Two men receive eight-year prison terms for siphoning renovation funds of Russian cultural centre in Helsinki

Moscow’s city court handed eight-year prison sentences to former Russian Science and Culture Centre director Sergei Medvedev and renovation firm head Igor Alehin, adding one-million-rouble fines for each. The centre, owned by the Russian state and situated in Helsinki’s Töölö district, had commissioned a major overhaul in 2014, awarding the contract to Cyprus-registered Alfa Development for an estimated four million euros.

Despite the full payment, the work was incomplete: the fifth floor lacked ventilation and window sills, the pool was not waterproofed, and many interior elements were missing or substandard. Prosecutors say the funds were funneled to a shell company resembling the original contractor and then moved to foreign accounts, with Alfa Development’s CEO Jelena Rymaruk identified as the scheme’s architect. Rymaruk, a Ukrainian national, has escaped abroad and remains beyond the reach of Russian authorities. The property was seized by Finnish enforcement officials in autumn 2024 following a Hague arbitration ruling that ordered Russia to compensate Naftogaz for seized assets in Crimea.