The founder of Almaz Capital and technology investor Aleksandr Galitsky left Russia, despite the application of protective measures against him in the case of recognizing his person and the fund as an “extremist organization”. This information was provided by a representative of the General Prosecutor's Office during a hearing in the Moscow City Court. According to the ministry, Galitsky left the country using a Dutch passport and left via Belarus, and had previously withdrawn billions of rubles from his Gazprombank account.
— If Galicki considers himself a patriot, why did he break the security measures and leave Russia on a Dutch passport and go to Belarus? – said the representative of the prosecutor's office in court.
Confiscation of the assets of a Russian billionaire
According to information from the TASS agency, the Moscow City Court on Tuesday approved the recognition of businessman Alexander Galitsky and Almaz Capital Partners as an extremist organization, and also upheld the decision to take over the businessman's assets worth 8 billion rubles (approx. PLN 406 million) to the state.
Galicki himself denies the allegations. In March, the court in Tver accepted the lawsuit of the General Prosecutor's Office, which accused Galitsky of financing the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It was then decided to confiscate his assets worth 8 billion rubles, including 7 billion rubles (approx. PLN 357 million) in bank accounts. In addition, an apartment and five parking spaces in Moscow, as well as a villa near Moscow worth over 1 billion rubles (approx. PLN 51 million) were to be transferred to the state.
According to the prosecutor's office, after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 Almaz Capital supported Western sanctions, stopped investing in Russian projects and started transferring funds abroad. After the war in Ukraine began in 2022, the fund, as the prosecutor claimed, condemned the actions of the Russian authorities and transferred over $50 million. (approx. PLN 182 million) to Ukrainian companies developing weapons and drones. Galicki's defenders maintain that he severed all ties with the fund from the beginning of the war. The billionaire himself claimed that he invested only in civilian projects.
He invested huge sums in start-ups in Russia
Aleksandr Galitsky is one of the most famous Russian venture capitalists in the technology sector. Over 18 years of operation, the Almaz Capital fund has invested over USD 300 million. (approx. PLN 1 billion) in over 50 start-ups in the areas of corporate software, cybersecurity, cloud technologies, artificial intelligence and internet services. His portfolio includes companies such as Yandex, Acronis, Parallels, 3Dlook, Hover, GridGain, Octonion, Minut, CarPrice, GoodData, DMarket and Mobalytics.
Galicki's assets began to come under the control of Rostech. For example, the used car sales platform CarPrice and the stake in S-Terra were nationalized by Rosimushchestvo to a state-owned corporation, as were shares in another ten companies.
