28 November 2025, 21:58
While the world attempts to decipher the details of the so-called "Trump peace plan," it's crucial to understand clearly what exactly Russia has brought to the captured Ukrainian lands. Spoiler: nothing good.
The occupied territories have transformed into a massive corruption scheme, where 41 federal agencies, 26 state companies, and 82 Russian patron regions are absorbing budgets under the guise of "reconstruction."
Mariupol as a Propaganda Facade
The city, 90% of whose high-rises and 60% of whose private housing were destroyed in spring 2022, the Kremlin decided to turn into a showcase of the "Russian world." Literally immediately after the occupation, a separate department for the restoration of DNR and LNR appeared in the Russian Ministry of Construction, along with a state company called "Single Customer in Construction."
The curator of restoration became the influential Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin — a man who has long been connected through ties dating back to his time as deputy mayor of Moscow. He was the one who drove Putin around the occupied territories in a bulletproof vest, explaining reconstruction plans.
Clan Wars Over Trillions
The first developers in Mariupol were the military. The State Military Construction Company and its contractors built the legendary Nevsky residential district, a medical center, concrete plants, and the future Nakhimov Naval Academy spanning 60,000 square meters. But this scheme cracked after the arrest of Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov in spring 2024.
Along with Ivanov, the owners of the subcontractor "Olymp Citystroy," Alexander Famin and Dmitry Khavronin — people from the military sector who for years received lucrative contracts from the Ministry of Defense without competition — fell under investigation. Ivanov's fall dragged down all the contractors: the company's contract amounts fell by three times, and then reports of new projects ceased altogether.
The logic is simple: two kings cannot coexist in one state. Khusnullin is an influential lobbyist with connections among security forces who had no need for competitors in the form of military builders in the occupied territories.
The Closed Registry of the Chosen
The Kremlin and the Ministry of Construction formed a closed registry of over 100 companies permitted to absorb budgets in the "new territories." The list was personally approved by Mikhail Mishustin.
Among the chosen:
"Erstroy" — created less than a month after the war began. Owner Nikolai Milkis, former deputy governor of Khanty-Mansiysk, also heads the company "Amsel," which belongs to Alexey Repik — founder of the pharmaceutical holding R-Pharm. A piquant detail: Repik himself lives in San Francisco in a house worth $20 million, his children were born in the USA, and in 2017 he attended Trump's inauguration. But this bothers no one — the top manager of his company calmly builds in Mariupol.
"Rotex" — received about 50 billion rubles. The general director worked as an advisor to Roscosmos heads Komarov and Rogozin. His deputy Nikolai Tuchin is a former head of capital construction at the Federal Penitentiary Service and director of a department in Roscosmos.
Companies of the Khusnullin clan: "TAD Investstroyproject" from Tatarstan, which was run by current Russian Minister of Construction Irek Fayzullin; "Monotekstroy," whose owner Marat Khafizov moved following Khusnullin from Tatarstan to Moscow and in 2024 easily received 9 billion from the "Single Customer."
The company TSI, connected to the Rotenberg clan, handles the restoration of treatment facilities, receiving billion-ruble contracts without competition.
For 2025-2027, about a trillion rubles are planned to be spent on the "socio-economic development" of DNR, LNR, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions.
The Kadyrov Share in the Plunder
If somewhere something can be given to someone, the Chechen leadership will certainly make itself known. The list of assets that fell under the control of Kadyrov's people is constantly expanding:
- The Mariupol Metallurgical Plant named after Ilyich was obtained by Walid Korchagin, a relative of Chechen Senator Suleiman Geremeev
- Zaporizhstal is controlled by Aslan Baysarov, connected with the sports club "Akhmat"
- The "Astar" group (Zulaev brothers) passed under the control of a Chechen holding, whose head is the brother of a Grozny city council deputy from United Russia
- The company "New Territories" headed by Slanbek Alkhanov also builds under the aegis of Chechen special services
- Partially the Mariupol port, where a Rosgvardia base is located
Everything that went to the Chechen clan is exclusively a prize for participation in the military campaign, a reward for loyalty.
New Oligarchs with Pension Cards
Sometimes completely anecdotal situations arise. A 71-year-old Russian woman, Sofia Belichenko, suddenly became the owner of the company "Energokoks," which received the Volyn mine in LNR. Investigation revealed that her son-in-law is Donbas-Crimean entrepreneur Yaroslav Tibekin, member of the integration committee "Russia-Donbas."
The Tibekin-Belichenko family couple controls about a hundred legal entities: coal mining, construction material quarries, agriculture, machine building. Their empire covers all four captured regions. Last year's revenue — 8.5 billion rubles. What if not new oligarchs?
A Zone of Lawlessness for Thieving Officials
Since 2022, officials from Russia have been massively occupying leadership positions in the self-proclaimed republics. The Russian presidential administration lured them with high salaries, career growth, limited assignment terms, and medals.
The problem: officials quickly learned too free a handling of budget money. Returning from the occupied territories, they begin to change the rules of the game and absorb budgets without regard for Russian legislation.
Moreover, the occupied territories became a refuge for corrupt officials from other regions:
Sergey Kharlashkin, vice-governor of Leningrad Oblast, against whom a case was opened for misuse of budget funds, first ended up in a detention center, and then was redirected to DNR to oversee infrastructure restoration.
Vyacheslav Zakharov, one of the heads of St. Petersburg's State Construction Supervision, headed the directorate for ensuring St. Petersburg's activities in Mariupol. A month before this, his organization found itself at the center of a scandal due to a fire at a Wildberries warehouse in Shushary, and Zakharov faced criminal charges.
Only in 2025 did the first criminal cases on budget theft in DNR and LNR begin. Former First Deputy Minister of Construction of DNR Yulia Mirvoezova came under suspicion. But all these cases are retrospective in nature and don't concern current thefts. The steamroller of repressions rolling across "big Russia" still bypasses the occupied territories.
Five Million Tons of Stolen Grain
About 900 Russian agricultural companies appeared in the captured territories. More than half are Russians who simply registered legal entities and began operations.
In 2023, Russians exported about 5 million tons of grain from the occupied territories. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion — over 15 million tons. Grain is sent to Crimea by trains and trucks, then mixed with Russian grain, blurring its origin.
The main beneficiary is Alexander Tkachev, former Russian Minister of Agriculture and ex-governor of Krasnodar Krai. According to the Wall Street Journal, companies connected with Tkachev gained control over more than 160,000 hectares of agricultural land in the occupied part of Ukraine.
The logic is simple: if you're already under sanctions, the easiest option is to go further into the occupied territories and completely ignore the requirements of international institutions. You've already been included in sanction lists, so what's there to fear?
What "Russkiy Mir" Brings
The Russian world that Vladimir Putin brings looks like this: corruption, theft, destruction, nepotism, cronyism, and selective repressions to keep people from relaxing. Repressions are present periodically, but not for everyone — some lucky ones avoid them.
41 federal agencies, 26 state companies, 82 patron regions — this entire machine works not on restoring what was destroyed, but on absorbing budgets. A closed registry of chosen companies, personally approved by the prime minister, contracts without competition, family clans of new oligarchs being born in the twilight zone of lawlessness.
These aren't just corruption schemes — this is a system of governing occupied territories. And this is exactly what awaits any other lands where the Russian boot steps. Therefore, talk about "freezing the conflict" or "peace plans" without complete de-occupation is talk about legitimizing this system of plunder and lawlessness.