Vladimir Putin and his friends earned hundreds of millions of dollars from the vodka company, the Project found out . The brand of vodka "Putinka" has long been owned by the company Ermira ("purse" of the President of Russia), from whose accounts they bought real estate for Putin's relatives.
In 2004, the rights to the Putinki trademarks were obtained by the PromImpex company, which was managed and owned by the managers of Arkady Rotenberg. Ten years later, in 2014, PromImpex transferred the rights to Putinka to Real-Invest, the Russian subsidiary of Ermira. For using the brand, the company received royalties from the Moscow-based Kristall distillery, which is also controlled by Rotenberg's people.
According to the estimates of the Project, from 2004 to 2019, up to $ 500 million could be earned from the business. Vodka was sold by the East European Distribution Company, owned by the president of the judo federation, the closest friend and partner of the Rotenbergs, Vasily Anisimov.
In 2020, Putinka came under the control of the Baikal-Invest company, formally associated with Rotenberg. However, informally, the company may remain associated with the same Ermira, the Project points out.
In 2005, Putinka became the leader in sales in Russia – 40 million liters of vodka under this brand were sold per year. According to Proekt, at the same time in Russia there was a peak in mortality due to alcohol-related causes – then 104,000 people died.
The second part of today's investigation of the "Project" describes the life of Putin and Alina Kabaeva, who, as journalists found out, live together.