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Kamenshchik Named as Domodedovo Owner

Kamenshchik, seen here at a press conference, has long been suspected of being the airport’s beneficial owner. Maxim Stulov

Moscow Domodedovo Airport's chairman was officially identified as its beneficial owner on Thursday, in line with the government's greater scrutiny of companies running major transportation facilities in Russia.

In a statement on its website, Moscow's busiest airport named Russian native Dmitry Kamenshchik, the chairman of Domodedovo's board of directors, as its beneficial owner.

The statement reiterated government plans to make substantial investment into Moscow's airports and highlighted a criteria concerning transparency.

"All participants in projects concerning the development of above-ground transport [must be] in Russian jurisdiction and their ultimate beneficiaries known," the statement said. "We agree with the fairness of these conditions."

These were the requirements set by President Vladimir Putin for participation in development projects at a meeting concerning the development of Moscow's air transportation facilities on July 3.

Domodedovo's announcement follows a recent proposal from the Economic Development Ministry that would mandate individuals owning more than 1 percent of a strategic transportation facility to provide information about themselves to the government on a quarterly basis, Vedomosti reported.

The bill would also grant the Federal Security Service the right to conduct investigations into the ownership of such properties.

Currently, companies are only required to disclose the names of shareholders during major transactions in which more than 5 percent of shares change hands.

Following the terrorist attack at Domodedovo in 2011, then-President Dmitry Medvedev ordered an investigation into the identity of the airport's beneficial owner. The attempt was unsuccessful, finally naming a Cyprian offshore company, Hacienda Investments Limited, in lieu of an individual, Itar-Tass reported.

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