The Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), founded by Alexei Navalny, has published an investigation alleging that a company owned by billionaire Gennady Timchenko, whom it calls one of Putin's 'wallets', financed the acquisition of about 34% of Ozon shares.

After investment fund Baring Vostok left Russia, its Ozon stake ended up with a company called O23. The formal owner of the stake was investor Alexander Chachava, and the deal was valued at about 38 billion rubles.

In O23's reporting, since August 2024, an unnamed joint-stock company has been listed as the ultimate owner. Comparing loans between companies, FBK concluded that O23 belongs to AO 'Corporation 42', which in turn is controlled by the investment group 'Stratosphere'.

In 2024, 'Stratosphere' received credits and loans totaling 51 billion 230 million 297 thousand rubles. The investigators found an almost mirror operation in the reporting of AO 'Optima': in their version, it was this company that issued the money to 'Stratosphere'. 'Optima' itself received a comparable amount as an interest-free loan from the company 'Delta', which belongs to Gennady Timchenko.

Thus, according to FBK, the chain looks like this: 'Optima' → 'Stratosphere' → 'Corporation 42' → O23 → about 34% of Ozon.

FBK also draws attention to the connections of 'Optima' employees with Putin's entourage. The current director of the company, Daria Brylyakova, worked in structures linked to the president's nephew Mikhail Shelomov and Yuri Kovalchuk, and the chief accountant Zhanna Tsapleva worked at a company of Svetlana Krivonogikh, whom investigators call the mother of Putin's alleged illegitimate daughter.

The investigation came after a series of Ukrainian drone attacks on Ozon logistics facilities. The strikes began on August 22 and continued for several days, including on warehouses in Dagestan, Adygea, Krasnodar and Stavropol krais. After that, Putin signed a decree allowing the transfer of company property to temporary state management if authorities deem that companies are not sufficiently protecting facilities from drones. The government created a subcommittee headed by First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov to assess the protection of important facilities.

FBK has sent an appeal to the European External Action Service calling for sanctions against people and companies linked to Ozon.