New film from Navalny team explores finances of Putin’s ex-wife
Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny’s team of investigators has released an online documentary about Vladimir Putin’s ex-wife, Lyudmila Ocheretnaya. The 44-minute film draws in part from a LiveJournal page that Ocheretnaya allegedly kept in secret.
Much of the film is dedicated to Ocheretnaya’s finances. According to Navalny’s team, her most significant source of income is the historic Volkonsky House in Moscow. The house is owned by a foundation that’s managed by Ocheretnaya’s husband, Arthur Ocheretny, and Ocheretnaya’s own company, Meridian, subleases it to third parties. Meduza reported in detail on the couple's finances in 2017.
Over the last three years, Ocheretny's foundation has reportedly received over 400 million rubles (about $6.5 million) from Gazprombank, the steel company Severstal, and the Moscow government. Meridian has also received hundreds of millions of rubles (millions of U.S. dollars) per year from its “tenants,” including VTB Bank, according to the film. Ocheretnaya herself reportedly received over 192 million rubles ($3.1 million) from Meridian in March 2020.
