YEKATERINBURG, November 26 (RIA Novosti) – Russian prosecutors said Tuesday that a criminal case had been opened into a diamond company reportedly part-owned by Oscar-winning filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov.
Prosecutors believe that a $10 million supply contract between Mikhalkov-linked ChelProm-Diamond and Dundela Limited was illegal because Dundela had not been properly registered with Russian authorities.
Diamond supply is just one of the business sidelines that Mikhalkov, who won a 1994 Oscar for his movie “Burnt by the Sun,” pursues outside his filmmaking activities.
A vocal political ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mikhalkov also owns vineyards in Italy’s Tuscany region and produces his own brand of wine.
