Sources of financing are a sore point for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Anyone who asks a simple question - “where does the money come from” - will be looked at by the communists as an idiot. At least in the office of Comrade Zyuganov, the Strana.Ru correspondent was answered directly when asked about sources: “You want too much.”
Indeed, who would want to show off “gray” and “black” party funds and talk about selfish connections with not-so-clean businesses. When answering the question about financial sources, Gennady Andreevich Zyuganov usually gets off with a general definition of his sponsors - “nationally oriented capital.” But, as practice shows, almost anyone who wishes to pay for the lobbying services of the large faction of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in the State Duma can be among the “nationally oriented” capitalists. It seems that the Communist Party of the Russian Federation does not have any restrictions at all that prevent the communists from accepting money from any sources.
The scandalous connection between the sponsors of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and stolen budget money for the “restoration of the national economy of Chechnya” has not yet been refuted. In particular, the Accounts Chamber discovered the “misuse” of budget funds for the restoration of Chechnya in the Rosagropromstroy corporation, an open sponsor of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
The scheme for financing the Communist Party of the Russian Federation by Rosagropromstroy looks quite simple: the Communist Party of the Russian Federation lobbies Rosagropromstroy as a contractor for state budget programs, and Rosagropromstroy, in turn, carries out a “kickback”. "Rosagropromstroy" participates in budgetary financing of the restoration of Chechnya and the construction of residential buildings in the countryside (the so-called "Your Home" program). Budget funding for these programs amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars.
The structure of Rosagropromstroy includes 3,500 construction, installation and road organizations, 1,500 industrial enterprises. The president of Rosagropromstroy and Rosagropromstroybank is Viktor Vidmanov, a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (in the old way - the Politburo of the Central Committee).
Another scandal with the money of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation arose when a prominent communist Vladimir Semago stated that the Zhivilo brothers, owners of the MIKOM concern, were supplying money for the election activities of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (according to some information, one of the shareholders of MIKOM was Viktor Ilyukhin). Regarding Semago’s revelations, Kemerovo governor Aman Tuleyev sent a letter to Gennady Zyuganov demanding that he tell the people the truth: whether the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is financed by the “dirty money” of the MIKOM group. (JSC MIKOM in the recent past managed the Kuznetsk Metallurgical Plant, the Novokuznetsk Aluminum Plant and coal mines, but was removed from business by the efforts of the Kemerovo governor Tuleyev. One of the owners of MIKOM, Mikhail Zhivilo, was arrested in Paris due to possible involvement in the assassination attempt on the Kemerovo governor) .
In addition to the revelations of former and current party members washing their dirty linen in public after yet another scandal about the Communist Party's money, one can judge from unrefuted press reports. The press has repeatedly published lists of enterprises and businessmen financing the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. In addition to Rosagropromstroy, Rosagropromstroybank and the MIKOM concern, among the sponsors of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation were JSC Kaprolaktam, JSC Dzerzhinskkhimmash, the Russian Financial and Industrial Group (ex-president of the group, one of the “bankers” of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, deputy Gennady Semigin), CJSC Real-Agro", KB "Alba-Alliance", AOZT "Business Center Presnensky", "Nizhegorodkhleboprodukt", Central Pharmaceutical Base of St. Petersburg, LLC "Rustechnociber", LLC "FM-Building", LLC "Inter-Marketing" and even "Rosenergoatom". However, Rosenergoatom stated to Strana.Ru that the concern “is not a sponsor of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.”
On the electoral list of the bloc "For Victory!" (the pseudonym of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in the last elections) there were dozens of businessmen, bankers, plant directors, heads of commercial structures, such as, for example, Severtsvetmet, Alba-Alliance, Uraltrubprom, Vneshagropromservis, Surgutneftegaz, Sibnefteprovod , "Yukos-Moscow"). It is not surprising that according to the election results, more than a third of the members of the Communist Party faction in the State Duma are large businessmen.
Thus, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is financed by large enterprises that use its lobbying services in the State Duma, as well as commercial structures associated with individual party members.
WHO FINANCES THE LDPR AND THE RIGHT RIGHTS?
Mikhail TULSKY
In the first and second parts of our investigation, we already wrote about the sponsors of United Russia (UR), the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and A Just Russia (SR). EP has three major official sponsors - the Mechel, Guta and Krasny Vostok groups.
However, in the official financial report EP for 2006 there are also branches of the largest monopolies - Gazprom, "Rusala", "LUKoil" And TNK-BP. SR's main sponsor is the head of its faction in the State Duma A. Babakov, who heads the board of directors in the Russian Federation FC "CSKA"(his name is also associated "Tempbank" And Luzhniki market), and in Ukraine owns a dozen oblenergo. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is the only one among the parties that lives primarily on membership fees and state funding, which account for almost 60% of the party’s revenue. In addition, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and its deputies help: for example, deputies of the Moscow City Duma from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation N. Gubenko, S. Nikitin, V. Lakeev And V. Ulas Back in December 2005, they decided to contribute 40% of deputy salaries to the party and have strictly adhered to it since then.
V. Zhirinovsky’s party is financed by everyone except Gazprom and Rosneft
The main part of the party treasury LDPR(104.4 million rubles) were replenished by only 15 closed joint-stock companies and LLCs. But none of these legal entities have any fame, moreover, they were founded by unknown people (although often related to each other). The author’s source in the LDPR explained that these LLCs serve to “disguise” the true sources of financing, including “most large companies, with the possible exception of Gazprom and Rosneft”. Some of the money simply comes from the Kremlin: in exchange for the fact that the LDPR, despite its opposition in words, in reality always votes as the authorities need.”
Big businessmen leave the LDPR, but crime remains?
When asked which companies are represented among the “disguised sponsors,” the source replied: “Just look at those who became deputies on the LDPR list: which companies delegated their people to the list, they still finance the party.” Indeed, back in 2003, quite respectable and famous people entered the State Duma on the LDPR lists. These are deputies O. Deripaska by his companies "Rusal" And "Basic element" E. Ivanov And V. Bobyrev, former vice president Alfa Bank K. Vetrov(however, his source considers him not a protege of Alpha, but a nominee of the deputy head of the Kremlin V. Surkova), owner of company "Nafta-Moscow" S. Kerimov, former deputy director "Lukoil - Western Siberia" V. Tarasyuk and businessman A. Yeghiazaryan.
However, to date, many of the businessmen have moved from the LDPR to United Russia (UR): they have already joined the party in power V. Bobyrev, K. Vetrov And S. Kerimov, leaving the LDPR for a “more solid party” does not exclude E. Ivanov. Even in the previous composition of the Duma, the brothers also moved from the LDPR to United Russia M. And S. Gutserievs, owning BIN-bank And "Russneft".
In this case, what sponsors remain in the LDPR? Definitely remains a mediocre timber merchant D. Shadayev(State Duma deputy from the LDPR, his wife entered the Leningrad Regional Duma on the LDPR list in March). In the mid-1990s, he served time in “Kresty” on charges of illegal possession of weapons, and in 1998, a criminal case was opened against Shadayev at the request of businesswoman G. Velkovich, whom he, together with Kazan authority Sasha Krupa, “at gunpoint” forced to re-register TD "Torgservice" took over. In 2003, the prosecutor's office opened a third criminal case against Shadayev - about “falsifying a higher education diploma”
. But all the cases were closed “for lack of evidence of a crime” and “due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.” However, this is not the only example. It is widely known that the LDPR has always enjoyed increased popularity among criminals. Even in the most recent Krasnoyarsk elections Among pre-trial detention center prisoners, 22.6% voted for the LDPR, which is twice as high as among the rest of the population (other opposition parties -"A Just Russia", the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Union of Right Forces - the percentage among prisoners was 3-5 times lower than among ordinary citizens). Also, it was among the LDPR candidates that the largest number of citizens were found who had recently been convicted and were even wanted for theft, bribery, embezzlement and causing harm to health. Such cases occurred in Sverdlovsk, Murmansk, Omsk and other regions. Moreover
in Omsk, 48-year-old S. Abramov was nominated on the LDPR list, who spent only 8 months of the last 22 years of his life in freedom. Since 1984, Mr. Abramov was convicted 5 times for theft and robbery, and at the time he was included in the LDPR list in February 2007, the police were looking for him for committing a new, 6th theft! True, among the LDPR sponsors there are also two construction campaigns from Yekaterinburg: “Ural-Siberian” and “Ural-Baikal”. The owner of the latter is the head of the Sverdlovsk LDPR.
V. Taskaev
Chubais stopped funding the Union of Right Forces? Sponsors THX - a whole range of business structures, including not only, but not even a single regional power company. However, this hardly means that Chubais has stopped funding the Union of Right Forces; most likely, here too we are dealing with “disguise”. After all, the largest amount in 5.9 million ATP received from Foundation for Support of Democratic Unity. And this fund, in turn, is headed by a “Chubaisovite” V. Nekrutenko, who worked with Chubais in the early 1990s at the State Property Committee.
Another considerable amount (3 million) was given to the Union of Right Forces by bills of exchange from its Khabarovsk businessman chairman A. Barzhanov. By the way, his ex-wife M. Barzhanova- State Duma deputy from United Russia: she used to be the leader of the Khabarovsk right, and at the end of 2001 she left for United Russia (first becoming United Russia’s deputy coordinator for the Far East, and then taking over the Ulyanovsk region) and transferred the chairmanship of the Union of Right Forces to her husband. And in 2002, she acquired a new husband, whom she found in the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation...
The main sponsor left M. Barshchevsky's party
Major party donations M. Barshchevsky “Civil Power”(recently called "Free Russia") in 2006, only 5 business structures contributed. Moreover, there are only two businessmen behind them. From 13.6 million founder of the party and chairman of its political council, Sverdlovsk businessman A. Ryavkin contributed to the party's cash register only 0.5 million And the rest 13.1 million in 2006 the owner's structures were introduced "Rostselmash" by K. Babkin ("Social Initiative", "Eurostrategy" and etc.). Moreover, after Mr. Babkin contributed this money, he realized that he had been “deceived”: having taken the money, Mr. Ryavkin immediately removed K. Babkin from the post of head of the party’s executive committee. Now the main sponsor assures that will not give a penny more to Mr. Barshchevsky’s party.
“Democrats” received 6 million by deceiving V. Pokhmelkin
As for another dwarf party of the right flank - the DPR - it received all large donations from individuals. They donated to her 10.3 million rubles, of which 6 million were contributed by six Perm assistants to deputy V. Pokhmelkin. It was in the summer of 2006, when Mr. Pokhmelkin wanted to run in elections in the Perm Territory on the DPR list. However, the leadership of the dwarf party in the person of A. Bogdanov deceived the deputy: despite such substantial donations, it blocked the nomination of V. Pokhmelkin and his people on the DPR list and ultimately supported Pokhmelkin’s opponents from the Union of Right Forces. However, at the Krasnoyarsk elections, the Democratic Party of Russia, together with United Russia, fought against the Union of Right Forces... And V. Pokhmelkin decided no longer to get involved with such “democrats” and “liberals” and went to “A Just Russia”.
BILLION FOR ELECTIONS
The LDPR became the richest party
Mikhail TULSKY
As required by law, the Central Election Commission published information about the receipt of money in the election funds of parties created specifically for participation in the elections. So far, the most recent published report from the Central Election Commission (and only two of them have been published) is data for October 24. And already from them it is clear that only official financing of election campaigns of parties has already come very close to a billion rubles.
The richest party unexpectedly turned out to be LDPR headed by V. Zhirinovsky. The wealth of the party contrasts too clearly with the slogan “We are for the poor, we are for the Russians!”: Apparently, this is why the mention of the poor had to be removed from the new party slogan (it now sounds like “Good for Russians - good for everyone!”). In second place, and this is quite expected, is "United Russia". Together, two parties controlled by the Kremlin and invariably voting for all government bills have accumulated 520.9 million rubles That is 78%
from 666.9 million, collected by all 11 parties combined for the election campaign (see table).
The remaining parties are so far behind United Russia and the Liberal Democratic Party that there is no doubt that these two pro-government parties will remain leaders in the race in terms of the amount of finance raised. But in terms of which of them will still be first and who will be second, “castling” may still occur. The fact is that in the last couple of weeks the LDPR accounts have hardly been replenished: 28
September Zhirinovsky's party had 200 million, on 10
October - 290 million, and on 24
October - the same 290 million(that is, not a penny of new funds has been received in 14 days). But things have gone uphill for United Russia: more 10
October on her account (opened only 8
October) there was not a penny, 12
October - already 200 million, A 24
October - 230.9 million
Receipts into the accounts of other parties look good only if you do not subtract from them the money that many of them spent on electoral deposits. This deposit, which in the Russian Federation is the highest in the world, is 60 million rubles It is the only guarantee of participation in elections for a non-parliamentary party (parties that won the previous elections are registered under the new law without signatures or a deposit). An alternative to a pledge is collecting signatures, but according to the new law they should contain no more than 5%
marriage (previously it was allowed 25%
). During the preliminary check at the Central Election Commission, this percentage of defects was found in literally all 7 parties that submitted signatures. But in the end, four of them persuaded the election commission to recognize some of the rejected signatures. And three more parties - “People's Union” S. Baburina, Peace and Unity Party S. Umalatova and “Greens” were refused registration. That is why more established parties prefer to pay an electoral deposit rather than signatures. Moreover, according to the law, the deposit is returned after the elections to those who have received more 4%
votes (that is, for now only "A Just Russia").
So, minus the electoral deposits, even Sponsors And "A Just Russia" Compared to United Russia and Zhirinovites, they look like “poor relatives.” And the Semiginsky "Patriots of Russia", who have only 0.9 million, and look completely beggarly. However, these parties may still have time to replenish their accounts - there is more than a month left before the elections. If they found money for a deposit, then they can probably find it for the election campaign itself...
Much more interesting is where the parties get their financial resources. Official data rarely helps to find the answer to this question: in them, sources of income are usually disguised as unknown foundations and LLCs, behind which solid oligarchic empires are often hidden. Therefore, the real sponsors of parties can be “calculated” only by the representatives of which large companies are present on their party lists.
For example, in the Moscow list LDPR both passage places were given to business representatives: the first - to the deputy director of Metalloinvest Tatiana Dubrovskaya(Metalloinvest owner Andrey Skoch is running on the United Russia list), the second - to the banker Ashot Yeghiazaryan. The Perm list of the LDPR is headed Konstantin Vetrov, before being elected to the State Duma, former vice-president of Alfa Bank, Volgogradsky - former deputy director of Lukoil - Western Siberia Vasily Tarasyuk, Kemerovo - co-owner of the Sochi mortgage and investment bank Arkady Svistunov. At the head of one of the LDPR lists near Moscow is the co-owner of the Moscow hotel "Ukraine" and the shopping center "European", one of the leaders of the Mountain Jewish community Year of Nisanov. And the second list near Moscow is headed by the owner of a number of construction companies (including those involved in the restoration of Chechnya) Mikhail Khesin. And No. 1 on the LDPR list in Komi is a Leningrad timber merchant Damir Shadayev.
Even more respectable people are on the United Russia list: the head of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works is here Victor Rashnikov, as well as owners: Metalloinvest holding Andrey Skoch, "Industrial and metallurgical holding" Boris Zubitsky, gas production company Novatek Leonid Simanovsky, chain of stores "Seventh Continent" Vladimir Gruzdev, food holding "Krasny Vostok" Airat Khairullin, Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant Zelimkhan Mutsoev and Seaport of St. Petersburg Vitaly Yuzhilin. There are many representatives on the United Russia lists Gazprom, "Lukoil", "Rusala", Severstal and other large companies.
But at Communist Party of the Russian Federation And "A Just Russia" There are no major businessmen on the lists. Although the Social Revolutionaries have many representatives of small and medium-sized businesses. IN Communist Party of the Russian Federation As for the number of somewhat respectable businessmen, one can only include the one who heads the Belgorod list Sergei Muravlenko- a hereditary oil worker, whose father even named a city in Yamal (!). Until 2003, Muravlenko was the chairman of the board of directors of the now destroyed YUKOS; now he owns small blocks of shares in a number of large companies. Besides him, one of the Tatarstan lists of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is headed by the co-owner of the little-known Promregionbank. Andrey Ivanitsky(good friend Vladislav Surkov). And the second place in the Altai and Sochi lists is occupied by the owner of the equally unknown "UIK-Bank" Alexey Bagaryakov and co-owner of Novoroskhlebkonditer Dmitry Shishov.
There are few businessmen on the lists of other parties, because business usually seeks to invest money in the campaigns of leading parties and does not see much point in helping those who obviously will not get more than 1% in the elections. Unless these are businessmen who “decided to play politics” and created their own party. This is what a Sverdlovsk businessman did, for example. Alexander Ryavkin, which registered 5 years ago on the basis of its holding for the production and distribution of massagers "Denas" Network party of small and medium-sized businesses, recently renamed "Civil power"(Mr. Ryavkin gave the first place on her list M. Barshchevsky).
Revenues to party election funds(according to the Central Election Commission as of October 24, 2007), million rubles
all receipts | electoral deposit | campaign money |
|
"United Russia" | |||
"A Just Russia" | |||
"Apple" | |||
"Patriots of Russia" | |||
"Civil Power" | |||
Agrarian Party | |||
Democratic Party | |||
Social Justice Party | |||
The 1996 presidential elections may forever remain the sweetest memory of image makers, political scientists, experts and luminaries of election technologies. The political party with candidates dancing on hastily put together stages, hosts of artists scurrying around the country, boxes of photocopiers, a riot of compromising material, generously flavored with a 300% return on state bonds, will most likely not be repeated. After August 17, the enchanting show in a luxurious restaurant called “Russian Elections” risks moving, if not to a catering canteen, then to a more modest political cafe without any frills.
Poor elections?
For the entire four-month election campaign, a presidential candidate is legally allowed to use no more than 250 thousand minimum wages. If in 1996 it was about 2.5 million dollars, then after August 17 this amount decreased by 2.5 times. It is clear that you cannot become president for a million dollars. At least in Russia, where discerning voters require special treatment.
Three years ago, several large bankers independently calculated the minimum costs for a presidential campaign. Even then, the lower limit of expenses seemed enormous - $20 million! - and now it looks completely unreal. And where are those bankers now?
However, 1996 showed that practically not a single presidential candidate met the official standards. In this sense, a Xerox box with half a million dollars served as a good measure of actual election spending. Now, after two years, there is no point in hiding the fact that participants in the election race took advantage of excess donations from major sponsors. Some oligarchs even practiced this just in case. called round-robin funding, paying the costs of several candidates at once.
After August 17, it can be stated that not only the ruble became lighter, but also the number of sponsors somehow decreased. Most large companies and banks are barely making ends meet; according to estimates, they are already planning total losses for 1999. And then Yuri Maslyukov promised a decline of 2-3% next year. The budget is no help for elections either.
So where will future presidential candidates get money from, who will finance their election blocs, parties and movements? If Primakov, Luzhkov or Yavlinsky decide to run for president, we are convinced there will be no problems with financing their campaigns. Birds of this kind of flight, however, like the Swan, will not have to think about money. They will bring it on a platter.
Party money is people's money
But who will help the candidate, the presidents from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation or the NPSR, is a big question. And in this regard: who now finances the communists leading a turbulent political life? After all, the party practically never gets out of any election campaigns. Its candidates take part in elections of various levels and types - for vacant seats in the Duma, in elections of governors and deputies to regional legislative assemblies, and other local government bodies. The process is on stream and requires constant funding with money.
In addition, the party holds a lot of events - congresses, plenums, conferences, seminars, round tables, etc. The party is the founder of some printed publications, not only regional, but also central. But most importantly, the party has a huge network of its structural divisions - regional committees, republican committees, city committees, district committees, etc.
In a word, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is a very expensive party and, therefore, rich if it allows itself such expenses. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation has the right to declare investments in its structure a trade secret. And naturally, no one will be able to track all the streams and channels of money entering the party treasury. It is too large and branched out, and the party discipline in it is too strict.
Correspondents often asked questions about the sources of financing of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and, not receiving answers to them, were forced to draw their own conclusions. For example, it is difficult to assume that large capital is helping the communists (we do not take into account isolated cases of payment for specific services). Moreover, it is difficult to assume that the “Russian-speaking bankers” (as Gennady Zyuganov called them in his speech at the II Congress of the NPSR) who are being bullied by the communists They will dig their own grave with their own hands by sponsoring the communists. It would also be logical to assume that there should not be very many communist entrepreneurs and their capabilities are insufficient to cover all the expenses of the party.
So, if private (bourgeois) capital does not work with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, if it did not receive billions of dollars as an inheritance from the CPSU (this is hard to believe), if we discard the very exotic versions about the foreign or criminal origin of the “gold of the party” (although we remember sponsorship Greek communists over the newspaper Pravda and the expropriation of postal money by the Bolsheviks for the needs of the party), then only one major source of money remains. This is the budget.
There is nothing fantastic in the fact that the Communist Party of the Russian Federation can be financed from the budget. Too many governors rely on communists. They manage too much money in their regions. They have the power to determine the directions for using this money, to place orders to certain companies and organizations scattered throughout Russia. These budget funds are ultimately returned to local budgets, but income (interest) from their use may well go straight to the party treasury. Another question: what are these mysterious companies that work for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and how many are there?
Vidmanov's Empire
Many snobs consider communists to be scumbags, incapable of commercial activity. It is not true. For example, in the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (analogue of the former Politburo) there is one very decent businessman. This is Viktor Mikhailovich Vidmanov. Chroniclers of the life of the oligarchs, naturally, could not ignore such a colorful personality, who, on the one hand, occupies a leading position in the party, and on the other, quite successfully makes money, probably thereby overcoming his own communist beliefs. Viktor Vidmanov now heads Agropromstroybank (APSB), a landmark organization for the communists. The sign of Agropromstroybank is often caught in the frame of a telephoto lens when the communists hold their closed plenums in its premises.
APSB is not some kind of sharashkin's office, but a fully-fledged commercial bank that received a banking license from the Central Bank back in 1992, when there was no trace of such an organization as, for example, ONEXIMbank. True, like ONEXIMbank, APSB was drawn into a number of scandals by market forces. For example, APSB was one of the largest debtors of Chara Bank, having borrowed 3 billion non-denominated rubles from it. In this regard, the Moscow Arbitration Court even seized the correspondent account of APSB after the license was revoked from Chara. It was believed that the non-repayment of precisely these 3 billion rubles. became one of the reasons for the bankruptcy of Chara.
However, at that time, the management of APSB managed to lift the arrest from their account, citing the fact that their bank was an authorized bank for financing the government program for “restoring the national economy of the Chechen Republic.” It is known that the “restoration of the national economy” of Chechnya ended in the same way as the development of the Chara bank.
However, it would be foolish to think that APSB earned money exclusively by “restoring” the national economy of Chechnya, borrowing money from the unfortunate “Chara”, selling counterfeit dollars through its exchange offices in Stavropol, or not repaying debts to Sberbank. And there is no doubt that the bank earns quite decent money. In any case, after August 17, ASSB at one time occupied an honorable 25th place in terms of the amount of loans issued to non-residents, that is, foreigners. By the way, lending to foreigners is a completely legal way of exporting capital from Russia, which is what the communists are fighting against.
So how did ASSB earn and earn money? We have already written about non-repayment of debts as a significant line of business for this bank. To this we should add one more interesting fact. APSB issued savings certificates in 1993 and sold them to businesses and the public. And what’s interesting is that four years later the bank was not presented with certificates for almost 10 billion non-denominated rubles for redemption. That is, some people or companies did not insist that the ASSB return this gigantic debt to it. Typically, this situation arises when creditors are in some way dependent on the debtor. We do not know to what extent its debtors are dependent on the APSB, but we are clearly talking about some kind of non-commercial, possibly party-political, relationship.
The second part of the APSB business is its numerous subsidiaries, which are also allowed to work with budget money. It is curious that there are a lot of such structures and, as a rule, they are controlled personally by Viktor Vidmanov and his sons, Oleg and Vladimir Vidmanov. We may be wrong, but, according to our assessment, APSB has several dozen “daughters”, most of which have the same legal address as the “mother” - Moscow, Krasina Lane, 16.
These include: Rural Development OJSC (construction services), Russian Society of Construction Engineers, Russian Mortgage Company, Agroshelkservis JSC (trade and intermediary services), Ros-agroengineering/GGR LLP (one Among the co-founders is the company Global Growth Russia from California, USA) and many others. But, of course, the main role in the Vidmanovs’ empire, along with APSB, is played by the Rosagropromstroy corporation.
The most notorious fact of the use of budget money by the Rosagropromstroy company happened in 1995-1996. Then Viktor Vidmanov’s corporation transferred 16 billion rubles to a certain Penzaagrozhilstroy JSC (as it turned out later, its own subsidiary). budget money. This money should have been spent on the restoration of Chechnya. However, the competent authorities claim that a significant part of them was spent “for other purposes,” and the proceeds from the misuse of money ended up in private commercial structures. Taking into account penalties, tax violations for this transaction alone exceeded 800 million rubles.
All of the above facts indicate that the ideological convictions of Viktor Vidmanov, a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, do not at all prevent him from engaging in banal market affairs. In fact, in the person of Mr. Vidmanov we have the first communist oligarch, that is, a person who is not only involved in business, but also greatly influences politics. Back in 1996, Vidmanov was involved in raising money for the election campaign of Gennady Zyuganov. The party appreciated his merits, and already in August of the same year, almost at the same time when Anatoly Chubais headed the presidential administration for his electoral merits, Vidmanov joined the coordination council of the NPSR. And on April 20, 1997, at the plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, he was elected a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the party.
Communist leaders are undoubtedly impressed by Vidmanov’s willingness to sacrifice his personal interests in the name of party ones. Thus, in 1995, Vidmanov became a member of the Duma on the list of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, but refused the mandate. Imagine a Russian businessman who voluntarily gives up such a political roof as parliament. It is also clear that Vidmanov’s participation in the capital of ZAO Gazeta Pravda (other founders are the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the editorial office of the newspaper Pravda and the Imperial Bank) did not bring him not only material, but even lobbying benefits. The newspaper worked for the party, and Vidmanov paid for it along with Sergei Rodionov, the former president of the Imperial Bank.
The example of the APSB system shows that the communists, while persecuting well-known “Russian-speaking bankers,” at the same time carefully nurture their own oligarch. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation gladly exposes the criminal acts of the reformers, but at the same time willingly enjoys the market fruits of the same reforms. Chubais and Gaidar were almost officially declared the main enemies of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, but Viktor Vidmanov ensured and is ensuring the well-being of the party with the help of the very mechanisms that were imposed on Russia by liberal economists.
The question of the future of the party oligarch remains unclear. When the Communist Party of the Russian Federation comes to power, Mr. Vidmanov will undoubtedly be rewarded with a prominent economic post in the state hierarchy. But what will happen to his empire, which was nurtured with such difficulty and which at the same time contradicts the ideology of communism?
Tatyana Koshkareva, Rustam Narzikulov
Sources of funding for Navalny's campaign. And I have a counter-interest in their party wallets. More precisely, to the sources of their financing. After all, if these gentlemen are trying to find something suspicious in other people’s money, then it means they are sure that everything is in order with their finances. Well, let’s check United Russia and Zhirinovsky.
So, more than 2.5 billion rubles (55%) were allocated to United Russia in 2012 by the federal budget. But of particular interest to us are donations from individuals and legal entities in the amount of 1.2 billion rubles (22%). Who are these good people? What kind of patriotic organizations are these?
As you can see, 80% of donations from legal entities in 2012 were transfers from numerous funds to support United Russia, created as if from tracing paper. From somewhere these absolutely independent, non-profit foundations found 771.8 million rubles, which they donated to United Russia in the name of Stability and Putin.
I’m just wondering - what could be the reason why this particular financing scheme was chosen - first someone donates to the fund, and only then the fund donates to the party? Why not immediately join the party? After all, regional branches of United Russia are also legal entities and can accept donations. Maybe the whole point is in the restrictions on donations established by the legislation on political parties? May be, someone really wants to get around these restrictions? May be, someone wants to legalize black cash in this way? Or maybe, someone wants to hide some individuals or legal entities who donated money so that it would not be visible in the party's published consolidated financial report?
A comparison with the financial report of United Russia for 2011 will help us understand the reason.
Do you understand what follows from this? As soon as the federal budget increased funding for political parties in 2012, donations from legal entities to the United Russia party immediately magically decreased compared to 2011!
And these same donations from legal entities decreased by exactly the amount by which budget funding increased! It’s as if they took 1 billion 791 million rubles less from one pocket, while from the other they took 1 billion 691 million more! Exactly 100 million rubles were not enough, oh, what a pity) Listen, however, how attentive and accurate voluntary donors are in United Russia! They calculate donations so accurately that the total amount of voluntary donations and budgetary allocations remains practically unchanged compared to the previous year, and what changes between items - so who cares)
In the financial report of United Russia for 2012, there are 132 legal entities that donated more than 400 thousand rubles to the party. each (including the above funds), in 2011 there were 260 of them.
And it’s strange - how did hundreds of independent legal entities and non-profit foundations across the country manage to agree on the amounts of donations among themselves so that in the end the result was exactly the same amount that was covered by the increased funding from the budget? Could it really be that they they lowered the donation figures according to the order ?
Or maybe not just numbers - but also the money itself for donations ?
« All sponsors of United Russia will be able to fit in this restaurant,” says Forbes’ interlocutor, who previously worked in the central office of the party, looking around at a really small establishment in the center of Moscow. There are no more than 20 tables in the hall. “This means,” he continues, “in order to circumvent the legal requirements for the minimum level of donations, you will have to split your flows into several streams and pass them through dummy legal entities. A sign of such schemes may be the relationship between firms, which sponsors will try to hide from attention... In reality, the reports submitted to the Central Election Commission are only a visible part of the financing, which becomes a cover for cash flows that have already formed a special sector of the shadow economy
».
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In United Russia, as political strategists and one regional administration official said, in most regions, fundraising for local funds to support United Russia is carried out by employees of local administrations on the orders of the governor.
Let's take, for example, the Yaroslavl region. There, as it turned out in April 2013, OJSC Yaroslavl Sales Company transferred 55 million rubles to the Yaroslavl Regional Public Fund for Support of the United Russia WFP.
Wherein “The main owner of JSC YASK as of February 14 of this year (more than 80% in the authorized capital and almost 90% of the shares) is TNS Energo Group of Companies LLC. In turn, 100% of the authorized capital of TNS Energo belongs to Sunflake Limited, a company registered in Cyprus
.
...
United Russia responds to all suspicions: the main thing is that the rules of the law are not violated. “We check all legal requirements. Everything else is the business of the organizations themselves, their commercial secrets... I didn’t notice the word “transparency” in the law, I don’t know what meaning you put into this word,” says the head of the central executive committee of United Russia, Dmitry Travkin, in a conversation with Forbes".
And it’s these United Russia members who teach us transparency, huh?! What monstrous, unbearable impudence!
Now about Zhirinovsky.
477 million 737 thousand - from the federal budget
203 million 989 thousand - donations from legal entities.
8 million 632 thousand - from individuals.
The remaining articles are unimportant; for those interested, see the report.
There are several legal entities-donors.
LLC "GIFEST" (via I) - 43,000,000 rubles (a very powerful company, find its website yourself and what it does)
LLC "LESPROM-E" - 43,000,000 rubles (this is also a very well-known company, and most importantly, it definitely donates the same amount as the other donor)
LLC "TechTorgGroup" - 30,000,000 rubles
LLC "Trading House Klen" - 30,000,000 rubles
LLC "Garant Invest" - 30,000,000 rubles
Why do they all donate the same amount? Was it a coincidence?
Well, to the heap LLC "VERTICAL" - 21,000,000, LLC "Kalibron" - 2,000,000, LLC "Kvass Lux" - 2,000,000, LLC "Design Workshop" - 1,049,200, OJSC "Moloko" - 1,000,000 , OJSC Timber Industry Enterprise Turtas - 616,000, LLC Barnaul Grid Company - 500,000.
My questions are: what kind of companies are they? What are they doing? Where do they get the money from?
Financial report of the LDPR for 2011. Here are the top 8 largest donors:
Optima Group LLC - 43,000,000
MetalExpoCenter LLC - 43,000,000
LLC "Servismobile" - 43,000,000
LLC "Metalstroykompleks" - 43,000,000
LLC "UralPromStroy" - 43,000,000
LLC "MagStroy" - 43,000,000
Odion Group LLC - 43,000,000
LLC "Gifest" - 43,000,000
LLC "Vertical" - 43,000,000
I suggest that Mr. Zhirinovsky find here “the same amounts” of 10-15 thousand rubles. I also suggest that he calculate the total amount of funds in these wallets and compare them with the volume of donations to Navalny’s election fund - this refers to the words that “the money goes mainly through Yandex.” If Zhirinovsky cannot do this, and does not publicly apologize for his words, then Zhirinovsky is a liar. The same applies to his phrase about “every 10 seconds.”
And I don’t even expect answers from United Russia - after all, the head of its central executive committee has already explained to Forbes magazine that " I didn’t notice the word transparency in the law", so what can you talk about with such people...
We continue to examine the “money bags” of each of the parties participating in the State Duma elections. In our two previous materials, we predicted a significant change in sponsors in the ranks of the election list of United Russia and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. This process will also affect the old-timer of the domestic parliament - the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR). Its permanent leader, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, changed some of his former sponsors, and even won in this process. The correspondent of “Our Version” talks about the new and old “personal wallets” of this party.
Like the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the peak of the financial power of the Liberal Democratic Party is in the past. For example, in the 2003 State Duma elections, Zhirinovites were supported by such wealthy corporations as Basic Element (Russian Aluminum), Alfa Bank, Nafta-Moscow (formerly Soyuznefteexport) and LUKOIL. Legends were formed on the sidelines of the Duma about the party’s ability to make money by lobbying someone’s business interests. After all, the LDPR faction has time and again remained in a significant minority, inferior in number not only to the party in power, but also to the same Communist Party of the Russian Federation. However, the Communists traditionally lagged behind Zhirinov’s party in terms of the volume of the party treasury during the pre-election period. Too flexible, like no other party, the position of the LDPR was able to change depending on the wishes of the customer! Which is one of the main advantages of a lobbyist.
The federal leadership no longer refuses to finance the election campaign from the regional office. According to the UralInformBuro agency, Tyumen and Chelyabinsk liberal democrats received 5 million rubles from Moscow, and Kurgan - 3 millionThis skill, of course, has not disappeared anywhere. However, the monopoly position of United Russia in the State Duma, established since 2007, has deprived large corporations of their previous active interest in the services of Zhirinovsky and his comrades. Therefore, already at the 2007 State Duma elections, the bulk of the party’s coffers were replenished by 15 little-known closed joint-stock companies and LLCs, that is, representatives of regional business. The situation has not changed now, only the cohort of sponsors had to be updated...
Zhirinovsky himself, in a recent interview, stated that the LDPR has no sponsors: “We don’t ask anyone, so as not to look like beggars. The LDPR lives on the 10 million rubles it officially receives from the budget every month. I myself also live only on the Duma salary.” However, according to recent data from the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, even the official budget of this party is already 343 million rubles - 143 million more than four years ago. Moreover, in terms of the volume of the LDPR treasury, it is ahead of all (!) parties, except for “Right Cause,” which was benefited by infusions from its ex-leader, oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov. For comparison: the election budget of the Patriots of Russia party is only 160 thousand rubles.
Director of the Department of Regional and Municipal Programs of the Center for Political Technologies Andrey Maksimov notes: “The LDPR usually conducts a fairly large-scale election campaign and relies on the active positioning of its leader. By attracting numerous sponsors to its list, the LDPR usually has financial resources that distinguish it favorably from other parties.” General Director of the Center for Political Information Alexei Mukhin believes: “Zhirinovsky has recently worked a lot and willingly with sponsors. The LDPR decided to abandon the scandalous lists, which made it possible to attract serious sponsors who count on its lobbying potential in the new Duma.”
As Vladimir Taskaev, curator of the LDPR for the Ural Federal District, stated, However, according to knowledgeable people, this money will only be enough for a minimum of advertising. Most of the election budget is spent on black or gray accounting, and here the entire calculation is on regional sponsors.
On this topic
Of those who previously represented the interests of Russian oligarchs in the LDPR, perhaps only the former deputy general director of the LUKOIL - Western Siberia company Vasily Tarasyuk, who now holds the post of deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Local Self-Government, will remain in its future faction. As befits a person from this corporation, he heads the regional group of the LDPR election list, uniting the Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs - the most oil and gas producing regions of the country. However, Tarasyuk can be considered more of a representative of Nafta-Moscow, since immediately before his election to the Duma he served as general director of the Afipsky oil refinery, owned by this company.
The owner of Nafta-Moscow himself, entrepreneur Suleiman Kerimov, who ranked seventh among Russian billionaires with a fortune of $12.6 billion, moved from the LDPR to United Russia (ER). Other former eminent “wallets” of Zhirinovsky’s party also went there - ex-deputy general director of Basic Element Valentin Bobyrev, former vice-president of Alfa Bank Konstantin Vetrov. The former owner of the Moscow National Bank and Unicombank, Ashot Yeghiazaryan, is on the run from the investigation...
Curious intersections between the Duma factions of the LDPR and United Russia will continue in the future State Duma. Thus, the St. Petersburg regional group of the LDPR list is headed by the former chairman of the board of directors of the insurance company RusMed and JSC Farmakon, the largest pharmaceutical plant in St. Petersburg, Denis Volchek, who is now deputy chairman of the Duma Committee on the Financial Market. It is curious that the head of the same committee, Vladislav Reznik (United Russia), who is considered one of the main lobbyists of her faction, was also a member of the board of directors of RusMed. This is such a “coincidence”...
No. 1 in the regional group of the LDPR list, which includes the Republic of Mari El and the Kirov region, is a member of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy and Entrepreneurship Kirill Cherkasov, former chairman of the board of directors of Kirov Stroyproekt-Service LLC. This structure belongs to the regional oligarch, the president of Sputnik OJSC Oleg Valenchuk, who is now a member of the same Duma committee, but only from United Russia (!) and occupies a passing place in the current election list of the party in power. Moreover, a member of the LDPR faction, Cherkasov, was among the founders of the public fund for supporting United Russia - along with the founders of this party.
As already mentioned, the LDPR’s main calculation is now on regional sponsors. Some of them have been in this factional system for a long time. The highest place among them - No. 10 in the federal part of the list - is occupied by the former general director of Rosnefteresurs CJSC and co-owner of the Tuapse meat processing plant, and now deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Civil, Criminal, Arbitration and Procedural Legislation, Yuri Napso. The Sverdlovsk regional group of the list is headed by the owner of the Ural-Baikal construction company, Vladimir Taskaev, who is, naturally, a member of the Duma Committee on Construction and Land Relations.
No. 1 in the group that unites the Khabarovsk Territory, the Sakhalin Region and the Jewish Autonomous Okrug is the ex-general director of the timber trading LLC Alkuma, Sergei Furgal, now deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Federation Affairs and Regional Policy. The Yaroslavl regional group is headed by the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, Leonid Slutsky, a former banker who worked in senior positions at Prominvestbank and Investcredit Bank.
Some of the old ones give up their places to new “wallets”. The best illustration of this process is the Volgograd regional group, where only the second and most likely unpassable line is allocated to Andrei Lebedev, a member of the LDPR faction in the State Duma, the former chairman of the board of directors of Energomashbank OJSC. Ahead of him in the same group is another businessman - Deputy General Director of Volzhskprodkompleks CJSC Dmitry Litvintsev.
A new sponsor also appeared in the Chelyabinsk regional group, which was impoverished after the sponsor of the local Zhirinovites, businessman Oleg Kolesnikov, left for United Russia, where he received a passing place on the list. The next “wallet” of the South Ural branch was the 33-year-old son of the president of the Eurasian Construction Company, General Director of the Industrial Investments company, Sergei Weinstein.
An original “replacement” also occurred in relation to the former State Duma deputy from the LDPR, a major timber merchant from the Leningrad region, Damir Shadayev. In the Tatarstan regional group of the LDPR list is... his wife Irina Shadayeva, already elected as a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the same, of course, Leningrad region. As they say, a holy place is never empty...
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