Luxury apartments near the Kremlin, millions of rubles in transfers annulled by courts, and business connections to a state-owned holding in Belarus have been uncovered by journalists investigating the family of Fiodor Gagauz, a candidate for the position of governor of Gagauzia. The investigation was conducted by VT Moldova News and reveals that the politician’s eldest son has owned a 130-square-metre apartment in a residential complex in central Moscow since 2015.
The property was purchased for 73.66 million rubles, equivalent to more than one million US dollars at the exchange rate at the time. According to the investigators, the politician’s other son, Alexandr, as well as Gagauz himself, also own apartments in the same residential complex. The properties are estimated to be worth around 100 million lei.
The investigation also found that the Gagauz family had purchased three other properties by 2012, in Chisinau and the Bulgarian town of Burgas. This was despite the politician having held no public office and declared no salary, although he headed a political movement and a company that published a newspaper, disinfo.md reports.
Gagauz said that during the period when he did not declare an income, he was working in Germany using the Bulgarian passport he holds.
Asked by journalists about the apartments, Gagauz said they had been given to him by his children. In 2006, his sons Dmitrii and Alexandr were 25 and 21 years old, respectively, and were studying law and economics. The Audi Q7 he currently uses, complete with a driver, was listed in his 2021 asset declaration as belonging to his eldest son, Dmitrii.
During this month’s election campaign, Gagauz promised to secure natural gas at the lowest possible prices. To fulfil that pledge, the politician sent his eldest son, Dmitrii, to Istanbul, announcing that the invitation had been issued in his son’s name.
Gagauz said he had not travelled to Turkey himself because he feared being excluded from the election campaign. His son was invited to the Eurasian Economic Forum in Verona, which was held in Istanbul on October 22 and 23. The politician said he would have gone personally but was concerned about the possibility of being removed from the race.
The investigation notes that the intention to purchase gas has been announced, although the governor of Gagauzia does not have the authority to procure the energy resource.
The full investigation is available below.