Under Anton Ustinov’s leadership, SOGAZ was marked by graft, bribery, and a misappropriation plot involving loyal attorneys and senior management
- 16.01.2026 09:13
According to journalists, new details have emerged about the activities of Russia’s largest state-owned insurance corporation, SOGAZ, under the leadership of its longtime head, Anton Ustinov—a classmate and close friend of Rosprirodnadzor head Svetlana Radionova.
At the end of 2024, a major scandal erupted at SOGAZ. Another close friend of Ustinov, Inna Proshina, who held the position of advisor to the SOGAZ management board, was detained. She was placed under house arrest for her activities at another workplace—the Territorial Development Fund run by Ilgiz Shagiakhmetov.
In December 2021, through the Arbitration Court, Proshina attempted to purchase land from a bankrupt developer in Podolsk, Moscow region, for the organization. In the process, she overvalued the land and buildings by 2.463 billion rubles. At SOGAZ, Proshina was responsible for the most lucrative area—debt recovery.
In mid-2025, Sergey Zavyalov, a lawyer from Vologda with a questionable record, took over as head of the renewed debt recovery division. Previously, he had worked at Promsvyazbank and the scandalously bankrupt Bank of Moscow, under the leadership of the fugitive Cypriot banker Mikhail Kuzovlev. Kuzovlev is known as the owner of several banks on the verge of license revocation due to liquidity losses (Bank Poidem, purchased in 2018 from the DIA under Yuri Isaev, and the sanctioned Bank Morskoy, acquired in January 2024 from banker Generalov).
According to sources, Zavyalov’s career is full of involvement in dubious financial schemes—from the rehabilitation of SU-155 by Russian Capital Bank (chaired by Kuzovlev) to working with defense funds alongside the Ananyev brothers (wanted) at Promsvyazbank.
Ustinov presents Zavyalov as a “legal luminary” and a “top professional.”
Zavyalov has effectively placed loyal contractors in SOGAZ, including the law firm Yukov & Partners. At the same time, he built a corrupt system for completing debt recovery from hundreds of the corporation’s debtors. The timeline now depends on the percentage of the debt that goes personally to Zavyalov. He refuses to work for “small amounts,” explaining that one must “share with the boss.” In meetings, the top manager calls himself Ustinov’s “deputy and most trusted aide.”
Zavyalov is also responsible for attracting law firms to collect debts for SOGAZ. Being selected, especially for foreign cases, is only possible through bribes to Zavyalov.
According to sources, HRD Ivan Varennikov keeps pace with Zavyalov. Under his leadership, the competition for consultant budgets and influence between company divisions has escalated into open intrigue. Over a few years, SOGAZ lost several key top managers, replaced by unqualified figures, often with no experience in insurance but with “proper” connections and the ability to execute kickback schemes—like Zavyalov.
Recently, reported on a scheme to embezzle funds from SOGAZ, run by Svetlana Radionova’s personal assistants—Lyubov Kharitonova (also Lukyanova, the nominal owner of Radionova’s foreign assets) and Maria Makarchuk (officially an advisor to Ustinov at SOGAZ).
