Kazakh investors may still be linked to major sanctioned Russian copper project despite exit claims, probe says
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Individuals and companies associated with Kazakh billionaire Vladimir Kim — long viewed as a close ally and financial proxy of Kazakhstan’s first president Nursultan Nazarbayev — may be connected to Russia’s largest private Arctic investment — a vast copper-processing complex now under construction at the Baimskaya copper deposit in Chukotka, an investigation by Sistema, the research unit of RFE/RL/Radio Azattyk, alleged in a report posted on Sistema’s Telegram channel.
Such involvement would contradict official claims that Kazakh investors exited the multibillion dollar project after Baimskaya fell under US sanctions.
Russia launched the project in 2018. It includes 46 major facilities, among them a floating nuclear power plant (NPP), a port and about 400 kilometres (249 miles) of roads. Total investment is estimated at RUB1.1 trillion (about $14bn). It is projected that, once operational, it will lift Russia’s copper production by 25% and gold output by 4%.
Sistema noted that the project enjoys major state incentives from Moscow, including five-year exemptions on property, profit and land taxes. Russia’s development corporation VEB plans to commit close to one trillion rubles (about $12.9bn), while Rosatom is responsible for building the floating NPP that will power the site.
The project originally belonged to Roman Abramovich and partners before being purchased by KAZ Minerals, a major Kazakh copper producer. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Baimskaya venture fell under US sanctions and was transferred to a closed-end Northern Aurora fund, a structure that shields its beneficiaries from disclosure. At the time, Russian media reported that the Kazakh shareholders had fully exited.
Sistema researchers, however, say the project remains tied to Vladimir Kim. The researchers found that, in 2024, Kazakhstan citizen Elena Raskoshnaya was appointed to lead Baimskaya Holding and the firms controlling it. She previously served as deputy CEO of several telecom operators — 2Com, Tsifra Odin and Setel — all part of Kim’s Almatel group, according to Sistema’s report.
The CEO overseeing the Baimskaya project, Georgy Fotin, has been in the post since 2022, Sistema’s report continued. He formerly headed Moscow-based KAZ Minerals, worked under Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev (the official supervising the Baimskaya project) and leads Vega Razvitie, the company managing construction, the report said.
Vega Razvitie is owned by Dubai-based Nord Rim DMCC, a firm linked by investigators to entities associated with Kim’s Kazakh banking interests, according to Sistema.
Sistema’s report concludes that despite having stepped back from formal politics after the "Bloody January" 2022 political unrest, Nursultan Nazarbayev remains on cordial terms with Vladimir Putin. The two last met in Moscow in May this year. The encounter was described by Nazarbayev’s representative as an informal meeting rooted in a “longstanding
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