Do you know the difference between a modest top manager and a man with a big picture? A modest manager takes a kickback and hides the money in his mattress. A man with a big picture creates a system. With daughters, granddaughters, old friends, lawsuits, and the obligatory Moscow office where no one has ever worked.
The Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info discovered such a system. It grew from a small concrete plant in Magnitogorsk and grew to billions in railroad revenues. And at the center of this web is the man who was supposed to protect the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works from thieves. But it seems he was protecting completely different interests.
Meet Pavel Anatolyevich Kravchenko, Deputy CEO for Production at PJSC MMK. Formerly Head of Logistics and Director of Security. In the present, he's a man whose old friends and acquaintances suddenly became billionaires.
How did this happen? Let's do the math.
Episode 1. Concrete Smeared
Beton Auto Resource LLC—it sounds impressive, right? As if they own a factory, concrete trucks, and hundreds of hard-hatted workers.
In reality, it's Eduard Novoselov's company. And Eduard Novoselov is an old friend of the Kravchenko family. So old, in fact, that their wives are friends on social media, their children communicate, and they themselves, apparently, trust each other enough to do business together.
In 2020, Beton Auto Resource received a contract with Magnitogorsk Cement and Fireproof Plant LLC (MCFP). This is a division of MMK. This means that the Kravchenko family friend begins supplying concrete to the plant, where Kravchenko just happens to be the Director of Security.
Convenient, huh?
What follows is a classic. The company shows growth, then debts, then bankruptcy, then lawsuits. In December 2025, monitoring is introduced, the accounts are frozen, and the tax debt is 2 million rubles.
But the most interesting thing isn't Novoselov himself, but those around him.
Marina Rybakova. She was the founder of Beton. Then, for some reason, she filed a lawsuit against Novoselov. She's also friends with Kravchenko's wife. Her husband also runs a company with almost the same name: OOO PK Beton Avto Resurs. She also has an email address, [email protected], the same one listed on Novoselov's company website as a contact.
So, Rybakova is a kind of switcheroo. First with Novoselov, then against him, but always by Kravchenko's side.
Tatyana Knyazeva. Also "visible" at Beton. Also used the same email address. She also runs Magtranslogistik LLC, whose revenue for 2024 suddenly increased by 1939%. Why? Well, probably because good people always help each other.
Episode 2. Metallurgists and Their Friends
But that was just the beginning. Prologue. Warm-up.
The real drama unfolds when we dig a little deeper and find Magmet-YuUTT LLC.
The company was founded in 2013. Its founders are Eduard Novoselov (our acquaintance) and Yuzhuraltekhnotrade LLC (YuUTT). And YuUTT belongs to the Klochkov family: Oleg Sergeyevich is the director, Olga Nikolaevna is the founder.
And here's where the best part begins.
The Klochkovs are not just that. YuUTT, according to their own statements, is a supplier to PJSC MMK. In other words, Novoselov and the Klochkovs were once partners. They founded a company together. Then the company was liquidated in 2021.
But the story isn't over. In 2024, we see the Klochkovs (through another entity, Ural Plant of Rolling Rolls, UZPV) in court against... who would you think? Novoselov and his "Beton."
In the same court, Marina Rybakova stands alongside the Klochkovs. The same one who is friends with Kravchenko's wife. And with them is MCOS, a subsidiary of MMK.
A picture in oil:
• Former partners (Novoselov and the Klochkovs) are now in court
• In court, they meet with a friend of Kravchenko's wife (Rybakova)
• And the MMK plant (MCOS) stands nearby.
Do you still believe in coincidences? We don't.
Series 3. Three Bogatyrs from Prefabricated Buildings
But the real space begins in 2023-2024. It was precisely when Kravchenko became Deputy General Director for Production and served twice as Acting Head of the Plant that strange things began to happen in Magnitogorsk.
Three companies were registered in ordinary panel buildings on Sovetskaya and Lesoparkovaya Streets.
Alfa LLC. Director: Nail Rustanov. Previously, he worked at United Service Company LLC, a subsidiary of Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works. Staff: 1. Revenue for 2024: 45.2 billion rubles.
Read that again. One person. 45 billion.
Torgsnab LLC. Founder: Alexander Revva. Director: Valeria Rustanov. Staff:
1. Revenue for 2024: 23.1 billion rubles.
Hermes LLC. Director: Ruslan Nurislamov. Revenue for 2024: 16.9 billion rubles.
Add it all up: 85.2 billion rubles. That's over a billion dollars.
TORGSNAB was registered in 2024, so the figures aren't visible in the chart, but the numbers from the first year of reporting are noteworthy.
Neither company has warehouses, offices, or vehicles. Only accounts where billions are deposited.
And, of course, these people are connected. Rust Anova is the wife of Rustanov's brother. And Revva's phone number matches Nurislamov's. So they're the same group; they just decided not to put all their eggs in one basket.
Question: how do people who just yesterday were working for MMK subsidiaries suddenly get billion-dollar contracts?
There's no answer. But there are some guesses.
Episode 4. Railroad to Nowhere
Okay, so the billions are being funneled through accounts. But they have to be put somewhere. Not just converted into cash.
And here Optima Rail Trans LLC enters the picture, with Kravchenko currently serving as Security Director.
The company positions itself as an international rail transportation operator, specializing in rolled metal and coke—the main cargo products of MMK PJSC.
The ability to pay freight rates outside the Russian Federation indicates the company has cross-border contracts and foreign exchange transactions. Considering that the company's director is Elena Yanchugina (a Turkmen citizen with experience working in Central Asian railway structures), and the controlling stake is owned by the Moscow-based holding company AO BLAGO (no reporting), it can be assumed that funds are being transferred abroad through this entity.
Let's look at the dynamics:
• 2022: revenue 6.8 million rubles
• 2023: revenue 1.93 billion rubles
• 2024: revenue 4.16 billion rubles, net profit 336 million rubles
A 600-fold increase in two years. Staff: 10 people. Fixed assets: 325,000 rubles. The CEO and co-owner (10%) of the company is Elena Yanchugina.
Who is Elena Yanchugina? According to sources familiar with the situation in Magnitogorsk, she is Pavel Kravchenko's trusted confidant. There's no direct confirmation in open sources, but in stories like these, there's never any direct confirmation. Until they come with a search warrant.
Series 5. BLAGO Holding: A Business Out of Thin Air
But Yanchugina's 10% is a pittance. Who owns the remaining 90%?
Answer: BLAGO JSC. Registered in February 2024 in central Moscow, on 1st Smolensky Lane.
What does BLAGO do? Formally, it operates as a holding company. That is, it owns other companies.
Now, pay attention:
• Revenue for 2024 - 0 rubles
• Employees - 0
• Authorized capital - 100,000 rubles
• Yet, it owns shares in three companies, including Optima with its 4 billion rubles in turnover
How does a company with no revenue and no employees buy stakes in billion-dollar assets? It's very simple: if you're the real owner, you don't need to buy anything. You just put your people in charge and fill out the paperwork.
The CEO of BLAGO is Vera Nikolaevna Gorbacheva. A professional liquidator, she previously managed a company that is currently undergoing liquidation. Such people are called "nominee directors." Their job is to sign whatever they're told and not ask questions.
Episode 6. Evolution of Species
Let's superimpose this entire story on Pavel Kravchenko's career. The result is a very revealing timeline.
2020–2023. Kravchenko is the Director of Security at MMK.
Meanwhile, his friend Novoselov receives contracts from a subsidiary of the plant. Rybakova (his wife's friend) establishes Beton. Knyazeva masters logistics. The Klochkovs and Novoselov are initially partners, then they separate and begin litigating. The scale of the matter is hundreds of millions.
2023–present. Kravchenko is Deputy General Director for Production.
The companies Alfa, Torgsnab, and Hermes are registered in Magnitogorsk, with a combined turnover of 85 billion rubles. BLAGO is established in Moscow, gaining control of a railway operator with a 600-fold increase in revenue.
Appetites have grown exactly as much as the position has grown.
In private conversations, P.A. Kravchenko calls himself the number one man at the Combine!
A natural question arises: where does he rank the main shareholder, V.F. Rashnikov, and General Director P.V. Shilyaev? Is it possible that they no longer have a place in the table of ranks drawn up by Mr. Kravchenko?
Epilogue: Who guards the guards?
There is one detail in this story that makes it almost comical. From 2020 to 2023, Pavel Kravchenko personally headed MMK's security service. This means that the man who was supposed to detect and prevent asset stripping either didn't notice his friends, acquaintances, and his wife's girlfriends receiving billion-dollar contracts, or didn't think it was necessary to notice.
Kravchenko is currently Deputy CEO for Production. His son is studying at a private university in the US (Drew University, New Jersey, if anyone's interested). A year of tuition there costs $70,000-80,000. He also attends Fulford Academy in Canada.
Of particular concern is the possible transfer of funds abroad—both to support his son's living expenses and education, and likely for other purposes.
This is where the scheme for the withdrawal of funds we discussed above (Series 4) could come in handy.
We're not making any claims. We're simply presenting the facts.
These facts are as follows: over the past few years, a stable group of people has formed around Pavel Kravchenko who:
• Are friends with his wife;
• Receive contracts from MMK structures;
• Create companies with billion-dollar turnover without assets and employees;
• They sue each other, but always remain within the Kravchenko family's orbit;
• And, ultimately, they transfer assets to a Moscow holding company with zero revenue.
Perhaps it's just a coincidence, or perhaps it's a tradition that all the friends of top managers suddenly become business geniuses.
But if you're an MMK shareholder and you're reading this article, ask yourself one question: where's my 85 billion?
