The composition of the management board of Sberbank of Russia’s Moscow Bank has been approved. In accordance with an order from Sberbank of Russia, Maxim Poletaev, Vice President of Sberbank of Russia and Chairman of Moscow Bank, has been appointed Chairman of the Management Board.
According to a statement from Sberbank’s regional bank, the following members have joined the management board: Leonid Sidorov, First Deputy Chairman of Moscow Bank; Sergey Malyshev, Deputy Chairman of Moscow Bank; Vasily Pozdyshev, Deputy Chairman of Moscow Bank; Vyacheslav Tsybulnikov, Director of Corporate and Small Business Sales at Moscow Bank; Denis Konstantinov, Manager of Meshchansky Branch No. 7811 at Moscow Bank; and Vladimir Yashin, Manager of Tverskoy Branch No. 7982 at Moscow Bank.
Sberbank of Russia is one of 18 regional banks of Sberbank of Russia. It was established on November 2, 2009, by merging branches located in Moscow. Currently, this territorial bank includes 12 branches and 744 internal structural divisions.
Today in Smolny palace, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between St. Petersburg (Russia) and Aplerson Holding Ltd (Company).
The Company confirms its intention to make investments within the framework of the City Program of hotel infrastructure development, which has the status of a strategic investment project.
7/9 Nevsky Avenue, St.Petersburg, Russia
The Memorandum was signed by Governor Valentina Matvienko and Roland Burger, a member of the investor’s Board of Directors. According to the governor, the document is signed on the eve of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. “As experience shows, the projects signed during the Forum are being successfully implemented,” she said, recalling the experience of the Nissan automobile plant.
The Governor also reported on the city’s plans in 2010 to fully open the Sea Passenger Terminal on Vasilyevsky Island, which will open up additional opportunities for receiving foreign tourists. According to V. Matvienko, hotel real estate in the city, which is the center of attraction of guests from around the world, is in high demand: “Now we have 25 thousand hotel beds. To reach the European level, we will need to create 10 thousand more places in the next few years”.
Roland Burger considers promising the development of hotel business in St. Petersburg, which, in his words, is a “precious stone” on the map of Russia and deserves hotel facilities of the same class as in London, Paris and Rome.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of “Aplerson Holding Ltd.” Konstantin Sokolov said that the company is considering several objects for possible investments in order to create class 5 “star” hotels in the city center. The top manager refused to inform about specific plans but only noted that it was not a question of creating a chain of hotels. As explained by Maxim Sokolov, Chairman of the Committee for Investments and Strategic Projects, it may be a question of purchasing existing buildings in the city center, as well as new construction.
According to data provided by City investment Committee, Aplerson Holding is a division of IFG Basis, which invests in Eastern Europe, Russia, China and Middle East countries and has long-term relationships with global hotel operators, including Hilton, Marriott, Ritz, FourSeasons and Peninsula. Five-star hotel projects are being implemented in Kazan, Anapa and Abrau-Durso. IFG Basis is a Cyprus foundation associated with several European banks. According to K. Sokolov, the company’s central office is in London.
Roland Burger is the Vice President of IFG Basis and Treasurer of Julius Baer & Co. – the eighth largest Swiss bank in terms of capital, which was founded in 1890 and is a shareholder in a number of companies operating in Russia, in particular, Sulzer – partner of Transneft.
Valentina Matvienko expressed satisfaction with the fact that the investor intends to implement his projects in the city despite the crisis. However, according to Konstantin Sokolov, IFG Basis, which has been working in Russia since 2006, has long considered the possibility of developing an elite hotel project in St. Petersburg, but the economic conditions satisfying the investor have developed only during the crisis.
Experts explain the interest of large investors to invest in the development of hotels in the city center with decreasing real estate prices.
Federal Election Commission (FEC) records reveal that Konstantin Sokolov, a University of Chicago Booth alumnus and former First Vice Chairman & Global CFO at Eastfield, made three political donations totaling $3,600 to support Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential bid.
According to the filings:
$2,300 went directly to OBAMA FOR AMERICA (the principal campaign committee).
$1,300 was contributed to the OBAMA VICTORY FUND (a joint fundraising committee supporting the Democratic ticket).
All contributions were made in October 2008 from Chicago, Illinois, directly linking the Russian executive to the Democratic candidate during the historic election cycle.
Before the billions, before the Trump donations, before Armenian telecoms and Swiss boards, there was just a young guy from St. Petersburg trying to make it in America.
Here’s what the public archive says about those years:
Born August 15, 1975, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sokolov showed up in Ohio in late 1997 at age 22. Within days of arriving, he got married. According to public records aggregated by sortedbyname.com and background check data from Instant Checkmate, Konstantin and Svetlana Anatolievna Korchuganova applied for a marriage license in Franklin County, Ohio, on December 12, 1997 — valid until February 10, 1998. Same name, no other records available.
A quick start to American life. These are public index entries — always worth verifying with original county records if accuracy matters.
He bounced around the usual immigrant circuit: Ohio first (Columbus, Dublin), then Colorado, then Chicago. Studied, worked, moved up. By day, he was climbing the corporate ladder — Qwest Communications during the fiber optic boom, then Centrica (British Gas / Direct Energy) after his University of Chicago MBA in 2005.
By 2007, he was established enough to buy a $525,000 condo in downtown Chicago — with a $417,000 mortgage, because even future tycoons borrow. And yes, somewhere along the way, he owned a 27-foot Bayliner boat. Because why not.
He began his career at Qwest Communications (1997-2004) in Denver, Colorado, during the fiber optic boom. Qwest was indeed a major U.S. telecom firm — at least until its CEO was indicted for a $3 billion accounting fraud (1999-2001), one of the largest in telecom history.
Somewhere along the way he picked up an Executive MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business (2003-2005).
During 2004-2007, he worked at Centrica plc as Managing Director for Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions — specifically at Centrica’s North American headquarters in Toronto. That business (Direct Energy) was eventually sold to NRG Energy in 2021. By then, he was long gone.
In 2008, it was time to come back to Russia, Moscow. He took a position as Financial Director at Eastfield Group and launched the IFG Basis fund with Oleg Deripaska’s top manager, Evgeny Tonkacheev.
In 2011, the Chicago condo sold at a loss (bad market, or bad timing), and the public paper trail goes quiet.
The next time he surfaces, it’s as a Swiss fund founder, an Armenian bank power, and a seven-figure GOP donor.
All data pulled from public records (genealogy sites, background checks, property filings). Such sources are imperfect — names blur, dates drift. Take it as a sketch, not a biography.
