“Russian Railways is like a country within a country: with its presidents and bosses,” says the former monopoly contractor. - Shoulder straps are the widest, stars are the most golden. One railway chief once said at a reception: “Without us, there would be no cosmonautics! And how would you bring the rocket?

Russian Railways has everything to meet its own needs: the construction is carried out by the subsidiary RZDstroy, the design is carried out by the subsidiary Roszheldorproject, the production of sleepers, slabs and other structures is carried out by the subsidiary Beteltrans, security is carried out by the subsidiary RZD -security", communication - "daughter" of "Transtelecom", etc.

“It’s hard for even large private companies that have worked for the railroad to break into this system and survive without monopoly approaches to leadership,” says another former contractor. “Many years ago, our company began repairing access railway tracks for large enterprises, and it turned out to be a very profitable business. But then the railway itself drew attention to this business, and it became unprofitable for the factories to hire me. Do you want to exploit the path? Let it be done by the one who will be shown, otherwise you simply will not hand over this path to those who, according to official duties, must take it. Slowly, the entire commercial sector was taken over. We just left the market."

“You may not have anything at all, except for an administrative resource - the firm “Chair and You”, but if you have received a large contract, you can buy everything - equipment and people - and perform the work,” another contractor expresses his opinion and gives his assessment: - According to my experience of working with state-owned companies, if, of course, you are the first in line: the first gives about 30%, then a little less; as a result, crumbs reach the real performer of the work.

The talk that RZD contracts are distributed among its own is untenable, our system of contracts is transparent and open, says a representative of RZD.

Nevertheless, after listening to these conversations, Vedomosti decided to check if there were any links between the management of Russian Railways and its contractors. To do this, we searched SPARK and the Unified State Register of Legal Entities for data on the business of 25 members of the board of Russian Railways and their relatives. And something interesting was found.

Hunter

Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin loves to hunt. “But, unfortunately, last year I went hunting, in my opinion, only twice,” he says. “I don’t have the opportunity to do this more often.”

Yakunin is listed as a co-owner of the Real Hunt company, registered in the Leningrad Region. His partner is Vladimir Vasiliev, a St. Petersburg businessman and owner of the Rus construction group. The company, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources, leases 55,688 hectares of forest in the Priozersky forestry.

“We met him [Vasiliev] 10 years before I came to Russian Railways,” Yakunin recalls. - He was either a small partner, or an employee of a small company that produced a calibrated log. This company built houses. And at one time she built my house in the Leningrad region. So Vasiliev and I met. Only now the owner of this company turned out to be not a very decent person, we broke off relations with him, and Vasilyev, according to old memory, was forced to correct all the imperfections in the house, and gradually our relations grew into friendships.

But, Yakunin says, it was not Vasiliev who introduced him to hunting, but “a neighbor in the country who presented a hunting rifle for his 50th birthday.” “I was invited to hunt,” he recalls. — It was 12 years ago. And after some time, when some opportunities appeared, Vasiliev and his colleagues suggested that I become one of the founders of an enterprise that could lease a piece of forest, maintain it, fight against poaching, and it would be possible to periodically hunt in accordance with the license. I agreed. We have a house there on the shore. And we go there from time to time."

Vasiliev's main business is not related to hunting. A few years ago, he founded R-industry Corporation LLC, which works with Russian Railways.

“Russian Railways is our main partner, our main client,” says an employee of R-industry. “We are actively working with them on innovative projects, construction, and logistics.” According to him, one of the company's projects is the Magistral fiber-optic traffic safety system for railway transport, which became relevant after the appearance of high-speed trains in Russia. Now, the source of Vedomosti continues, the system is being tested on the Oktyabrskaya railway. On the R-industry website, you can read that it has entered into “partnership agreements with more than 40 contractor companies” with an annual turnover of about 12 billion rubles.

Vasiliev told Vedomosti that R-industry “was established in 2006-2007. for carrying out commercial activities on the territory of the Russian Federation, and not only for the construction of Russian Railways facilities; the companies of the group participated in Russian Railways competitions, but did not win many. The turnover of "R-industry" in 2010, according to him, was no more than 100 million rubles. "R-industry" is not a general contractor on the orders of Russian Railways, emphasizes Vasiliev. “This company is one of the smaller suppliers,” Yakunin confirms. “But at the same time, they have very good capabilities in carbide cutting tools.”

There is no talk of any serious contracts for R-industry, says a representative of Russian Railways. Contracts totaling 500 million rubles have been concluded with the entire R-industry group this year, but this does not mean that the company will master this entire amount. This year, R-industry received 38.8 million rubles from Russian Railways, last year - 19 million rubles, these were small contracts with the Oktyabrskaya Railway. And R-industry won all the contracts in the course of open electronic trading, he concludes.

In 2011, Vasilyev became the main owner of another Russian Railways contractor, the Finprom group of companies, which has been providing monopoly services since the 2000s: it connects to power grids, performs design, repair and construction work, and also supplies equipment. According to SPARK, since 2011 Vasilyev owns 80% of Finprom-engineering and 40% of Energo-finprom, the main companies of the Finprom group (20 and 10%, respectively, belong to the CEO of R-industry, Alexander Yakimets).

“They saw us as a powerful company that has been operating for a long time, and poured their administrative resources into us,” explains Alexander Osipov, general director of Finprom-engineering. He confirmed that Vasiliev and a partner bought Finprom this year and that the deal was a market one and "no one was offended."

According to Osipov, the largest order of "Finprom" is the equipment of railway approaches to the commercial sea port of Ust-Luga (station lighting, traction, feeding substations). This is being done as part of an investment project for the reconstruction of the section Mga - Gatchina - Veimarn - Ivangorod and railway approaches to ports on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland; the cost of the project is 16.4 billion rubles. (data of the general designer "Lengiprotrans"). Vasiliev points out that Finprom performs work not only for Russian Railways, but also, in particular, for Lenenergo.

Vasiliev is also listed as the owner of 50% of Innoline. The company is engaged in innovative and energy-saving technologies - LED lamps, it is said on its website. Among the latest projects of Innoline is the replacement of lamps at the railway station in Vyborg and at the Finlyandsky railway station in St. Petersburg.

His acquaintance with Yakunin does not affect his contracts with Russian Railways, Vasiliev insists, and in general, projects with Russian Railways occupy no more than 10% of his business. “The reasoning that if people hunt together, then they share the profits from the supply of something to Russian Railways, is simply stupid and untenable,” says Yakunin. “My friends, on the contrary, are only more difficult because of all this. I have to blow on water not only for milk, so that they don’t compromise me or themselves.”

Security guard

In 2004, former FSB officer Alexander Bobreshov (on the picture) was invited to work at Russian Railways as deputy head of the security department, in 2005 he became vice president of Russian Railways for corporate security.

Before Russian Railways, Bobreshov was the president and co-owner of the St. Petersburg non-profit partnership LVB-Holding (63% share). LVB-Holding, as indicated on its website, includes more than 20 security companies in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Krasnodar, Samara, Pskov and Volgograd.

And some of them work with Russian Railways. For example, the Krasnodar group of security companies "Rus" (on the website) and the Volgograd private security companies "Cobalt-A", "Cobalt-S", "Cobalt-RT" (in advertising) name Russian Railways among their clients. And the Moscow private security company "Cerberus" together with the "daughter" of Russian Railways - the private security company "RZD-protection" - was among the winners of the competition for organizing anti-terrorist protection of Russian Railways facilities for 2009-2010, beating 20 competitors.

SPARK has access to the financial statements of only nine enterprises associated with LVB-Holding. In 2008, their total revenue exceeded 1.37 billion rubles. At "Cerberus" in 2010 in comparison with 2008 revenue doubled: it was 122 million rubles, it became 224.4 million rubles.

An employee of the LVB-Holding says that they no longer have anything to do with Bobreshov: “Yes, Alexander Sergeevich [Bobreshov] was once the founder here. But then he was made a more serious offer, he went to the sovereign's work. After he was told that it was impossible to be both here and at Russian Railways at the same time, he removed his share.

Bobreshov told Vedomosti that, having settled in Russian Railways, he left the founders of all the companies that he created, "so as not to have an affiliation."

But who got Bobreshov's business? According to SPARK, by 2010, 63% of LVB-Holding belonged to Bobreshov's relative Tatyana Savina.

Bobreshov does not deny this. “I don’t think it’s right to forbid former partners to develop further,” Bobreshov explained. — I respect these people. We have developed good comradely and even family relations, but I did not interfere in commercial activities after leaving the Russian Railways.

A former colleague of Bobreshov at LVB Holding says that it is not easy to work with RZD: tenders are held there every year and the best contracts go to RZD-Okhrana, while other structures are content with the leftovers. Bobreshov, with his departure to Russian Railways, immediately indicated that there would be no interference on his part in these processes, the former colleague insists.

It's funny, by the way, that the secretary of LVB-Holding knows nothing about Moscow private security companies: "These are not our enterprises." “But they are listed on your website.” “Perhaps we are cooperating with these enterprises.” According to an employee of the holding, “the non-profit partnership “LVB-Holding” was, but it is no longer there<...>because there are people who ask the wrong questions.” “What is a holding in general? That is, we came with you and said: let's dig a hole together. They dug up and forgot that we knew each other, ”he explained.

But Bobreshov's former partner, the owner of Cerberus, Spectra and Granite, confirms that some LVB-Holding companies work with Russian Railways, but this has nothing to do with Bobreshov, and it is difficult to work with Russian Railways, you have to compete with " RZD-protection".

“Bobreshov was indeed a founder in a number of companies that today are part of the LVB-Holding group of companies, but in the period from 2007 to 2009 he withdrew from the membership of all these companies,” says a Russian Railways representative. — In 2001, a non-profit partnership for human rights protection and security “LVB-Holding” was created, but in 2004 it actually ceased its activities. In 2009, Bobreshov resigned as president of the partnership.”

The Russian Railways representative believes that “there is no conflict of interest and there cannot be, since the companies that protect Russian Railways facilities have passed the tenders held by Russian Railways on a general basis, won them and, on this basis, having concluded the relevant contracts, provide security services to Russian Railways.” He notes that not only the companies of the LVB-Holding group protect Russian Railways facilities for which there are not enough resources of RZD-Okhrana, other security companies that have nothing to do with LVB-Holding do this.

Builders

Work on the railway section already mentioned above Mga - Gatchina - Weimarn - Ivangorod is carried out by the St. Petersburg Construction Department No. 308 "(SU-308). In the 1970-1980s, it was part of the Soviet Ministry of Transport Construction and built tracks, stations and houses for railway workers.

In the 1990-2000s. the managers and owners of SU-308, as well as related companies, became partners in Zheldorstroy LLC, which, as indicated during registration, was engaged in the development of gravel and sand pits and civil works.

7.69% each in Zheldorstroy went to the former Minister of Railways Vadim Morozov and the former Deputy Head of the Finance Department of the Ministry of Railways Galina Kraft (on the picture). Since 2005, Morozov has been the first vice-president of Russian Railways, and Kraft has been the chief accountant of Russian Railways. True, Zheldorstroy itself is no longer active - in 2007, bankruptcy proceedings were opened there. In 1994, Kraft was indeed a co-owner of Zheldorstroy LLC, but withdrew from the project that same year, says a Russian Railways representative.

And the husband of Galina Kraft, the honorary railway worker and honored builder Yakob Kraft, heads the Yamal Railway Company (YaZhDK), in which he owns 10%. YaZhDK was established in 2003, is engaged in transportation from the Korotchaevo station to Yamburg and Nadym-pristan and develops the railway infrastructure of the YNAO, attracting investments to complete the construction of the Korotchaevo - Novy Urengoy - Nadym and Novy Urengoy - Yamburg sections, according to the company's website.

“Jakob Kraft is a candidate of technical sciences, the author of projects for the construction of railways in permafrost conditions. Thanks to his scientific developments, he was invited by the leadership of Russian Railways to restore the Yamal railway, which at that time was in a serious crisis, - explains the representative of Russian Railways. - Then YaZhDK was owned by the SevTyumentransput company, which practically did not develop and maintain the route. In order to strengthen the position of Russian Railways in YaZhDK, a decision was made to purchase a stake in this company by Kraft. He is not currently the owner of this share."

Animators

Boris Lapidus

The Moscow-based firm EVO Impressions offers gift-experiences. This is a gift certificate for a certain type of service, the company representative explains: for example, a dance or diving lesson, tailoring shirts to order, and much more. The most expensive impression is that training to pilot a Robinson R-44 helicopter will cost 89,900 rubles, the family coat of arms - 44,900 rubles, a game of billiards with a world champion - 16,900 rubles.

The firm's website lists Russian Railways, RZDstroy, Gazprom Neft and Gazprom Gazenergoset as corporate clients.

The co-owners of EVO Impressions are Mikhail (70%) and Natalia Lapidus (15%), these are the children of Boris Lapidus, senior adviser to the president of Russian Railways, and until 2010, senior vice president of Russian Railways. EVO Impressions was registered in Moscow in 2007. Later, similar companies appeared in Novosibirsk and St. Petersburg.

Mikhail Lapidus told Vedomosti that this business started in 2007 when he saw a similar product (gift experiences) in a department store in London. In the summer of the same year, Lapidus created his own company and began to enter into agreements with "experience providers".

In December 2007, on the eve of the New Year, the company launched sales. People liked the product, that's why EVO Impressions actively grew, entered St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. The firm now serves thousands of customers every month. Lapidus does not disclose financial performance: “There is no need to give guidance to colleagues in the gift shop. The business is profitable and growing rapidly, although the margins are small, like any other retail.”

Employees of Russian Railways and its subsidiaries did buy gifts for themselves from EVO Impressions, admits Lapidus. The company has a wide target audience. This caused the appearance of the Russian Railways logo on its website. But the share of these purchases in total sales is tiny and below the share of, for example, employees of Gazprom and a number of other companies, says Lapidus. Russian Railways and its structures have never been a corporate client of EVO Impressions - unfortunately, he concludes.

Prior to giving impressions, Lapidus was engaged in consulting and was one of the co-owners of the Transbasis company (established in 2004, renamed Business Dialogue in 2007). Russian Railways is a client of Transbasis, which conducts conferences and studies for the monopoly (for example, “a survey of locomotive depots”, “a survey in passenger service directorates”, “a study of the cost of repairing freight cars”, “Moscow-St. Petersburg passenger traffic”). However, as Lapidus reported, he sold his share in Transbasis back in 2007 and now his only business is EVO Impressions.

“Employees of Russian Railways and its subsidiaries, as individuals, did buy such gifts for themselves from EVO Impressions,” confirms a representative of Russian Railways, “but RZD has never had a corporate client relationship with EVO Impressions.” According to him, Mikhail Lapidus sold his share in Transbasis back in 2007, on the basis of it and other companies, a successful event operator Business Dialogue was created, which really is the organizer of various conferences and events with the participation of Russian Railways representatives.

Two incarnations of Yakunin

Vladimir Yakunin heads the boards of trustees of the Center for National Glory and the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation, created to "promote the spiritual and moral revival of society on the basis of Orthodoxy." The board of the fund and the center also includes his wife, Natalia Yakunina.

Yakunin began participating in the foundation's programs in the early 2000s, and the center "was largely Yakunin's initiative," a representative of the center and the foundation told Vedomosti: Yakunin's position. Apart from himself - in two such incarnations [the president of the Russian Railways and the chairman of the board of the fund and the center] - there is no connection."

In fact, there is still an indirect connection. In 2004, Yakunin and his wife attended the grand opening of the Moscow Millennium Bank. The bank was then introduced "as a partner in strategic programs" of the center and the fund, a spokesman for the bank said. Natalya Yakunina has been on the board of directors of the bank since June 2004. The former head of Yakunin's secretariat, Sergei Movchan, worked as the general director of Statos LLC in the early 2000s, which owns 32.58% of Millennium Bank, according to SPARK. And the chairman of the board of the bank, Mikhail Baidakov (he and his wife owns 10% of Statos), is at the same time vice president of the center and the fund. Baidakov is also a freelance adviser to Yakunin, as Yakunin himself said in an interview with Vedomosti in 2009.

67.4% of the bank is controlled by the structures of the SK Most group of companies, which is a contractor of Russian Railways - for example, for the 2014 Olympic Games, it is building the Adler-Krasnaya Polyana railway and highway (investment in the project is 227 billion rubles, according to the website RUSSIAN RAILWAYS).

And Millennium Bank itself got the opportunity to organize joint ventures with European companies to ensure another priority of the Russian Railways investment program - high-speed lines. Together with the German Vossloh-Werke, a major manufacturer of rail fasteners, the bank has set up ZAO Vossloh Fastening Systems Rus in Russia, which plans to produce these rail fasteners for Russian Railways' Olympic venues and high-speed lines. Russian Railways and Vossloh have a cooperation agreement. And with the Italian IPA, the bank created CJSC Modern Railway Technologies, which plans to produce slab bases for high-speed railways in Russia. The cost of projects in the bank is not disclosed.

As Yakunin explained earlier: “Since this is a small bank, unlike the big ones, it chases money, and good ideas are born to it.”

Tore client

It is not always easy for contractors close to Russian Railways to get money from the monopoly. How difficult, said an employee of the company that built a new house for pensioner Elena Golubeva - her old house fell into disrepair during the explosion of the Nevsky Express in November 2009.

“You enter the village, and the women of Lena have a house like a new Russian, with red tiles. The rest of the village there is so dilapidated, the houses are crooked, ”says an employee of the Intromate company that built the house.

After the train explosion and derailment, Vladimir Putin said during a direct line that Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin had already contacted Golubeva and that “everything will be all right with her”: “The same life pension will be added to her pension of four and a half thousand rubles. from RZD. She will be restored to housing and then relocated closer to a relative, not far from the crash site.”

RZDstroy was instructed to build a new house for the pensioner, and she hired her contractor, the Intromate company. In the past, Intromate belonged to the brother of the first deputy general director of RZDstroy, Gennady Talashkin, Andrey.

“We built the house in the shortest possible time, at our own expense,” recalls an Intromate employee. What does it mean to build a house in two weeks? Minus thirty outside. We started on December 20, on the 31st we brought our grandmother there. Tea, coffee, all movies. All "hooray"! We bought her a mug, a cup, a TV there. Worked for cinema. We even poured antifreeze into her boiler. Can you imagine?! So that she, God forbid, does not defrost her heating. That's it. Everything is autonomous. They made her a well, water pumps. And the wallpaper was pasted. And how we started getting cancer for a stone! They ask: why did you buy such expensive wallpapers? We say: this is how the movie was shot. Baba Lena was shown on TV. The President on the wire led the control. And when all this subsided, they began to lower us here for money. No, no one said that we would not pay. We will. But there is no piece of paper, this certificate ... “But something you have a big estimate ...” Moreover, the estimate was made in coordination. The manager did not name the amount of the contract, but says that when it came time to pay for the work, it was reduced by "25 percent." RZD could not be reached for comment.

Labor dynasty

Dmitry Morozov son of the first vice-president of Russian Railways Vadim Morozov, manages the branch of the "daughter" of Russian Railways "TransContainer" on the Oktyabrskaya Railway

Anton Akulov son of Russian Railways Vice President Mikhail Akulov, works at the International Union of Railways

Arthur Kraft son of the chief accountant of Russian Railways, works as deputy head of the department for managing subsidiaries and affiliates of Russian Railways

“Russian Railways is interested in attracting professional personnel brought up in the spirit of respect for railway transport and love for this profession, so it is not surprising that the children of Russian Railways leaders choose this profession as their life path,” explains the Russian Railways representative. “Moreover, the railway industry has always been distinguished by such a concept as labor dynasties. The company itself is doing everything possible to preserve the dynasties, as this contributes to the formation of stable labor collectives.” 350 billion rubles

This is the Russian Railways investment program for 2011. About 90 billion rubles is support from the state. Priorities: construction of high-speed highways and approaches to the largest seaports, Olympic railway facilities and transport security.

https://www.site/2017-06-23/kak_energetiki_stroiteli_i_podryadchiki_rzhd_finansiruyut_edinuyu_rossiyu_inogda_sebe_v_ubytok

Last money - favorite party

How power engineers, builders and contractors of Russian Railways finance United Russia. Sometimes at your own expense

Consolidated financial reports of political parties for 2016 have been published on the website of the Central Election Commission. the site studied data on 30 main donors of the largest Russian party "United Russia". It follows from the report that in 2016 representatives of energy and construction companies, as well as “daughters” of structures affiliated with the state, showed special love for the party. Particular attention was paid to the party by the contractors of Russian Railways.

Observation number one: financing United Russia helps businesses: many companies that participated in financing the party in 2016 significantly increased the amount of government contracts during this period (compared to 2015).

Second observation: a number of donors love the party more than their own business. The amount of donations in some cases exceeds the company's net annual profit (according to SPARK).

In total, "United Russia" in 2016 received 8 billion 230 million rubles (including state funding), it had another 1 billion 712 million from last year. The party spent 8 billion 158 thousand rubles.

RZD and company

There are several companies that have transferred the same amount to United Russia and are connected to each other through head offices and boards of directors. In addition, all of them are contractors of Russian Railways.

For example, JSC Far East Design and Survey Institute of Transport Construction (in SPARK - JSC Dalgiprotrans) transferred 43 million rubles last year. The company is owned by Moscow JSC Roszheldorproekt. A 25% stake in the Moscow company is owned by Russian Railways, and 75% by Transproekt-Finance LLC. This company, firstly, also transferred the same 43 million rubles to United Russia in 2016, and, secondly, it, in turn, belongs to PJSC Lengidprotrans. This company, in turn, is a state contractor in the construction industry, and in 2016 it received a contract from Russian Railways in the amount of 389 million rubles, as well as a contract from the State Unitary Enterprise Petersburg Metro in the amount of just over 100 million rubles. The Board of Directors of PJSC Lengidprotrans includes Alexey Krapivin, born in 1985. He is also on the boards of directors of several other companies, including Bamstroymekhanizatsiya PJSC, Group of Companies 1520 LLC and the same Dalgiprotrans, and these companies also transferred 43 million rubles to United Russia in the same year.

Moboil Production and Commercial Enterprise LLC (engaged in fuel trade) also transferred 43 million rubles. One of the co-owners of the enterprise is Valery Markelov, he is also a co-owner of LLC Group of Companies 1520 and a member of the board of directors of Bamstroymekhanizatsiya.

According to the publications of Novaya Gazeta, Krapivin's father is Andrey Krapivin, adviser to the former head of Russian Railways JSC Vladimir Yakunin (died in 2015), father and son built a huge business empire associated with Russian Railways contracts mainly in the construction industry, and, according to database leaks Panamanian offshore companies, Krapivin is associated with at least 11 offshore companies in Panama, the British Virgin Islands, and the US state of Delaware.

In 2014, Slon.Ru (now the publication is called The Republic) analyzed all the tenders posted on the Russian Railways website for 2012 and 2013. According to the publication's calculations, in just two years the companies of Krapivin and his closest business partners could receive 200 billion rubles from the state monopoly.

Moreover, in 2016, the RBC magazine published an investigation “Who, how and why is building BAM?” PJSC Bamstroymekhanizatsiya and a related company with the same name received 177.3 billion rubles for the modernization of BAM and the Trans-Siberian Railway. and 301.3 billion rubles, ”the investigation says. It also states that United Construction Company 1520 LLC received a contract for the modernization of BAM and the Trans-Siberian Railway 27.9 billion rubles.

LLC Railtech (wholesale trade in machinery) and LLC Svyaztech (trade in equipment for mining) transferred 43 million rubles each. The companies have one owner - Maxim Solomko. In 2015, Railtech, according to SPARK, had government contracts worth 118 million rubles, in 2016 - already for 899 million rubles, and in the first half of 2017 - for 856 million rubles. The main customer was Russian Railways, but in 2010 the company belonged to the same Krapivin. Krapivin was also once a co-owner of Svyaztekh. In 2015, the company was a supplier under government contracts in the amount of just over 500 thousand rubles, but in 2016 - already in the amount of 205 million 871 thousand rubles, according to SPARK. The customers were Russian Railways OJSC and Transtelecom JSC, whose parent company, again, is Russian Railways.

The construction company Setstroyenergo LLC also transferred 43 million shipments in 2016. The company is again a major contractor for JSC Russian Railways and JSC RZDstroy. In 2015, according to SPARK, it received state contracts from Russian Railways in the amount of just over 1 billion rubles, in 2016 - 4 billion 774 million, and in the first six months of 2017 - already in the amount of more than 2 billion.

Builders

OJSC Moscow Engineering and Construction Company (general director, according to SPARK, Farit Khaidarov) transferred parties in 2016 43 million 300 thousand rubles. The company is a major contractor of the Moscow Construction Department. According to SPARK, in 2016 this department entered into state contracts with the company for a total of 22 billion 472 million rubles. In 2015, the amount of contracts with depstroy was significantly less - 5.6 billion rubles. The company is a subsidiary of MD Group LLC, which is 50% owned by Nizhnevartovskenergoneft LLC from KhMAO.

It is noteworthy that, judging by the data of the SPARK system, Khaidarov previously served as the head of Transneft Kama Region JSC in Tatarstan, where Marat Khusnullin, the current head of the Moscow depstroy, began his career.

Telsicom Group LLC transferred 43 million 300 thousand rubles to ER in 2016, the company's CEO is Elena Gomina. The company is engaged in the purchase and sale of its own real estate. Gomina has a number of other companies that are engaged in real estate transactions in Moscow and the Moscow region: MR City Real Estate, MR Country Property, Investments in Commercial Real Estate CJSC (owned by an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands).

Transferred 43 million and the LSR group of companies, registered in St. Petersburg and engaged in construction and development, its main owner is the former head of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy Andrei Molchanov. It is worth noting that 5% of the shares of the LSR group of companies belong to the Norwegian Norges Bank, while political parties are prohibited from having direct foreign funding.

Tempstroyservice LLC also transferred 44 million rubles of the favorite party. The construction company is registered in Zhukovsky, near Moscow, its owner, Sergey Zlobin, has not yet been noticed in political life.

Energy

JSC "Plant for the repair of electrical equipment" (according to the SPARK system, specializes in dismantling and demolition of buildings) with CEO Alexei Stepantsev in 2015 received 7 million 192 thousand rubles of net profit, but in 2016 donated 43 million 300 thousand rubles to the party. The parent company is PJSC Moscow United Electric Grid Company, a subsidiary of PJSC Rosseti. But PJSC Rosseti is 88% owned by the Federal Property Management Agency.

CJSC Tsarskoye Selo Energy Company transferred 43 million rubles to United Russia, the parent company is JSC Lenenergospetsremont, which, through PJSC Lenenergo, again belongs to PJSC Rosseti.

43 million 300 thousand rubles were donated to the favorite party by the Moskabelsetmontazh OJSC company, its general director is, according to SPARK, Alexander Yakimets. According to this system, the company ended 2016 with a net loss of just over 272 million rubles. The parent company is PJSC Moscow United Electric Grid Company. PJSC MOESK is 51% owned by PJSC Rosseti.

OJSC Moskabelenergoremont is headed by the same Alexander Yakimets, it transferred to United Russia in 2016 all the same 43 million 300 thousand rubles. The parent company is PJSC Moscow United Electric Grid Company, which is the same as the Plant for the Repair of Electrical Equipment, and the company's net profit in 2015, according to SPARK, amounted to just over 1 million rubles. The ultimate owner of the company is again PJSC Rosseti.

OOO Baltiyskaya Sbytovaya Kompaniya, operating in the energy sector, transferred the same 43 million rubles to the parties. Through IK Impuls LLC, it belongs to NP SRRS, co-owned by Valery Vilkov and Ilya Gavrilov. About Vilkov, SPARK shows only one remarkable story: once he was the director of the charitable organization "Club of Friends of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic" - in this philharmonic, the famous cellist, who is considered close to President Vladimir Putin, Sergey Roldugin, performs in the symphony orchestra.

Sigma LLC transferred its 43 million to United Russia. The company is also owned by IK "Impulse". The company is a major state contractor in the energy sector. In 2015, the amount of government contracts amounted to 1 billion 200 thousand, in 2016 - 982 million, for the first six months of 2017 - just over 1 billion rubles.

JSC Sakhaenergo transferred 43 million rubles to United Russia last year, although in 2015 the company's loss, according to SPARK, amounted to 295 million rubles. At the same time, in 2016, the company's number of government contracts increased dramatically: in 2015, the company concluded contracts with the state for a total of 342 million rubles, in 2016 for 8 billion 411 million rubles, and for six months of 2017 - for 9.6 billion rubles. The Company is owned by PJSC Yakutskenergo, the ultimate owner of which is PJSC RusHydro. JSC Teploenergoservice also belongs to PJSC Yakutskenergo and also transferred 43 million rubles in batches. Yakutskenergo itself also transferred 42 million rubles.

Self Sponsors

Among the largest sponsors of EP there are stand-alone donors.

So, in 2016, Tomsk House-Building Company became the most generous of all to the ruling party, it donated 45 million rubles. At the same time, elections to the Tomsk Regional Legislative Assembly were held in the fall of 2016, and the general director of this company, Alexander Shpeter, became a deputy. In the legislature, he entered the construction committee.

In second place is PJSC Okeanrybflot, United Russia received 44 million 900 thousand rubles from it last year. The head of the company, Yevgeny Novoselov, is a member of the presidium of the regional political council of the party, and also manages the regional party support fund.

The third place in terms of love for the party is occupied by the Moscow Regional Fund for Regional Cooperation and Development (after re-registration, most of the EP support funds in the regions received such standard names). The party received 44 million rubles from him.

OOO Trans Partner, a company registered in the Moscow region, also transferred 43.3 million consignments. It is directed by Alexei Migalev.

CJSC "Firma August" made a transfer of the party for 42 million rubles. The company, according to SPARK, is engaged in the production of pesticides. It looks like United Russia funding has brought business success. In 2016, the number of government contracts sharply increased for the company. In 2015, she concluded them in the amount of just over 63 million rubles, and in 2016 - in the amount of 127 million rubles, in the first six months of 2017 - in the amount of just over 62 million rubles.

Edelweiss LLC is engaged in real estate transactions in Moscow, the company also transferred 43 million rubles to United Russia, although its net profit in 2015 amounted to just over 41 million rubles. The company is owned by Nikolai Alexandrovich Zemlyansky. JSC "Druzhba" (engaged in the cultivation of legumes and grains) transferred a batch of 42 million rubles. The majority of the company is owned by Voskhod LLC, which is owned by Biosfera LLC. The co-owner of the company is again Nikolai Alexandrovich Zemlyansky.

Yevgeny Minchenko, head of the International Institute for Political Expertise, recalls that in 1995 the party of the nomenklatura Our Home Russia was financed mainly by energy companies. In 1999, Unity was also financed by energy companies, as well as Russian Railways satellite companies. And Yuri Luzhkov's "Fatherland - All Russia" was financed with the involvement of funds from the Moscow construction complex. Thus, the set of United Russia's main donors looks quite traditional, Minchenko believes.

The ex-head of the territorial administration of the presidential administration, the ex-deputy head of the plenipotentiary in the Ural Federal District, political consultant Andrey Kolyadin told the site that it can be assumed that today the collection of funds for the party life of United Russia is carried out in a "directive" manner.

“I think there is an agreement between the leadership of the United Russia and representatives of this party, who work in such business categories as the construction complex, energy, and the railway industry, on financing party programs. Since it would be a pre-election year, I think most of the funds went to the procedures related to the elections, and part to the party programs. There are many business representatives in United Russia, whose money has not run out and will not run out, and we simply do not have the practice of political fundraising and “voting with the ruble” in our country. United Russia participates in a huge number of elections, from municipal to federal, and it is logical that businessmen who want to secure their business or somehow prove themselves in the political field willingly invest in it. Therefore, they finance United Russia,” says Kolyadin.

Although he was born in Tashkent, he spent his childhood in Moscow, where his father Andrei Viktorovich Krapivin moved from Uzbekistan to trade in cotton. Krapivin Sr. not only had close ties with Uzbek officials, but also developed relationships with influential people in Russia. He entered the Russian market through the "International Center for Business Cooperation", headed at that time. Power support for the business was provided by his partner Valery Markelov, who was associated with the bank, which controlled, among other things, the banking sector. In the mid-nineties, Krapivin Sr., together with Markelov and another entrepreneur, went into the banking business, receiving the post of vice president of the newly created Mezhtrustbank.

After the default of 1998, the Russian textile industry began to rise, and Andrei Viktorovich Krapivin, together with his partners, bought out the Avangard factory in the Vladimir region. However, the bright prospects of entrepreneurs were spoiled by goods pouring into Russia from China and Turkey.

Andrey Krapivin

Yakunin saved Krapivin Sr. from ruin, who in the early 2000s became Deputy Minister of Transport, and then First Deputy Minister of Railways and helped his friend to have his own business in the transport sector.

Andrei Krapivin managed to attach his son to the Financial Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation with a degree in International Currency Relations. Alexei Krapivin, in fact, from the first year, began to be listed in commercial structures affiliated with his father. In his third year, he already headed the budgeting department of the Eurodesign and K company, of which he himself was a co-founder. The company worked in the field of passenger air transport. Then the young financier completely headed the Railtech company, which supplied the railway workers with bearings, reinforced concrete sleepers, batteries and other products.

After Alexey Andreevich graduated from the university, he moved to the ED Logistics company, where he headed the budgeting and management reporting department, and then the financial department. The company was associated with Eurodesign and K and also worked on government orders.

TOKYO client

Naturally, such a rapid career of a young man was not accidental. In 2003, as a result of the reorganization of the Ministry of Railways, Yakunin became the first vice president, and then the president of Russian Railways (RZD). At the same time, Alexei Andreevich's father began to win various tenders for the new state structure. He himself kept a low profile and received government contracts through technical companies, and owned large assets through offshore companies.

For the first time, Yakunin introduced his colleague to the general public in 2007, when he recommended him for the post of independent director of the First Freight Company (PGK), a subsidiary of Russian Railways, and also introduced him to the boards of directors of Transmashholding, the largest supplier of equipment for Russian Railways, and the largest grain carrier " Rusagrotrans. Then Vladimir Ivanovich designated Krapivin as his "freelance assistant", who understands "banking issues and issues of relations with the CIS."

Indeed, Andrei Viktorovich Krapivin, together with Markelov and Usherovich, were responsible for cooperation with the Capital Trade Bank, which was created under the tenders of Russian Railways. Over time, the partners themselves became shareholders of the bank. Their STB account was referred to as "TOKYO customer". Most of the money from these accounts did not go to subcontractors, but to offshore companies, occasionally remained on bank deposits or simply cashed out. Krapivin's friends, in particular the former director of the Avangard factory Andrei Kurkin and the son of the former member of the board of directors of Avangard Maxim Karayanis, were watching to ensure that contracts were awarded to the "right" companies. They led a certain commercial structure "Roszheldorsnab", which acted as one of the main organizers of Russian Railways tenders.

The money earned on state monopoly contracts, Krapivin Sr. invested in development projects. So he got the GRAS group of companies, which built luxury real estate in Sochi and in the village of Novoe Lapino on Rublevka. In addition to Andrey Viktorovich, the beneficiaries of GRAS were businessman Ruben Khudoyan and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Transtelecom Sergey Lipatov. Andrey Krapivin had common projects with the latter back in the late nineties, including those related to Mezhtrustbank. It was through Sergey Vladimirovich that GRAS entered the Sochi market.

Sergei Lipatov was another key figure in Yakunin's schemes to withdraw railroad money. Sergey Vladimirovich at that time headed the board of directors of the Lokomotiv football club, at the same time being the chairman of the board of directors of the main sponsor of the club, Transtelecom. Despite the fact that the achievements of the “railway” team were going downhill, and the financing of the club was actually colossal from the budget. It was not possible to check the fate of the money, since Sergey Lipatov actually allocated them to himself. Traditionally, money was pumped through Krapivin's credit institutions and companies.

"GRAS" was also drawn into the "sports" corruption scheme. By that time, Sergey Lipatov left Lokomotiv with a scandal and joined the board of directors of the sponsor of the volleyball club Dynamo, Transmashholding. Immediately after that, it was GRAS that was entrusted with the construction of a sports complex for volleyball players called Flotilla. Over time, the complex turned from a sports complex into a multifunctional one, and was supposed to consist of four residential complexes of 29 floors with offices, a sports and recreation building, a hotel, a swimming pool and apartments.

Through Khudoyan, Sergey Lipatov and Krapivin tried to achieve the abolition of the protection status of the famous Arkhangelskoye estate. Thus, Khudoyan rented 6 hectares of manor land through the Park Arkhangelskoye LLC company, which GRAS was already preparing to build up. However, the Moscow Arbitration Court of Appeal invalidated the agreement on the lease of forests near the Arkhangelskoye estate, concluded by the Mosleskhoz with Park Arkhangelskoye LLC. Later, Khudoyan, having quarreled with his partners, sold his 33% stake to the A1 group. But Krapivin and Lipatov, not wanting to make the business transparent, bought out the share of the new co-owner, paying twice the cost for it.

Gorbuntsov and Maistrenko

Earlier, Krapivin, Markelov and Usherovich had another conflict, this time with one of the co-owners of the Capital Trade Bank. VIP clients decided to close their accounts and withdraw all funds from the bank - about 400 million dollars. Gorbuntsov himself assured that his clients had gone bankrupt on development projects and were looking for someone to hang their debts on.

He also claimed that armed people, having blocked the main office of the bank, forced his ex-wife Larisa to transfer to strangers those assets that were listed for her. According to another version, the conflict arose due to the fact that Gorbuntsov himself appropriated part of the “railroad” money, having withdrawn it abroad through the Moldovan Universalbank owned by him. As a result, the banker found refuge in Moldova, from where he told about the peculiarities of the work of Russian Railways with contractors.

People from Krapivin's entourage also owned the Cherry Orchard business center in Moscow, the building's market value was approximately 4 billion rubles. In addition, Andrey Krapivin was associated with the developer Flat and Co, which was 76% owned by a Cypriot offshore company, and 24% by CEO Dmitry Maistrenko. This Maystrenko, among other things, owned the Avangard hunting estate, which previously belonged to the textile factory of the same name from Yuryev-Polsky. It was "Flat and Co" that sold houses in the village of Novoe Lapino, which was built up by Krapivinsky "Gras".

The largest suppliers of Russian Railways

Krapivin and his partners in the early 2010s were the largest suppliers of Russian Railways. The same Markelov in 2010 became the owner of PKP Moboil, after which the company became the largest supplier of fuel for railway workers. In 2012 alone, it sold fuel for 42.5 billion rubles. Other organizations leading government orders were associated with Krapivin Sr. himself.

Among them, Roszheldorproekt can be singled out, which in 2012 and 2013 alone carried out work for the state monopoly for more than 50 billion rubles. For example, the company acted as the general designer of the famous Adler-Krasnaya Polyana road. There were other Olympic infrastructure facilities near Krapivin, also thanks to Lipatov's connections in the Sochi administration. One of the co-owners of Roszheldorproject was Krapivin Jr. Together with Markelov and Obodovsky, he was a member of the company's board of directors and owned a 50 percent stake. The second half of Roszheldorproekt belonged to Russian Railways. It should be noted that Obodovsky was another key partner of the Krapivin family.

Andrey Viktorovich Krapivin more and more actively introduced his son to the "railway" business. The same "Roszheldorproekt" was a subsidiary of the St. Petersburg Institute "Lengiprotrans", the board of directors of which was headed by Alexei Krapivin. In addition, he joined the board of directors of Transelectromontazh OJSC, which Krapivin Sr. bought out from a friend of an oligarch. By this time, his son was already the CEO of two companies at once - Ortiga Group and Diviti-Invest, located in the Skolkovo innovation center.

The interests of Alexei Krapivin extended not only to the railway theme. He was also a co-owner of almost three dozen organizations, among which were a textile mill, a yacht club, accounting companies, auto centers, suppliers of finishing materials, Internet startups. He also became, together with Usherovich, Markelov and Obodovsky, co-owner of Interprogressbank, another important partner of Russian Railways.

offshore

But most of Krapivin's companies were offshore. Through these commercial structures, various projects in Russia were financed, in total hundreds of millions of dollars. Through these offshore companies, in particular, Russian Railways worked with the world's largest manufacturer of trains and aircraft, the Swedish company Bombardier Transportation, which since the 1990s has been supplying the Ebilock-950 microprocessor centralized switch and signal system. Later, a joint Russian-Swedish venture, Bombardier Transportation (Signal), appeared, after which the production of Ebilock-950 began to be transferred to Russia.

Krapivin traded Ebilock-950 systems through offshore Rambo Management. In particular, when Bombardier Transportation installed this system on railways in Azerbaijan, the British company Multiserv Overseas Limited unexpectedly won the tender for the supply of Swedish equipment. But Multiserv itself had a contract for the supply of Ebilock-950 with Krapivinsky Rambo. It turned out that the Swedish branch of Bombardier supplied equipment to its own subsidiary through at least two "gaskets".

It is noteworthy that Multiserv Overseas Limited was owned by Multiserv Management LLP, the first director of which was Yury Obodovsky. This scheme was also widespread in Russia. Only in the period from 2012 to 2014, the Russian Bombardier Transportation (Signal) purchased Ebilock-950 equipment from the British Multiserv Overseas Limited for tens of millions of euros. Krapivin's offshore scheme became public after secret documents of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, one of the world's largest registrars of offshore firms, were published. And even the Swedish police became interested in the story of the supply of microprocessors to Azerbaijan.

With the disclosure of the "Panamanian archives", information also surfaced about other companies of Alexei Krapivin, in particular Redstone Financial Ltd and Telford Trading S.A., which received $277 million in their accounts with the Swiss bank CBH Compagnie Bancaire Helvetique SA. These funds were linked to the largest money laundering operation in Eastern Europe, which attracted the attention of the law enforcement agencies of Moldova, Russia and the Baltic States. It was about the withdrawal of 22 billion dollars from Russia in the period from 2011 to 2014 under the guise of executing illegal court decisions made by Moldovan judges.

In addition, Krapivin's offshore companies issued loans to various Cypriot structures, including for the acquisition of assets in Russia. So, for example, in 2014, Gordox issued $100.5 million to another company from the Virgin Islands to buy the Cypriot structure Sterema. In the same year, Sterema became the owner of a controlling stake in the large Russian construction company Bamstroymekhanizatsiya, one of the main contractors of the largest reconstruction project of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. The works were valued at 177.3 billion rubles, which amounted to almost 60% of all funds allocated for tenders.

Another contractor for the reconstruction of the BAM and the Trans-Siberian Railway was the Group of Companies 1520 created by Krapivin, Markelov, Usherovich and Obodovsky. Obodovsky also served as the general director of this organization. The 1520 Group of Companies won the tender for the electrification of the Eastern Test Site worth about 28 billion rubles. In total, until 2018, it was planned to allocate another 562 billion rubles for the reconstruction of BAM.

Yakunin's departure

Andrey Viktorovich Krapivin died in Switzerland in 2015. He died under very mysterious circumstances, unexpectedly for everyone, he had an acute edema of the liver - hepatomegaly. However, no autopsy was performed. Just a few months later, Vladimir Yakunin was dismissed, for whom the death of a key figure in the schemes he had built before the upcoming audit of a state-owned company became very “timely”.

The departure of the “unsinkable” railway worker was associated not only with the adoption of British citizenship by his son and the political ambitions of Vladimir Ivanovich himself, but also with a colossal waste of budget funds. Oleg Belozerov, First Deputy Minister of Transport, became the new head of the Russian Railways, who was called upon to revise the activities of the monopolist. As a result, Bamstroymekhanizatsiya and Roszheldorproekt were under attack. The son of an oligarch close to Belozerov, Igor Rotenberg, began to claim to replace the Rapivin team.

Oleg Belozerov

The struggle for the huge offshore empire of the deceased began. One of the main contenders for it was Sergey Lipatov. However, Sergei Vladimirovich, without his patrons, himself began to rapidly lose ground, and a few years later came under suspicion of embezzling funds from Mezhtrustbank. Another partner of Krapivina Usherovich, together with Ivan Stankevich, a member of the board of directors of Novoye Vremya Bank, was summoned for questioning by the Investigative Committee. According to investigators, it was on their orders that four banks issued large amounts of currency in the packaging of the US Federal Reserve to Colonel GUEBiPK. And although Usherovich is still only a witness in the case, he chose to hide abroad and is currently engaged in obtaining citizenship in Cyprus.

However, Aleksey Andreevich did not give up hope of gaining a foothold under the new leadership of the Russian Railways. In his “United Construction Company 1520”, the general director was replaced, who became a certain Sergey Klevakin. It is noteworthy that earlier Klevakin headed the Foratek ETS company, which, after the change of power of Russian Railways, began to receive contracts from the railway monopoly for larger amounts than before. In this regard, there were suggestions that Alexei Krapivin found a common language with the new beneficiaries. Later, there were reports that the 1520 group of companies was going to buy a stake in FSK Mostootryade-47, which was building a railway bypassing Ukraine.

The fact that Aleksey Krapivin chose the right strategy was evidenced by the fact that in 2018, in the Russian Forbes rating of “Kings of State Order”, he was in first place in the company of Valery Markelov and Boris Usherovich. According to the magazine's estimates, at the moment, USC 1520 and Roszheldorproject have contracts totaling 218 billion rubles. However, the figure of Krapivin can only nominally lead the pyramid of state orders, but in fact it is already undergoing a process of changing beneficiaries.

Aleksey Andreevich Krapivin is a "worthy" successor of his father's work, who managed to build an entire offshore empire. Krapivin Sr., using his close acquaintance with Vladimir Yakunin, carried out the largest contracts of Russian railways through his companies and banks.

After the death of his father and the change of leadership of Russian Railways, Alexei Krapivin managed to keep the schemes built, although it is possible that other people have become their beneficiaries. Nevertheless, today Alexey Krapivin continues to be considered the largest contractor of Russian Railways. This proves that the changes in the state monopoly have not led to the eradication of its huge corruption component.

15 comments

Nationalize all contractors of such a giant as Russian Railways!!!

It seems that we do not live in a democratic system that Putin is building, but under a monarchy, when all large orders, bypassing the FAS, go through the same hands! Vladimir Putin, why is this happening, where is fair competition, and not matchmaking and nepotism, especially at such major facilities as Russian Railways!

Olga, there will be a direct line and ask. For such a monster as Russian Railways, the state should be responsible and build and modernize, and not private offices, no matter how many billions of dollars they may have.

It became known who is now receiving orders from the Russian Railways. These are companies that may be associated with the first vice-president of the state corporation Alexander Misharin. As well as a structure owned by Arkady Rotenberg's son Igor. These companies receive contracts worth tens of billions of rubles from the monopoly. These media shed light on the change in leadership of Russian Railways in 2015.

Hello, I am your new contractor

The resignation of Vladimir Yakunin from the post of head of Russian Railways last year was, although not an ordinary event, but expected. After all, two years before this event, a big scandal erupted when the top manager was “fired” by the media after receiving a fake message from the government. Then Vladimir Yakunin managed to hold on to his post, but the story of eating "grouse" on a visit to the first person of the state turned out to be inscribed in golden letters in the annals of Russian business with state participation. Nevertheless, after these events, Vladimir Ivanovich did not manage to stay in Russian Railways for very long. After his resignation and appointment as head of the monopoly Oleg Belozerov, one of the main questions was: who is behind the rotation of personnel. The new information that has appeared in the business press makes it possible to strengthen the old version.

As the Vedomosti newspaper found out, after the change in leadership of Russian Railways, some contractors of the state-owned company succeeded, and are now mastering multibillion-dollar orders. Two stand out among these companies: Foratek and Mosgiprotrans. The first this year received contracts for two billion rubles, and the second will design the construction of a high-speed Moscow-Kazan highway (who does not remember this ambitious project, at a cost of a trillion rubles?). Journalists associate both companies with the name of the first vice-president of Russian Railways, the former governor of the Sverdlovsk region Alexandra Misharina. But that is not all. Among the new partners of Russian Railways, a company related to the Rotenberg family wormed its way.

Without them now nowhere

An old Soviet joke about Brezhnev comes to mind: he is on the radio, on TV, and even shown in an iron. So it is with the Rotenbergs - a rare day when a message about the new successes of a family of entrepreneurs does not appear in the information space. As for Russian Railways, the Glosav company, owned by the son of Arkady Rotenberg Igor, appeared among the new contractors of the state corporation. She won the tender for almost 700 million rubles. Not so much, but, as they say, it's a start. And now let's remember that after the resignation of Yakunin and the appointment of Belozerov, the media wrote that behind the new head of the monopoly are ... guess who. According to journalists, contributing to this appointment, the Rotenbergs aimed to enter the railway business.

On this topic

You can remember other important events. A few months earlier, Igor Rotenberg sold the Mostotrest construction company, which regularly receives orders for large Russian infrastructure projects, to the Russian Railways pension fund Blagosostoyanie. By the way, one of the main current contracts of this organization is the construction of a bridge to the Crimea across the Kerch Strait. Mostotrest is a subcontractor in this project. It will not be difficult to guess who the grandiose construction site is: of course, the Rotenberg Stroygazmontazh company. In general, 228 billion rubles. Well, the fact that the structure of Igor Rotenberg received an order from Russian Railways may indirectly indicate that it was not in vain that the family of businessmen lobbied for the appointment of a new head of the state corporation.

Construction, money, crime

Of course, in Russian business, such a story cannot do without a criminal condiment. Finding her is easy. This fall, the name of the “real colonel” of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Dmitry Zakharchenko thundered throughout the country, in whose apartment the operatives have about 9 billion rubles in foreign currency. The origin of this money is still unknown to the general public. On the other hand, many details appeared in the media about the activities of Zakharchenko, who either covered up the business, or kept a black police cash desk (well, or a common fund, whoever likes which term), or did both. Among the many details revealed one interesting detail.

According to Zakharchenko, he was a member of a group that monopolized the orders of Russian railways. Journalists mentioned the name of the former adviser Vladimir Yakunin Andrey Krapivin, with whom the colonel was allegedly familiar. Krapivin is associated with a group of companies that actually received contracts from Russian Railways for hundreds of billions of rubles (to be specific, their portfolio of orders last year was 350 billion). So now it is these contractors that are slowly giving way to other partners of the corporation. And there is nothing to be surprised. Reputation, as Gogol's hero Bashmachkin would say, is like an old overcoat - "a bit of that."

Everyone is already at home

And, finally, the cherry on the cake, or rather, the last link. aforementioned Alexander Misharin, which, perhaps, is now associated with large orders from Russian Railways, 3 years ago could become the head of the corporation. After all, it was he who was "appointed" to the position of president of the company in that very fake letter about Yakunin's resignation. He has not yet received a high post, but, according to journalists, other pleasant moments did not pass him by. By the way, he oversees the construction of a high-speed railway at Russian Railways, and the company, allegedly connected with it, received an order for its design. The circle consisting of "ours" is closed. Actually, such situations are the quintessence of Russian business.

In the semi-mad dreams of the observer, one wants to give all this a share of theatrical absurdity. In recent years, we have resumed the tradition of May Day demonstrations - with a procession of many thousands, slogans and other Soviet attributes of the holiday. It would be nice if the leaders of Russian business also took part in the demonstrations. For example, the Rotenberg family and their friends would really like a banner: “For competition!”.

Multi-billion state monopoly contracts are flowing from "Yakunin" to structures close to Alexander Misharin and Igor Levitin

The original of this material
© Vedomosti, 11/14/2016, To whom along the way with Russian Railways, Frame from video: Nakanune.ru, Photo: ttfr.ru

Rinat Sagdiev

Russian Railways contractors do not know what awaits them, the situation of their owners is unstable, employees of the state-owned company and its contractors complained to Vedomosti shortly after the resignation in August 2015 of the president of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin, 10 years in charge of the state monopoly. With the departure of the head of the state-owned company, the largest contractors will inevitably change, they explained. “His [Yakunin’s] further stay in this place was already becoming dangerous for himself - the company is so inefficient and immersed in corruption schemes that sooner or later it would have ended in failure,” a federal official told Vedomosti about the reasons for the resignation. According to Vedomosti, people close to Yakunin - his former advisers, assistants and just acquaintances - by that time had valid contracts with Russian Railways for 400 billion rubles. more than. For comparison: the entire investment program of the state monopoly for 2014 slightly exceeded this amount. The team of the new President Oleg Belozerov took up the revision of major projects and contracts of Russian Railways. A year later, it can be stated that the pool of monopoly contractors is beginning to change.

Familiar partners

most notable Russian Railways contractor under Yakunin was a group of companies associated with the co-owners of Interprogressbank Alexey Krapivin, Boris Usherovich, Vladimir Markelov and Yuri Obodovsky. Alexey is the son of Andrei Krapivin, a former freelance adviser to Yakunin. The ex-president of Russian Railways once explained to Vedomosti that Andrei Krapivin was his old acquaintance, well versed in banking. According to the resource Slon.ru, until 2014, up to a third of purchases by Russian Railways accounted for companies that could be related to the Krapivin group.

According to Vedomosti, by mid-2015, the portfolio of these structures had orders from the monopoly for at least 350 billion rubles. Including contracts for the most expensive construction of Russian Railways at that time - a development project BAM and Transsib(the so-called Eastern range). Until 2018, it was planned to invest in it a total of 562 billion rubles, of which 100 billion rubles. the state would allocate 150 billion rubles. - National Welfare Fund (NWF), and the rest - Russian Railways. Before Yakunin's resignation, the state-owned company managed to win contracts for 300 billion rubles. with a little, of which 215 billion rubles. went to companies controlled by the Krapivin group. For example, OSK 1520 LLC, acquired by bankers specifically for participation in tenders, won in 2014 a contract for the electrification of BAM and Transsib facilities for 28 billion rubles. Contracts for construction and installation works worth 143 billion rubles. received the management company Bamstroymekhanizatsiya (UK BSM), 48% owned by Obodovsky, and 49.5% by Yuri Korotchenko, a St. Petersburg businessman, an acquaintance of the son of the former first vice president of Russian Railways, and now an adviser to the president of the company Vadim Morozov (see) . In 2014, bankers bought PJSC Bamstroymekhanizatsiya (PJSC BSM), which received a contract for the Eastern test site for 44 billion rubles, from Vasily Tarasenko, the permanent general director of the company that has worked at BAM since the Soviet era. At the time of the change of ownership, the new owners of the company were hidden behind offshore companies from the British Virgin Islands, but Krapivin confirmed to Vedomosti that PJSC BSM is now part of the 1520 Group of Companies.

Krapivin Sr. died in the spring of 2015, and in August of the same year Yakunin was dismissed. A year later, the group remains the largest partner of Russian Railways, but it has lost some of the contracts.

New owners and leaders

In September 2016, Sergey Klevakin, who had worked for more than 12 years in another Russian Railways contractor, Foratek, a company specializing in the production and construction of contact networks for Russian Railways, was appointed General Director of the Krapivinskaya OSK 1520. Klevakin "has shown himself to be an effective manager at Foratek ETS," Krapivin explained to Vedomosti. The OSK 1520 group at the same time became the main shareholder of Foratek, he transferred to Vedomosti. When, how exactly this happened and how much it cost his structures, Krapivin does not disclose. Until 2015, Foratek won orders from Russian Railways for no more than 400 million rubles. per year, but since 2015, cooperation with the state-owned company and its subsidiaries has reached a new level: last year the group received 3.5 times more contracts - by 1.39 billion rubles, and this year already by 2 billion rub.

Publications claiming that the Foratek group may be close Alexander Misharin have appeared in the media for 20 years. Misharin during this time managed to work as the director of the department of industry and infrastructure of the Russian government apparatus, deputy minister of communications and transport, head of the Sverdlovsk railway and governor of the Sverdlovsk region. Both its representatives and the top managers of Foratek denied this closeness all this time. It is difficult to establish all the owners of Foratek according to registration documents: the Cypriot founders of the group's companies changed owners several times. Back in 2008, Solace Investing Ltd from the British Virgin Islands flashed among them, whose shareholders, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), were Andrey Krapivin, Usherovich and Markelov. Other offshore companies, according to ICIJ, were controlled by Misharin's longtime acquaintance, businessman Vladimir Chizhevsky.

Chizhevsky's partner, Foratek's minority shareholder Petr Korotkevich and Misharin, worked together at the Ministry of Railways (MPS), then on the Sverdlovsk Railway and in the 90s even lived in the same house in Yekaterinburg, recalled Leonid Volkov, a former deputy of the Yekaterinburg City Duma. Chizhevsky was also their neighbor. When the Luxembourg company Advanced Communication Systems, headed by Chizhevsky, established one of the first companies of the Foratek group - ZAO Foratek Communications, Misharin joined its board of directors. The company at that time supplied Siemens telecommunications equipment to the Sverdlovsk Railway. In 2003, the Ministry of Railways chose another company of the group - Foratek Energo - as the general contractor for the program for updating the electricity supply economy of the Ministry of Railways, the industry newspaper Gudok wrote.

Klevakin became the minority shareholder and CEO of the Foratek group. He told the Delovoy Kvartal publication a few years ago that he himself called Misharin's cousin Andrey, whom he had known for a long time, as his deputy.

In 2011, the then City Duma deputy Volkov complained to the Federal Antimonopoly Service about one of the Foratek projects: in his opinion, the company, which had no experience in building roads, unreasonably won road contracts worth more than 1 billion rubles, while actually completing the work for less money - the losing participant - "Sverdlovskavtodor". Volkov was sure that Foratek was supported by the then governor Misharin. The FAS recognized the actions of the bidders as a cartel, but Foratek managed to challenge this decision in court. Nevertheless, the management of Foratek soon recognized the attempt at road construction as unsuccessful and promised not to deal with roads anymore.

Foratek has nothing to do with Alexander Misharin, just like Misharin himself has nothing to do with our group of companies, Krapivin told Vedomosti. “I did not have, do not have and do not plan to have any relation to this company,” Misharin confirmed to Vedomosti.

After the resignation of Yakunin, the owners of the largest contractor of the Russian Railways on the Trans-Siberian Railway - UK BSM completely changed. In SPARK, these changes are reflected as follows. In December 2015, Obodovsky sold 48% of the shares to the former owners of the company - several individuals, and in August 2016 Korotchenko sold his 49.5%. After that, Abas Invest LLC became the owner of 50%, the sole general director and founder of which is Ekaterina Devyatkina. Alexander Miskaryan, a former media manager from St. Petersburg, who until 2013 headed the regional directorate of AIF CJSC (part of the Media3 holding owned by the brothers Dmitry and Alexei Ananyev), was appointed General Director of the BSM Management Company in April 2016. Since 2014, Miskaryan has worked as Deputy General Director of the UK BSM and was a member of the Audit Commission of PJSC BSM.

By the way, since October 2016, PJSC BSM also has a new CEO. Instead of the son of the former owner, Vitaly Tarasenko, the board of directors assigned this position to Sergey Vasiliev, a Petersburger, for five years. The owners of Setstroyenergo also changed. The new leaders represent "our interests," Krapivin assures: "We are changing, reforming, optimizing." According to him, all of his assets and assets of partners will be included in the 1520 Group of Companies, which is being created, which will become a “more open structure” in the future.

“We have been working in the railway construction market for a long time, in a very tough competitive environment. The departure of Vladimir Ivanovich Yakunin did not affect our business in any way, ”Krapivin assures. Nevertheless, as Vedomosti found out, Krapivin's structures failed to take part in the new project, which promises to be the most expensive for Russian Railways.

High speed design

Krapivin and his partners were not only the largest builders of Russian Railways, but also monopolists in the design of railways. In 2013, Russian Railways entered into an agreement for the implementation of all design work with a limit of 150 billion rubles. and for a period up to December 31, 2017 with Roszheldorproekt. In it, 75% belongs to Lengiprotrans, which is directly owned by Markelov, Krapivin (24.99% each) and Usherovich (12.47%). Thanks to a long-term agreement, the revenue of Roszheldorproject since 2013 has consistently exceeded 25 billion rubles. in year. The company's share in the design and survey work of Russian Railways is more than 88%, Roszheldorproject reported in a report for 2014.

But recently the monopoly of Krapivin's design company ended. In April 2015, the subsidiary of Russian Railways, PJSC High-Speed ​​Roads, held an open tender for the design of the Moscow-Kazan section of the Moscow-Kazan-Yekaterinburg high-speed highway. The only participant and winner of the competition for 24.5 billion rubles. became Mosgiprotrans, the consortium with which included Nizhegorodmetroproekt and China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co. Ltd. True, in the summer of 2016, Russian Railways reduced the contract amount to 22 billion rubles.

Mosgiprotrans, the largest competitor of Roszheldorproject, was forced to remain on the sidelines for a long time. Due to the monopoly position of Roszheldorproject, the company fell into the category of co-contractors of the 2nd-3rd level, while being the main developer of railway infrastructure projects, Mosgiprotrans reported in its 2015 annual report. The position of PJSC Roszheldorproject in the market of design work has a drastic effect on the timing of project implementation and leads to an unjustified overestimation of the financial costs of Russian Railways. The contract for the design of the high-speed line Moscow - Kazan is important not only by the size of the contract, although it has already allowed Mosgiprotrans to significantly improve its financial situation. The company's revenue in 2015 soared 7 times to 3.6 billion rubles. Net profit in 2015 amounted to 715 million rubles.

It should be remembered that very often construction tenders are won by companies whose design institutes developed projects. The Russian Railways estimates the cost of building the first stage of the highway at 1 trillion rubles, almost 2 times more expensive than the reconstruction of the BAM and the Trans-Siberian Railway. The cost of the second section, Kazan - Yekaterinburg, according to preliminary calculations, will be even higher. It is assumed that 60% of the financing for the projects will be provided by Chinese banks. The project is divided into two sections: Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod and Nizhny Novgorod - Kazan, it is assumed that concession agreements will be concluded for these sections, a representative of Misharin said. The concessionaire will be a specially created project company, where the main shareholder will be the "daughter" of Russian Railways "High-speed lines".

From laundries to trains

How did Mosgiprotrans manage to win such an important victory? “The agreement between Roszheldorproject and Russian Railways implies ordinary projects, but here it was about designing a high-speed railway, which is not subject to a monopoly,” one of the shareholders of Mosgiprotrans told Vedomosti. At the same time, Mosgiprotrans itself almost ended up in Krapivin's group.

In January 2014, Krapivin's partner Obodovsky at a privatization auction for 185 million rubles. bought 15% of Mosgiprotrans from the Federal Property Management Agency. This small package actually allowed control of Mosgiprotrans, because the ownership of more than 60% of the company's shares was looped. In the summer of 2015, after winning the High-Speed ​​Roads competition, two representatives of Krapivin joined the board of directors of Mosgiprotrans.

But they didn't stay there long. At the end of September 2015, shortly after the resignation of Yakunin, the board of directors of Mosgiprotrans was completely renewed, there were no seats for representatives of Krapivin and the previous management. Krapivin told Vedomosti that in September 2016, 15% of Mosgiprotrans was sold to a majority shareholder. He refused to name it. “I will not hide that earlier we ourselves wanted to take part in this large-scale and interesting project, but the terms of the contract for the design of high-speed lines seemed to us extremely risky in terms of financing and deadlines,” Krapivin said.

The largest owners of Mosgiprotrans were the co-owner of the Cotton Way group Alexander Utkin and his partners. As Utkin told Vedomosti, his partners consolidated 80% of Mosgiprotrans, he himself became the beneficiary of a 7% stake in the project company. Kemerovo businessman Utkin in the early 2000s worked in companies close to Iskander Mahmudov And Maxim Liksutov, for example, in CJSC Transugol. Then he was better known for his “textile rental” business. His companies rent bed linen, curtains, mattresses and towels to Russian Railways. The Master Cleaning company, which is part of the holding, washes and cleans these textiles in laundries rented from Russian Railways for 15 years. All costs are included in the cost of a passenger ticket (subject to the purchase of bed linen). A stable business brings Utkin's company 2 billion rubles. revenue per year. In 2014, Utkin managed to attract investors - 40% of Cotton Way for 3.6 billion rubles. acquired by RDIF and EBRD.

According to Utkin, among the major owners of Mosgiprotrans is his old acquaintance Alexei Nikiforov, but Makhmudov is not among them. Mosgiprotrans was the last interesting asset in the railway design segment and was inexpensive,” Utkin explains the purchase of the company, without disclosing the amount of the transaction. According to him, his friends called him to help structure the project company's business and make it marketable.

In the new board of Mosgiprotrans, two directors turned out to be old acquaintances of Misharin. This is the former deputy director of the department of industry and infrastructure of the Russian government Vladimir Ampilogov, who worked in this position from 1997 to 2015. In 2009, Misharin worked for six months as the head of Ampilogov, after which he left to lead the Sverdlovsk region. Misharin and Ampilogov were members of the board of directors of Russian Railways. The second acquaintance is Oleg Zhabin, a former railway worker, ex-general director of Uralvagonzavod-trans. In 2010, Misharin, then governor of the Sverdlovsk region, invited Zhabin to head the State Unitary Enterprise Oblkommunenergo. “I would say this, probably: the governor, knowing me from my previous work, appreciated my perseverance in achieving the goal and the ability to bite the bullet,” Zhabin answered the question on the direct line of the Pervouralsk.ru website whether Misharin really tried to put on financial flows in city ​​of its people. In 2012, after Misharin left, Zhabin resigned from Oblkommunenergo. Another member of the board of directors of Mosgiprotrans is the director of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise All-Russian Research Institute of Railway Hygiene, Mikhail Vilk, according to SPARK, since 2008, he has owned companies renting real estate with Zhabin in Tula and the Moscow region. Misharin did not comment on his acquaintance with Ampilogov and Zhabin, advising him to contact Mosgiprotrans. Utkin says that he invited Ampilogov, Zhabin and Vilk as independent directors, having appreciated their professionalism.

New names

This year, owned by the son of Arkady Rotenberg, Igor, Global Automation Systems LLC (Glosav), for the first time, managed to win the Russian Railways tender - for 691 million rubles. This will allow it to at least double its revenue, which in 2015 amounted to 630 million rubles. Until 2015, the LLC worked mainly on orders from companies controlled by Arkady Rotenberg, - "Stroygazmontazh", "Mostotrest", Gazprom Bureniya, - and also carried out small government orders from the Ministry of Transport, RusHydro, etc. Also, Glosav was one of the suppliers of on-board devices for the Platon truck toll collection system, the operator of which is RT-Invest Transport Systems "Also 50% owned by Rotenberg Jr.

“The conditions for participation in competitions have not changed for us [due to the change in the top management of Russian Railways],” says Gurgen Tatoyan, a representative of Glosav. According to him, the company began working with Russian Railways in the first half of 2015. Glosav intends to develop cooperation with Russian Railways. “We plan to take part in various IT and telecommunications projects as equipment suppliers and software developers on a competitive basis,” says Tatoyan.

Igor Levitin

Stroyputinvest JSC is the main construction company of the Dormashinvest holding, owned by the former partners of the presidential aide, the former Minister of Transport Igor Levitin Alexey Zolotarev and Vitaly Bril, in 2016 received the first major order for railway construction in six years. It will perform work at the Eastern test site for 6.3 billion rubles. Management Company Transyuzhstroy shared a contract with it, having won a competition under Yakunin for the construction of a section of the highway for 61.9 billion rubles. Transyuzhstroy is owned by businessmen Alexander Shevelev and Anatoly Antipov, former partners of the long-time general director of RZDstroy, Oleg Tony. Transyuzhstroy decided to assign the rights to perform part of the work due to the high load on its own capacities, a representative of Russian Railways explained to Vedomosti. In addition, Zolotarev also took up railway scrap. In September 2016, he acquired Transresurs LLC, which was created just over a year ago, which has contracts for the supply of used parts and assemblies of freight cars to Russian Railways for 8.33 billion rubles.

In February 2016, Deputy Minister of Construction and former Deputy Minister of Regional Development Yuri Relyan unexpectedly submitted his letter of resignation. And by autumn, he became one of the major construction contractors of Russian Railways. In June, the former official acquired Spetstransstroy LLC with a partner, which RZDstroy chose in 2016 as the sole supplier of services for the reconstruction of the Kotelnikovo-Tikhoretskaya-Korenovsk-Timashevskaya-Krymskaya section. The amount of contracts amounted to almost 8 billion rubles. The company's revenue in 2014 was only 100 million rubles, in 2015 - 300 million rubles.

Russian Railways selects contractors through competitive procedures and the determining factor "is their competence, and not belonging to one or another name," emphasizes the representative of Russian Railways. At the same time, he notes, Russian Railways "in no way limits" the strengthening of the positions of any companies that fulfill their contractual obligations in good faith: "Moreover, long-term partnerships with such companies are welcome." But such companies do not have advantages when placing new orders, he continues.

Russian Railways approved a provision on the exclusion of conflicts of interest. If such a fact is revealed, the company's employees involved in the conflict may be removed from the procurement, said a representative of the state-owned company.

According to the Russian Railways press service, the company's purchases for the nine months of 2016 amounted to 975.4 billion rubles, of which 62.5% were placed on a competitive basis. Compared to the same period last year, the share of non-competitive purchases decreased from 41.0% to 37.5%, a Russian Railways representative said. Savings amounted to 8 billion rubles.

Mysterious minority shareholder

Petersburg resident Yuri Korotchenko, the former owner of 49.5% of BSM Management Company, which won three Russian Railways tenders for 143 billion rubles in 2014, until recently served on the boards of directors of the First Non-Metal Company, Trest No. 7 JSC and Kalugatransmash. The first non-metallic company is 75% owned by the son of the Prosecutor General, Artem Chaika, and 25% by Russian Railways. The shareholder of the second company is Alexander Sharapov, the owner of the St. Petersburg construction group Becar.

These companies have one thing in common - they work with Russian Railways. The official position of the businessman, which the companies indicated in the statements, is adviser to the general director of the St. Petersburg export-industrial company Sudotechnology. Previously, Korotchenko owned 20% of it.

Sudotechnologiya, despite its name, also mainly works with Russian Railways - it supplies equipment from vacuum cleaners and electric hand dryers to spare parts for railcars. From 2012 to 2016, the amount of contracts with Russian Railways amounted to 8.8 billion rubles. (SPARK data). In 2012, Sudotechnologiya even received the Russian Railways Partner award in the Best Material and Technical Resources Supplier nomination, which was presented to the company by the then First Vice President of Russian Railways, Vadim Morozov.

As Vedomosti found out, Korotchenko is an old acquaintance of Dmitry Morozov's son, who heads the TransContainer branch on the Oktyabrskaya Railway. In 2007, Sudotechnology Korotchenko received 10% in the Ladoga Vepr hunting farm, established by Morozov Jr. in his native Volkhov district of the Leningrad region. In the summer of 2015, Dmitry Morozov bought from Korotchenko a 30% stake in the Arsenal company, which maintains land plots in the railway right of way. In 2014–2015 the company received contracts from Russian Railways for 3.75 billion rubles.

Morozov Sr. resigned immediately after Yakunin left Russian Railways. Now he is an adviser to the new president of Russian Railways. In May 2016, Morozov Jr. sold the remaining shares of Arsenal to Sofora, follows from SPARK.

Alexei Krapivin said that, according to his information, Vadim Morozov had nothing to do with Korotchenko. “Korotchenko acted in the deal on the UK BSM as an independent businessman. This year, Korotchenko decided to withdraw from the management company BSM, and the 1520 Group of Companies consolidated its assets by 100%,” Krapivin said. The press service of Russian Railways said that Vadim Morozov, adviser to the president of Russian Railways, is not related to companies co-owned by Dmitry Morozov, and recommended contacting him directly.

New Russian Railways suppliers in 2016

Igor Rotenberg
Son of Arkady Rotenberg
RZD contracts:
Was 0
It became 691 million rubles.
In 2016, Igor Rotenberg's Glosav LLC received a contract for the supply of integrated system security devices to Russian Railways. The company specializes in transport monitoring solutions based on Glonass/GPS technologies.

NPF "Welfare"
Non-state pension fund established by Russian Railways structures
RZD contracts:
Was 0
It became 6.99 billion rubles.
In 2016, Transstroymekhanizatsiya LLC was selected by RZDstroy as a contractor for the construction of railway sections bypassing Ukraine. Almost 70% of the company is owned by Mostotrest, owned by NPF

Alexey Zolotarev, Vitaly Bril
Former partners of Presidential Assistant for Transport Igor Levitin
RZD contracts:
Was 0
It became 15.9 billion rubles.
Stroyputinvest JSC, the main construction company of Dormashinvest owned by Zolotarev and Bril, in 2016 received the right to build a section of the Eastern test site for 6.3 billion rubles. In September 2016, Transresurs LLC has contracts for the supply of railway scrap to RZD structures for 8.33 billion rubles.

Yuri Relyan
Former Deputy Minister of Construction
RZD contracts:
Was 0
It became 7.9 billion rubles.
LLC "Spetstransstroy" Relyana in 2016 became the contractor of "RZDstroy" for the reconstruction of the section of the road Kotelnikovo - Tikhoretskaya - Korenovsk - Timashevskaya - Krymskaya