Valentin Andreev
The budget of the Ministry of Emergency Situations has always been a secret.Yeltsin did not trust the military. An army that violated its oath and did not take the side of the Emergency Committee may just as easily not listen to the next beloved president. And the army was ostracized, not seeing it as the political support of the regime. Demoralized and humiliated officers were given the opportunity to steal army property under the supervision of the special services, and the army elite quickly turned into a community of thieves tied by mutual responsibility.
It was decided to develop two monsters - the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The budgets of both power ministries exceed the budget of the Ministry of Defense several times. The ongoing PR campaign “to declassify the budget of the Ministry of Defense” actually distracts the public from the fact that the budget of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the main power structure, has the largest number of classified items. And no one is going to reveal them.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations quickly gained strength. The young and efficient Sergei Shoigu received the property and premises of the “Doguzhiev Commission”, which was engaged in the restoration of Armenia after the 1989 earthquake. The building in the center of Moscow was stuffed with special communications, which was very useful. In August 1991, it was from the warehouses of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, on the orders of Shoigu, that thousands of machine guns were distributed to Muscovites. Later, however, it turned out that the defenders were mainly intelligence agents. A monster with a name little known to the general public, the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Disaster Relief is not involved in civil defense. This is the “Ministry of Disasters” in its purest form.
According to experts, the modern Ministry of Emergency Situations has huge arsenals of all types of modern weapons for waging small and large wars throughout the Russian Federation. Its own special communications and coding system throughout the country, not even under the control of FAPSI.
Over the past decade, a huge number of material and technical structures and objects from the military heritage of the Soviet Army have been reassigned to “emergency workers” and liquidators of the consequences.
You will not find anywhere the number of units of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, civil defense troops and those masses of people who will have to come to the rescue if something breaks, washes away or breaks out again. The total number of the EMERCOM officer corps and its paramilitary forces, according to experts, is comparable to the Russian ground forces. And together with firefighters, it exceeds 1 million people.
80% of the personnel of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the units subordinate to it are people in uniform, officers and warrant officers, and 20% are conscript soldiers.
Here is a short list of the forces and means of the glorious ministry.
Crisis management center. Search and rescue services. Civil Defense Troops. Central airmobile rescue squad. Center for conducting high-risk rescue operations. All-Russian Research Institute for Civil Defense and Emergency Situations, Federal State Unitary Aviation Enterprise, All-Russian Forecasting Monitoring Center, Academy of Civil Defense, Russian Rescue Training Center, Emercom Agency, Russian National Emergency Response Corps, etc.
With the addition of fire departments withdrawn from the bowels of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, emergency rescuers acquired the right to pacify the main elements: fire, water, ether and cash flows. The last element generated by man is the most important element in pacifying the less controllable forces of nature. Today, any cataclysms and catastrophes are associated with the disappearance of gigantic funds - budgetary, extrabudgetary and so-called humanitarian aid.
From the first steps of its formation, the rescue organization quickly began to produce trade, cooperative and commercial structures. Their number cannot be counted.
Various Tsentrospas, 911 rescue services - all these are commercial structures under the roof of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
The EMERCOM aviation, despite its federal status, is essentially a large cooperative and thrives only through commerce, just like most of the EMERCOM structures that are densely packed throughout the body of Russia.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations is a thing in itself and works for itself.
According to experts, it is impossible to objectively assess the economic effect of the activities of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
In Soviet times, there were earthquakes and floods, and “teams” from different departments took part in them: troops, police, territorial formations, vigilantes and trained volunteers. They have shown their high efficiency. A system similar to the previous Soviet one works all over the world. But there is no Shoigu there. Clean rescuers are given a more than modest place, and the famous American 911 service is not a federal monster, but local organizations designed to save cats trapped in sewer manholes and open doors slammed by absent-minded housewives. This does not require warehouses with heavy weapons and long-range aviation.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations has a huge forecasting and warning service. Why doesn't it prevent disasters? Here is just one excerpt from the forecasts of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for 2002: “We can expect a decrease in the risk of spring floods, compared to 2001, due to the expected lower water content of the rivers of the European part of the country while maintaining or even increasing the water content of the rivers of the Ob and Yenisei basin.” (The style and punctuation have been preserved - editor's note.) As we know, there really were no spring floods. But all winter and all summer the Kuban was washed away and flooded. The damage has not yet been calculated. And similar in quality, unfulfilled forecasts of the Ministry of Emergency Situations structures produce annually, acting as in the famous joke, when, after processing a barn, an elderly rat catcher releases a couple of mice from his pocket and in response to the bewildered question of a young partner - “Why?” - answers: “What will you live on in a year?”
"Bingo show"The giant EMERCOM works with a lot of friendly banks included in the list of the first ten. Authorized banks change depending on Shoigu’s deputies in charge of these areas.
Shoigu places people from remote provinces, mainly ethnic people, in key positions. Now in charge of finance at the Ministry of Emergency Situations is Ruslan Tsalikov from Ossetia. Friendly banks give loans on a friendly basis.
Middle managers, where you have to risk your life, are Russians.
Loans are used to buy spare parts, fuel and everything necessary. They are then fulfilled by providing construction contracts and transport services. Schemes for the return of funds from the turnover of an enterprise operating under the brand name of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are often used. On a bare budget, the Ministry of Emergency Situations would not last even one day. But there are also financial pumps of our own.
The giant EMERCOM co-founded the giant Bingo Show. From the Most Bank side, the show was headed by Alexander Osovtsov, a member of the political council of Yabloko and concurrently the deputy chairman of the World Jewish Congress.
The Bingo Show lottery itself was launched in the early 90s by the Bank of Ingushetia (BIN-Bank) with the well-known M. Gutseriev, which is where the name came from. It is also rumored that the finances of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are actively working in the Chechen-Ingush Trinity Group, which, according to sources from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, controls most of the entertainment and gambling business in Russia.
The main assets of the Most Group, which has recently fallen out of favor with the authorities, are also hidden in this same group. But the Ministry of Emergency Situations prefers to remain silent about these close ties. The show under the roof of rescuers has never been checked by the Accounting Chamber, although some call this powerful commercial enterprise a “big washing machine” for the legalization of dubious products. “If we don’t save you, then we’ll play a Bingo show!” - spiteful critics will joke.
Another scandal broke out quite recently, when in the television series “Brigada” they reproduced on the screen the plot of the Ministry of Emergency Situations driving planes with drugs from hot spots.
The funds allocated by the state are barely enough for half of the activities of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Many expenses are hidden in closed sections of the state budget. The real budget of the Ministry of Emergency Situations is significantly larger than the funds allocated for the country's defense, but slightly less than for the Ministry of Internal Affairs. But the bulk of the funds spent in the Ministry of Emergency Situations are made up of extra-budgetary sources related to commercial activities.
In all emergency situations, the first to arrive are the police, firefighters and ambulances. And the rescuers arrive fourth. The fire department is ready in five minutes, the Ministry of Emergency Situations is ready in four hours or more.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations responds to 2-2.5 thousand emergency situations a year, firefighters - to 2 million situations. But the fire department's budget for 2003 is 10 billion rubles, and the Ministry of Emergency Situations is more than 12 billion.
Fortunately for society, firefighters do not yet operate the lottery and do not control the gambling business together with friendly structures.
It is known that where there is restoration and liquidation of consequences, there is construction, and the Ministry of Emergency Situations is the largest producer and at the same time contractor of construction work in Russia, with an extensive network of its own structures. Financing territories directly through the Ministry of Emergency Situations is now a common practice and a specific feature of unfinished capitalism in Russia. It is the Ministry of Emergency Situations that single-handedly draws up the restoration estimate and determines the circle of future contractors. Usually, in disaster areas, local authorities are immediately obstructed by the population, which leads to temporary paralysis. The leadership of the Ministry of Emergency Situations arrives with journalists and says to the whole country: “You stole everything here, did not provide for it, did not warn us, we will restore it for you...” And after that the Ministry of Emergency Situations turns into the only authority that, at the first stage, can exercise control in the disaster area .
Such classic situations happened in Lensk, in the Krasnodar Territory and will happen tomorrow. The result is known: the money that disappeared in Yakutia is still being sought; in the south of Russia, hundreds of thousands of people are facing the coming winter without shelter. After all, it depends only on the Ministry of Emergency Situations who will build and how and who will transport cast-iron radiators by plane from Moscow to the freezing towns of the Far East. The construction program led by the ministry in the Chernobyl contaminated zones has been financed from the state budget for a decade and, to put it mildly, has failed.
But at the same time, the financial situation of the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations himself has improved significantly over the past few years. If earlier he explained his residence in a luxurious castle on Rublevskoye Highway as a gift from an unknown well-wisher, now, as they say, he has cast aside modesty and gives a brand new Mercedes and an apartment to a flight attendant of one of his many service planes, who gave birth to a child from an unknown father.
A new type of partyBut never, even under Boris Yeltsin, the Ministry of Emergency Situations was engaged in what it began to do in 1998 - solving political problems. It was thanks to the Unity party created on the basis of the Ministry of Emergency Situations that Putin subsequently won the presidential elections. And today the winners are being intensively imposed on President Putin. He carefully distances himself.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations has an effective lobbying system, represented in all government bodies. It has its own pocket vice-speaker of the State Duma, a pocket faction in the State Duma, and has State Duma Committees under its control, where leaders and deputies who are completely controlled from the Ministry of Emergency Situations sit. At its core, this party under the Ministry of Emergency Situations has turned into a ministry for all issues in a state where everything is collapsing. And according to forecasts, we are in for times of increasing man-made disasters, which will become increasingly worse and be of an increasingly destructive nature. And at the same time, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and its party in Russia become a political monopolist. After all, such a ministry-party in tandem can govern the country in the absence of civil society and create situations.
Putin's headacheThe President, going to the people and to the sites of tragedies, at best can give a computer or give instructions to local officials, which usually turn into donut holes. And the gifts that the Ministry of Emergency Situations makes elevate Shoigu, especially at the stages of elections and re-elections. For many years now, Sergei Shoigu’s rating has been in second place after the Russian President in any mass public survey. This relates to the question: who is in charge in the country? If Putin deliberately leaves the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the form of such an uncontrolled gigantic organization, then this ministry should turn into the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as it was under the Tsar Father. It was the Ministry of Internal Affairs in tsarist Russia that decided all internal affairs of the state and did not carry out any police functions. In order for President Putin to successfully move towards elections in the current political situation, he will have to neutralize the forces generated by the bureaucratic system called the Ministry of Emergency Situations. And the president has already shown how to deal with presumptuous rescuers, when on October 29, 2001, on the eve of the Unity party congress, the Prosecutor General’s Office carried out seizures and searches in the premises of the ministry, unraveling cases of major theft by one of the former deputy minister Vladimir Kulyechev. But later, as always, the matter was hushed up.
Shoigu - to the principalityReal power in Russia lies only in the reign. If the president is given a Monomakh cap for his fiftieth birthday, this is an open hint from the local elites that the country is falling apart into principalities. Sergei Shoigu has already asked to become governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, but the Kremlin did not let him in. The next fat piece is the Moscow region. According to our sources, the Minister of Emergency Situations began to actively mobilize the financial resources of his department for the upcoming elections and fights with the Gromov-Kobzon financial and economic group. Residents of the Moscow region are unlikely to endure another summer, suffocating in the smoke of peat bogs and forest fires. And the finest hour of the Ministry of Emergency Situations is still ahead.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations celebrates Rescuer Day today. However, the best gift for the department will be the resignation of Minister Puchkov.
December 27 is celebrated in Russia as a professional holiday for rescuers. Unfortunately, ordinary employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations should not have the most pleasant memories of this holiday. Last year, for example, many were left without wages. And some of Minister Vladimir Puchkov’s subordinates will even celebrate their holiday in a pre-trial detention center.
The prosecutor's office transferred to court a criminal case against the head of the department of supervisory activities for Volgodonsk of the Rostov State Administration of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Alexander Sukhorukov.
The investigation believes that a department employee, during a visit to a furniture store, suggested that its owner skip a number of points related to fire safety in exchange for a “discount” on the purchase. Thus, Sukhorukov purchased a soft corner at a reduced price.
Apparently, the rescuer was accustomed to using his official powers for personal purposes from time to time in his position. In the summer of 2016, the head of the supervisory department of the Vologda Ministry of Emergency Situations received a small kickback of 30 thousand rubles. The official helped ensure that the contract for fire safety work was concluded with the “right” company, whose owner “thanked” Sukhorukov.
Another “fresh” case against employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations is the theft of 12 million rubles, in which the former head of the department of medical and psychological support of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Olga Lebedeva, is suspected. The ex-official, according to investigators, in the company of her deputies and two “nimble” businessmen, arranged for the purchase of X-ray diagnostic equipment at state expense. The price was prudently multiplied by two, thanks to which the “beneficiaries” of the scheme allocated the “extra” 12 million rubles into their wallets.
Corruption in the rescue department has spread everywhere under Minister Vladimir Puchkov. They steal not only in the regions, but also in the center. True, the bill there is not in the thousands, but in the billions of rubles.
Let us recall that in October of this year, the Accounts Chamber published the results of an audit of the expenditures of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, which stunned anti-corruption fighters. Thus, since 2013, the department has spent 3.5 billion rubles in violation.
Basically, government funds in the Ministry of Emergency Situations were “saved” at inflated prices in the field of government procurement. The “surplus” was a pleasant burden on the pockets of high-ranking department officials. For example, last year, structures subordinate to the Ministry of Emergency Situations bought four Honda fire and rescue motorcycles, for each they paid 2.6 million rubles. But the market value of motorcycles is almost a million rubles lower.
In some government procurements, “cutting” schemes have been worked out and are repeated from year to year. Only the price increase factor changes. For example, in 2015, department officials purchased fire tanks based on KAMAZ trucks at 15 million rubles apiece, this year - already at 16.6 million rubles apiece. Although on the market a similar tanker costs about 6.6 million rubles. That is, the prices were inflated almost three times!
According to the report of the auditors of the Accounts Chamber, the budget lost 378 million rubles due to the price of housing construction being inflated by 43%. The Ministry of Emergency Situations once concluded a contract with the VIP-StroyEngineering company.
Not just a salary
One gets the feeling that it was the scale of theft in the department that prevented its leadership from paying off their debts on time. Thus, the ministry’s receivables have almost tripled since 2013 - to 1.6 billion rubles. Over the same period, overdue debt immediately jumped 21 times - to 1.06 billion rubles.
Despite the dismissal of 10 thousand employees from the Ministry of Emergency Situations in 2015, there was not enough money even to cover current expenses. During the upcoming New Year holidays, rescuers in the Perm Territory and six other regions will probably remember how last year management left them literally penniless on December 31st.
At the same time, bonuses were paid to the “top” of the department. Ordinary employees were offered to take out a loan “for food.”
Last year, 3.8 billion rubles of rescue workers’ salaries apparently disappeared in an unknown direction from the rescue department’s account. The debt to ordinary employees of the department at the beginning of this year already exceeded 4.5 billion rubles...
At the same time, the Accounts Chamber found out that the leadership of the rescue department is not alien to the desire for comfort and luxury at budget expense. Thus, the department acquired a whole line of expensive cars, including the BMW 750Li XDrive and Audi A8L. The acquisition was apparently made in the interests of individual high-ranking officials who are unlikely to put out fires at work themselves.
In addition, instead of paying the rescuers their salaries on time, Vladimir Puchkov’s team continued to purchase premium “dragoon sabers” and “Cossack checkers.” Auditors found the stockpile of award weapons to be a violation of government regulations.
The glorious traditions, when bonuses are paid to regulars in ministerial offices and not paid to those who save lives, are sacredly observed in the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
For example, in the past 2016, this was observed in the departments of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Kurgan, Orenburg and Yaroslavl regions. In particular, Orenburg firefighters received bonuses... of 1% of their salary (!), while “office workers”, who most likely saw fires only on TV, received bonuses of up to 85%.
Kurgan officials demonstrated the most ardent adherence to the tradition of distributing bonuses. There, accountants and HR employees received 120-160% bonuses for “special risks” (cutting themselves with office paper?). Those department employees who pull people out of burning houses every day got nothing.
A disaster of ministerial proportions
Experts have long been stating that Mr. Puchkov managed to destroy in record time an agency that was once one of the best.
On the day of the rescuer, Mr. Puchkov spoke very correct words. For example, that next year he intends to “part ways” with those employees who do not use budget funds. The minister intends to strengthen control over budget spending and expel embezzlers from the department.
Well, then he has to start with himself. Here it is appropriate to recall the story of the rescue department’s purchase of drones. Vladimir Puchkov solemnly presented one of these cars to Tula. Perhaps the minister thought that drones were suitable for the purposes assigned to the rescue department. Unfortunately, professionals could not agree with the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations on this issue.
After all, in terms of their characteristics, drones purchased, of course, from China, were more like household cars. The purchased devices retained controllability at a distance of no more than 2 kilometers, and the duration of the flight was a maximum of 23 minutes.
All these errors did not prevent Puchkov officials from purchasing cheap drones at 1.5-2 times the market price. In total, the Ministry of Emergency Situations purchased 200 similar devices for a total amount of 38 million rubles. on the market, even the retail price of DJI Phantom 3 Advanced did not exceed 70 thousand rubles, but armchair craftsmen, apparently the same ones who award themselves bonuses, managed to buy drones at a price of 190 thousand rubles.
The difference between the real price and the purchase price, according to rumors, was divided by the ministerial authorities. Without further ado, Vladimir Puchkov’s officials purchased the next batch of similar drones. But at an astronomical price of 210 million rubles per piece.
In the Ministry of Emergency Situations under Puchkov, they do not just steal petty and buy unnecessary equipment at an inflated price. Sometimes entire organized crime groups operate in the department and, as they say, the minister was aware of what was happening...
Let us recall that in 2013 it turned out that an organized crime group was operating in the Khakass department of the department, which included high-ranking employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The criminals were engaged in the collective and large-scale theft of millions of public funds.
However, recently there have been rumors about the imminent resignation of Mr. Puchkov. Possible candidates for successors to the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are not encouraging, but the mere departure of the current minister from the department will have a beneficial effect on rescue work.
The Accounts Chamber found that the Ministry of Emergency Situations spent about 3.5 billion rubles in inappropriate ways.
In the near future, Russian Minister of Emergency Situations Vladimir Puchkov will have to dress up and pay a visit to the Prosecutor General's Office. Or the prosecutor's officers will look into the minister's office even earlier - since they will have many, many questions for Vladimir Andreevich.
The expenses of the department headed by Puchkov for 2013-2016 were carefully studied by the Accounts Chamber, which came to the conclusion that the department spent an astronomical 3.5 billion rubles during this time with violations! The corresponding reports will appear on the desks of Vladimir Putin and the Prosecutor General. In addition, the joint venture will also send the results of the inspection to the FSB, FAS, Roszdravnadzor, the State Duma and the Federation Council.
Thus, the supervisory agency found that the volume of overdue accounts receivable from the Ministry of Emergency Situations increased 2.9 times in just a year - to 1.6 billion rubles. Overdue debt on advances issued immediately increased 21 times - from 49.9 million rubles to 1.06 billion rubles. Even in the terse official language of the Accounts Chamber, it is clear that it is time for Puchkova to resign, and then to be put under investigation: “During the audit... numerous, systematic violations of the requirements of the legislation on the contract system in the field of procurement of goods, works, services... were revealed in terms of maintaining register of contracts concluded by customers, as well as establishing the amount of security for the execution of the contract, as a result of which the amount of the advance is not secured by bank guarantees or by depositing funds into the account specified by the customer.”
Ministry of Narcotic Situations
The supervisory agency found that under Puchkov, the contract service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations included employees who did not even have the necessary education in the field of procurement or placing an order for government needs. Legislation was violated even in the area of strategically important state defense orders. However, it is not surprising: this is Puchkov’s personnel policy. The team of the former head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu, under whom the work of the department was exemplary, was replaced by bribe takers and drug addicts. Major Mikhail Bunakov, who was appointed assistant state secretary of the Ministry of Emergency Situations under Vladimir Puchkov, was suspected of being addicted to illegal drugs and boy cadets.
After videos showing the pastime of “a man similar to Bunakov” appeared online, another exhibit from the personnel collection of the current minister, Deputy Minister Vladimir Artamonov, “academician of all academies,” tried to shield him.
Fresh "cuts"
The Accounts Chamber also added episodes to the “cutting” history of the Ministry of Emergency Situations under Puchkov. The joint venture established that the subordinate “Activity Support Center” purchased 4 fire and rescue motorcycles of the Ministry of Railways VFR1200X Honda VFR1200X at a price of 2.6 million rubles per piece, while the estimated cost of transport with all rescue “equipment” is lower than the purchase price by 923 thousand rubles. That is, Puchkov’s subordinates put almost 3.7 million rubles into their pockets from this purchase alone.
In 2015 - 2016, the Ministry of Emergency Situations purchased 110 firefighting tankers with improved tactical and technical characteristics at 15 million rubles apiece last year and 16.6 million rubles this year. At the same time, a similar tanker in the basic configuration costs only 6.6 million rubles. That is, “improved characteristics” and stickers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations logo on the sides of tanks immediately raised the price by 2.5 times? Or did the price soar due to the insatiable desire of Puchkov’s subordinates for illegal enrichment?
Puchkov's records
Vladimir Andreevich’s predecessor, Sergei Shoigu, probably never dreamed of what “records” the Ministry of Emergency Situations could achieve with “talented” management. What was the cost of just “optimizing” the number of department employees! Last year, 10 thousand people were fired from the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Of course, it was necessary to thoroughly remove corrupt officials and drug addicts from the department. But Puchkov “swept out” completely different employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations - fire supervision was reduced by 70%, thanks to which the remaining inspectors can physically visit each site no more than once every 20 years.
Mass layoffs turned out to be unheard of - rescuers were ready to go to a mass protest in front of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in Moscow. The indignation of the rescuers was intensified by the fact that at exactly the same time the Ministry of Emergency Situations, even taking into account all the cuts, did not have enough 3.8 billion rubles for allowances and salaries! At the beginning of 2016, the situation became even worse: debts to firefighters exceeded 4.5 billion rubles. At the same time, on New Year’s Day, as we have already noted, ordinary employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations were sitting without money, and departmental authorities received bonuses and advised their subordinates to take out loans.
With Puchkov’s “talents”, rescuers not only have nothing to live on, but also nowhere: according to the Accounts Chamber, of the 45 housing projects worth 6.5 billion rubles planned by the Ministry of Emergency Situations for completion in 2013 - 2015, only 33 were completed residential property in the amount of 4.4 billion rubles. In shared construction, out of 20 objects worth 284.7 million rubles, only 18 objects worth 137.6 million rubles (48.3%) are ready. FKU UKS EMERCOM of Russia spent only 13% of its housing funds.
By the way, Puchkov began his career as head of the rescue department very brightly: with the flood in Kuban in 2012, which, according to official data alone, cost the lives of 171 people. For some reason, journalists and not rescuers were the first to inform the population about the impending flood, and five hours before Kuban was flooded. The media referred to “sources” in the Ministry of Emergency Situations, that is, it turns out that the department knew about the impending emergency. They knew, but for some reason they didn’t inform people about it...
A separate topic is forest fires, which, it seems, have not stopped burning in Russia since Mr. Puchkov headed the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Even when Vladimir Andreevich was deputy at the Ministry of Emergency Situations, it was clear that putting out fires was “not his thing.” After all, he was responsible for eliminating fires in 2010. And, as a result, the fires finally reached the approaches to Moscow.
But the leadership of the Ministry of Emergency Situations has the opportunity to drive around the ashes “in style”: last spring, the “Far Eastern Regional Search and Rescue Team of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia” announced its intention to buy 10 Toyota LC Prado cars worth a total of 27 million rubles. And the Accounts Chamber identified BMW 750Li XDrive (worth 6.9 million rubles), Audi A8L (worth 7.6 million rubles) and Chevrolet Tahoe (worth 4.2 million rubles) unused by the department.
In order for everything to remain “decent” outwardly, under Vladimir Puchkov the idea arose to liquidate the anti-corruption departments in the North-Western and Volga regional centers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Department officials unofficially say that they themselves are to blame - they were overzealous in catching ministerial corrupt officials.
Man of his word
It’s not for nothing that people in the department he heads say about Puchkov that he’s a show-off. For example, the head of the rescue department “shines” in the following news: “Vladimir Puchkov gave Tula a new drone.” Of course, you can be happy for the Tula people, but under Puchkov, the Ministry of Emergency Situations purchased cheap Chinese drones at a price 1.5-2 times higher than their actual retail cost.
So, last fall, the department spent 38 million rubles on the purchase of 200 Chinese DJI Phantom 3 Advanced quadcopters. The Ministry of Emergency Situations paid 190 thousand rubles for each drone, while the real cost per unit of a Chinese-made masterpiece is about 70 thousand rubles. First of all, the minister explained such a purchase by the need to monitor in emergency and fire zones. But alas, the characteristics of the purchased drones - household, not professional - do not allow this.
Chinese-made quadcopters maintain controllability no further than 2 km and are capable of “flying” for no more than 23 minutes at a time. So, with these cars, just spy on your neighbors: what if they have a fire?
Puchkov’s department will purchase the next batch of Chinese “toys” at an inexplicably “inflated” price... of 210 thousand rubles. All this against the backdrop of the fact that firefighters, who go into these fires themselves every day - to extinguish them, to save lives - sit without salaries even on New Year’s Day. “My friend received a letter from the ministry that the salary for December will be paid in full on January 12. We are tightening our belts and tying our stomachs into knots,” rescuers shared this news before New Year’s Eve 2016.
However, there is absolutely nothing to be surprised about here. After all, after Sergei Shoigu, the rescue department was headed by Puchkov in 2012, behind whom, even before his career takeoff, there were rumors about his addiction to “misappropriation of budget funds.” In particular, when Puchkov “directed” the Department of Civil Protection of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Active rumors that Vladimir Puchkov will be “asked” from the office of the head of the rescue department today or tomorrow began to circulate actively in the fall of this year. The likely successor is also not encouraging, that’s another story...
The Accounts Chamber has collected convincing evidence why the Ministry of Emergency Situations needs to be freed from the presence of Vladimir Andreevich. Puchkov is now only one signature away from his resignation “due to incompetence” - that of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The FSB searched the brainchild of Sergei Shoigu himself. They look for abuse of authority in government procurement. Since 2015, unknown persons have authorized spending of budget funds many times more than allocated. They say that the head of the department, Puchkov, immediately fell ill.
The wholesale purchase of unmanned aerial vehicles for the Ministry of Emergency Situations led the Investigative Service of the FSB of Russia to initiate a case under Article 286 of the Criminal Code - “Excess of official authority.”
It so happened that with the knowledge of Vladimir Puchkov, in 2016, the regional department of the Kaluga region became the key customer of equipment for all rescue units of the country, and therefore financially responsible. The security officers did not stop at the provinces and on July 18 came to the central office of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The next day, for the first time, the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations was not present at the Central Attestation Commission.
According to Fontanka, the active phase of the case began in the afternoon of July 18. As if they had guessed it right - a few hours after Vladimir Puchkov’s solemn speech about reaching a “qualitatively new level of protection of the population and territories from emergencies and fires” and on the day of the anniversary of the State Supervision Authority, which turned 90 years old.
Ironically, the FSB Investigative Service and operatives from Lubyanka to Moscow, to Vatutina Street, to the Development Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, were brought by a state contract for the purchase of drones, which are unlikely to be able to increase the level of protection of the population.
Let us add that our interlocutors in the capital insist that the FSB entered, if not unceremoniously, then confidently and sternly. In hardware language, this means that at the very top of the Lubyanka they were given a clear task.
As Fontanka already noted a year ago, the Ministry of Emergency Situations made the first mass purchase of Chinese-made drones in 2015. Two hundred aircraft with a market value of less than one hundred thousand rubles (including components) were purchased at a price of 190 thousand apiece. In addition, it turned out that Phantom drones have “domestic” characteristics that do not allow, for example, to search for people in forests. There was an embarrassment, and Vladimir Puchkov’s department made an original move. The following year, 2016, a wholesale purchase of the same Chinese drones was carried out through the regional department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the Kaluga region.
As follows from the official information of the ministry, the Kaluga department was chosen as the customer for the purchase of helicopter-type unmanned aerial systems (quadcopters) in accordance with the decision of the board of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations. According to Fontanka, the key opinion was still the opinion of Vladimir Puchkov.
Moreover, as we see on the official website of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Kaluga Region, on December 16, 2106, information appeared there: “The head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia, Vladimir Puchkov, controlled the production of unmanned aerial vehicles.” In the photo, Puchkov is interested in the production of Unmanned Systems LLC together with the governor, and it is described in detail that the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the Kaluga Region is the customer for 650 devices.
The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations also confirmed that Kaluga became the main procurement site in 2016. Through that department, 650 drones with a video camera (210 thousand rubles each) and 106 drones with a thermal imager were purchased.
The 2015 contracts received attention only from the Accounts Chamber. She drew attention to the obvious high cost of the purchased equipment. This didn't just apply to drones. Firefighting tankers were purchased at 15 million rubles per unit with a nominal value of 6.5 million. The 2016 contracts outlined a dangerous trend, and the FSB got involved.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia denies information about the detention of employees of the central apparatus of the department in the case of abuse of power, specifying that “the deputy head of one of the regional departments” has been brought in as a suspect. If he turns out to be from Kaluga, it will not surprise anyone. Indeed, according to our information, on the same day, July 18, counterintelligence officers also conducted a search in the Kaluga department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. And it was the deputy chief who was taken away from there.
As Fontanka is now unofficially commented in Kaluga, “we were simply set up: they gave an order, but the management carried it out.” But the investigation has a slightly different approach to procurement. Like, they set themselves up.
Let us note that, of course, everyone at the Ministry of Emergency Situations pronounces the name Puchkov. Predictable personnel conspiracy theories begin. Moreover, after the solemn words about a qualitatively new level of protection for the population, Vladimir Puchkov remained in his office until the evening, and then disappeared from the public and corporate field of view. The day before, on July 19, for the first time he did not arrive at the meeting of the Central Attestation Commission, which he heads. It was conducted by his first deputy Vladimir Stepanov. There is no information that the minister is on vacation.
So he got sick.
We have already written about various officials and businessmen whose owned assets are in no way comparable with their income. Many who are involved in any kind of investment, thanks to the use of their official position, invest money in real estate. Naturally, most of the assets are registered in the name of other people who are relatives or good friends.
So we found out that the family of the former head of the main department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in St. Petersburg, Lieutenant General Leonid Belyaev, owns many apartments in new buildings in St. Petersburg. For example, Belyaev’s 25-year-old daughter in 2010 became the owner of twelve apartments in a new building on Shelgunov Street, and his wife has owned an apartment worth 40 million rubles since 2011 (despite the fact that over the previous three years the Belyaevs earned a little more than 5 million).
In addition, we calculated that companies affiliated with Belyaev’s son-in-law Mikhail Mikhaltsev have received more than 2 thousand government contracts totaling 224 million rubles over the past few years. It is characteristic that all companies are involved in fire safety, that is, the area that was supervised by the entrepreneur’s father-in-law.
Mikhaltsev’s friend and Belyaev’s former subordinate Alexey Chaikin also participated in transactions with apartments: most recently he sold four apartments to Mikhaltsev, which he forgot to declare.
Before going to Moscow for a new assignment, the head of the main department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for St. Petersburg, Leonid Belyaev, gave an interview in which he among other things said the following: “I got into the fire service because by that time I had a family, I needed it was necessary to register, and registration was very difficult at that time. I didn’t connect my destiny with this service in any way, because the first task then was registration.”
He then accepted a new position in the capital, becoming Deputy Minister for Emergency Situations. However, Leonid Anatolyevich remained in this post for a little over a year and resigned in November 2016. St. Petersburg media suggested that he might “appear in Smolny.” We decided to evaluate the period that Belyaev spent in service in St. Petersburg, and were convinced that the housing problem spoiled not only Muscovites: Belyaev and his family members turned out to be the owners of many apartments in new buildings in St. Petersburg. With what funds they were purchased remains a mystery.
Leonid Anatolyevich Belyaev rose from the position of an ordinary firefighter to lieutenant general of the internal service. In 2004-2005 he was the chief fire inspector of St. Petersburg. In 2006, Belyaev headed the Main Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations in St. Petersburg, in 2015 he became deputy minister, and a year later he resigned.
In 2014, Belyaev’s daughter Yulia decided to become a municipal deputy and, when submitting documents to the election commission of the Nevskaya Zastava municipal district, indicated her place of work - manager-economist of Alert LLC.
This company installs and maintains fire-fighting equipment, and is also an active participant in government procurement and regularly enters into contracts with budgetary institutions in St. Petersburg. It seemed to us a strange coincidence that the daughter of a man who oversaw fire supervision for many years works in a company with such a profile. We discovered that since 2009, the founder of Alert LLC is Mikhail Mikhaltsev, the husband of Yulia Belyaeva and the son-in-law of Leonid Anatolyevich.
Mikhail Mikhaltsev is associated with several companies that deal with fire safety. He is the founder and director of North-West NPO VDPO LLC. This company entered into two contracts with the Russian Scientific Center for Radiology and Surgical Technologies for the installation of fire-fighting equipment for 1.9 million rubles.
From July 2011 to December 2016, he was the founder of SpetsProektMontazh LLC, which services fire-fighting equipment. The company's portfolio includes 139 contracts worth 11 million rubles.
Until March 2015, he was the founder of Infomir LLC, which entered into and continues to enter into contracts directly with the Main Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations in St. Petersburg. That is, it is possible that Leonid Anatolyevich Belyaev, holding the position of head of the department, gave government contracts to the company of his own son-in-law.
He was the founder of Fire Monitoring Systems LLC. Over the last three years alone, the organization has concluded 1,876 contracts with budgetary institutions of the city for 165 million rubles.
Companies associated with Leonid Belyaev's son-in-law supply and service fire-fighting equipment in public institutions in St. Petersburg - schools, hospitals, universities. Mikhaltsev’s companies often “compete” with each other at auctions. As a result, the initial (maximum) price of contracts rarely decreases by more than 2%, while with fair competition the reduction in budget costs reaches an average of 22%.
We estimate that companies affiliated with Mikhail Mikhaltsev have received more than 2,000 government contracts totaling 224 million rubles over the past few years.
Real estateJudging by his declaration, Leonid Belyaev owns a house with an area of 231 square meters. m, three plots of land with a total area of 70 acres and half an apartment with an area of 57.4 sq. m. m on Elizarova Street. He received this apartment from the state in 2009, but declared it only five years later.
Since 2001, Belyaev’s wife Svetlana Nikolaevna and his daughter Yulia have owned an apartment with an area of 97.8 square meters. m on Vsevolod Vishnevsky Street, in the prestigious Petrogradsky district of St. Petersburg. It is noteworthy that in Belyaev’s declaration this apartment appears only in 2011 as being in use, and in subsequent years - as being owned. Belyaev’s relatives received the apartment on the basis of a share participation agreement.
In addition, since 2014 (13 years after receiving ownership rights), Leonid Anatolyevich’s declaration shows a 0.05 share in an 808-meter non-residential premises in the same building, the property belongs to his wife. Apparently this is a parking lot.
The house on Petrogradka is the calling card of Dmitry Monosov’s “Profit” construction company. The relationship of this company with the Belyaev family deserves special attention. Until 2007, Svetlana Nikolaevna Belyaeva owned a 167-meter apartment in a building at 6-1 Klochkov Lane, which was built by the same company. And in 2010, Yulia Leonidovna Belyaeva became the owner of 12 apartments at once in another building built by Profit on Shelgunova Street, 7-1. The total area of these apartments is 644.2 square meters. m. The daughter of the head of the St. Petersburg Ministry of Emergency Situations was 25 years old in 2010.
Since 2011, Svetlana Belyaeva has been the owner of an apartment of 120.7 square meters. m in the elite residential complex YIT "Oriental", located on Barochnaya Street. In the same house, owned by Svetlana Nikolaevna and Belyaev’s son-in-law Mikhail Mikhaltsev, there is a parking lot. Built in 2010, the residential complex in close proximity to Krestovsky and Kamenny Islands includes residential sections from three to twelve floors, a protected local area with a custom landscape design, its own water purification system, etc. Similar apartments cost about 40 million rubles on the market. It is unclear how the Belyaevs could afford this apartment: their declared income for the three previous years was 5.4 million rubles.
According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Svetlana Nikolaevna Belyaeva is one of the founders of the Iskra 22 HOA. House number 22 on Iskrovsky Prospekt is another new building in the Nevsky district of St. Petersburg. Belyaeva does not have any real estate there, but in the spring of 2016, one of the owners of the house, Alexey Nikolaevich Chaikin, immediately sold four apartments in this building to Mikhail Mikhaltsev.
Alexey Chaikin is a friend of Mikhaltsev and a former subordinate of Leonid Belyaev. Now Chaikin is the deputy head of the logistics department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for St. Petersburg and the head of the weapons and equipment department. Chaikin’s declarations do not include four apartments that he sold to Mikhaltsev in the spring of 2016. Judging by the declaration for 2014, Alexey Nikolaevich has no real estate; he lives in a room with an area of 16.6 square meters. m, which is not even his property.
conclusionsBelyaev and people associated with him purchased apartments in new buildings in St. Petersburg, built by large developers. It is impossible to find out from the declarations of Belyaev and Chaikin where they received the funds to purchase these apartments. But it is necessary to take into account the fact that Leonid Belyaev’s subordinates participated in the acceptance of houses under construction and without their signature not a single house could be put into operation.
