Stroygazmontazh

Stroygazmontazh was initially founded in 2008 by Russian businessman and oligarch Arkady Rotenberg after he purchased five companies under the control of Russian oil and gas giant Gazprom.[1] Rotenberg is a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which has led to the S.G.M. Group and other firms under Rotenberg's control winning a number of Russian government contracts.[7]

In early November 2019, Rotenberg's shares in the company were reportedly sold to Gazstroyprom—an infrastructural firm under the administration of Gazprom—for a total of ₽75 billion ($1.18 billion).[8][9] Stroygazmontazh had been a subcontractor of Gazprom for some time, and had collaborated in building 320 kilometers of onshore pipelines for the Nord Stream 2 project.[10]

In 2016 and 2017 it was reported that Stroygazmontazh, with evident ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, had accepted a contract in January 2015 to construct a bridge providing a railway link between Russia and Crimea by crossing the Kerch Strait, and that it had proceeded to begin construction.[1][11][12][13] The Russian government stipulated that Stroygazmontazh was to complete the railway link by August 1, 2019, and fully complete all works on the bridge by December 1, 2019.[1][14] Stroygazmontazh had never built a major bridge before.[15] Because of the risks of EU sanctions applied in July 2018,[16] no international insurance company was willing to underwrite the potential $3 billion loss if the project went wrong—thus, a small Crimean insurance company underwrote it.[15]