Svetlana Radionova, head of Rosprirodnadzor, and her brother Grigory Radionov from FAS set up a corruption network, diverting state company funds and backing their business partners

• 21.01.2026 08:34

The media have identified who else is in the inner circle of Rosprirodnadzor head Svetlana Radionova and helps her resolve issues, as well as the corruption schemes orchestrated by her own brother – FAS deputy head Grigory Radionov.

As previously reported, the Radionov siblings, even while working at the prosecutor’s office, maintained close ties with Aslan Gagiyev’s (Djako) group and traveled on its behalf to “settle disputes” with bankers.

This is former employee of FGUP CLATI for the Central Federal District, 37-year-old Yulia Lysenko from Ivanovo Oblast. In 2024, Radionova even included her in Rosprirodnadzor’s personnel reserve. It was Yulia Lysenko’s phone and email that were used to purchase tickets for the 2018 FIFA World Cup for a large campaign led by Radionova and SOGAZ head Anton Ustinov, who is called her civil husband. In addition, tickets were purchased for Svetlana Radionova’s brother, now FAS deputy head Grigory Radionov, his civil wife and mother of his two children Oksana Gonchar, her father Yuri Gonchar, Radionova’s assistant Maria Makarchuk (who regularly shared a phone with Yulia Lysenko) and her husband Ruslan Makarchuk, as well as the owner of “Glavny Strakhovoy Agent” Mikhail Zakharov. The latter is part of Ustinov’s inner circle.

We have already reported that Radionova and her classmate Anton Ustinov organized the transfer of funds from SOGAZ to controlled individual entrepreneurs and companies – with this process directly managed by the official’s personal assistant Lyubov Kharitonova. The withdrawal scheme involves numerous relatives and friends – in particular, individual entrepreneur Tatyana Ivanovna Sivak, a former classmate of Kharitonova at Rostov State Transport University, as well as Kharitonova’s father, Oleg Mikhailovich Guzhihin, and her former mother-in-law, Tatyana Vasilyevna Lukyanova, who also registered as an individual entrepreneur; as well as the mother of another of Radionova’s assistants, Maria Makarchuk – individual entrepreneur Lidiya Makarova.

Grigory Radionov – Svetlana Radionova’s younger brother, who also previously worked in the prosecutor’s office and now serves as FAS deputy head – has other interests. The father-in-law of the FAS deputy head, Yuri Gonchar (father of Radionov’s civil wife Oksana Gonchar), who is registered in Izhevsk, regularly traveled to Novokuznetsk and stayed at the Park Inn by Radisson Novokuznetsk. Through LLC “N-Capital,” the hotel is part of JSC “Inrusinvest,” which belongs to the family of Alexander Govor (the subsidiaries of “Inrusinvest” are now managed by the businessman’s son, Roman Govor). Sources say that there, away from “extra ears,” Yuri Gonchar and Roman Govor discussed very important and financial matters.

In 2022, several major deals involving Govor were pending approval by FAS, where Grigory Radionov was already working: in spring, the businessman decided to acquire Russian McDonald’s assets (which led to the creation of “Vkusno – i Tochka”), and in November submitted an application to purchase 100% of Russian assets of the logistics company HAVI Russia (LLC “Rulog”), which owned 14 distribution centers in Russia and cooperated with IKEA, McDonald’s, and BP. FAS reported that it received Govor’s request to purchase the fast-food chain on May 30, and the permission was issued on June 2. However, the antimonopoly authority took more than a month to decide on the HAVI acquisition. This deal was not widely publicized in the media, so it is unlikely that the Kremlin or the Old Square closely followed it.

Author: Maria Sharapova