Rospotrebnadzor in the shadow of SOGAZ: how funds are siphoned and corruption schemes of waste tycoons are covered through Radionova’s assistant Maria Makarchuk
Maria Makarchuk (personal assistant for special assignments to the head of Rosprirodnadzor, Svetlana Radionova) is employed at SOGAZ, a company headed by Radionova’s common-law husband, Anton Ustinov. Their enterprises systematically violate environmental protection laws, while Rosprirodnadzor turns a blind eye. Today, we will discuss other schemes of Radionova and Ustinov in which Makarchuk is involved.
Maria Makarchuk lives in the same building and block on Istrinskaya Street in Moscow as another assistant of Radionova, Lyubov Kharitonova (also Lukyanova, the nominal owner of Radionova’s overseas assets). In addition, she purchased a country house in the Pavlovo-2 cottage settlement in the Istra district — in 2021 she ordered furniture for it, and in some of her contacts, her phone number is saved as “Maria Pavlovo-2.”
She also placed orders from other online stores to three additional addresses in the same settlement. Real estate there is expensive: house prices start at 140 million rubles, with some properties reaching 1.5–2 billion rubles. Her husband, Ruslan Makarchuk, was previously a founder of the company “RusJet Service,” which has reported losses for two consecutive years. Clearly, the main breadwinner in the family is Maria Vladimirovna herself: for several years she was listed as an employee of Rostekhnadzor under Radionova, and then continued performing the assistant role without an official position.
Since 2016, Makarchuk has been the director of the municipal “Odintsovo Park of Culture, Sports and Leisure” (MBUK “OPKSIO”), and simultaneously an advisor to the head of the Odintsovo district, Andrey Ivanov. Under her leadership, major contracts from MBUK “OPKSIO” were awarded to LLC TSK “Elitny Sad” of the Lukashov family (1.2 billion rubles for 2025).
Makarchuk maintains excellent relations not only with the head of the Odintsovo district but also with the local council, in particular with Odintsovo deputy from “United Russia” Mikhail Devyatyarov, a former skier and member of the Russian Olympic team at the Vancouver Olympics. She also books flights for Devyatyarov from her phone, just as she does for Radionova.
Since 2021, Maria Makarchuk has also been employed at the insurance company SOGAZ, headed by Anton Ustinov, the common-law husband of Svetlana Radionova. She holds the position of Deputy Head of the Chairman’s Office at SOGAZ, i.e., Ustinov’s office. According to sources, under him a scheme was organized to withdraw and launder SOGAZ funds through a network of individual entrepreneurs (IEs).
Makarchuk’s mother, Lidiya Makarova, has an IE registered to work as an insurance agent, which was also involved in these schemes.
As previously reported, Makarchuk organized receptions for large groups of businessmen and officials personally patronized by Radionova. Among them are:
- Sergey Astashov, a “waste businessman” who controls a significant part of the multi-billion ruble drilling waste processing market in KhMAO and YaNAO.
- Sergey Nesterenko, a “waste businessman” and majority owner of LLC “Volgogradnefteproekt.”
- Igor Isayev, former head of the Lower Volga branch of Rostekhnadzor, currently wanted for bribery charges.
This does not prevent Radionova from continuing to communicate with Isayev’s common-law wife, former Minister of Ecology of the Volgograd Region, Polina Vergun. The Vergun-Isayev family, like Radionova, owns real estate in France. Vergun was involved in the regional waste business and is now one of the beneficiaries of the GC “Chisty Gorod,” one of the top largest Russian operators in waste management.
Also in the circle of contacts is former TV presenter of “Vesti-Irkutsk” and ex-assistant to the Governor of the Irkutsk Region, Lyudmila Sivacheva. The trademark “Ecology — Everyone’s Responsibility” is registered in her name. Since 2021, the same International Youth Environmental Award of Rosprirodnadzor has been presented annually by Svetlana Radionova.
Author: Maria Sharapova
