{
  "id": 17124300,
  "title": "Longtime associates of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich founded a paid consular appointment service, investigation finds",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/longtime-associates-of-russian-billionaire-roman-abramovich-founded-a",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-29T20:57:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Meduza (English)",
    "slug": "meduza-english",
    "url": "https://meduza.io/en/feature/2026/10/29/longtime-associates-of-russian-billionaire-roman-abramovich-founded-a-paid-consular-appointment-service-investigation-finds"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A Russian consular service called Konsul Prime, started in late 2022, has ties to associates of billionaire Roman Abramovich, according to an investigation by Verstka. The company, which provides help with paperwork and priority booking for Russian consular appointments, has always had slots free, despite the usual wait times.\n\nKonsul Prime's legal entity, Tsentr Servis LLC, was set up by Yefim Malkin in December 2022. Malkin, who worked with Abramovich in the 1990s at Sibneft, later became involved with other Abramovich associates in business. In September 2022, Livergand, another Abramovich associate, became the owner of Konsul Prime. He also founded Tsentr Servis Digital, which owns the software platform used by Konsul Prime.\n\nClients of Konsul Prime in several European countries sign contracts with legal entities registered in the United Arab Emirates, according to Meduza's findings. The owner of one of these entities is unknown, but Comfort Care Travel L.L.C. is linked to Malkin's Russian company. Darya Zhurova, who has a 49% stake in both Tsentr Servis and Tsentr Servis Digital, is also another co-founder. Zhurova is the first co-owner without a connection to Abramovich, indicating she might be a nominee owner.\n\nTsentr Servis was responsible for creating most of Konsul Prime's foreign legal entities. Konsul Tsentr, a company that operates branches for Russia's Foreign Ministry, has been owned by Tsentr Servis since 2024. In February 2026, the Russian Unified State Register of Legal Entities stopped revealing the founders of Konsul Prime's Russian legal entities, but the available information still shows no direct ties to the Russian state. Despite this, Konsul Prime still markets itself as the ministry's exclusive partner.",
  "summary": "A company that charges Russians abroad to find available appointments at Russian consulates has ties to people in Roman Abramovich’s circle, Verstka reported.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Interfax-Ukraine",
        "title": "Ukrainian FM on appointment of Russian national as Assistant Secretary-General: Moscow has ‘mined’ the UN",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/ukrainian-fm-on-appointment-of-russian-national-as-assistant",
        "published": "2026-10-29T17:45:59.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}