View source for Ozero

{{Short description|Vladimir Putin's inner circle}}
{{Coord|60|45|26|N|30|5|48|E|display=title}}{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}{{Use British English|date=January 2025}}

{{redirects| О́зеро|lakes in Russia|List of lakes of Russia}}
'''Ozero''' ({{langx|ru|«О&#769;зеро»}}, {{lit}} ''lake'') (full name: дачный потребительский кооператив «Озеро», Dacha consumer cooperative "Ozero"<ref name=ng>{{cite web | title = 15 лет самому мутному «Озеру» в мире! | url = https://www.novayagazeta.ru/politics/49409.html | publisher = [[Novaya Gazeta]] | language = Russian | trans-title = 15 years of the most turbid "lake" in the world! | date = November 11, 2011 | accessdate = February 19, 2016 | archive-date = March 4, 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304050120/http://www.novayagazeta.ru/politics/49409.html | url-status = live }}</ref>)  is a [[dacha]] [[cooperative]] in northwest Russia associated with [[Vladimir Putin]]'s inner circle.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Burrows|first=Emma|date=2017-03-28|title=Vladimir Putin's inner circle: Who's who?|url=https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/28/europe/vladimir-putins-inner-circle/index.html|access-date=2022-01-22|website=[[CNN]]|language=en|archive-date=2022-01-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220122214450/https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/28/europe/vladimir-putins-inner-circle/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=PutinDacha>{{cite web | title = Кооператив "Озеро" | url = http://www.compromat.ru/page_9539.htm | publisher = kompromat.ru | language = Russian | trans-title = The "Lake" Cooperative | date = March 6, 2000 | accessdate = February 20, 2016 | archive-date = March 3, 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303123421/http://www.compromat.ru/page_9539.htm | url-status = live }}</ref>

==History==
The dacha cooperative ''Ozero'' was founded on November&nbsp;10, 1996<ref name=ng/> by [[Vladimir Smirnov (businessman)|Vladimir Smirnov]] (head), Vladimir Putin,<ref name=80sPutin>{{cite news | last1 = Hill | first1 = Fiona | last2 = Gaddy | first2 = Clifford G. | title = How the 1980s Explains Vladimir Putin. ''The Ozero group.'' | url = https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/02/how-the-1980s-explains-vladimir-putin/273135/# | publisher = [[The Atlantic]] | date = February 14, 2013 | accessdate = February 19, 2016 | archive-date = August 2, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190802074828/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/02/how-the-1980s-explains-vladimir-putin/273135/ | url-status = live }}</ref>{{efn|In 1997, Putin used money from XX Trust to pay for a new bathroom at his two story dacha after an electrical fire in the sauna.<ref name=NovayaGazeta23032000>{{cite news |url=http://www.novayagazeta.ru/society/11232.html |script-title=ru:ДЕЛО ПУТИНА  |trans-title=The Putin Case |work=[[Novaya Gazeta]] |last=Никитинский |first=Леонид (Nikitinsky, Leonid) |date=23 March 2000 |access-date=13 February 2020 |archive-date=1 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601213659/http://www.novayagazeta.ru/society/11232.html |language=ru}}</ref>}} [[Vladimir Yakunin]], [[Andrei Fursenko]], [[Sergey Fursenko]], [[Yury Kovalchuk]], [[Viktor Myachin]], and {{ill|Nikolay Shamalov|ru|Шамалов, Николай Терентьевич}}.<ref name=Open>{{cite web | last = Shakirov | first = Mumin | title = Who was Mister Putin? An Interview with Boris Nemtsov | url = https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/mumin-shakirov/who-was-mister-putin-interview-with-boris-nemtsov | publisher = [[Open Democracy]] | date = February 2, 2011 | accessdate = February 19, 2016 | archive-date = January 27, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180127084816/https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/mumin-shakirov/who-was-mister-putin-interview-with-boris-nemtsov | url-status = live }}</ref> The society united their [[dacha]]s in [[Solovyovka (Bashkortostan)|Solovyovka]], [[Priozersky District]] of [[Leningrad Oblast]], on the eastern shore{{efn|The fenced community is between the villages of Turfyanoye ({{langx|ru|Торфяное}}) in the [[:ru:Мельниковское_сельское_поселение|Melnikovskoe rural settlement]] on the north of the lake and Solovyovka ({{langx|ru|Соловьёвка}}) in the [[:ru:Плодовское сельское поселение (Ленинградская область)|Plodovskoe rural settlement]] on the southeast of the lake.}} of [[Lake Komsomolskoye]]{{efn|Prior to 1948 the lake was not Russian but {{langx|fi|[[:fi:Kiimajärvi (Venäjä, Käkisalmi)|Kiimajärvi]]}}.}} on the [[Karelian Isthmus]], near [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]].<ref name=Pribilovsky>{{cite web | last = Pribilovsky | first = Vladimir | author-link = Vladimir Pribylovsky | title = Origin of Putin's oligarchy | url = https://www.anticompromat.org/oligarhi/ppo.html | language = Russian | publisher =  | date =  | accessdate = February 19, 2016 | archive-date = March 3, 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303215742/http://www.anticompromat.org/oligarhi/ppo.html | url-status = live }}</ref><ref name=Naslednik>{{cite web | last1 = Felshtinsky | first1 = Yuri | last2 = Pribilovsky | first2 = Vladimir | author-link1 = Yuri Felshtinsky | author-link2 = Vladimir Pribylovsky | title = Who is Mr. Putin? Operation "Naslednik" | url = http://www.lib.ru/HISTORY/FELSHTINSKY/naslednik.txt | language = Russian | publisher =  | date = June 27, 2004 | accessdate = February 19, 2016 | archive-date = August 24, 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170824084233/http://lib.ru/HISTORY/FELSHTINSKY/naslednik.txt | url-status = live }}</ref>  

Vladimir Putin returned from his [[KGB]] posting in Dresden in early 1990, prior to the formal establishment of the ''Ozero'' cooperative, and acquired property on the banks of Lake Komsomolskoye. His dacha burned down in 1996 but was rebuilt later that year.<ref name=80sPutin/> Others bought more land around this area and built a number of villas close to each other to form a [[gated community]].<ref name=ZaborPutina>{{cite news | last = Akhmirova | first = Rimma | title = Zabor Putina | trans-title = Putin's Fence | url = http://sobesednik.ru/incident/sobes_35_10_dacha | newspaper = [[:ru:Собеседник|Sobesednik]] | location = Moscow | language = Russian | date = September 14, 2010 | accessdate = February 19, 2016 | archive-date = November 11, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121111070627/http://sobesednik.ru/incident/sobes_35_10_dacha | url-status = live }}</ref> A bank account linked to this cooperative association was opened, allowing money to be deposited and used by all account holders in accordance with the [[Law of Russia|Russian law]] on cooperatives.<ref name=Kleptocracy>{{cite book | last = Dawisha | first = Karen | author-link = Karen Dawisha | title = Putin's Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia? | url = https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1476795207 | year = 2014 | publisher = Simon & Schuster | pages = 97, 98, 165, 338 | isbn = 978-1-4767-9519-5}}</ref>

By 2012, members of the ''Ozero'' cooperative had assumed top positions in Russian government and business and become very successful financially.<ref name=Pribilovsky/><ref name=PutinCorrupt>{{cite web | editor-last1 = Milov | editor-first1 = O. | editor-last2 = Nemtsov | editor-first2 = B. | editor-last3 = Ryzhkov | editor-first3 = V. | editor-last4 = Shorina | editor-first4 = O. | title = Putin. Corruption. An independent white paper | url = http://www.putin-itogi.ru/putin-corruption-an-independent-white-paper/ | translator-last = Essel | translator-first = Dave | website = putin-itogi.ru | date = 2011 | accessdate = February 19, 2016 | archive-date = February 19, 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160219040339/http://www.putin-itogi.ru/putin-corruption-an-independent-white-paper/ | url-status = live }}</ref><ref name=Sanctions>{{cite web | last = Shuklin | first = Peter | title = Putin's inner circle: who got in a new list of US sanctions | url = https://news.liga.net/articles/politics/1066761-blizhniy_krug_putina_kto_popal_v_novyy_spisok_sanktsiy_ssha.htm | publisher = liga.net | date = March 21, 2014 | accessdate = February 20, 2016 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20150207152258/http://news.liga.net/articles/politics/1066761-blizhniy_krug_putina_kto_popal_v_novyy_spisok_sanktsiy_ssha.htm | archivedate = February 7, 2015 }}</ref>

== Ozero members==

The table includes alleged net worth or annual compensation<ref name=ZaborPutina/><ref name=Kleptocracy/><ref name=2016LakeSobesednik>{{cite news | title = Кто теперь живет на "даче Путина" в кооперативе "Озеро" | url = https://sobesednik.ru/rassledovanie/20160113-kto-teper-zhivet-na-dache-putina-v-kooperative-ozero | newspaper = Sobesednik | location = Moscow | language = Russian | trans-title = Who now lives on "Putin's dacha" in the cooperative "Lake" | date = January 13, 2016 | accessdate = February 20, 2016 | archive-date = February 13, 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160213074539/http://sobesednik.ru/rassledovanie/20160113-kto-teper-zhivet-na-dache-putina-v-kooperative-ozero | url-status = live }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
!Ozero member
!Full or Partial Ownership, Board Memberships, Directorships as of 2014
!2013 Alleged Net Worth or annual compensation
|-
|[[Andrei Fursenko]]
|[[Center for Strategic Research Northwest]], [[Ministry of Education and Science (Russia)|Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation]] (2004–2012), [[:ru:Помощник президента Российской Федерации|Aide to the President of the Russian Federation]] (2012–present), Honorary Consul to Bangladesh in St Petersburg
|Unknown
|-
|[[Sergey Fursenko]]
|[[Lentransgaz]] subsidiary of [[Gazprom]], [[Gasprom Gas-Motor Fuel]], president of [[:ru:Национальная Медиа Группа|National Media Group]], president of the [[Russian Football Union]] (2010–2012)
|Unknown
|-
|[[Yury Kovalchuk]]
|[[Bank Rossiya]] and its subsidiaries (e.g. co-owner of [[:ru:Национальная Медиа Группа|National Media Group]]), [[Center for Strategic Research Northwest]], Honorary Consul to Thailand in St Petersburg 
|$1.4b net worth
|-
|[[Viktor Myachin]]
|former Director-General of [[Bank Rossiya]] (1995–1998, 1999–2004), CEO of the investment company "Abros", a subsidiary of [[Rossiya Bank]] (2004–present): This investment company owns 51% of the [[:ru:Согаз|Согаз]], a big insurance company in Russia
|Unknown
|-
|[[Vladimir Putin]]
|[[President of Russia]]
|see [[Vladimir Putin#Wealth|Personal wealth]]
|-
|[[Nikolai Shamalov]]
|[[Vyborg Shipyard]], [[Bank Rossiya]], [[Gazprombank]]
|$500m net worth
|-
|[[Vladimir Smirnov (businessman)|Vladimir Smirnov]]
|[[Techsnabexport]] (2002–2007)
|Unknown
|-
|[[Vladimir Yakunin]]
|deputy [[Ministry of Transport (Russia)|minister of transport]] (2000–present), president of [[Russian Railways]] (2005–2015)
|$15m annual salary
|}

==Security==
Purportedly the firm Rif-Security{{efn|The offices of Rif-Security ({{langx|ru|Риф-Секьюрити}}) are located at [[:ru:Тамбовская улица (Санкт-Петербург)|Tambovskaya Street]] ({{langx|ru|улица Тамбовская}}) in St Petersburg}} provides security for the Ozero Dacha Community.  Rif-Security is controlled by the alleged boss of the [[Tambov Gang]] [[Vladimir Kumarin|Vladimir Barsukov (Kumarin)]] and Vladimir Smirnov.<ref name=Kleptocracy/><ref name=PutinCorrupt/>

==Political effect==
Some observers hint that the roots of Putin's power may lie in Ozero camaraderie.<ref name=80sPutin/>{{efn|After ''glubinka'' Anatoly Sobchak's 1996 electoral loss to ''glubinka'' [[Vladimir Anatolyevich Yakovlev|Vladimir Yakovlev]], a rival of Putin's in the St Petersburg mayor's office, Putin found work in Moscow and, in 1998, became the head of the [[Federal Security Service]]. Ozero gained tremendously, restoring St Petersburgers above Moscovites in Russian society.}}

The Ozero cooperative society holds a bank account at the Leningrad Oblast Bank. The financial transactions of the Ozero cooperative are unknown. By law any of the members would be able to deposit and withdraw funds for his own use. Karen Dawisha, director of [[the Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies]] at [[Miami University]], concluded that "in Russia a cooperative arrangement is another way for Putin to avoid being given money directly, while enjoying the wealth shared among co-owners".<ref name=Kleptocracy/>

''[[Putin. Corruption]]'', an independent report published by the opposition [[People's Freedom Party (Russia)|People's Freedom Party]], is about the alleged corruption in Vladimir Putin's inner circle and has a chapter about ''Ozero''.<ref name=PutinCorrupt/>

==See also==
*[[Corruption in Russia]]
*[[Political groups under Vladimir Putin's presidency]]
*[[LLCInvest]] (LLCInvest is often referred to as "digital consumer cooperative Ozero"<ref>[https://meduza.io/episodes/2022/06/26/rasskazyvaem-kak-my-obnaruzhili-tsifrovoy-kooperativ-ozero-druzey-putina-i-pochemu-eto-ne-pohozhe-na-informatsionnuyu-stryapnyu-kak-utverzhdaet-kreml Рассказываем, как мы обнаружили цифровой «кооператив „Озеро“» друзей Путина — и почему это не похоже на «информационную стряпню» (как утверждает Кремль)]</ref>).

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

[[Category:Housing cooperatives in Russia]]
[[Category:Vladimir Putin]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1996]]
[[Category:Corruption in Russia]]
[[Category:Wealth in Russia]]