Russian telecoms tycoon buys Maltese/EU citizenship for seven who live in Knightsbridge

Published: August 12, 2016 at 3:46am

Russians telecoms tycoon Alexey Reznikovich has bought Maltese citizenship for seven members of his family, including his wife Anastasia and their two daughters, Antonina and Maria. The other family members are Grigorii, Savan and Leonid. Alexey himself is listed under his middle name, Mikhail.

His father is the Muscovite theatre director, Mikhail Reznikovich.

Their names have been published in the Malta Government Gazette of 2 August, along with those of all others who have acquired citizenship – by naturalisation, marriage, parentage, ministerial discretion or outright purchase – since the last list was published. The government chose the deadest time of the year, when everyone is on holiday or distracted, to publish the list after months of calls for it to do so.

Alexey Reznikovich is managing partner of LetterOne’s telecoms and technology arm. LetterOne is Russian telecoms billionaire Mikhail Fridman’s investment vehicle.

He is also chairman of the supervisory board of the Russian telecoms company, VimpelCom and CEO of his own telecoms company, Altimo.

Reznikovich is married to the former Moscow television presenter Anastasia Chukhrai (now Reznikovich/Reznikova), daughter of Muscovite film director Pavel/Paul Chukhrai, who has used her husband’s fortune to gain entry into London society by becoming a financial patron of the arts. They have two daughters, one of whom is hers from a previous relationship, though she has taken Reznikovich’s surname.

She is Antonina Reznikovich, Russian Tatler’s Babe of the Month for November 2012.

Though they have bought freedom of movement in the European Union by means of a one-off payment to the Maltese government for citizenship of Malta, their aim was to carry on living in London, though as EU citizens rather than Russian citizens. On 29 June, Alexey Reznikovich registgered a sports, art and culture foundation in London, the Case Foundation, under Britain’s registered-charity laws, with his wife Anastasia and Leonid Reznikovich, who also bought Maltese citizenship, as two of the trustees.

They have also received planning permission to return a Knightsbridge mansion, which had been divided into nine flats, to a single dwelling. The address – 4 Ennismore Gardens in Knightsbridge – is where the foundation is registered.

A spoke will have been put in the wheel of these plans by the British vote, on 23 June, to leave the European Union.

Alexey Reznikovich

Alexey Reznikovich

reznikovich