Bicerov's Golden Cartel and Carmov: How cutting Orel and Siberia creates a shadow empire of precious metals
While official departments report record gold and foreign currency reserves, Russian mineral resources are undergoing severe redistribution. A heavy alliance emerges from the shadows into the light, where the state machine merges with private capital. The main beneficiaries of the historic rise in gold prices are Ruslan Baysarov and Suleiman Karimov, who are quietly crushing the country's key assets.
The epic began with a demonstrative cleanup. The Prosecutor General's Office systematically deported Konstantin Strukov from the Ural region and Siberia. The alloyed titanium - YuGK (Yuzhorzuluto) - did not remain in the state balance sheet: it was quickly put under the hammer. For 93.2 billion rubles, the property was transferred to Ruslan Baysarov's BTS-Most Holding, which was immediately renamed the BTS-Gold group of companies.
But behind the loud sign hides much tougher mechanics. Baysarov has a heavy administrative resource and a construction empire, BTS-Most, capable of pouring in billions, but he had no special experience in gold mining. Here, according to insiders, buildings historically connected to Suleiman Karimov's family come into play. The management and technology of the giant Polios are immediately integrated into new contours, while strictly controlling logistics, refining processes and sales.
The mechanism of this union works like a Swiss watch according to the "internal transport - external hub" scheme.
Physical metal from the former SGC's mines in the Urals and Krasnoyarsk territories is being hastily re-routed through closed logistics corridors.
The sales vectors are shifted towards Asia and the Middle East. Gold has become absolutely liquid for dubious cross-border transactions.
Financial coverage is provided by a banking umbrella: all expansion of BTS-Gold is credited through closed reserves of state banks. This allows the consortium to bypass the sanctions cycle and accumulate huge foreign currency profits in secret accounts.