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Since 2008, Former colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the Russian Federation, Andrey Valeryevich Kashtanov, has held a passport of the Republic of Bulgaria under the notorious “Citizenship by Investment” program. “Bivol” further wrote about this high-ranking police chief, who has never invested anything in Bulgaria, in a 2018 article, “Bulgarian passport. Cheap”. Kashtanov is from the town of Odintsovo in the Moscow Region, and has held many leadership positions in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, including in 2009, when he was appointed deputy head of the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, the third largest Russian metropolis. He was also responsible for the extra-departmental security of the Ministry of the Interior of Russia. In 2021, he relocated to Uruguay, where he was welcomed with the highest level of protection through the presidency. He received an exception to enter the country during the quarantined borders, claiming to be an “investor” who has the right to citizenship, “Bivol” colleagues in the Latin American country stated. Due to cases like this, a large-scale corruption scandal broke out in Uruguay over the illegal issuance of passports to foreigners, including dubious Russians, with the patronage of high-ranking officials—the country’s media also reporting on suspicions of espionage.
Uruguay, June 2021—Borders are closed due to the pandemic, yet a 55-year-old Russian man and his girlfriend were allowed to enter the country through the town of Chui. The man has dual citizenship – of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Bulgaria. His name is Andrey Kashtanov . His companion is Russian citizen Olesya Jumelia . Who are they, and who allowed them border access during the country’s heavily mandated quarantine?
The Uruguayan newspaper El Observador on the Astesiano case with the president's former security chief Luis Lacalle
The case surfaced in the framework of a very large-scale corruption and espionage scandal that has been unfolding in Uruguay in the recent months. It has emerged that Alejandro Astesiano*, the now former head of the security service of President Louis Lacalle Lowe is being investigated for leading an organized crime group (OCG) that engages in the forgery of Uruguay citizenship documents in exchange for rewards from foreign nationals. Among those involved is the former consul of Uruguay in Moscow, a number of diplomats, officials, and mediators with Russian citizenships.
The prosecutor’s office in Uruguay is currently conducting investigations, interrogations and arrests in the infamous Astesiano scandal, as
there are also suspicions of the group’s involvement in industrial espionage for the benefit of undisclosed third parties.
However, the media is targeting Moscow as well, since many of the intermediaries in the scheme, as well as their “clients” who received the right to permanent residence and passports of the country, are also citizens of the Russian Federation, according to publications in the local media, incl. newspaper El Observador .
Passport against bare investment intentions
As “Bivol” wrote in 2018, the Russian citizen Andrey Valerievich Kashtanov is among the persons who received the citizenship of the Republic of Bulgaria against investment intentions. He also received a passport in 2008 because he declared his intention to participate in the implementation of projects with joint financing in the construction of “Danube Bridge 2”. The serious weight of these intentions was conveyed by the prior Minister of Economy, Petar Mutafchiev.
If Kashtanov was really involved in the complexity of this European infrastructure project, it became very secretive. Records show that he does not, and has never had a company registered in Bulgaria. There is no evidence that he invested funds in the company with the official name “New Europe,” representing a road and railway bridge over the Danube river, connecting the Bulgarian city of Vidin and the Romanian Calafat. With its construction, Bulgaria’s transport network essentially opens up to other various European transport networks.
The project has a key importance for the entire south-eastern transport axis of Europe and the trans-European transport network, which is why it was financed as a priority and entirely from the public structural funds of the EU and built by a Spanish company.
Andrey Kashtanov, however, had other, more realistic intentions besides building Danube Bridge 2.
After receiving a passport, he invested in his own home. In 2014, Andrey Valerievich paid $111,994 for an apartment of 106 square meters located on the fifth floor of a cooperative on the central Sofia street “Solunska”. Bivol’s team then visited the address, but managed to find Kashtanov, along with the name of the discrete investor missing from the doorbell.
Kashtanov is a high-ranking police chief when he becomes “Bulgarian”
In 2008, when he became a Bulgarian citizen, Kashtanov was a senior police chief in the structures of the Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Federation. Yet, the Passport Service of the Ministry of the Interior, DANS, etc. services did not allow him to the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria at all.
Thus, on December 4, 2009, Kashtanov, already a Bulgarian citizen, was appointed deputy head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Nizhny Novgorod region with the “Personnel” department. This was reported by the press service of the Central Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, as can be seen from publications of the press release in the local media in Nizhny Novgorod.
Andrey Valerievich Kashtanov was born on December 10, 1966 in Odintsovo, Moscow region. In 1988, he graduated from the Air Force Academy “Marshal of the Soviet Union K.S. Moskalenko” (Poltava, Ukrainian USSR), in 2003 – from the Moscow State Technological Academy, becoming fluent in English.
Since 1997 he has worked mainly in the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. He began his long career in the militia as an investigator for the Department for Combating Economic Crimes, in the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at Sheremetyevo International Airport, and at the Moscow Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Air and Water Transport. In 2001, he became deputy head of the Department for Combating Economic Crimes of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at Sheremetyevo Airport.
According to data in2002, Kashtanov was also the head of the “Ramenskoe 2” Extra-Departmental Security Department at the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs – Ramenskoe, Moscow Region. In January 2003, Kashtanov was appointed deputy head of the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and head of the Public Security Militia at Sheremetyevo Airport.
Since September 2003, he has been the head of the department for new equipment in the Main Directorate for Private Security of the Ministry of the Interior. And in 2007, he headed the Department of Private Security at the Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Moscow region. Since September 2007, police colonel Kashtanov has been the vice-rector of the Moscow University of the Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Federation.
At least three of Kashtanov’s positions in the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs are confirmed by a check of Russian media and registers such as the Ukrainian RuAssets , conducted by Bivol. After that, however, the traces of the high-ranking officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation were lost, but in 2018 “Bivole” established that he was
a Russian citizen with a Bulgarian “golden” passport against investments.
In February 2023, Kashtanov was suddenly highlighted on the other side of the world – in Latin America – the Uruguayan publication published a series of articles about Kashtanov, one of which was dedicated to the Bulgarian connection revealed by “Bivol” for the issuance of his passport Bulgaria in 2008 with the patronage of the prior Minister of Transport, Information Technologies and Communications Petar Mutafchiev, who was from the BSP quota in the “Stanishev” cabinet.
Source: The database of Russian individuals and legal entities RuAssets created by YouControl (Kyiv, Ukraine)
“Investor” with patronage from the presidency in Uruguay
It turns out that, according to Crónicas del Este, Andrei Kashtanov and Olesya Jumelia entered Uruguay in June 2021 under an exception granted to them by the highest level. The media cites Uruguayan journalist Antonio Ladra, who managed to publish the Presidential resolution authorizing the entry into Uruguay of 43 people, including Olesya Jumelia and Andrey Kashtanov.
According to the publication, both of them have Russian citizenship and are linked to the Astesiano case:
“The person who allowed such an exception was not just anyone, but the president’s secretary Alvaro Delgado.”
However, it is not clear whether Kashtanov is entering with his Russian or Bulgarian passport, as EU and Bulgarian citizens do not need a visa in Uruguay. He does not need a visa with the Russian passport, but with the limit of 90 days of stay, he must also present to the border guards his return ticket and a bank statement for his maintenance during his stay in the country.
Citizens of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Russian Federation do not need
visas for Uruguay (Sources: MFA, immigrantinvest.com, screenshots: "Bivol")
“What has remained unnoticed by our country: Andrey Kashtanov is not just any Russian, but a high-ranking official of the Russian state intelligence,” writes Crónicas del Este, while it is not clear whether colleagues in Uruguay equate Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs with special services such as the FSB, SVR and GRU. The publication also cites the “Bivol” investigation into the case, while also connecting Kashtanov with the “Russian mafia”.
The media suspected him of working for Russian intelligence, as he was considered a personal friend of the Uruguayan president’s former head of security, Alejandro Astesiano .
The media called him a “humble accomplice” of Astesiano, who is suspected of leading an organized crime group to grant Uruguayan citizenship
of foreign citizens, who mostly consist of Russians, who in addition do not have the right to document forgery such as birth certificates.
The media believes “this important information about Astesiano’s friend”, who entered the country with the special permission of the Secretary of the Presidency, Alvaro Delgado , is “necessary thorough investigation”. The journalists demand that the prosecutor in the Astesiano case, Gabriel Fossati, question the high-ranking government officials on what grounds they allowed Andrey Kashtanov into Uruguay, as well as whether they are aware that he was a top police officer in the past:
“We don’t know if he’s still a high-ranking Russian intelligence official .”
The media wants immediate explanations from Alvaro Garce, who is the director of the State Secretariat for Strategic Intelligence: “How is it possible that the Uruguayan intelligence did not know about this character who entered our country through Chuy? What kind of country are we?”.
Alcalde del Chuy, Eduardo Calabuig, reconoció a @MVDNoticias que casó a Kashtanov y Dzhumelia en el Macro por pedido de ellos mismos. Uno de sus propietarios es Rafael Cardozo, primo de su esposa. Los rusos prometieron inversiones. Domicilio en edicto es de madre de Cardozo. pic.twitter.com/bd1kzibs0o
— Diego Martini Lemos (@cabezamartini) October 11, 2022
At the same time, the publication MVD Noticias informs that they have confirmation from the mayor of Chui, Rocha Department, and Eduardo Calabuig , that on April 19, 2022, he officially formalized the marriage of Kashtanov with Jumelia at their request.
Among the witnesses is Rafael Cardozo, cousin of the mayor’s wife.
According to him, the Russians have promised “to make investments”.
The residential address on the marriage certificate is that of Rafael Cardozo’s mother.
Conflict of interest and umbrella of top politicians
The mayor’s assistance is also a conflict of interest, as the mayor of Chui is assisting a foreign national, while also using his relatives for a benefit. The same can be said about the patronage granted to Kashtanov in Bulgaria 15 years ago by the then minister Petar Mutafchiev, who is from the leadership of the BSP in Plovdiv, who also granted certification with an official letter containing Kashtanov’s “intention to invest.” This also included another Russian with a Bulgarian passport – multimillionaire Sergey Adoniev , founder of the Russian smartphone factory Yota Devices .
After the Anti-Corruption Fund (AKF) and “Bivol” established in 2018, Adoniev was deprived of a Bulgarian passport, due to the presence of an illegally acquired citizenship, with the absence of any investments in Bulgaria. However, it is not clear whether in the period of the total sanctions by the EU and even the mass non-issuance of visas for Russian citizens,
why a former high-ranking official of the Russian Ministry of the Interior is still a Bulgarian citizen.
In any case, there is no information about the deprivation of a Bulgarian passport regarding Kashtanov, nor is there information regarding whether the possible threat to national security of the Republic of Bulgaria has been properly examined.
“Bivol” contacted its sources in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and in the human rights sector of the Russian Federation, in order to learn more information about Andrey Kashtanov, about whom online data is very scarce.
“Civil society in Nizhny Novgorod has no claims against A.V. Kashtanov”,
summarize our sources, who wished to remain anonymous.
“He worked in the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for a short period of time. There is no information about the presence of bad reviews from his [prior] colleagues. Before that, he was responsible for the technical part in the Department of Extra-Departmental Security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs,” reads the short note about Kashtanov.
“The former employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Nizhny Novgorod themselves say that he helped people. He left no traces behind”
It is explained that “in Odintsovo they no longer remember him (he worked there at the beginning of his career – n.b.). So far, no information has been received at the Sheremetyevo airport,” summarized our sources in the Russian Federation.
In truth, Buffalo’s check shows that some of the details established by colleagues in Uruguay are actually a mistake or a misunderstanding. Thus, according to Crónicas del Este in the past Kashtanov
is not only a “high-ranking official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia”, but also a “hand-to-hand combat champion”.
Indeed, in 2010 in the city of Simferopol, Crimean Autonomous Region of Ukraine, Ukrainian police lieutenant Andrey Kashtanov was detained for a beating in a nightclub that led to the death of the victim. Yet this is simply a namesake of Andrey Kashtanov, who at that time headed the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Nizhny Novgorod region, and who is now a colonel in the Russian militia.
Another inaccuracy is regarding the fact that in 2021, Andrey Kashtanov registered in London, in the United Kingdom, a company, limited liability company ETHERIAR LT D. From a reference in the international register Open Corporates, it is clear that the company is active and according to data as of 2023, the verification of colleagues from the Uruguayan weekly Crónicas del Este shows . But it is about another namesake or relative, born in 1995, not 1966, as is former Russian police colonel Andrey Valeryevich Kashtanov. The addresses indicated as permanent residence also do not match – they are not in Bulgaria or Uruguay, but in France and Dubai.
However, this does not negate the fact that a colonel of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, most likely retired, used his connections in Bulgaria and Uruguay to obtain the right of permanent residence and apply for citizenship.
For citizenship justified through “investments” that are currently missing, and remain unclear if they will ever be made
– banks in the EU massively refuse to register accounts of individuals and legal entities from the Russian Federation. On the territory of the EU, Kashtanov could arouse serious suspicions in almost any of the local offices (except the Bulgarian ones). While in Russia itself, Kashtanov would be subject to mobilization, since he is only 58 years old and is a former employee of the law enforcement agencies with the relevant training.
*Header photo: Alejandro Astesiano, left of President Louis Lacalle’s car
(Source: GettyImages / BBC News)
Translation from English: Margarita Ivanova for Bivol.bg
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