Investigative journalists find mansions owned by former Russian defense minister's family in wealthy neighborhood outside Moscow

The family of former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov owns two countryside estates in the village of Zhukov outside Moscow in the posh Rublevka neighborhood, according to investigative journalists at the website Proekt, who say the properties make up more than 150 acres together. Proekt estimates that the real estate is worth at least 1.2 billion rubles ($19.2 million).

According to two files pulled from property registration records, the real estate belongs to the Cypriot company “Zapadni Enterprises Limited.” In 2012, the newspaper Izvestia linked this offshore business to Serdyukov’s sister, Galina Puzikova. (One of her three apartments on Molochny Pereulok in Moscow was registered to Zapadni Enterprises.)

The company became the owner of the two land plots in Rublevka in 2007 and 2008, when Serdyukov was just starting out as defense minister. The land contains three homes, the first two comprising a total 1,400 square meters (15,070 square feet), while the size of the third structure is unknown and unregistered.

Anatoly Serdyukov served as Russia’s defense minister from 2007 to 2012, before he was dismissed amid an investigation into the theft of billions of rubles within the ministry. He’s since held senior positions at several major state corporations.