To understand what the residents of Balaklava are losing and what they are getting in return, let us briefly trace the history of the bay over the past fifteen years. The idea of transforming Balaklava Bay into an attractive resort town with a yacht marina began to capture the imagination of local businesspeople and tour operators during the bay\u2019s demilitarization. That is, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the closure of the submarine repair and missile storage base, and the withdrawal of Black Sea Fleet units from the bay.<\/p>\n
The site has a number of unique natural and historical features: wonderful sea bay, with an Ancient Greek myth of the\u00a0Laestrygonians, a tribe of man-eating giants who attacked here the fleet of Homer\u2019s Ulysses; the ruins of the Genoese fortress of Cembalo and the Ottoman fortress of Balaklava; the British garrison during the Crimean Campaign and Death Valley; Cold War artifacts at the museum of the underground submarine repair facility.<\/p>\n
It would seem\u2014what was needed to prevent this place from becoming a tourist paradise?! That\u2019s right, corruption.<\/p>\n
It was the explosive mix: the military\u2014both retired and active-duty, Russian and Ukrainian\u2014had their own interests at stake; businessmen, politicians, officials from both countries, and even President Yanukovych\u2019s eldest son, Alexander (nickname – \u00abSasha the Dentist\u00bb) who anchored in Balaklava back in 2006, when his father was Prime Minister of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Companies belonging to Alexander Yanukovych<\/strong>\u2019s \u00abMAKO\u00bb corporation took control of a particularly valuable section of Nazukin Embankment\u2014right at the entrance to the bay and at the foot of Mount Castron, with the towers of the Cembalo Fortress. This area is home to cultural heritage sites\u2014the house of Mayor Mikhaili and two estates belonging to actress Sokolova\u2014a large wing and the main building.<\/p>\n Super-yacht \u00abBANDIDO\u00bb at yacht club of Yanukovych in Balaklava, 2010. Photo: lb.ua<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Under the guise of restoration, they were dismantled piece by piece and reassembled, but their appearance still could not compare to that of the neglected monuments. The Yanukovych family\u2019s private yacht club was also set up there, where journalists photographed their \u00abBANDIDO\u00bb super-yacht and a couple of more modest vessels.<\/p>\n \u00abBalaklava Green\u00bb of Novinsky <\/strong><\/p>\n Balaklava, not as a small town on the outskirts of Sevastopol, but as a year-round resort of international standing. That was the vision behind the \u00abBalaklava Green\u00bb project, which Vadym Novinsky<\/strong>\u2019s \u00abSmart Holding\u00bb team presented at an international forum in Cannes in 2011. As reported at the time, the project for the Balaklava resort and yacht marina was compared to Barcelona and the best resorts in Montenegro.<\/p>\n In addition to the marina itself, hotels of various categories, an equestrian club, a modern amphitheater, and an aquarium were planned for the sites of the former quarries operated by the Balaklava Ore Administration\u2014Tavros, Gasforta, Psilerachi, and Kadikoy\u2014where flux limestone was once mined.<\/p>\n The Ore Administration belonged to Russian citizen Vadim Novinsky. In 2012, he received a Ukrainian passport from President Yanukovych and a seat in the Ukrainian parliament from the Party of Regions. He became a partner of the most influential Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov. Thus, the creation of a resort in the bay and on the site of the Ore Administration\u2019s depleted quarries was intended to preserve 750 hectares of Balaklava land for the company \u00ab<\/span>Smart Holding\u00bb<\/span>.<\/p>\n Prince Michael of Kent with British historical reconstructors on the field of the Battle of the Alma (Bakhchysarai raion, Autonomous Republic of Crimea), 2012. Photo: Sergey Anashkevitch<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Prince Michael of Kent,<\/a> a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, agreed to serve as the project ambassador. Prior to the Russian occupation of Crimea, he used to visit Crimea to watch the annual reenactment of the Battle of Balaklava in the Valley of Death. It was reported that the project planned to attract investors from the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, and Finland.<\/p>\n However, several factors hindered implementation of the project. As Oleksiy Korchmit, then Deputy Head of the Balaklava District State Administration, told CJI, these factors included: the presence of military units right in the center of the bay (\u00abMetalist\u00bb plant of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine), the lack of wastewater treatment facilities (they still do not exist there) and the dependence of local budget on taxes from the Balaklava Ore Administration, which did not encourage the shutdown of its crushing plant within the city limits.<\/p>\n Everything changed in 2014 with Russian occupation of Crimea and Sevastopol. The cooperation with foreign investors, which had been built up over the years, came to an abrupt halt. Today, memories of the international project seem like an ironic anachronism\u2014sanctions have turned Balaklava into an isolated zone. The priorities for the use of the bay have undergone a radical transformation. Instead of open competition for investment in the regional development, there are now direct directives from the Russian government favoring members of the \u00abOzero\u00bb [Lake] cooperative.<\/p>\n The initiative began with Vladimir Putin\u2019s 2016 directive to establish a yacht tourism center in Balaklava as part of the federal target program for the development of the annexed Crimean peninsula.<\/p>\n \u00abDevelopment of Balaklava\u00bb from Rotenbergs <\/strong><\/p>\n In 2017, the Russian \u00abgovernor\u00bb of occupied Sevastopol presented Dmitry Medvedev with a model of the future marina at the economic forum in Sochi. It turned out to be\u2026 a stolen model of \u00abBalaklava Green.\u00bb Project manager Sergei Ovchinnikov<\/strong> told CJI that the \u00abgovernment\u00bb of Sevastopol had approached him three or four times with an offer to consult on or even lead the \u00abBalaklava Green\u00bb construction project: \u00abBut we do not work with the occupying authorities, so it was impossible to do so, even though the offers were becoming increasingly attractive from a commercial standpoint. Apparently, they never found anyone, so the project remained on paper\u00bb.<\/p>\n At the same time, companies owned by Putin\u2019s close friends – the Rotenberg brothers, who had secured multi-billion-dollar contracts to build the Kerch Bridge – began eagerly snapping up the finest properties in the resort complex of occupied Crimea.<\/p>\n \u00a0In December 2017, the occupying government of Sevastopol, acting on the orders of Russian \u00abgovernor\u00bb Dmitry Ovsyannikov<\/strong>, seized land plots and capital construction projects owned or leased by Ukrainian owners \u00abfor state needs\u00bb and for the construction of a yacht marina.<\/p>\n Next came the court cases aimed at \u00abclearing\u00bb both embankments of the bay. Russian occupants shamelessly manipulated the decisions of Ukrainian courts. Thus, the Russian Ministry of Defense won a court case against LLC \u00abBalaklavamegastroi\u00bb and appropriated pier # 248 on Tavriya Embankment which had been illegally seized from \u2026 the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense by the corrupt authorities of Sevastopol before Russian occupation. Now Russia has taken the pier and a section of the embankment into its \u00abpossession\u00bb based on a decision by the Sevastopol Economic Court from September 2009.<\/p>\n Yacht club in Balaklava, owned by the company of Dmitrii Sablin. Photo: 101hotels.com<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n The tragicomic thing about this story is that Dmitrii Sablin<\/strong>, a Member of Russian State Duma, one of the leaders of Putin\u2019s political party \u00abUnited Russia\u00bb and \u00abthe Fighting Brotherhood\u00bb, has been the owner of \u00abBalaklavamegastroi, which illegally appropriated two piers of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the plot on which \u00abMriya\u00bb hotel and yacht club have been located (see CJI\u2019s investigation<\/a> about Sablin\u2019s activities in Crimea for the benefit of Russia and himself).<\/p>\n At the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion into Ukraine, Sablin created and led the volunteer military unit \u00abGROM \u00abCascade<\/strong>\u00bb, which grew into the first brigade of unmanned aviation in the Russian Aerospace Forces and became one of the most effective units of Russian occupants. However, these merits of Sablin to the Russian Fatherland are worthless if they stand in the way of the plans of Putin\u2019s Laestrygonians. (read<\/a> and watch<\/a> CJI\u2019s investigation of this brigade).<\/p>\n Two piers, part of the embankment, and all estates, previously owned by Yanukovych-junior, were seized.Yanukovych tried to save them and transferred to Russian citizen Elena Kazimirova but the trick did not work.<\/p>\n So-called \u00abhouses of Sasha Yanukovych\u00bb at Nazukin Embankment in Balaklava. Photo: Yevhen Zhuk \/ krymr.org (RFE\/RL)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Before the Russian occupation of Crimea, the \u00abGolden Symbol\u00bb Yacht Club<\/strong>, which owned and rented facilities on May 1st Square and Nazukin Embankment, belonged to Ukrainian citizen Andriy Senchenko<\/strong> and Serhiy Velizhansky,<\/strong> political and business partners. Through court decisons, Russian occupants took everything from \u00abGolden Symbol\u00bb: the moorings, the territory, the hotel and house of Prince Yusupov. The company had to give up the 60-meter floating berth No. 261A as the repayment of the \u00abdebt\u00bb to the \u00abBalaklava Development Project\u00bb.<\/p>\n The crushing plant of Ukrainian oligarch Novinsky quickly moved from the bay to one of the quarries outside the city, but did not remain at a loss. On the contrary, it increased production: the Russian construction of the Kerch Bridge and \u00abTavrida\u00bb highway urgently needed crushed stone whereas Russian metallurgical industry, busy with defense orders, needed flux limestone.<\/p>\n In 2018, companies of Rotenbergs received the first permits for the development of Balaklava Bay. Their promises were tasty: a yacht marina for 600 vessels, a million tourists a year, restoration and preservation of all cultural heritage sites and a public space with a park – on the site of \u00abMetallist\u00bb plant.<\/p>\n However, the sketch plan for the development of the central part of the bay was shown to the residents of Sevastopol only at the end of 2025, and sketches of hotels at the foot of the Chembalo Fortress were shown only in March of this year.<\/p>\n Sketch plan of 5 star hotel in the central part of Balaklava bay. Photo: screenshot of NTS video<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Local Balaklava captains are surprised: the center of the bay will be dominated by two huge hotel complexes approaching the water line, and not promised public space with a park.<\/p>\n The people of Balaklava are lamenting that there will be no room for their ships, which they use to take tourists on boat trips, to beaches, and fishing trips, in the “new Balaklava.<\/p>\n \u00abThe picture will be cool, beautiful: there will be boats and everything will look great from the side. But there will be other owners [of the boats] \u2013 they will no longer be locals, because they will simply be \u00abwashed out\u00bb, there will be no ordinary fishermen like us. This is basically everything that Balaklava started with, everything that always sounds like \u2013 these are the Laestrygonians, that is, fishermen\u00bb, predicts local yacht captain Malko<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The traitor Tetyana Lobach, who was promoted by Russian occupants to Russian State Duma, tried to calm the captains. For this reason, it is likely that her restaurant \u00abTatyana’s Cape\u00bb on Nazukin Embankment, continues to operate, although it was included in the list of objects for demolition.<\/p>\n \u00abWhen reconstructing Balaklava Bay, fishermen must remain. They need to a place to park. This is Balaklava, this is fishing, this is our highlight, these are the descendants of the Laestrygonians\u00bb, promised Lobach.<\/p>\n It is high time to stop recalling Laestrigonians, as writer Aleksandr Kuprin called local Greek fishermen. There are no descendants of Vanya Andrutsaki, Kolya Kostandi and Yura Paratino (figures of Kuprin\u2019s novel) anymore in Balaklava. In 1944, they were deported by Stalin regime from Crimea, together with Crimean Tatars.<\/p>\n Now genuine man-eating Laestrygonians entered Balaklava bay \u2013 business founders of Putin\u2019s regime. They swallowed Balaklava as mythical giants swallowed the ship of Ulysses. <\/strong>Russian oligarchs are not able to transfer their money abroad anymore. They will invest them into occupied Crimea and use Russian budgetary resources at the same time. Today the Russian budget finances dredging works in the bay and reconstruction of embankments. But the fruits will be reaped by Rotenberg brothers.<\/p>\n Monopoly acquisition of the bay<\/strong><\/p>\n The general contractor for the construction of the yacht marina and everything around it is Russian JSC \u00abMostotrest\u00bb<\/strong>.\u00a0 Its beneficial owner, through LLC \u00abStroyproektholding\u00bb, is billionaire and Putin’s friend Arkady Rotenberg. The company that built the Kerch Bridge is now dismantling the history of Balaklava.<\/p>\n Some renowned objects like cinema theatre \u00abRodina\u00bb [Motherland] and hunting house of Prince Yusupov were sold at open auctions.<\/p>\n However, the majority of deals were hidden. Civic activists found information about them thanks to leakage of permits. Local journalists asked Russian LLC \u00abPort-Lamos\u00bb about number and list of objects this company acquired in Balaklava. Its press service answered that \u00abhouses under reconstruction on embankments of Balaklava bay will be adjusted for modern use and become new publicly accessible tourist objects\u00bb.<\/p>\n Property objects acquired by LLC \u00abPort-Lamos\u00bb in Balaklava. Infographics created with an assistance of Chat GPT<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Thus, key assets in Balaklava bay (land plots, embankmentplots, property objects, including ojects of cultural heritage, piers etc.) are now controlled by companies \u00abPort Lamos\u00bb and \u00abDeli-Christo\u00bb. Besides that, a number of other interconnected legal entities have been involved into acquisition and construction in the bay.<\/p>\n Earlier Rotenberg brothers used the scheme of closed mutual investment funds and related management companies \u00abto acquire\u00bb the pearls of Crimean resort assets, Yalta sea port<\/a> and Crimean chemical plants of Ukrainian oligarch Firtash<\/a>. These funds are not registered as ordinary legal entities whereas their participants are not disclosed.<\/p>\n For their \u00abproject of Balaklava development\u00bb, Rotenbergs used already known mutual investments funds<\/strong> \u00abAngazhe\u00bb<\/strong> and \u00abFinancial partner\u00bb.<\/strong><\/p>\n To grasp the scale of Rotenbergs\u2019 scheme, it should be noted that \u00abFinancial partner\u00bb has 34 \u00abdaughter\u00bb companies and it is the management company of 44 mutual investment funds! All of them are included into the register of Russian bank \u00abRossia\u00bb, owned by other Putin\u2019s friends \u2013 Kovalchuks brothers. Another interconnected management company \u00abFin-partner\u00bb controls six mutual investment funds. Aleksey Sorokin is the fake founder of \u00abFinancial partner\u00bb and \u00abFin-partner\u00bb.<\/p>\n The chronology of the emergence of Rotenbergs\u2019 legal entities around Balaklava looks as follows.<\/strong> In 2021, closed mutual investment fund \u00abAngazhe\u00bb, managed by \u00abFinancial partner\u00bb, founded in Moscow LLC \u00abYug holding<\/strong>\u00bb. Next year this \u00abYug holding\u00bb founded company \u00abRitoris\u00bb and later renamed it into JSC \u00abYuginvestproekt<\/strong>\u00bb. All these companies then founded or acquired a number of companies, specialized developers, which entered construction markets of Sevastopol and Balaklava. These developers include LLC \u00abPort Lamos\u00bb and \u00abDeli-Christo\u00bb, \u00abBely gorod\u00bb [White city] and \u00abTavros\u00bb (founder of LLC \u00abGrand Balaklava\u00bb and \u00abZavod Shitta\u00bb). \u00abYuginvestproekt\u00bb is the management core of these companies.<\/p>\n Up to liberation of Crimea and Sevastopol from Russian occupants, these companies will shape the destiny of Balaklava and its residents. For example, their plans include the construction of hostel on Historical street near Nazukin Embankment. Residents of this street told that representatives of \u00abPort Lamos\u00bb proposed them to sell their houses. As businessmen explained to residents, old houses will be bad for the view of beautiful yacht marina\u2026<\/p>\n In 2022, the construction of yacht marina was launched on Tavriya Embankment. It has been blocked. For two years, Balaklava residents has lost access to local beaches \u00abVasyli\u00bb and \u00abMarmurovy\u00bb whereas tourists could not access the museum of Soviet submarines created by Ukrainian historians.<\/p>\n At the beginning of June this year, Russian occupation administration of Balaklava and \u00abMostotrest\u00bb closed free access to Nazukin Embankment<\/a> and neighboring streets for the whole resort season.<\/p>\n Developer of Balaklava bay JSC \u00abMostotrest\u00bb of Rosenberg brothers closed access to Nazukin Embankment for the whole summer. Only local residents, public officials and ship owners will be let in. Photo: social media of Russian occupation government of Sevastopol<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Russian state unitary enterprise \u00abProject of development of Balaklava\u00bb<\/strong> administers the acquisition of objects and land plots in the bay. This enterprise terminates leasing agreements or \u00abnationalizes\u00bb property objects and land plots into the city ownership by court decisions. Since last year, the enterprise has been managed by Russian citizen Yuri Alekseevich Baranov<\/strong>. Earlier he has managed Sevastopol Sea Port for five years. As Russian opposition newspaper \u00abNovaya Gazeta\u00bb reported, Baranov had dubious business past. He managed or owned dozens of companies \u2013 from repair shop and wholesale trade to advertisement agencies. All of them were liquidated. That is to say, he served as fake owner or manager for influential people behind him.<\/p>\n It is remarkable that since 2024 enterprise \u00abProject of development of Balaklava\u00bb has been given status \u00abin the process of reorganization\u00bb. Russian occupation authorities plan to privatize it and turn into the joint stock company. Who will be the main beneficiary? The answer is obvious \u2013 Rotenberg brothers. But for the time being, this state enterprise transfers valuable assets from the city and its residents to companies connected with Rotenbergs.<\/p>\n Bulldozer archeology <\/strong><\/p>\n According to the Russian Act of state historical and cultural expertise, both sides of Balaklava bay have 44 objects of cultural heritage. Plans of future development of Balaklava bay promise to preserve them and build a number of lucrative hotels, yacht marina etc. But it is obvious that small bay cannot include them all. Russian occupation authorities and people of Rotenbergs found simple solution \u2013 we will demolish everything impeding our plans!<\/p>\n The order of Sevastopol occupation authorities from April 14, 2022 described 30 commercial estates and objects of cultural heritage to be demolished. At the end of 2022, the dismantling of \u00abMetallist\u00bb of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine was launched. As CJI reported<\/a>, in 2024, military units of Border Service of Russian Federal Security Service and Federal Guard Service were removed from the bay. As an outcome, the central part of the bay was cleared for the construction of hotel complexes.<\/p>\n Tavriya Embankment includes a number of dacha houses of the beginning of XX century: houses of engineer Zavadsky \u00abFata Morgana\u00bb, doctor Pedkov and Scherbyna. Here are also warehouse of cognac factory of Shitt, hunting house of Prince Yusupov. These houses are objects of cultural heritage.<\/p>\n All of them will be turned into hotels and restaurants, as was disclosed at the session of city architectural council about reconstruction plans of Balaklava bay.<\/p>\n Sketch of hotel on the site of house of Scherbyna. Photo: <\/em>sevastopol.su<\/em><\/a><\/p><\/div>\n As Evelina Kravchenko<\/strong>, a senior researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, says, the main emphasis of Balaklava will be the parking of yachts and the construction of hotels in all permissible and unacceptable places for this:<\/p>\n \u00abThe fortress of Chembalo, the dominant feature of architectural and cultural heritage in Balaklava, fades into the background. The same will happen with the Old Roman camp in Kadikoy. Thought it is not very attractive, it is the most important of all objects of cultural heritage in Balaklava because it is one of a few objects of such a type on the Black Sea. The temple of Jupiter Dolichen will also fade into the background (it was excavated and could be exhibited). Even the historical heritage of the times of the Russian Empire fades into the background: the dachas of the Russian aristocracy, the intelligentsia, related to names of Lesya Ukrainka, Paustovsky, Kuprin\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Active works are conducted on the opposite side of the bay \u2013 on Nazukin Embankment. Cinema theatre \u00abRodina\u00bb, built at the beginning of the XXth century, was closed in the middle of 1990s. In 2024, it was sold to LLC \u00abPort Lamos\u00bb. The company promised to repair it.<\/p>\n In January 2025, Ivan Bukalov, the manager of repairing works, told local TV that restoration of the theatre progressed well but one wall of the theatre fell apart in several months. The deadline for the completion of work was prolonged until 2028.<\/p>\n The wall of cinema theatre \u00abRodina\u00bb \/ \u00abMon Repos\u00bb fell apart during construction works on February 19, 2026. Photo: ForPost<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n February 2026 was marked by full scale demolition on Nazukin Embankment, 29. Entertainment center \u00abAcademy of spying\u00bb has been located there. It worked on the ground of the former 184th<\/sup> research experimental base of Soviet Navy, known for its training of dolphins. The building was acquired by LLC \u00abPort Lamos\u00bb. It plans to build large hotel complex there.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/investigator.org.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/yaxta_bandido_balaklava_2010.jpg\")
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