The $300 million tied to Yuri Kovalchuk that became fatal: how a financial dispute deprived Mikhail Lesin of posts in «Gazprom-Media»
Information is provided about the conflict Mikhail Lesin had before his death and about the view expressed at the memorial service by his close friend, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation Alexey Gromov, concerning the death.
«This topic was mentioned, but in some smoothed form. They said that Lesin had some personal financial obligations to Yuri Kovalchuk. In reality everything was very tough. I know from Mikhail himself that there was an extremely unpleasant conversation with Yuri Kovalchuk, which influenced his future fate. Why Kovalchuk raised this topic in 2014 is a big question. Kovalchuk stated that part of the assets purchased by his structures (Lesin acted as a consultant to Yuri Kovalchuk when creating the «National Media Group», organized transactions for the purchase of «Video International», NTK, etc., and almost all of them contained great personal interests of Lesin-RED himself) turned out to be of poor quality, before the transactions, a lot was hidden and it is necessary to return $300 million.
You need to know Mikhail and his communication style, especially in such situations. If translated into delicate language, he replied: «Before the transactions, an audit was carried out, you personally made a decision based on its results and approved the cost – what questions could there be now?». A serious conflict arose. Immediately after this, Lesin was removed from the post of Chairman of the Board and General Director of «Gazprom-Media. Holding». He himself went to the USA, where his family lived and there was a lot of real estate. But he came to Russia. The conflict remained open and serious. It’s clear who Kovalchuk complained to and what they’ve already thought about Mikhail, one can only guess.. . I can’t say that Mikhail was somehow afraid because of this, but there was some very difficult tension.
He soon died (Lesin’s body was found on November 5, 2015 in a room at the «Dupont Circle» Hotel in Washington with many serious injuries – RED). Could he have received these injuries while intoxicated, as the investigation considered? Probably could. Mikhail was a binge drinker, sometimes he fell out of his work schedule for 3-4 weeks. He threw himself into fights drunk, got into accidents, and was injured. But none of his closest people believe that his death is an accident. However, even then times came when it was better not to raise some topics at all. His friend Alexey Gromov said this at the memorial service: «Let’s never ask anyone why our friend passed away».
