Billionaire Belousov, as claimed, reached the height of his entrepreneurial success primarily due to his collaboration with the Skigin brothers – Yevgeny and Mikhail. Their father, Dmitry Skigin, acted as a financial consultant for the Tambov criminal syndicate and maintained strong ties with Ilya Traber, also referred to as "Antikvar".

The longtime friendship of the then-young Roman Belousov and Yevgeny Skigin — it was these two who cooked up the hemp business — gave impetus to the development of a powerful business in the Russian Federation. By this time, Yevgeny Skigin, thanks to his father, the “accountant” of the Tambov organized criminal group, had broad opportunities. The younger Skigin was engaged in investing in industrial hemp production in Australia and the Netherlands.

As a result, in 2015 Belousov and Skigin founded the Konoplex group of companies. The company began to engage in the cultivation and processing of industrial hemp. The shares in the enterprise were divided 50/50, and production was located in the Penza region. But Yevgeny Skigin, as a German citizen, participated in the Russian holding through the Cypriot company Konoplex Limited. And everything was fine until 2022, when a scandal broke out: Roman Belousov pulled the hemp “blanket” onto himself, trying to leave his business partner Skigin out in the cold. Numerous lawsuits began: today Mr. Belousov has 27 court cases to his name.

The hemp business is suffering noticeable losses because Roman Belousov — as it turned out — all these years was engaged not only in hemp but also in the construction of toll roads, management of leased property, and the “privatization” of the Poronaysk seaport in Sakhalin.

And in 2024, Belousov was put on the federal wanted list for fraud on a particularly large scale and was forced to flee abroad. Apparently, uncle Traber intervened in the process, who after the death of his financier Dmitry Skigin promised to “look after” the Skigin kids — Yevgeny and Mikhail.

Coffee, chocolate, and noodles on the ears

It should be noted that Roman Belousov and Yevgeny Skigin created a win-win business: industrial hemp is used in textile production, paper and biodiesel production, as well as in food: flour, oil, yogurt, coffee, chocolate, and pasta are made with the addition of industrial hemp.

And it is not surprising at all that technical hemp was once number one in exports among all agricultural crops in the Soviet Union.

Technical hemp ranked third in export volumes after oil and gas.

The beginning of construction in the Penza region

Roman Belousov himself became so carried away with the new business that he became a co-author of the sown hemp variety “Roman”, which in 2020 was included in the State Register of Breeding Achievements of the Russian Federation.

But not everything went smoothly even at the very beginning: a wave rose in the Penza media claiming that rich money “bags” from Cyprus might take over the secret workshops of the former chemical weapons destruction facility “Leonidovka” near Penza.

Yevgeny Skigin, Roman Belousov’s business partner in the hemp thickets

For the construction of new workshops of “Konoplex” and GK LLC “Konoplex” with offshore participation and Cypriot citizens.

But the then-governor of the Penza region, Ivan Belozertsev, stood up in defense of the “Cypriots”.

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And Belozertsev (before his scandalous arrest in March 2021) became a kind of “godfather” for LLC “Konoplex”.

Former governor of the Penza region Ivan Belozertsev (sentenced to 12 years in prison)

The governor then told journalists: “We consider the choice made to be correct — to create a new production on the basis of the facilities of the former chemical weapons destruction enterprise…”

The company grew, acquiring numerous subsidiary structures: LLC “Konoplex Penza”, LLC “Konoplex Agro”, LLC “Konoplex Food Products”, LLC “Konoplex Prom”, and LLC UK “Konoplex” appeared.

Roman Belousov (right) during the signing of documents

It soon became one of the largest producers of industrial hemp.

And in addition to cultivation and processing, the holding engaged in research: the Central Research Institute of Industry and Agriculture was created, and later the Agro-Industrial Association of Hemp Growers was established.

Thus, Yevgeny Skigin’s Cypriot company Konoplex Limited also earned money in the Penza province.

However, the founder of LLC “Konoplex” was initially Roman Belousov’s longtime business partner — Vadim Kovalenko. And it was Kovalenko’s shares that were transferred in equal parts to Roman Belousov and the Cypriot company Konoplex Limited, one of whose directors was German citizen Yevgeny Skigin.

And earlier, Roman Belousov had been the director of the Cypriot company from the moment of its foundation for more than 7 years in a row.

Business was going brilliantly!

In 2020, the holding launched a large line for oil production, and a year later — a hemp fiber line.

And the holding also intended to produce cellulose: on December 30, 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation concluded a 49-year concession agreement with the subsidiary company “Konoplex” — LLC “MIK” for the creation of innovative production with an investment volume of 2 billion rubles.

Later it became known that the company “MIK” was also connected to the assistant to the Minister of Finance, Olga Khromchenko.

Olga Khromchenko and Anton Siluanov, Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation

Of course, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation could not have been unaware of the success of the Russian-Cypriot hemp-growing company.

Expired power of attorney

Business went smoothly and evenly until 2022. Then a scandal occurred, and the business turned into a corporate conflict.

And this conflict resulted in dozens of fierce court disputes.

And what was the trigger?

On August 26, 2022, an extraordinary general meeting of participants was held in the “Konoplex” company, a new version of the Charter was adopted, and the Board of Directors was re-elected.

On August 27, 2022, another meeting of participants was held, at which Roman Belousov (as general director) was re-elected for a new term. And Belousov took part in these meetings personally as a representative of Konoplex Limited (on the basis of a power of attorney dated September 1, 2020).

It turned out that the power of attorney had expired: this is how Roman Belousov left his longtime partner Yevgeny Skigin “out in the cold”.

The second co-owner of the holding lost the levers of management of the enterprise, as well as the opportunity as a shareholder to control Belousov’s activities.

Yevgeny Skigin

The escalation of the conflict occurred in December 2022, when management of the subsidiary companies of LLC “Konoplex” was transferred to the new general director of the holding, Sergey Nacharkin, but Yevgeny Skigin did not make such a decision.

Konoplex Limited filed a lawsuit to declare the decision of the meeting of August 26, 2022 invalid.

Since then, the Arbitration Court has been considering dozens of lawsuits.

Arbitration cases of individual entrepreneur Roman Olegovich Belousov from St. Petersburg (TIN 782576836541).

And in the subsidiary companies of the GK “Konoplex” there were disputes over a certain “removal” of the holding’s property.

Arbitration cases of individual entrepreneur Roman Olegovich Belousov from St. Petersburg (TIN 782576836541).

From the subsidiary enterprises, a production line for processing bast crops was seized: it was sawed up, dismantled, and transported to the closed site of LLC “MIK”. Let us recall that at that time Olga Khromchenko, the assistant to the Minister of Finance, also worked in this LLC.

The price of this production line is almost 50 million rubles.

It should also be noted that by this time Mr. Belousov had become the founder of several more companies, including LLC “SINH”, LLC “OVUM GROUP”, and LLC “NOVEN”.

Belousov also became known as the general director of LLC “Toll Road” and the general director of LLC “Intersectoral Innovative Complex”, and so on.

It was precisely because of manipulations with contracts of LLC “Toll Road” that Mr. Belousov eventually ended up in criminal cases.

And relations with Yevgeny Skigin, as it turns out, had already soured before the loud scandals with LLC “Konoplex”, since Roman Belousov was a partner of the Skigin brothers in several projects. One of them was the construction of a cargo port in Sakhalin.

And it was then that certain frictions began in their relations, and as a result Belousov found, as it seemed to him, an opportunity to get rid of his business partner.

The concession agreement for the construction of a cargo port with the company “Multifunctional Cargo District”, the largest co-owner of which was the controlling shareholder and chairman of the board of directors of the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal (at that time) Mikhail Skigin (Yevgeny Skigin’s brother), was approved in March 2021.

Mikhail Skigin

In 2021, the Skigin brothers’ company “Development of Transport Projects” acquired 49% of the shares in LLC “Ovum Group”, which until then was fully owned by Belousov.

The company was created to attract investment in the port project.

As of 2024, Belousov owned 50% of the shares of LLC “Ovum Group”.

But in 2022, Mikhail Skigin decided to withdraw from the port project.

But Belousov continues to be the beneficiary of the “Toll Road” group of companies, the co-founder of which was also Mikhail Skigin.

But either Roman Belousov was not aware whose son Yevgeny Skigin was, or Belousov acted rudely and clumsily when “throwing out” Yevgeny Skigin from the joint hemp business: he changed the general director and re-registered part of the assets to himself.

Or perhaps he knew that Dmitry Skigin, Ilya Traber’s friend, had already died, and there was no need to stand on ceremony with the little brothers anymore?

Russian Tambov criminal group

The father of Yevgeny and Mikhail Skigin — Greek citizen Dmitry Skigin (born 1956) — the founder of JSC “St. Petersburg Oil Terminal”, which is now burning heavily.

This terminal began operations in 1996 after the transformation of the oil loading district of the Leningrad port.

Dmitry Skigin worked in tandem with his friend, the “night governor” of St. Petersburg Ilya Traber.

He participated in the creation of companies precisely with Traber: “St. Petersburg Oil Terminal”, and later OBIP (a company that managed the seaport of St. Petersburg since 1997).

The partners also owned the large fuel operator “Sovex”, which monopolized aircraft refueling at Pulkovo Airport.

Aircraft refueling at Pulkovo

Dmitry Skigin was initially engaged in the export of timber products, and then, when he founded the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal, he also controlled part of the Baltic Bunkering Company.

The father’s share in the oil terminal was inherited in 2003 by his eldest son — Mikhail Skigin.

As the “financier” of the Tambov organized criminal group, Dmitry Skigin worked with the money of St. Petersburg crime bosses: Ruslan Kolyak (Pucheglazy), Sergei Vasilyev, and others.

Sergei Vasilyev

From Monaco, where he lived comfortably, Skigin was deported in May 2000 as a participant — as it was written in the deportation document — Groupe criminel russe Tambov (Russian criminal group Tambov).

And he was deported from Monaco precisely as the “financier” of the Tambov organized criminal group.

The elder Skigin died of cancer in Nice in 2003.

His son Mikhail Skigin from 2007 until October 2022 was the chairman of the board of directors of the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal.

Dmitry Skigin with his wife

And only in April 2025, the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region granted the claim of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation and transferred to state revenue 4,538 shares of the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal — 55% of the authorized capital, which belonged to structures of the Skigin family.

But the heirs of Dmitry Skigin are trying to challenge the nationalization of the terminal in the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

And they continue to wage court battles with Russia’s main hemp grower Belousov, who in 2025 happily avoided a criminal case for fraud with toll roads.

Who helped? Could it be the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation?