0.34 ha Sochi land returned in Ivanov case
Timur Ivanov received 13 years in prison for multi-billion ruble embezzlement
In 2021, the JSC Main Directorate for Troop Arrangement (GUOV) transferred a plot with an unfinished building on Lysaya Gora in Sochi to the company Olimpsitistroy. The court found that the commercial entity acquired the land in violation of the interests of the Russian Defense Ministry, GUOV«s largest creditor. Memos about the preparation of the deal were received by then-Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, who, along with the founder of Olimpsitistroy, Alexander Fomin, is now on trial for corruption crimes, reports Kommersant. A year ago, in July 2025, Ivanov was sentenced to 13 years in prison for multi-billion ruble embezzlement.
Moscow-based LLC Olimpsitistroy appealed to the Fifteenth Arbitration Court of Appeals the first-instance decision that terminated the company«s ownership of real estate in Sochi valued at a total of 90 million rubles ($1 million at current rates).
The military prosecutor«s office of the Southern Military District filed a lawsuit with the Arbitration Court of Krasnodar Krai to seize 0.34 hectares of land in Sochi from Olimpsitistroy in the interests of the Russian Defense Ministry. On June 9 of this year, the claim was granted. The plot is located in the Lysaya Gora microdistrict, with an unfinished building of 630 square meters on it. The plot is situated in the Lysaya Gora district above the Svetlana sanatorium. The entire area is in a multi-story residential development zone, and the permitted use of the plot that passed to private hands is residential construction.
Until July 2021, the plot and building were owned by JSC Main Directorate for Troop Arrangement; they were transferred to Olimpsitistroy under a settlement agreement, with the asset valued at 52 million rubles (about $577,800 at current rates). In February 2026, the military prosecutor«s office of the Southern Military District, at the request of the Russian Defense Ministry, conducted an inspection of compliance by JSC GUOV officials with legislation on the preservation of federal property.
The inspection found that the price of the property complex was understated. Additionally, at the time the contract was signed, JSC GUOV had a debt to the Defense Ministry of 19.5 billion rubles (about $216.7 million at current rates), which was collected through court.
The military prosecutor«s office considered that the land in Sochi was transferred to Olimpsitistroy in circumvention of the interests of the state as the main creditor of JSC GUOV.
Representatives of JSC GUOV and Olimpsitistroy objected to the annulment of the transaction, citing the expiration of the statute of limitations and the lack of proof of damage to creditors. According to the defendants, the contract was concluded on market terms, and the disputed assets are illiquid.
The court, after examining the arguments of the parties, agreed with the prosecutor«s office that the transaction has no economic sense, and the only motive of its participants could be to siphon off assets to avoid collection.
— The heads of GUOV and Olimpsitistroy took coordinated actions to select the most valuable objects and then dispose of them outside the order of debt repayment. This circumstance is confirmed by memorandums from JSC GUOV and LLC Olimpsitistroy addressed to then-Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, — the decision of the Krasnodar Arbitration Court states.
Alexander Fomin, founder of Olimpsitistroy, and former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov are currently on trial at the Simonovsky District Court in Moscow on bribery charges. The trial is closed. Fomin«s companies were major contractors for the Defense Ministry. The prosecution alleges that in exchange for obtaining contracts, Alexander Fomin built and restored facilities owned by Ivanov at his own expense, costing 1.4 billion rubles (about $15.6 million at current rates).
