Nikolai Kolesov was enough to lift his head, look around and see that the castle he had built, now of cards, began to stagger. In 2022, when Putin decided to launch the war in Ukraine and the sanctions of the EU began to make a dent in the fortunes of the Russian elites, this 69 -year -old oligarch, the executive director of which the main supplier of helicopters of the Army of Russia, Russian Helicoptershe made the decision to put all his heritage at a good collection.
As? Well, using their young children, turning them into fiscal shields. As published by the Portuguese newspaper Kolesov is the owner of up to 5 mansions in Palma de Mallorca, Although in the registry are in the name of their three minor children, all with Spanish nationality and chipriota. A triquiñuela that not only reflects another case of fiscal engineering but is a play that prevents the bulk of his fortune from being affected by European sanctions.
The most bleeding cases
The most striking case is that of his eldest daughter, Nikol, who with only four years became the owner of a villa valued at about five million euros, in the beach front line in Calvià, in the Sierra de Tramuntana, which until 2014 appeared in the name of Elikone of the Kolesov companies. At that time, he was still married to Diana, the mother of the three little ones, of which he divorced in 2021, keeping custody and even telling them that he had died. “The children would have to be with me, but he has eaten the coconut,” he denounces, ensuring that he has not been able to see them four years.
The second property of Kolesov in Mallorca, overlooking the Mediterranean and about 500 square meters, is in the name of another figure close to the clan: Liudmila Tenno, sister of Nikolai Kolesov and member of the Board of Directors of a Russian military company specialized in navigation systems, based in the city of Ramenskoye. In this case, the oligarch does not use one of his children as a testaferro, but resorts to an adult from his family environment and links with the Russian defense industry. The maneuver does not eliminate the connection with the Kremlin, but introduces one more degree of legal separation that hinders tracking and reinforces the appearance of legality. Even so, this does not guarantee total immunity. In Spain, however, the legislation gives a wide margin to this type of fraud: at most, a lower economic sanction.
The remaining three homes were awarded in 2024 the little Aysha, son of Kolesov and godson of the Minister of Defense during the Dmitri Medvedev era. He was only five years old when he “acquired” properties that, as a whole, are valued at ten million euros: about 750 square meters each and a land of one hectare in the coastal line. The result: a luxury set impossible to legally track to the oligarch, at least on paper.
At the government table
Maria Pevchij, a researcher in the exile of the Anti -Corruption Foundation (FBK), a team created by the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, has been in charge of following the trail of the Mallorcan properties of Kolesov. He tracked the records of the property, analyzed the social networks of the whole family, overturned the houses with drones and compiled all the documentation that has transferred to the Ministries of Economy and that of Foreign Affairs. “We have always said it. Spain has many legal gaps. The problem is that there is no punishment for breaking European sanctions. At most, they may put a fine of 2,000 euros. There is a great imbalance between what is done and what can happen,” he denounced.
The indications are there, the links are evident, and the own names coincide with the official records. Kolesov is still in the EU sanctioned list, directs one of the key companies in the Russian war machinery, and accumulates heritage on European soil without anyone holding it. Meanwhile, their children play in pools valued in millions of euros, surrounded by security cameras, outside any attempt of what can be understood as accountability and without European sanctions having played or are going to touch some of their tiles.
