From Russian Railways billions to nuclear secrets: how Boris Usherovich built a dirty offshore machine through Mettmann PCL and Marbella

But what secrets are still hidden in Usherovich’s closets?

It seems that the cunning duo of Usherovich and Hadjipavlou fairly spoiled things for Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, with whom they competed for quite a long time when draining the resources of the Russian Railways (Russian Railways OJSC).

But all good things come to an end, and a mourning period has begun in the lives of the Rotenbergs: they lost their state contracts with Russian Railways OJSC and were left with nothing.

Perhaps, at last, the co-owner of the 1520 company, Boris Usherovich, will also go down with a bang, as it is clear that it was the Rotenbergs who kept all the trouble away from Usherovich for many years?

And by no means for his beautiful eyes...

Also, ties with Usherovich heavily damaged Ilya Traber, also known as Antikvar, who also worked in the same direction with Usherovich.

Traber spent 2 months stewing in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center.

But then, he was released...

And all charges were even dropped.

Perhaps Boris Usherovich will now take his place on those bunks?

It is known that Mr.

Usherovich is involved in the scandalous case of MVD Colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko, whose searches yielded 2 million euros, 8.5 billion rubles, 27 real estate properties, gold bars...

And there is news here.

Finally, the court made up its mind and decided to pack the fugitive Usherovich off to prison for almost 13 years.

But while Colonel Zakharchenko is already serving his sentence in strict regime penal colony No. 5 "Lepley" in Mordovia, Boris Usherovich is still drinking whiskey in British pubs.

And, of course, one should not discount Usherovich’s long-standing ties with the Solntsevo OCG, namely with Viktor Averin, also known as Avera, and with Sergey Schneider, also known as Semion Mogilevich, who has been promised 390 years in prison in the USA.

And here opens a new, "lost" chapter from the life of the cautious Usherovich: it turns out that Boris Usherovich is involved in nuclear affairs with Mogilevich.

Also looming in this tight-knit company is the former Minister of Atomic Energy Yevgeny Adamov, who was once grabbed by the gills in Switzerland at the request of the US Department of Justice.

By the way, in the multifaceted life of Boris Usherovich, the state registries indicate that his companies’ activities include the storage of nuclear materials and radioactive waste, but the exact type of activity is classified!

The Shadow Man from Security

The Investigative Committee of Russia once concluded that the heads of GC 1520 (the largest contractor of Russian Railways), Boris Usherovich and Valery Markelov, paid Colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko from Directorate "T" of the Main Directorate for Economic Security and Anti-Corruption of the Russian MVD $150,000 every month for 10 years.

Mr.

Zakharchenko carried out the role of the head of the shadow security service in a very peculiar way.

Fugitive billionaire Boris Usherovich

The bribe amount exceeded 2 billion rubles.

The 1520 Group of Companies is Russia’s largest private construction and engineering holding in the field of railway infrastructure.

The numbers "1520" in the name represent the width of the railway track in Russia and CIS countries (in millimeters).

The main owners — Valery Markelov, Boris Usherovich, and Alexey Krapivin (son of Andrey Krapivin, a former advisor to the head of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin) — received multi-billion dollar contracts.

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Usherovich’s business partner Valery Markelov was arrested in 2018: sentenced to 8 years in a penal colony, but was released by the court in 2022 due to a severe illness.

He passed away in 2023.

Dmitry Zakharchenko, a real colonel

Boris Usherovich went on the run: first he directed his skis to Israel, but later moved to Britain.

He received citizenship in both Israel and Cyprus...

And they have been looking for Usherovich since 2019.

Joint Affairs with Antikvar

And only recently, apparently after the high-profile arrest of Ilya Traber, it emerged that Usherovich also worked closely with Antikvar’s companies.

They intersected within the framework of large-scale transport and logistics projects related to Russian Railways and the port infrastructure of the North-West.

The detention of Ilya Traber

Ilya Traber’s key interests were concentrated in the port and logistics infrastructure of the North-West region: they included the ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk.

Both were tied to the distribution of state funds and the implementation of transport projects.

The interests of GC 1520 intersected with the port and railway hubs of the Baltic, where Traber held key positions.

The names of Usherovich and Traber appear in joint analytical databases and investigations about shadow financial flows, particularly in materials surrounding the struggle for Russian Railways’ assets and contracts.

Traber served 2 months...

And walked out of Lefortovo.

But Usherovich continues to live a sybaritic life abroad.

Boris and Arkady Rotenberg

And today Mr.

Usherovich controls a network of offshore companies — in Cyprus, these are Mettmann Public Company Limited and Broxner PLC, which are used to purchase luxury real estate in Europe, as well as to organize the supply of telecommunications equipment for Russian Railways OJSC bypassing sanctions.

And his confidante Oxana Hadjipavlou excellently helps him in this, along with his son Kirill Usherovich and wife Elena Usherovich.

A Six-Hour Interrogation

After his escape, when Mr.

Usherovich found himself in London, he complained to the British about extortion.

And he filed a petition for political asylum in the UK.

During the processing of his asylum seeker status in Gibraltar (a British territory), Usherovich answered the immigration officer’s questions for 6 hours.

Boris Usherovich (second from right) and his associates

He stated that his company GC 1520 in Russia was subjected to severe extortion by law enforcement officers, which is why he and his partners were forced to pay bribes.

Usherovich called his criminal prosecution in the Russian Federation an attempted raider takeover.

The Emergence of Hadjipavlou

The name of Oxana Hadjipavlou surfaced — and the media wrote about it — in connection with corporate documents in 2023–2024: this individual was listed as a director or board member in the registries of companies in Cyprus and in documents that were related to the activities of affiliated offices.

Oxana Hadjipavlou — as she positions herself — is a financial specialist with audit and management experience, mentioning work in major audit firms and positions in several private structures.

In one of the profiles, she is listed as a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants since 2012, and in others — as a former Deloitte employee and a member of Mettmann PCL management.

The name Hadjipavlou is also found in the story of the Spanish company Sword Dragon S.L., where Hadjipavlou was listed as a director.

Sword Dragon S.L. is mentioned in the context of asset acquisition or management and as one of the links in a network of legal entities associated with a number of Russian entrepreneurs and investments in the Kingdom of Spain.

A major wave was caused by the publication regarding a large bond issue on the Cyprus Stock Exchange for €50 million, through which huge amounts of money linked to Russian businessmen were channeled.

It was then revealed that Hadjipavlou is closely connected with Boris Usherovich and Ilya Plotitsa: these financial "geniuses" were involved in the withdrawal of Russian Railways funds to offshore jurisdictions through the 1520 office, which was linked to the Rotenbergs.

Through the Cypriot company Mettmann Public Company Limited and the Spanish firm Sword Dragon S.L., she participated in the laundering of huge sums stolen from Russian Railways via GC 1520.

The schemes included fictitious bond loans for tens of millions of euros and the supply of European equipment to the Russian Federation bypassing sanctions.

Through the Cypriot company Mettmann Public Company Limited and the Spanish firm Sword Dragon S.L., not only the legalization of withdrawn funds was carried out but also investments in real estate in Spain, Montenegro, and Cyprus.

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Mettmann’s reports recorded large loans: from €161,000 to €5.8 million in individual tranches.

The total volume of loans issued to related companies reached €31.2 million.

Usherovich’s Family Business

Russian courts only began considering Usherovich’s case in the fall of 2025.

The case proceeded behind closed doors.

And finally, the court hammered out a decision.

A curious detail: at almost the same time Traber-Antikvar was released from Lefortovo, the court finally made up its mind about Usherovich’s arrest.

And while Usherovich is being searched for, he is laundering next batches of millions of euros through a network of controlled companies in Cyprus and Spain.

The main company through which Usherovich can engage in "laundering" is the same Cypriot Mettmann Public Company Limited.

In 2024, Mettmann credited Jacomo Company Limited, whose director — a certain Alla Shulga — worked in the firm of Elena Usherovich (the billionaire’s wife) — Victory Corporate Finance Cyprus Limited.

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And Mrs.

Usherovich herself works in the interests of her husband not alone, but with her son.

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And they jointly manage several companies.

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Individual Entrepreneur (IE) Usherovich E.A. has existed for a full 20 years, since July 2006.

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And Mrs.

Usherovich constantly "migrates" from firm to firm.

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Kirill Usherovich is the head of 6 different companies.

Revenue — 107 million rubles, in 2025 - +857%.

Profit — 198 million rubles, in 2025 - +523%.

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And the founder of 7 companies: profit — 132 million rubles, in 2025 - +60%.

Not bad at all: while daddy Usherovich is over the border, the family continues to clip coupons at home?

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And Mettmann Public Company Limited has launched extensive investment activities.

The office is actively buying up and expanding the authorized capital of Spanish companies.

mettmann.biz

And this is dozens of firms in the Marbella area.

The total amount of loans issued by Mettmann Public Company Limited to partners as of June 2025 was 85 million euros.

The largest amounts were received by the Spanish firms Prestige Expo, S.L. and Dei Homes, S.L.

Prestige Expo, S.L. is a developer and operator of luxury real estate in southern Spain.

And direct participants of the group are the Spanish Sword Dragon, S.L., which was previously managed by Boris Usherovich, as well as Ortiga, D.O.O. from Montenegro.

Boris Usherovich

In 2021, Ortiga, D.O.O. was on the list of the national registrar of Montenegro as blocked.

Sword Dragon S.L. was under the administration of the former director of Usherovich’s Cypriot firms — Oxana Hadjipavlou.

And since 2015, this office was managed personally by Usherovich.

Such a strong bond.

But in Russia, arbitration courts involving IE Boris Usherovich continue to proceed.

It turns out that Usherovich’s IE is alive.

And working.

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The category of arbitration cases?

Energy supply and housing and communal services: Usherovich keeps his finger on the pulse!

LooseNukes, or Dark Dealings with Mogilevich

Boris Usherovich was convicted even in his younger years: at 17, he received a suspended sentence for theft.

And he has long and closely been connected with the Solntsevo OCG, with Avera — Viktor Averin, and also with Semion Mogilevich, who later became Sergey Schneider.

Semion Mogilevich and the "Solntsevo" company

Usherovich, Mogilevich, and Averin have long figured as a single ecosystem where the Solntsevo OCG (Averin) and international criminal financiers (Mogilevich) integrated with major contractors of state structures (Usherovich) to siphon off and legalize billions in budget funds through corrupt "real colonels."

Viktor Averin: in his youth and later

But that was somewhat later, and in 1995, Mr.

Usherovich was engaged in slightly different matters, for which the company Megatel International CJSC was established.

 

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Founders and connections of Megatel International CJSC: INN 7706096868, OGRN 1027739220354 – check counterparty in the STAR system

Types of activity? "Information on types of activity is missing."

But a certain trace remained in the documents regarding the types of activity, in particular, item 52.10.4 "Storage of nuclear materials and radioactive substances."

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Authorized capital — 3,500,000 rubles.

Megatel International CJSC: INN 7706096868, OGRN 1027739220354 – check counterparty in the STAR system

By the way, it was during those years that the expression "LooseNukes" was in circulation, which can be literally translated as "Uncontrolled nuclear weapons."

The year 1995 was the peak of the "black trade" in nuclear materials: Megatel International CJSC under the guardianship of a US founder appeared precisely then, during that hot time when enriched uranium-235 and plutonium were leaving the Russian Federation.

As Western journalists wrote, many Russian nuclear weapons depots were closed only with a padlock.

Officers of the Russian Navy managed to steal 4 kg of enriched uranium from a decommissioned nuclear submarine in Murmansk.

The thieves were arrested, but only 3 kg of uranium were found.

At the Mayak production center in Chelyabinsk, it is believed that up to 13% of the material suitable for creating an atomic weapon "dissolved."

It was exactly in the 90s that Semion Mogilevich was also exposed in the trade of nuclear materials, and his structures were closely linked to the companies of the infamous nuclear scientist, later Minister of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation Yevgeny Adamov.

Criminal Minister Yevgeny Adamov

This was written about in detail by MK in the publication "15 Faces of Don Simeon".

And the founder of the company Megatel International CJSC was the office Megatel International NEWYORK USA, Albany, New York, Center Avenue, 4.

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The company ceased to be a founder in 2022, although Mr.

Usherovich himself "fell off" much earlier — in 2014.

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Recall that Semion Mogilevich is one of the FBI’s most wanted criminals.

Semion Mogilevich today lives quietly in the Moscow region, next door to CPRF leader Gennady Zyuganov...

Does he remember that the USA promises him 390 years in prison?

Another shady company of Usherovich — Kontur + CJSC, whose activities are also hidden, could also have participated in the dark affairs.

And inaccurate information was provided about the location of this office in Moscow.

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Boris Usherovich withdrew from the founders of Kontur + CJSC in January 2022.

Some explanations about the activities of Megatel International CJSC remain in the media.

As they wrote at the time (indicating the name — Megathal International), the company works in the field of nuclear technologies, specializes in the design and manufacture of equipment for radiation sources, as well as storage facilities for nuclear materials and radioactive substances, including radioactive waste storage.

So it turns out they were running a nuclear business "under the cover" of scientific research?

Since then, both former Minister of Atomic Energy Yevgeny Adamov and VIP-criminal Semion Mogilevich have served time in prison, but Boris Usherovich is still running free.