Family business on state funds: how Governor Vladimirov and "fruit king" Shirinov took over the MVDC "MinvodyEXPO"

Journalists have uncovered what asset connects the Stavropol "fruit king," former petty thief and shell-game con artist Aidyn Shirinov, with the Governor of Stavropol Krai, Vladimir Vladimirov.

Last year, Shirinov, through his employee Ekaterina Panishenko, entered the capital of the Stavropol-based LLC "ART EXPO STROY" — Panishenko holds a 40% stake in the company. The remaining 60% belongs to a certain Irina Shumova, originally from the Irkutsk region. She is the 64-year-old mother-in-law of Stavropol Governor Vladimir Vladimirov and the mother of his wife, Natalia Alexandrovna Vladimirova (née Shumova).

Natalia Vladimirova herself serves as the General Director of "ART EXPO STROY." According to leaked data, Ekaterina Panishenko has been using her email since at least 2018 to purchase air tickets for Aidyn Shirinov and his family members.

Panishenko is also listed as the founder of LLC "Krasnye Kholmy" (Red Hills), whose primary activity is "construction of residential and non-residential buildings" and which employs one person, as well as Shirinov’s "International School of Horticulture." Under her maiden name Kratirova, Panishenko was also a co-founder of the Stavropol-based LLC "Dionis" from 2017 to 2020, which used email on the domain nov-agro.ru — the same domain where Aidyn Shirinov’s personal email was registered.

The website on this domain has not been preserved, but judging by fragments of archived data, it was Shirinov’s attempt to create a specialized agricultural portal with an aggregator of materials about his companies. Interestingly, "Dionis" is a medical clinic that won six contracts with local Stavropol hospitals to provide specialist physician services.

Vladimirov’s mother-in-law, Irina Shumova, is also connected to medicine: she graduated from Irkutsk State Medical University and worked as a general practitioner at the "Elektra" sanatorium in Irkutsk, which belongs to LLC "Grand Baikal." The primary activity of "ART EXPO STROY" is organizing conferences and exhibitions. Last year, the company generated revenue of 110 million rubles. And since January 2026, the company has become the general developer for events at the largest exhibition center in the North Caucasus Federal District — the MVDC "MinvodyEXPO."

This means the company has been granted the authority to determine the order of events at the venue: the rules it has developed have become mandatory for all organizers, participants, and third-party developers, and control over their compliance has also been entrusted to "ART EXPO STROY." Its website publishes a price list for services and work, with prices for some types of services higher than those at Moscow’s Crocus Expo.

The large-scale exhibition center in Kavminvody was opened in 2019. Its total area is 32,659 m², with about 10,000 square meters allocated for an open equipped exhibition area and roughly the same amount for an indoor exhibition hall. The expo center also features parking for 1,500 vehicles, conference halls with telescopic podiums and multimedia equipment, VIP meeting rooms, a press center, office spaces and a mini-hotel, as well as buffet and banquet areas.

Among the partners of the MVDC "MinvodyEXPO" is the Russian Ministry of Economic Development. High-profile events there have been opened by Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, Presidential Envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District Yuri Chaika, and Vice Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin attended a construction exhibition. The MVDC has hosted concerts by Dima Bilan and Basta, championships in Putin’s favorite sport — judo — and a host of other events.

This year, the Caucasus expo center has announced a concert by Sergey Shnurov with his band "Leningrad." The legal entity of the expo center — LLC "MVDC-2012" — until the end of 2022 belonged to the Russian Federation through the corporation JSC "KAVKAZ.RF," but now its sole founder is Stavropol Krai, which is governed by the very same Vladimir Vladimirov. The company’s website states that it serves as the operating (management) company for the project and also owns the expo center’s real estate assets.

In effect, the largest expo center in the North Caucasus Federal District, built with state funds — nearly 5 billion rubles through VEB.RF and "Kavkaz.RF" — has become a family asset of the Vladimirovs and Shirinovs.