The mother of Russia’s Presidential Administration chief Anton Vaino received more than half a billion rubles in 2023 from the Russian defense company group Sfera, the independent Russian investigative outlet iStories reported. Tatyana Yezhevskaya, 74, became a creditor of Sfera for 450 million rubles in March 2022, shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The following year she collected repayment of the debt with interest — 525 million rubles in total.

iStories had previously reported that Tamara Manturova, 89, the mother of Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, received money through the same scheme. In 2022, she lent Sfera 1.3 billion rubles and over four years received 3.28 billion rubles in debt repayments with interest.

Yezhevskaya and Manturova also received around two billion rubles through a debt assignment — an arrangement in which someone transferred to them the right to claim debts in that amount, according to Sfera’s documents. Who made the transfer is unknown.

A source who spoke to iStories, a former member of the Russian Forbes list, suggested the large loans may have existed only on paper, in whole or in part. “Back in the day, to funnel money to the right person, they would create the appearance of highly profitable asset management, retroactively recording large gains from investments in fast-growing securities. Now there’s no need for such complications. Who is going to officially verify whether the mothers of important people actually lent money to anyone, and how much exactly?” the source added.

This is not the first joint venture between Tatyana Yezhevskaya and Tamara Manturova. Together they owned Kompleks-stroymaterialy-Ovrazhki, one of the key companies in the Trassa group, a large gas station network in Russia.

The Sfera group of companies rose to prominence after buying up Russian enterprises that produce components and avionics for helicopters and aircraft. The company’s current financial filings contain no data on assets. Sfera continues to issue loans to defense enterprises, iStories reported.