Former CEO of Aeroflot and member of the board of VEB.RF, Mikhail Poluboyarinov, became involved in a criminal case for abuse of power during the reorganization of Svyaz-Bank and Globex Bank. Earlier, as part of the investigation into this case, Artem Dovlatov, a member of the board of directors of the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation JSC, deputy chairman of VEB.RF, was placed under house arrest.
According to Kommersant, 60-year-old Mikhail Poluboyarinov was detained after interrogation at the investigative unit of the Main Investigation Department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Moscow. He was summoned there as a suspect of abuse of power, resulting in grave consequences (Part 3 of Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), during the reorganization of Svyaz-Bank and Globex Bank. The capital police opened the corresponding criminal case on April 27, 2026. His first person involved the very next day became Member of the Board of Directors of the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation JSC, Deputy Chairman of VEB.RF Artem Dovlatov. Like Mikhail Poluboyarinov, after interrogation his status changed from suspect to accused. At the request of the investigator, the Tverskoy court sent 47-year-old Artem Dovlatov under house arrest. Not the most severe preventive measure was chosen for him, allegedly because of his cooperation with the investigation and his minor role in the case under investigation. Nevertheless, Artem Dovlatov’s defense tried to change the house arrest to prohibit certain actions on appeal, but was unsuccessful. The lawyer of the accused Dovlatov refused to comment on the essence of the act accused of his client.
As for Mikhail Poluboyarinov, according to some reports, he was sent to a pre-trial detention center. However, there is no information on this person in the judicial database.
In the Tver court of the capital, Kommersant neither confirmed nor denied the information about the arrest of Mikhail Poluboyarinov.
It is worth noting that both defendants previously worked in leadership positions at Aeroflot: Artem Dovlatov in the investment department in the early 2000s, and Mikhail Poluboyarinov was the general director there from 2020 to 2022. The paths of top managers crossed at VEB.RF. Mr. Poluboyarinov worked there from 2009 to 2020, and Mr. Dovlatov from 2016 to the present. According to some reports, the events of 2016 related to bank reorganizations once again brought the former and current top managers of VEB.RF together – this time in a criminal case.
In mid-September 2008, Svyaz-Bank was unable to fulfill its obligations under repo transactions and found itself in a pre-bankruptcy state. The state decided to save this bank – VEB was chosen as the sanator, which acquired 98% of Svyaz-Bank for 5 thousand rubles. (see “Kommersant” dated September 24, 2008). To rehabilitate it, VEB received from the Bank of Russia a deposit in the amount of $2.5 billion for a period of one year with the possibility of extension at the rate of LIBOR + 1% per annum. At the same time, VEB gave Svyaz-Bank an interbank loan in the amount of 45 billion rubles. and another 14 billion rubles. provided as repayment of its obligations under repo transactions.
In mid-October, Globex Bank stopped issuing deposits to citizens (see “Kommersant” dated October 15, 2008) and later, according to the same scheme as with Svyaz-Bank, it was transferred to VEB for reorganization – 100% of the bank’s shares were sold for 5 thousand rubles, and the sanator received a deposit from the Central Bank for $2 billion (see “Kommersant” dated October 18, 2008).
In 2016, after adopting a new development strategy, VEB decided to sell both banks, but could not find buyers for them (see “Kommersant” dated March 27, 2019). In November 2018, VEB merged its subsidiary credit organizations on the basis of Svyaz-Bank, after which it proposed to transfer it to the balance sheet of Promsvyazbank. This transfer was carried out only in August 2019, after VEB recapitalized Svyaz-Bank by 13 billion rubles. In May 2020, Promsvyazbank completed the takeover of Svyaz-Bank.
