Oleg Burlakov

In 2021, Burlakov was ranked 177th in the Russian Forbes list with a fortune of $650 million. In the same year, he died from COVID-19.

Oleg Burlakov died on June 21, 2021, in the Lapino clinic near Moscow after battling COVID-19.

At present, potential violations in the removal of the body are being investigated and the issue of initiating a criminal case is being decided. In October 2021, the circumstances of the removal of Oleg Burlakov's body abroad began and were analyzed by the Solntsevsky interdistrict investigative department (Investigative Directorate, the Western Administrative District of Moscow). The inspection showed that Vnukovo customs officers had accepted false documents in regard to the export of the billionaire's body, as a result of which, the body was sent to Switzerland, and then to Canada.

However, the Zurich prosecutor's office and the appellate court rejected Burlakov's claim, stating that there was no evidence of a fiduciary relationship with Kazakov. As of December 2021, a similar case began pending before a court in Monaco.

The divorce was supposed to be finalized at the end of the summer of 2021, but the businessman passed away before it was completed.

Oleg Burlakov's inheritance is being claimed by Lyudmila Burlakova, both of his daughters, his sister Vera Kazakova and her husband and business partner Nikolai Kazakov. It is also being claimed by Sofia Shevtsova, who is acting in the interest of her daughter who is a minor, whose father is allegedly Burlakov. Shevtsova filed a lawsuit in St. Petersburg in December 2021 to establish that Oleg Burlakov was indeed her daughter's father.

In 2020, Lyudmila Burlakova filed a lawsuit against her husband in the High Court of England and Wales. In addition to her husband, 12 individuals and entities in Switzerland were marked as defendants, including Leo Trust, the company that managed the Burlakovs' joint accounts.

In March 2019, the court decided to separate Lyudmila and Oleg Burlakov inside their apartment in Monaco: the 10th and 11th floor with a swimming pool were given to Lyudmila, while the 9th floor was left to the businessman.

In September 2019, Burlakov accused his wife and youngest daughter Veronica of fraud. According to him, the two embezzled $1 billion, which belonged to Nikolai Kazakov. In the lawsuit, the businessman argued that part of the funds belonged to his business partner, with whom he had earned the money from the sale of the Burneftegaz ($1 billion) and Novoroscement ($1.45 billion) companies. In 2018, without the consent of Burlakov and Kazakov, the money was withdrawn into various offshore accounts belonging to Lyudmila Burlakova, including one on the island of Guernsey. Some of the money ended up in the accounts of Burlakov's daughters and some in a Bahamian trust, whose beneficiaries are the businessman's wife and daughters.

In 2019, a tracker monitoring Burlakov's movements was found on his plane. The Nice prosecutor's office launched an investigation into the invasion of Burlakov's privacy. According to Forbes’ sources, the tracker was brought on board in a bag carried by his daughter Veronika.

After his death, however, another will was found, that was handwritten and dated 2019. In this document, he leaves all of his property to his sister Vera Kazakova and her husband Nikolai Kazakov: his wife and daughters are not mentioned in this version of the will. The businessman also instructs his sister and brother-in-law to take care of Sofia Shevtsova and her daughter as well as other members of his family.

In 2018, someone attempted to assassinate the businessman in Moscow. The Police learned that an unknown man ran up to Burlakov while he was sitting in a Cadillac Escalade, and called out to him. When the businessman rolled down his window, the man fired several shots in the direction of the car. However, no one was injured in the incident.

In the same year, Oleg Burlakov was hospitalized, and arsenic was found in his system, suggesting an attempted poisoning. The businessman attributed the attempts to a conflict over the division of property during his divorce proceedings and the alleged embezzlement of family funds by his wife Lyudmila Burlakova (Marchenko), who had filed for divorce in December 2018.

Mr. Burlakov was directly involved at every stage of the creation of the yacht. Among other things, he invented a mechanism for the masts, which he began patenting in 2018. Burlakov gave considerable attention to ecology in the construction of the ship: the water on board is reused and the team uses treated sewage to wash the floors. It features separated garbage collection, reusable packages, and a minimum of plastic and chemicals - the "environmental policy" on board is very strict.

In 2018, Lyudmila Burlakova began divorce proceedings, which were accompanied by a monetary dispute between the spouses. Oleg Burlakov believed that his wife had stolen money and initiated a criminal investigation against her in Monaco.

The Black Pearl was finally launched in 2016 and is the only vessel in the world capable of storing energy from alternative sources and utilizing them.

In 2014, Mitrofanov left Russia, accused of offering a 5 million ruble bribe, at which point Burlakov decided to sell Burneftegaz. Burlakov's investments amounted to $700 million, 85% of which were borrowed funds. The company was sold to Bashneft for $1 billion, about $600 million of which went to pay off debts. Burlakov received about $360 million for his 85% share. The businessman invested most of the money in financial instruments.

As of 2014, he owned a 74.88% share in Stroylesbank and a 20.99% share in Krasnodarpromzheldortrans. As of 2021, he officially owned the transportation company Krasnodarpromzheldortrans, the “Kalinka” business center including “Tyumen Hilton” hotel in it in the downtown of Tyumen, and Stroylesbank.

In the same year, Burlakov privatized the Terpentin paint and varnish factory in Visegrad, and in 2012, he concessioned a lignite and bentonite deposit in Serbia, investing about 23.5 million convertible marks.

Oleg Burlakov had been living in Monaco, where he had received a residence permit in 2011. The businessman also had a Canadian passport.

Construction on the yacht began in 2010. By 2018, Oleg Burlakov had invested more than €250 million euros in its design and creation, of which €150 million were loans from European banks. The total amount of investments is estimated to be between €250 and €400 million euros.

In 2008, they purchased Krasnodarpromzheldortrans in Krasnodar.

In 2007, Burlakov and Kazakov sold Novoroscement for $1.2 billion to Lev Kvetnoy, another Russian businessman on the Forbes list. Burlakov was directly involved in the strategic development and management of the company. As a result of his decisions, by 2007, the cement output of Novoroscement had increased by 1.3 mln tons in comparison with 2003 (when Burlakov took over the controlling interest), reaching 3.8 mln tons.

In the implementation of this design, Burlakov worked with the English designer Ken Freivokh, who developed the Maltese Falcon in 2006, a yacht with a unique 15-square-sail system that can be set up in only six minutes. A similar sailing system was installed on Burlakov's yacht, the Black Pearl, but with flexible solar panels integrated into the fabric of the sails.

In 2005, Oleg Burlakov, together with Pavel Mitrofanov, founded Burneftegaz, a company that bought up oil fields at auctions. Burlakov was involved in attracting investment to expand the business. As a result of his efforts, 8 development licenses were obtained, and in 2013, oil and gas condensate production amounted to 291,975 tons.

Oleg Burlakov has been fond of ship modeling since childhood and for a long time nurtured the idea of building his own boat. In 2005, after reading the news about the first flexible liquid-crystal solar batteries, the businessman had the idea to use solar batteries instead of sails. Mr. Burlakov considered his yacht a scientific project and prototype, planning to later apply the technology to develop cargo ships powered by alternative energy sources. To this end, Burlakov had successfully negotiated with representatives of the United Shipbuilding Corporation about using these developments in Russia.

In 2004, Oleg Burlakov made a will, in which his wife was named as his only heir.

Burlakov was married Lyudmila Burlakova, (02/07/1951), with whom he had two daughters: Elena (29/10/1973) and Veronica (18/12/1985).

In November 1993, companies belonging to Burlakov and Kazakov acquired shares of the cement giant Novoroscement at a voucher auction. The holding consisted of three plants with a capacity of more than 4 million tons of cement a year, 1 million tons of which was exported. In 2003, the businessman obtained a controlling interest by buying out a 31.7% stake from Holderbank.

Activities began with the construction of refrigerated warehouses. Burlakov then decided to reorient the company and move into trade: it purchased submersible oil pumps from Kharkov Electromechanical Plant and sent them to Russia in exchange for oil. In 1992, the Sovinterfrance company opened a branch in St. Petersburg and exported 217 thousand tons of Russian oil. A year later, the company opened a subsidiary and the Ukrainian Sovinterfrance was closed.

In 1992, Oleg Leonidovich and his companions received control over the Belgorod cement plant, investing around $500 thousand . They eventually sold the plant in 2003.

In the 1990s, together with N. I. Kazakov, he created Sovinterfrance, a Soviet-French joint venture in Kharkov.

In the 1990s, Oleg Burlakov was an entrepreneur who, in partnership with Kazakov, successfully bought and sold assets in different industries. In 1998, they acquired the Roscem – a berth and cargo unit in Ust-Luga in Leningrad Oblast.

In 1989, he left military service on moral grounds, a few years after which he and his family moved to Canada.

In 1989, Burlakov, together with Nikolai Ivanovich Kazakov, Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, geochemical engineer and entrepreneur (and the husband of Burlakov's sister Vera) organized the multi-profile cooperative scientific-production association “Integral” in Kharkov, which was engaged in the development of fuel systems for the Soviet military industry and parts for spacecraft. Burlakov was personally involved in the development of the company, which became one of the largest companies engaged in such work in the 1990s.

In 1980, he successfully defended his dissertation and became a Candidate of Technical Sciences at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.

Oleg Leonidovich Burlakov (Russian: Олег Леонидович Бурлаков; August 24, 1949 – June 21, 2021) was a Russian oligarch and billionaire. He was also the co-owner of Stroylesbank, the main shareholder of the Burneftegaz company (85%), the former owner and chairman of the board of Novoroscement, the owner of the Terpentin paint and varnish factory in Visegrad and the Impulse Investment and Construction Company.

Oleg Burlakov was born in Leningrad in 1949. He graduated from school in the village of Bagerovo near Kerch. Burlakov's father was transferred to serve in a military unit engaged in the development of means of delivering atomic weapons to test sites such as those in Semipalatinsk and Novaya Zemlya. Upon finishing his preliminary education, Oleg Burlakov entered the Kiev military aviation school. In 1972, Burlakov became an officer in the Soviet Air Force. He devoted most of his time to scientific research and was involved in secret military research for the aviation and space industries.