Key findings: 

• The family of the designer of Russian UAVs and aircraft has real estate in France and the UK, as well as a business in the Czech Republic;
• The developer and his family are not under EU and UK sanctions;
• His children and grandchildren are likely to have ties to the children of the head of a Belarusian military-industrial complex.

Villas, luxury clothes, business in Europe… Russian businessmen who finance the invasion of Ukraine do not want their children and grandchildren to remain in their homeland, so they easily send them to, as they call it, “rotting Europe”. For some reason, they also continue to earn money in EU countries to support their elite life and the war in Ukraine. Oleg Demchenko, the developer of aircraft and UAVs that have been purposefully destroying Ukrainian cities for over 2 years, continues to own real estate in Europe, registering it in the names of his grandchildren. At the same time, Europe strangely ignores the activities of the manager of a Russian military-industrial complex because neither Demchenko himself nor his family have yet been included in the EU or British sanctions lists.

Oleg Demchenko is the general designer of the Russian Yakovlev Research and Design Bureau. During its existence, the enterprise has produced over two hundred types and modifications of aircraft, including over a hundred serial ones. Demchenko, at various times, was the general designer, director, and member of the board of this enterprise. In 2017-2018, he joined the Aviation Board under the Government of the Russian Federation. The Yakovlev Bureau is part of the Irkut Corporation, which is mass-producing the Yak-130 combat training aircraft, as well as the Su-30 fighters, which the Russian Federation used to launch the X-31P and X-58 anti-radar missiles on Ukraine. The Ukrainian military shot down many aircraft of this type during the full-scale invasion. The bureau also developed the Voron and Klyost drones. There were also plans to launch the Yak-133BR reconnaissance and strike UAV. Until 2021, Demchenko was also the general designer at Irkut. Now, he works and lives with his wife in Russia and is still not under sanctions (except for Ukrainian ones), while his son and grandchildren are buying property and having businesses in Europe. In March 2022, journalists from “Schemes” (a Radio Liberty project) investigated Putin’s close associates who own real estate abroad. “Schemes” found that Oleg Demchenko had purchased real estate in a prestigious location – the municipality of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat near Nice. This is the French Riviera, which is loved by the rich from all over the world, including Russians. Journalists from the Trap Aggressor project decided to find out what is happening with Demchenko’s real estate now, and this was just the beginning.

French villa

The Ligurian Sea coast in southern France near Nice, where a square meter of private housing can be purchased for an average of 20,000 euros. Buying real estate here is a marker of success for the Russian beau monde. Russian oligarchs Arkady Rotenberg, David Kaplan, and Volodymyr Yevtushenkov, as well as Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash and the head of the executive committee of the pro-Russian Ukrainian party “For Life” Serhiy Lyovochkin have villas here.

The previous owner of SCI Olara, Alexandre Ulysse Rene Darcy Lett, also owns several similar companies registered at the same address. There is no office at the place of residence, so these are probably shell companies created specifically to register various real estate.

In this photo, Anastasia is spending time in a friendly atmosphere with another Russian woman, Lilia Scheffler-Sennova. She is the wife of the former president of the Russian construction company Finstroy, Ilya Surkov. They have also lived in London since at least 2019. According to Swiss journalists, businessman Surkov embezzled funds in Russia, then hid from the Russian court in Switzerland, but due to the inability to integrate into Swiss society, the family of Russian criminals moved to Britain. $

Demchenko’s grandson Oleg, named after his grandfather, also lives in London at 9-11 Manson Place, SW75 JP. It is a 4-minute drive from Anastasia’s apartment.