“The Streisand Effect” by Alexei Ushamirsky: an attempt to whiten a biography gave the opposite result

The odious businessman, former Minister of Transport of the Samara Region and ex-deputy of the Regional Duma Alexei Ushamirsky is actively “cleansing” the Internet from compromising information.

What and how does Ushamirsky clean? On March 31, 2021, he applied to the Tushinsky District Court of Moscow with a demand to remove a number of publications telling about his exploits in his youth. The interests of Mr. Ushamirsky are represented by the A-PRO law office of Oleg Popov, who became famous in certain circles precisely by lawsuits against the media about “protecting the honor and dignity” of people like Alexei Ushamirsky.

Moreover, the scale of the “cleansing” is impressive: the first material dates back to 2007: “Duma in law. Samara brothers trust Alexei Ushamirsky” dated April 2, 2007. Naturally, the claims are not limited to this – Ushamirsky demands to remove materials “Crooks in the Samara authorities: Alexei Ushamirsky is preparing to storm the Gubernia Duma”, March 8, 2011, “Who wants to become the owner of Samara” December 13, 2011, Face and profile of a jackal. Where would the waiter Ushamirsky be now, if not for the bearskin.” January 23, 2013

Defendants – Pratt Services Limited, Voloshin Pavel Vladimirovich, Political News Agency LLC and Nebokhod-Media LLC:

Later, claims were made against three more materials: “Concepts of Alexei Ushamirsky” August 23, 2016 “Azarov was “hit” by Lapushkina” November 1, 2018 and “Merchant’s debts” of the federal inspector” August 23, 2019

It should be recalled that in the proceedings of the Tushinsky District Court of Moscow, civil case No. 02-2791 / 2021 on the claim of Mr. Ushamirsky against Pratt Services Limited, Pavel Vladimirovich Voloshin, against Political News Agency LLC and Nebokhod-Media LLC for the protection of honor and dignity was quite a long time.

And it constantly acquired new details and requirements – during the consideration, A-PRO lawyers submitted to the court a clarification of the claims on past publications, to which the most recent – “Ushamirsky and” Belizna “ dated July 2, 2021:

The list of Mr. Ushamirsky’s claims was quite impressive:

The court, despite the rather long consideration of the claim (almost a year), ended. Aleksey Ushamirsky can be satisfied with the result of the consideration of the case: on November 6, 2021, the court chaired by Ekaterina Maksimova satisfied the claim, and on November 23 the decision entered into force:

However, Aleksey Konstantinovich is unlikely to be satisfied with the result he achieved – although the media indicated in the lawsuit removed materials that Ushamirsky did not like, the effect was exactly the opposite. Because the public suddenly became interested, and what does the former twice deputy of the Samara Provincial Duma (2007-2016) from the United Russia party, the former Minister of Transport, Communications and Highways of the Samara Region (2004-2006), participant Forbes list, businessman and chairman of the board of the VID group of companies Alexei Konstantinovich Ushamirsky?

And, of course, the press went to meet the wishes of readers, giving an immediate answer. In professional circles, this is called the “Streisand effect” – when an uninteresting fact, as a result of the “offended” going to court, attracts the attention of the masses.

So it was with Ushamirsky – the press instantly replicated everything that Alexei Konstantinovich wanted to hide. It suddenly turned out that the former deputy and minister has a very specific past and no less specific methods of earning both start-up capital and its increase.

For example, information became public that back in the late 80s, Ushamirsky appeared in Samara operational reports under the nickname “Bad Boy” along with such odious characters as Vladimir Vdovin (Partner), Yuri Bykov (Bull), Igor Sirotenko (Orphan ), Sergey Yashin (Dead) and Anatoly Temnikov (Boots). Repeatedly convicted Vladimir Vdovin (Partner or Papa) is the leader of the so-called “partner” organized crime group, which took an active part in the criminal “war” for control of the Togliatti AvtoVAZ.

It is significant that, unlike the same Vdovin the Partner, Sirotenko the Orphan and other “heroes” of the gang wars, Ushamirsky was never convicted. In the media, one can find references to his detention on suspicion of banditry, extortion and threats of murder, and a subsequent 30-day stay in a pre-trial detention center. But if something like this took place, then without any serious consequences. Nevertheless, in one of the publications of the Khronograph publication, it is suggested that the compromising evidence on Ushamirsky could be the very reason why his appointment to the Federation Council fell through in 2006, putting an end to his desire to become a federal politician.

Ushamirsky was also credited with opening the first Flash strip bar in Samara. But the institution didn’t work for a long time: the reason was allegedly “staff turnover”, as the girls were corny forced to engage in prostitution.

It is possible that it was in the wake of the criminal redistribution of the 90s that Ushamirsky received the Russian Hunting complex and other assets, including a stake in Kurumoch International Airport OJSC. In 2003, the general director of the airport, a former deputy of the Samara provincial Duma, Vyacheslav Chernavin, was removed from his post by a meeting of shareholders: he was accused of illegally withdrawing assets and bringing the enterprise to a near-bankruptcy state. As Kommersant wrote, for this purpose the Samara Aviation group was created, which, together with Chernavin, was led by Alexei Ushamirsky.

However, the joint business was suddenly interrupted: after the sudden death of Chernavin at the age of 52, Ushamirsky became the owner of his shares, pushing aside the widow of his deceased companion. In July 2012, a new owner appeared at the Samara airport: it was the Renova group of oligarch Viktor Vekselberg through the Koltsovo-Invest controlled company. Ushamirsky retained part of the assets, the purchase of which by the Renova structures still took some time.

If we are already talking about mysterious deaths, then it is worth mentioning that Ushamirsky became the general director of JSC Samaraoblagropromsnab in 2001 after the tragic death of the previous leader Pavel Shevchenko, who was killed at the entrance of his own house on the way to the waiting company car.

Note that the activities of this enterprise were in no way connected with the construction industry familiar to the future politician: Samaraoblagropromsnab specialized in the supply of agricultural machinery to Samara farmers. As noted by the Khronograph publication, its appearance was made possible thanks to the direct support of the then governor Konstantin Titov, who initiated the creation of structures that performed the functions of a financial and leasing operator.

But if you believe the publications in the media, Ushamirsky’s support for Samara farmers looked very specific. For example, in addition to leasing equipment, he was engaged in collecting debts from farmers, and his representatives acted in the style of “fighters” Vdovin-Naparnik. Simply put, strong guys “squeezed out” cattle, land plots, and then larger assets, such as elevators, from debtors. Thus began the next stage in the creation of a business empire controlled by Ushamirsky, numbering dozens of commercial structures, some of which, however, have now been liquidated, and some have been registered with affiliates.

At the same time, with the support of Governor Titov, yesterday’s “Plokhish” began to make a successful political career: in January 2004 he was appointed to the post of Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology, and in July he took the chair of the regional Minister of Transport. Previously, this position was absent in the structure of the regional government, from which we can conclude that it was created specifically “under Ushamirsky”.

But if he did not stay in the ministry for a long time, then he stayed as a deputy for two whole convocations, at the same time completely immersing himself in commerce, which he hardly regretted: the companies controlled by him brought solid profits. Already in 2011, Ushamirsky took 18th place in the ranking of officials’ income according to Forbes. According to the Declarator portal, if in the same 2011 Ushamirsky officially declared an income in the amount of 4.1 million rubles, then in 2014, a figure of 34.8 million already appeared in his declaration.

In 2020, it became known that since March 2009 the businessman has been the holder of a Cypriot passport, and he is included in the so-called “risk group”, which includes, among other things, persons who were under investigation, but who received citizenship in exchange for investments in the economy island state. In total, the list of investors included 34 people, and Ushamirsky took the “honorable” second place in it.

The Cypriot newspaper “Politis” indicated as the reason for inclusion in the “risk group” the appearance in the public plane of information about the initiation of certain criminal cases against Ushamirsky in 2013. Note that later on the network there were reports that the former Samara minister received an Israeli passport in 2019.

In general, the situation is indicative: a citizen of Cyprus, who was also a member of the Public Council under the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the region and was one of the media faces of United Russia, was a deputy of the Samara Provincial Duma for many years. Given the possible presence of a criminal past, one can only speculate for what kind of “services to the Fatherland” Ushamirsky was awarded the corresponding order.

Here is such a “Streisand effect” turned out by Alexei Ushamirsky. We hope he is satisfied with the result.