New Russian PM’s Sister Owns $14M in Hidden Real Estate – BBC

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s sister owns luxury real estate in and outside Moscow currently valued at 900 million rubles ($14.3 million), BBC Russia reported Thursday, citing a classified tax database.

Mishustin and his family were thrust into the spotlight after the former tax chief’s surprise appointment as head of Russia’s government last week. Critics questioned how his wife came to earn $12.5 million without any known business interests, while news outlets reported that the couple may be hiding their own elite real estate.

Natalya Stenina, 49, is listed as the owner of an expensive apartment in a southwestern Moscow gated community called Knightsbridge Private Park, according to BBC Russia. Its current asking price stands at 180 million rubles ($2.8 million), which the outlet reports has barely changed since she purchased it in summer 2018.

BBC Russia said it established Stenina’s ownership through an internal Federal Tax Service database provided by an unnamed source with access to Russians’ personal data. It noted that publicly available property documents show that the 170-square-meter apartment is owned by the “Russian Federation.”

Additionally, Stenina reportedly owns a two-story house in another gated community built by prominent businessman and President Vladimir Putin ally Aras Agalarov in the Moscow region’s prestigious Istra district. The house’s current asking price, which she reportedly purchased in 2014, stands at 370 million rubles ($5.9 million).

Stenina’s third alleged property stands in another prestigious Moscow suburb of Rublyovka, where Russian media had located the Mishustins’ own house. The current asking price for Stenina’s two houses occupying 1.3 hectares of land, according to BBC Russia, stands at 350 million rubles ($5.6 million).

Stenina’s only known asset appears to be a building in central Moscow where a restaurant she co-owned stood before going out of business in 2019, BBC Russia reported. Her only work experience is a stint at Russia’s flagship airline Aeroflot in the early 2000s, the broadcaster cited its source as saying.

Stenina did not respond to BBC Russia’s requests for comment on social media. The government press service did not respond to requests for comment either.

Russia’s Supreme Court in 2017 allowed the Federal Registration Service, which Mishustin headed in 2004-2006, to classify the names of property owners.