Georgia: Ivanishvili family purchased property in Moscow suburbs in 2024 - investigation

Ivanishvili family and property in Russia

Despite the fact that oligarch and honorary chairman of the ruling party “Georgian Dream,” former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, consistently denies any ties to Russia, a journalistic investigation has revealed that his family continued to purchase real estate in Russia even after 2012.

The most recent purchase by the former Georgian prime minister’s family took place in 2024—a plot of land measuring 4,500 square meters, which the oligarch’s wife, Ekaterine Khvedelidze, acquired on April 19 this year near Moscow, close to the elite dachas in “Peredelkino.” Prior to this, on September 28, 2021, Khvedelidze registered several other real estate properties in “Peredelkino.”

This information is detailed in an investigative article jointly prepared by several Georgian and Russian media outlets, as well as non-governmental organizations. The investigation involved “Ai, Fakti,” OCCRP, iStories (Russia), GMC, “Studio Monitor,” and “Transparency International — Georgia.”

Journalists discovered that the Ivanishvili family owns one residential house and three plots of land in “Peredelkino.” According to rough estimates, the average value of this real estate exceeds 14 million USD.

Information about Bidzina Ivanishvili’s real estate in Russia first became public in 2013 when the oligarch, then serving as prime minister, submitted his first and only property declaration.

According to the declaration, the family’s first Russian residence is located on Savrasov Street, one of the most expensive areas in Moscow, known as a place where prominent artists reside. This residence still belongs to Ekaterine Khvedelidze and their son Uta Ivanishvili.

Investigative journalists claim that the houses owned by Bidzina Ivanishvili’s wife, Ekaterine Khvedelidze, and their son Uta Ivanishvili are rented out by the company “Aqua-Space,” with the income channeled through the Russian bank “VTB,” which is under sanctions. Since January 2023, a Russian citizen named Andrey Pershin has been transferring almost 800,000 rubles [around $9,000] monthly to “Aqua-Space” as rent. The rental arrangement continued at least until May 2024, with Khvedelidze receiving approximately $94,000.

According to a 2022 study by Transparency International – Georgia, “Aqua-Space” was owned by Bidzina Ivanishvili through an offshore company, Vanity Overseas Limited, registered in the Virgin Islands. Journalists reasonably suspect that Ivanishvili still owns this company, which operates in the Russian market and regularly deposits millions of Russian rubles in “Sberbank.”