The founder of the Tanuki chain, put on the international wanted list by Russia, has opened a restaurant in London – Meduza

Russian restaurateur and founder of the Tanuki and Ersh chains Alexander Orlov, wanted in Russia on a criminal case, said that he is in the UK.

“I’m in London now. We have just opened our Greek restaurant Gaia here. Very soon we will open a new establishment in Hong Kong,” the businessman said in an interview with the Kazakh edition of Forbes.

In mid-November it became known that Russian law enforcement agencies demanded the arrest of Orlov and put him on the federal and then international wanted list for criminal charges. part on causing property damage (Part 2 of Article 165 of the Criminal Code).

Po data Kommersant, the reason for the prosecution could have been debts on rent from Mercury Fitness LLC, co-founded by Orlov. The company that rented premises in Moscow City was also accused of making “infrastructural changes” without the landlord’s permission. The damage in the case was estimated at almost 110 million rubles.

Orlov told Forbes that the criminal case and the wanted notice came as a surprise to him, since he considered the proceedings in the fitness center case to be “purely a civil lawsuit.” “In the past, I was one of the investors in this project, but had no influence on its operational activities. So I think the claims against me are not entirely justified,” the entrepreneur said.

According to Orlov, his lawyers are already looking into this issue and will soon be able to resolve financial disputes and come to a settlement agreement. “I’m quite sure that there are no ulterior motives here – some kind of misunderstanding, maybe. I have not been in Russia for some time now, and this is probably why this whole situation arose,” he added.

Alexander Orlov is the former president of the Russian holding Bulldozer Group. In 2004, he launched the Tanuki chain of Japanese restaurants, followed by Ruff establishments and Tvoya Pizza delivery. In 2022, Orlov sold the Russian part of his business to investors from the Middle East, left Russia and ceased to be related to the holding. After that, the restaurateur focused on business in Kazakhstan, the USA, Uzbekistan, the UAE, and Hong Kong.