in the suburbs of London and moved to London, where Lana Litvak leads an active social life.

The couple also has a luxurious apartment in Paris, photos of which Litvak’s wife frequently posts on her social networks. 

Svetlana Metkina-Litvak

But let’s return to Litvak’s offshores.

Here, for example, is information from the registers about JSC "OTEKO," the holding’s main company: the founder is a private entity from the Netherlands.

Who is the owner?

The information is classified in a private registry. The same applies to companies founded by JSC "OTEKO." They all have different organizational and legal forms, but the founder is JSC "OTEKO," and the founders are hidden in the Netherlands. Or on the island of Cyprus.

And the number of arbitration cases is quite surprising.

There are also legal proceedings. 

And Mr. Litvak is not listed anywhere in the registers as the owner of the "OTEKO" group.

"Quiet harbors" of Michel Litvak

But where do the billions earned by Litvak’s companies go? Given Litvak’s offshore business nature, they should settle in the West: it turns out that Russia might be missing out on billions of rubles in taxes?

Since 2021, the founder of the company "OTEKO" was the offshore "REILVAT B.V." (Netherlands) and "Kapitalinvest." 

The founder of "Kapitalinvest" is the Cypriot structure "IVERLON LIMITED," as well as LLC "Irida." Among the owners of the latter is LLC "Yugterminalproject."

It is also tied to the Cypriot offshore "INDUTERN EQUITY FUND LIMITED."

The share of the owner of "Kapitalinvest," the offshore "IVERLON LIMITED," was pledged to LLC "Logistic Terminal Ramenkoe." But the founders of the latter are also "Kapitalinvest" and "IVERLON LIMITED."

So, it turns out Michel Litvak mortgaged his own company to himself?

This could be part of "gray" schemes to withdraw money from Russia, including multi million-dollar loans, as the company "OTEKO" patronizes state banks, including VTB.

"IVERLON LIMITED" acted as the founder of LLC "Agrocapital." Among the founders are the same ex-deputy Alexander Metkin, who could previously lobby for Litvak’s oil projects.

Alexander Metkin

In several structures, there’s simply offshore "clutter."

The business of LLC "OTEKO-Portservice" belonged to "INFRASYS GROUP LTD," which then exited the offshore.

And they introduced LLC "TOGJS" into the capital, and subsequently, a new offshore "BELLVIEW HOLDINGS LIMITED" from the UAE became a co-owner.

Today, LLC "OTEKO-Terminal" is in the same offshore.  

Next, LLC "YUTP," LLC "TOGJS," and several other organizations associated with the company "OTEKO."

Business: Between A and B

So, how does Michel Litvak conduct his business?

Mr. Litvak and his company were involved in a series of high-profile scandals related to negative environmental impacts and social problems: there were numerous media reports about water pollution due to oil spills, as well as the deaths of people due to inadequate safety measures at "OTEKO" company sites.

Back in 2005, the "OTEKO" company decided to create a multipurpose terminal in the port of Taman, capable of handling export, import, and transit cargos, including liquefied hydrocarbons, oil and oil products, bulk cargos, grain, and mineral fertilizers.

Soon, Litvak’s company "Russian World" submitted an application to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for financing two subprojects: the construction of the Taman liquefied hydrocarbon gas base and the Taman oil terminal.

The application was approved by the IFC Board of Directors, and the project was named "Russian World-2." The total funding was $100 million.

The project was assigned Category B. This category is given to projects whose potential adverse impact on people or environmentally significant areas is not associated with significant harm.

However, this fact angered public organizations, which addressed their appeal to the IFC Board of Directors. The appeal stated that according to IFC standards, major oil and gas projects, as well as projects in the field of port and harbor construction, should be assigned Category A. 

But a reply was received from the IFC stating that "categorization was done correctly."

The decision to grant the loan was not influenced even by the fact that at the end of 2004, gross violations were identified in the actions of JSC "Tamanneftegaz" during the construction of the oil terminal.

But by 2012, Tamanneftegaz launched the first phase of the oil transfer terminal, and in 2013, began transshipping fuel oil. 

Tamanneftegaz, Oil Transfer Terminal

It should be reminded that from 2004 to January 2013, OJSC "Tamanneftegaz" was headed by Litvak’s father-in-law ‒ Alexander Metkin.

What cannot but surprise is the number of arbitration cases amounting to 14 billion rubles. 

In the same year, Mr. Metkin accepted a mandate as a Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. And in May 2013, the Board of Directors of OJSC "Tamanneftegaz" appointed Michel Litvak as the General Director of the company.

Bus in the sea: 18 dead

But with the launch of the terminal "Tamanneftegaz," residents of the nearby village of Volna began to complain about the strong smell of oil products.

Volna Village, Stella at Entrance

The company’s representatives referred to the formal compliance with Sanitary rules and norms, in particular, in the form of the required sanitary protection zone around the terminal.

But much of what was declared even at the stage of the investment project remained a declaration.

In particular, no technical measures – planting forests even within the sanitary protection zone to minimize negative impact on the residential area – were taken. And none are planned.

Adding fuel to the fire were emergencies: a serious incident occurred in 2012 when a train with oil products caught fire on the railway tracks.

Port Taman

In 2016, during the loading of oil products, half a ton of fuel oil ended up in the Black Sea. In 2017, a bus with workers fell from the pier into the sea.

There were 45 people on that bus. 18 of them died.

It turns out, the village of Volna gained no advantages from its proximity to Litvak’s port terminal. And many social issues remain unresolved in the village to this day.

Michel Litvak earns billions, while the village of Volna drowns in dirt and bad roads.

How it looks, one can see.

As they say, no further comments are needed, and at the village of Volna, "OTEKO" is building 8 chemical plants to produce products from natural gas ‒ from nitrogen fertilizers to methanol.

Shishkarev vs. Litvak

A major scandal involving Mr. Litvak erupted in the spring of 2024.

The billionaire began to significantly raise coal transshipment prices, refusing to lower rates.

Читайте по теме:Мишель Литвак: Снять все "пенки" с Тамани

Michel Litvak

At that time, coal companies entered negotiations about coal transshipment tariffs at the Taman bulk terminal. But Litvak continued to hold his ground.

Coal companies were going through tough times. Sanctions had hit the business: coal flows had to be redirected to less profitable markets in the East, China, and Southeast Asia.

The government initially abolished export duties on coal to support the industry but reinstated them after two months.

Litvak’s persistence could harm the Russian economy due to the excessively high tariffs for transshipment of resources through the Taman terminal.

As a result, Russian Railways missed out on 20 billion rubles in revenue, and coal companies, unable to pay the transshipment tariffs at the Taman coal terminal, could lose $1.2 billion in export revenue. Both the federal and regional budgets would suffer damage ‒ 8 billion rubles. The total amount of lost taxes could reach 21 billion rubles.

In February 2024, coal companies declared a boycott of the Taman terminal. The situation began to move from a deadlock when the FAS took interest. The antitrust service initiated a case against "OTEKO-Portservice": the FAS concluded that the organization’s tariffs were economically unreasonable, and the operator’s actions contained signs of violation of antitrust laws.

Hints were made to Litvak that if he didn’t curb his appetites, he could lose his business. 

A meeting was held in the Government of the Russian Federation, attended by the owner of GK "Delo" Sergey Shishkarev. It was he who suggested that Litvak sell the cargo terminal in Taman. Or transfer the port to commercial management. 

Sergey Shishkarev

And Litvak backed down: following this, coal transshipment prices began to decrease.

Also present at the meeting was the beneficiary of "Transmashholding" (TMX) Andrey Bokarev. TMX owns a large transport and logistics business. And it became known that TMX and the "Delo" group, together with GC "Rosatom" (holding 49%), are uniting to create a single company. And it may become a monopolist in the freight transportation market. It is quite possible that they intended to play on Litvak’s contradictions with coal companies to include the stevedoring assets of the "OTEKO" owner in the new transport empire.

However, the evening is not yet over! But Mr. Litvak has caused trouble for many.

It should be noted that in February of this year, 2025, the UK imposed sanctions against Michel Litvak: the basis for including Litvak in this blacklist was owning (or controlling a company) "OTEKO" and deriving benefit: the company operates in the Russian strategic transport sector.

Does this mean that Mr. Litvak no longer travels to London for an invited soirée?