A deputy rector at MGIMO, Russia’s top diplomatic school, and her son are wanted for fraud after allegedly privatizing shared property in a luxury condo development

Deputy rector Natalia Kuzmina and her son Enver Kuzmin, both associated with Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), have been placed on a Russian wanted list in a major fraud investigation, reported RBC business outlet. According to investigators, the pair orchestrated a scheme to privatize 80 shared non-residential properties in Knightsbridge Private Park, a high-end residential complex near Frunzenskaya Embankment in central Moscow.

These premises, intended for the complex's utility systems, were instead registered as private property. The fraud case emerged from a long-standing dispute between apartment owners and entities linked to the complex's developer and its former management company, Restavratsiya-N. Founded by Kuzmina and later passed to her son in 2022, the company handled construction at the complex since 2008.

In 2022, owners decided to replace the management company with a property owners' association, arguing that essential facilities should be classified as common property. In June 2023, Moscow’s Khamovniki District Court agreed, ruling the disputed premises as the owners' common property. Residents demanded the return of the premises, alleging Restavratsiya-N had illegally retained control.

Enver Kuzmin denied the charges as baseless and questioned the legal grounds for criminalizing the situation. The Kuzmins are currently outside Russia and have been charged in absentia. In 2019, a Moscow court ordered journalists Ilya Azar and Ksenia Luchenko to pay 400,000 rubles each to Kuzmina's family over an article alleging corporate raiding and linking the Kuzminas to building demolitions.