A year after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Crimea briefly threatened to dry up Russian investment in New York real estate, things are back to normal again. That is, if you consider a oligarch’s ex-wife buying a $20 million apartment normal.
Galina Anisimova, former spouse of Russian billionaire developer Vasily Anisimov, has dished out $20.1 million for a co-op at the Carlton House, according to property records filed with the city Wednesday. The 4,711-square-foot apartment at 21 East 61st Street comes with four bedrooms, five-and-a-half bathrooms and three storage rooms.
Anisimova currently owns a 10-bedroom mansion in Brooklyn’s Mill Basin neighborhood, which she first listed for $30 million in late 2013. It is currently asking $17 million, according to a Corcoran listing.
Vasily Anisimov, whom Forbes estimates to be worth $1.93 billion, made his fortune in the 1990s through banks and aluminum plants. More recently, he has switched to real estate development. He is friends with Putin confidante Arkady Rotenberg and heads the Russian Federation of Judo, a sport the Russian President loves.
Galina Anisimova is a long-time resident of the United States, according to New York magazine. The publication devoted a lengthy feature to her socialite daughter, Anna Anisimova, which it dubbed the “Russian-American Paris Hilton.” The younger Anisimova owns a penthouse in the Time Warner Center, which she bought for $9.86 million in 2004 and later listed for $50 million in 2013.
The Anisimovas aren’t the only relatives of a Russian oligarch to make a splash in Manhattan real estate. In 2012, fertilizer tycoon Dmitry Rybolovlev broke the apartment-sales record at the time when he bought a $88 million unit at 15 Central Park West for his daughter, Ekaterina.