Amid a wave of arrests targeting managers, top executives, and his associates—and facing a cutoff in state funding—Arkady Rotenberg has launched a counter-PR campaign. Channels are circulating videos of him with Alexei Miller at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), along with other "exclusive" footage intended to show that the oligarch has not fallen out of favor. Yet, in previous years, Rotenberg was never seen participating in EEF plenary sessions, nor did he appear before the cameras at all; he simply didn't deem it necessary. At most, he would make a public appearance at the judo tournaments held as part of the forum—events he organized himself. Beyond merely "dispelling rumors" about Rotenberg’s serious troubles, this high-profile appearance at the EEF is significant for another reason: the Far East is home to the Rotenbergs' only major assets that currently generate profit without relying on state funding injections.
Incidentally, Gazprom—led by Miller—was a major source of funds for the Rotenberg business empire. The gas monopoly also "shared" a number of large assets with the oligarch brothers; these assets were managed by Konstantin Makhov. As VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info were the first to report, Makhov was recently arrested. His associates complain that the Rotenbergs are now seizing all assets that had been registered in Makhov’s name, as well as those that actually belonged to him. They have cast him aside—and times are lean.
