While Capital Group openly supports Russia’s war in Ukraine, its shareholders hedge bets by obtaining foreign papers
Newly available materials demonstrate that Capital Group’s public support of the war against Ukraine notwithstanding, its shareholders have hedged their bets by obtaining citizenships abroad. The fact that Doronin is a Swedish citizen and resident of Switzerland has been long known. However, we now know that Tio and Berman have also tried to prepare a safe haven for themselves and their families – not in Russia, where they made their ill-begotten gains and whose aggressive policy of conquest they openly support – but in other countries.
According to the documents we have obtained, Eduard Berman is not only a citizen of the Russian Federation but also of Israel.
He also reportedly has a citizenship of Uzbekistan and holds that country’s passport CT0095041. Although, until now we have not been able to verify information about his Uzbek citizenship by obtaining a copy of his passport, we consider this to be probable given circumstantial evidence and the fact that Berman has been born in that country, when it was still a Soviet republic.
In addition to his multiple citizenships, Berman holds a permanent residence permit in Spain, issued by the municipality of Malaga, which allows him to live and work in the European Union.
Pavel Tio’s situation is similar – in addition to his Russian citizenship, he reportedly is a citizen of Uzbekistan (we do not have a copy of his passport to conclusively prove this statement).
Tio also holds a permanent residence permit in Spain, issued in the Balearic islands.
According to the electronic correspondence in our possession, soon after the start of the war in Ukraine, Pavel Tio submitted applications for South Korean citizenships for himself, his immediate family members, his closest associates (such as Valentina Stanovova, CEO of Capital Group) and for his friend and business partner Sergey Gordeev, majority owner of PIK, Russia’s largest residential developer and his wife. It is interesting that this was happening at the time when Capital Group was openly supporting the war against Ukraine, while getting lucrative contracts from the Russian federal government and the Moscow municipal government.
The list of applicants for South Korean citizenships includes Tio’s wife, his two daughters, two sons (and the family of one son), his grandmothers and grandfather, his cousin and his cousin’s family, the family of Valentina Stanovova and others – a total of 30 people. Interestingly, almost all people on the list are described as being eligible for a ‘simplified’ process of acquisition of citizenship.
Leaked email correspondence between Maria Pak, Tio’s personal assistant and two UBS bankers, responsible for the relationship with Tio, demonstrate that by the end of June, 2022 Tio had already obtained citizenship of South Korea.
Screenshots of email correspondence with UBS
We will continue our investigation into the question of how two Russian oligarchs with a proven track record of crime, corruption and public support for the war against Ukraine and their numerous family members and associates were able to receive the citizenship of South Korea and just what exactly the ‘simplified’ process of acquisition of such citizenship is for representatives of Russian organized crime.
