Vladimir Puchkov was granted resignation from the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Apartments of the former deputy head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Difficult financial situation

The FSB searched the brainchild of Sergei Shoigu himself. They look for abuse of authority in government procurement. Since 2015, unknown persons have authorized spending of budget funds many times more than allocated. They say that the head of the department, Puchkov, immediately fell ill.

The wholesale purchase of unmanned aerial vehicles for the Ministry of Emergency Situations led the Investigative Service of the FSB of Russia to initiate a case under Article 286 of the Criminal Code - “Exceeding official powers.”

It so happened that with the knowledge of Vladimir Puchkov, in 2016, the regional department of the Kaluga region became the key customer of equipment for all rescue units of the country, and therefore financially responsible. The security officers did not stop at the provinces and on July 18 came to the central office of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The next day, for the first time, the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations was not present at the Central Attestation Commission.

According to Fontanka, the active phase of the case began in the afternoon of July 18. It was as if they had guessed it right - a few hours after Vladimir Puchkov’s solemn speech about reaching a “qualitatively new level of protection of the population and territories from emergencies and fires” and on the day of the anniversary of the State Supervision Authority, which turned 90 years old.

Ironically, the FSB Investigative Service and operatives from Lubyanka to Moscow, to Vatutina Street, to the Development Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, were brought by a state contract for the purchase of drones, which are unlikely to be able to increase the level of protection of the population.

Let us add that our interlocutors in the capital insist that the FSB entered, if not unceremoniously, then confidently and sternly. In hardware language, this means that at the very top of the Lubyanka they were given a clear task.

As Fontanka already noted a year ago, the Ministry of Emergency Situations made the first mass purchase of Chinese-made drones in 2015. Two hundred aircraft market value less than one hundred thousand rubles (including components) were purchased at a price of 190 thousand per piece. In addition, it turned out that Phantom drones have “domestic” characteristics that do not allow, for example, to search for people in forests. There was an embarrassment, and Vladimir Puchkov’s department made an original move. The following year, 2016, a wholesale purchase of the same Chinese drones was carried out through the regional department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the Kaluga region.

As follows from the official information of the ministry, the Kaluga department was chosen as the customer for the purchase of helicopter-type unmanned aerial systems (quadcopters) in accordance with the decision of the board of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations. According to Fontanka, the key opinion was still the opinion of Vladimir Puchkov.

Moreover, as we see on the official website of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Kaluga Region, on December 16, 2106, information appeared there: “The head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia, Vladimir Puchkov, controlled the production of unmanned aerial vehicles.” In the photo, Puchkov is interested in the production of Unmanned Systems LLC together with the governor, and it is described in detail that the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the Kaluga Region is the customer for 650 devices.

The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations also confirmed that Kaluga became the main procurement site in 2016. Through that department, 650 drones with a video camera (210 thousand rubles each) and 106 drones with a thermal imager were purchased.

The 2015 contracts received attention only from the Accounts Chamber. She drew attention to the obvious high cost of the purchased equipment. This didn't just apply to drones. Firefighting tankers were purchased at 15 million rubles per unit with a nominal value of 6.5 million. The 2016 contracts outlined a dangerous trend, and the FSB got involved.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia denies information about the detention of employees of the central apparatus of the department in the case of abuse of power, specifying that “the deputy head of one of the regional departments” has been brought in as a suspect. If he turns out to be from Kaluga, it will not surprise anyone. Indeed, according to our information, on the same day, July 18, counterintelligence officers also conducted a search in the Kaluga department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. And it was the deputy chief who was taken away from there.

As Fontanka is now unofficially commented in Kaluga, “we were simply set up: they gave an order, but the management carried it out.” But the investigation has a slightly different approach to procurement. Like, they set themselves up.

Note that, of course, everyone at the Ministry of Emergency Situations pronounces the name Puchkov. Predictable personnel conspiracy theories begin. Moreover, after the solemn words about a qualitatively new level of protection for the population, Vladimir Puchkov remained in his office until the evening, and then disappeared from the public and corporate field of view. The day before, on July 19, for the first time he did not arrive at the meeting of the Central Attestation Commission, which he heads. It was conducted by his first deputy Vladimir Stepanov. There is no information that the minister is on vacation.

So he got sick.

"Pimp" from the Ministry of Emergency Situations?

The head of the Siberian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Sergei Didenko, got into a major scandal: he called the rescuer who approached the president a “prostitute.” And after this the general will be promoted?

Ex-employee of the disbanded Ural Aviation Rescue Center Anatoly Dolgovykh wrote open letter to the president criticizing the Emergency Situations Ministry system. In response, the head of the Siberian regional center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, as reported by a correspondent of The Moscow Post, called the Dolgovs a person with “low social responsibility.”

Considering that quite recently Vladimir Putin used the same phrase in relation to the priestesses of love, what we are talking about is not at all difficult to guess.

I don't want to take all these nuances: they are so petty and just show a very low social responsibility a man who decided to throw a fly in the ointment into the barrel of honey. We are ready for this, for God’s sake: honey always pushes out everything foreign. I don’t want to say that we are honey, we are the Ministry of Emergency Situations, although the initial letters are similar. Anyone can stop any car and find 100 defects in it or go into any institution and find 100 defects in it. This is called “criticism,” Didenko said.

To harshly criticize his former subordinate, the lieutenant general was not too lazy to fly to the Urals and hold a big press conference in Yekaterinburg. At the same time, he replaced the head of the Ural division. And despite the fact that the official reason for Valery Kudinov’s resignation from his position was his own desire, it seems that this is how his subordinate’s letter came back to haunt him.

Heavy financial situation

General Didenko is generally moving quite briskly up the career ladder. Having worked for more than 10 years in command posts in the Ministry of Defense, in 2011-2015 he headed the Department of Civil Protection of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, and in 2015 he was appointed head of the Siberian Regional Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, into which the Ural and Siberian divisions were then combined.

He also worked as deputy head of the Volga regional center, where he received the rank of general. For what merits, however, is unknown. But, according to his subordinates, he was also a tyrant - he allegedly mocked his subordinates and put them in a corner, and having received a “suggestion” from above, he took out his anger on the employees. Evil tongues say that when he left Moscow to work in Nizhny Novgorod, they hardly cried with joy - will they really welcome him back now?

He also behaved interestingly when he headed the SRC of the Ministry of Emergency Situations: in January 2016, it turned out that he asked... for financial assistance in the amount of 600 thousand rubles due to his “difficult financial situation.” And I got it! And here the question arises: if a general who has taken a high position (and at the same time received a substantial increase in salary) complains of poverty, then how do his subordinates live?

Or was Didenko lying and simply putting Minister Vladimir Puchkov in an awkward position?

Burning Siberia

One of the main ideas of the letter from the former airborne rescuer, which he published on his page on social networks, was the lack of communication between pilots and rescuers as such. He also drew attention to the lack of helicopters, parachutes and the general terrible state of equipment.

And everything would be fine - really, which department is completely satisfied with the logistics? - but the Ministry of Emergency Situations has been performing its duties so poorly lately that this leads to certain thoughts.

Forests burn in Siberia every year. By the end of June, the total area of ​​fires exceeded 75 thousand hectares; even the Baikal-Lena Nature Reserve in the Irkutsk region was burning. Transbaikalia is choking in smoke; the area of ​​forest fires in the first half of summer increased by 3 thousand hectares almost every day. And now it turns out that the rescuers are unable to do their job due to the poor state of the equipment. Although funds are constantly allocated for these purposes. So where are they?

Consequences of Didenko's work?

For example, 1.74 billion rubles were allocated by the Ministry of Emergency Situations for the purchase of Be-200 fire-fighting amphibious aircraft. No one ever saw the planes, because instead of them they bought... fire trucks. To Crimea. And the Siberian unit, instead of the latest highly efficient aircraft, received one helicopter, which is used in an unknown place and how.

However, representatives of the department cheerfully responded to the investigative committee’s claims: if we had not used the money, it would have been stolen. Well, well, no matter how it is! Maybe someone in Puchkov’s department simply received kickbacks?

It seems that this would not surprise anyone at the emergency response center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. For example, Evgeniy Leshchev, an employee of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the Omsk Region, was imprisoned for kickbacks. During the construction of the Ural Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, which is also subordinate to General Didenko, 25 million rubles were stolen. There, in the Urals, a fire station near Novouralsk remained unfinished, the money for which was also stolen. And all this no longer looks like isolated cases, but like an established system.

Was it a waste of time?

It looks like Didenko truly deserves the promotion. It’s even funnier that if he does get the post of deputy minister, he will be put in the place of Leonid Belyaev, who became vacant in November 2016. He is still being investigated by the military prosecutor's office of the St. Petersburg garrison and the prosecutor's office of St. Petersburg.

Belyaev headed the St. Petersburg Ministry of Emergency Situations from 2006 to 2015. During this time, his family purchased about 20 apartments. And the money for this, it seems, was taken from the corruption schemes he was running, including money paid to him by developers for “biased” approval of their work. The total volume of detected violations exceeded 10 billion rubles. Against this background, it already seems insignificant that he got his nephew a good position in the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

And only the department sighed without Belyaev - they prepared a replacement for him. And it seems that Didenko can achieve even greater “success” in his post than the previous deputy minister. But before implementing the accumulated experience, he should remember that his predecessor will most likely end up in prison...

The security officers were primarily interested in contracts for the purchase of unmanned aerial vehicles, or quadcopters as they are called. The Ministry of Emergency Situations once concluded contracts with one of the Chinese companies to supply a batch of drones to Russia. We were talking about 200 drones, which the ministry purchased for 190 thousand rubles. per piece, for a total of 38 million rubles. At the same time, according to the inspectors, the retail price of each drone was 60 thousand rubles. According to the findings of inspectors of the Accounts Chamber, the Ministry of Emergency Situations not only inflated the price of drones, but the aircraft also turned out to be unable to perform the functions required of them in rescue operations. As a result, damage from concluded contracts, within which the price for each aircraft , according to investigators, was inflated several times, estimated at about 30 million rubles. In addition, it became known that in 2016 the ministry was going to purchase 700 similar Chinese quadcopters, but for 210 thousand rubles each, which would cost the budget 147 million rubles. As some media outlets write, no charges have yet been brought against specific ministry officials. But there is no doubt that this will happen soon. Missing three tens of millions of rubles is not like running to the store for cigarettes. And this is budget money, by the way. In general, the MSCh, with the arrival of its first head Vladimir Kryuchkov, became an emergency ministry in every sense. There is scandal after scandal around him. One has only to remember the last of them. Siberian microelectronics Last year, the head of the department of the main department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for the Novosibirsk region, Renat Aptrashov, was taken into custody. He was accused of accepting bribes. As the investigation established, the bribers were representatives of two commercial enterprises producing microelectronic equipment. An inspection of medical personnel showed that safety rules were grossly violated at the enterprises. Company leaders turned to the chief regional rescuer for help. Little was required of him: not to draw up official protocols on identified violations. Aptrashov agreed to this. And he asked both companies for money to improve his life. They gave it. And not only with money. The head of the rescue department asked for more in kind - 10 tons of paving slabs and a ton of cement. Naturally, for our own needs. After all, the life of a rescuer is not sweet. I received it too. Only Aptrashov didn’t have a chance to lay the tiles. The Emchees member was grabbed under the white hands by the competent authorities. It should be noted that the participants in the investigation of the Aptrashov case presented the court with the following arguments in favor of the arrest of the person involved in the case: allegedly he could hide, use his connections that were preserved in the main office, put pressure on witnesses and persuade them to give the testimony he needed. And now he lays tiles in other places, and not at his own dacha. No longer in personal, but in public interests. Khakass bribe-taker At one time, the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Khakassia, Andrei Firsov, became a defendant in the criminal case. He was accused of bribery and regular extortion from his subordinates. The rescuer was taken into custody. According to the investigation, Firsov organized a valuable criminal group within his department. She was engaged in demanding bribes from employees for bonuses issued to them. Moreover, in the amount of almost half of the premium amount. As they said, over the course of several years, Firsov personally enriched himself by 2 million rubles from his subordinates. True, Firsov unexpectedly came under amnesty and the case against him was closed. Rumors and whisperers said that the head of the Khakass department had a furry hand in the capital. Let us recall that in mid-2015, investigators “waited” for an amnesty and closed the criminal case against the ex-head of the Khakass Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Andrei Firsov. The employee was accused of bribery and extortion from subordinates. Firsov was detained after charges of bribery were brought against him and a whole group of his subordinates, who demanded that service employees transfer to them part of the bonus they received for the opportunity to count on subsequent rewards! From March 2009 to December 2012, Andrei Firsov personally received more than 2 million rubles. Several leaders of Khakass rescuers were involved in the case of illegal bonuses. Firsov had connections in Moscow... Werewolves in uniform Several years ago, a story thundered throughout the country about how representatives of several law enforcement agencies at once organized a criminal community for the purpose of extorting and receiving bribes. The group included employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Emergency Situations. And the leader of this gang was the highest-ranking person involved in the case - General of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation Vladimir Ganeev. True, here too everything ended relatively well for werewolves in uniform. Although they were sentenced to real terms, they were soon released under an amnesty. General Ganeev also came out. Behind all this is the figure of the current head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Vladimir Puchkov. He has headed the department since 2012. And before that he was the head of the Northwestern Regional Center. And even there he managed to leave some traces. Here it is worth remembering the scandal when the regional center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the North-West, using the Autodesk 3ds Max program, created a three-dimensional database of geoimages (primarily, potentially dangerous objects - nuclear power plants, hydroelectric power stations and chemical industry enterprises). Moreover, the purchase of 12 licenses and training of 20 employees cost the budget as much as 2 million rubles. After becoming a minister, Puchkov carried out the so-called optimization in his ranks. 2,800 employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations were laid off. This year, the once exemplary Ministry of Emergency Situations stopped paying ordinary employees salaries! In the Chelyabinsk, Vladimir, Kaluga and Kirov regions they also could not find money to pay employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Before the New Year, a scandal broke out when the heads of the EMERCOM in the Perm Territory paid themselves bonuses, and ordinary employees were offered to take out loans to celebrate 2016! The whole country is burning in forest fires, choking in floods, and the leadership of the rescue ministry is cheating with the purchase of drones, which, in fact, are intended for reconnaissance and prevention of various types of natural disasters.

How rescue steel was hardened

“Now the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry has its own army, special services, government, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, air fleet, financial and industrial groups. Shoigu’s empire includes: Crisis Management Center, search and rescue services, civil defense troops, State Central Airmobile Rescue detachment, Center for Special Risk Rescue Operations "Leader", All-Russian Research Institute for Civil Defense and Emergency Situations, State Unitary Aviation Enterprise, All-Russian Center for Monitoring and Forecasting, Academy of Civil Defense, Russian Center for Rescuer Training, Agency for Support and coordination of Russian participation in international humanitarian operations (Emercom agency), the Russian National Emergency Humanitarian Response Corps and much more.

Sergei Shoigu began creating his rescue paramilitary empire in 1991. The idea of ​​organizing a rescue service to replace the ineffective USSR Civil Defense system turned out to be very useful. New Russian service was named the Russian Rescue Corps, then - the RSFSR State Committee for Emergency Situations, and then became the Russian Federation State Committee for Civil Defense, Emergency Situations and Disaster Relief. Created from scratch, it was in the right place at the right time. The collapsing “single economy” of the USSR produced man-made disasters with depressing regularity.

Sergei Kuzhugetovich himself successfully fit into the new political and economic reality. At the dawn of the formation of Russian statehood, the young and efficient Shoigu managed to obtain the premises of the commission of the Council of Ministers of the USSR (“Doguzhiev commission”), which was involved in the restoration of Armenia after the 1989 earthquake, for a new service. The building was located in the center of Moscow and was simply crammed with special communications.

In 1994, the Russian Federation State Committee for Civil Defense, Emergency Situations and Disaster Relief was transformed into a ministry. The change in status and the favor of the top allowed Shoigu to continue the methodical construction of the rescue vertical. In the conditions of scarce funding in the early 90s, Shoigu showed himself to be a skilled business executive of a new type: money for the maintenance of the ministry was obtained through personal connections, earned by the commercial structures of the Ministry of Emergency Situations itself, and received as humanitarian aid from the West. As a result, Shoigu's department became one of the most well-equipped ministries.

One of the ministry’s first successful commercial projects was participation in the TV Bingo Show lottery. Then the Emercom agency was created under the Ministry of Emergency Situations. He was instructed to purchase rescue equipment for the ministry and import it duty-free into Russia.

Like many other structures, the agency traded in “black gold.” 73.5 million barrels of Iraqi oil were sold through Emercom as part of the Oil-for-Food program. The company earned about $7.6 million from this.

In 1995, the State Unitary Aviation Enterprise (SUAP) was created under the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Now the ministry’s aviation fleet can be the envy of even the Ministry of Internal Affairs: 5 transport airliners Il-76 TD, a passenger Il-62 M equipped with special communications - a total of 12 airplanes and 29 helicopters (mostly of the Franco-German concern Evrocopter). In 2005, the ministry's aviation should be replenished with 3 more An-3 aircraft and 2 Be-200 ChS amphibious aircraft, 1 of which NPK Irkut will transfer to the Ministry of Emergency Situations at the end of May.

The staff of the Ministry of Emergency Situations also expanded. At first, the ranks of rescuers were formed by the Civil Defense Forces of the USSR reassigned to the Ministry of Civil Defense - mostly retired military personnel leaving the rapidly impoverished army. Now there are about 370 thousand people subordinate to the ministry.

Shoigu’s cherished dream was to join his department with the fire service, which was part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. However, the minister was able to realize his plans only by 2002: as a reward for supporting United Russia and Vladimir Putin personally at parliamentary and presidential elections 1999-2000. By the way, the issue of joining the fire service to the Ministry of Emergency Situations had serious financial grounds and was removed from the agenda only when the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations agreed that the funds from the pension and social fund firefighters will remain on the accounts of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Main Fire Service (GFS), the jewel in the crown of the EMERCOM empire, has about 300 thousand personnel, a branched structure in the regions, and a huge budget.

Shoigu was unable to implement another idea - to subordinate Gostekhnadzor and Gosatomnadzor. If successful, these services would give the Ministry of Emergency Situations the right to close or temporarily suspend the work of any enterprise due to non-compliance with the technological regime.

It is now obvious that Shoigu’s organization has reached the limits of its power and, apparently, will not grow any further. The budget for the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations for 2005 was formed on the same principles as law enforcement ministries and departments and is nonetheless impressive. It amounts to 20.420 billion rubles, not counting the funding allocated as a separate line for “fire safety” (12 billion rubles).

The budget provides for a more than 6.4-fold increase in spending (compared to last year) to increase the readiness of civil defense forces to protect the population and territories in peacetime and war, as well as 965 million rubles for the maintenance and equipment of the state inspectorate for small vessels.

In 2005, 1.3 billion rubles will be allocated from the budget to equip the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations with modern aviation equipment. For the phased technical re-equipment of the State Fire Service, 980 million rubles are provided. To implement measures to reform the civil defense forces and complete the construction of infrastructure facilities for rescue centers on Lake Baikal and the south of the country - 248 million rubles.

President's Rescuers

Photo by Sergey TETERIN

How peaceful the rescue profession should be is an open question. The last major natural disaster that happened in the USSR - the earthquake in Spitak - showed that it is necessary not only to clear the rubble of destroyed buildings, set up field hospitals, look for survivors under the rubble, but also protect against looters. So the presence of armed units in the Ministry of Emergency Situations is justified. Nevertheless, it is still worth raising the question: are the units of the Ministry of Emergency Situations capable of conducting “non-rescue” operations.

Few people know that the “rescue” structures created by Shoigu were initially conceived as a small army ready to support the country’s new president, Boris Yeltsin. To the young builder Sergei Shoigu, whom Yeltsin met back in the days of disgrace, when Shoigu worked as deputy chairman State Committee RSFSR in architecture and construction, the first president treated him with sympathy and trust.

When creating the Ministry of Emergency Situations, developments were used to create a National Guard in Russia, conceived as a support for the president and a counterweight in case the army found itself on the other side of the barricades. In the highest echelons of power, the concept of creating a guard was ultimately rejected. But the regional centers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations were divided into the same districts in which it was planned to station the guards.

In 1997, Shoigu proposed a plan for reforming the Ministry of Emergency Situations. According to the minister’s plan, first of all, the security section of the ministry was expected to expand and strengthen with new personnel. There were 122 general positions alone in the new structure of the ministry: 9 colonel generals, 33 lieutenant generals, 76 major generals and 4 rear admirals. The head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations received the rank of army general.

At the same time, Shoigu already had an elite unit armed with light small arms. In any case, Sergei Kozhugetovich himself, speaking in the Duma in 1997, unequivocally admitted this.

However, then Shoigu’s plan was not supported by the country’s leadership. In 1998, the State Duma Security Committee sent the then director of the FSB, Vladimir Putin, an official letter No. 315-2666 with a request to carefully check the information that in Moscow, the Moscow region, Noginsk, Novogorsk there are support bases in which units of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are preparing events intended for the hour " X". This request indicated that a special forces battalion of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and a central command post were stationed in the villages of Ustye and Porechye, located near Ruza. And in Tyoply Stan the so-called anti-terrorist center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations is located. There was also information about the creation of its own special forces within the structure of the Ministry of Emergency Situations - with sniper weapons and personnel recruited from retirees of Vympel and Alpha and GRU special forces.

It is unlikely that this information was news to the country’s chief security officer. According to a former employee of the presidential administration, in mid-1997 Shoigu sent a secret document to the Kremlin - “On the prospects for the development of the Ministry of Emergency Situations”, in which he insisted on creating an anti-terrorist center and a special forces battalion to ensure the security of the existing constitutional order.

Now there are about 40 thousand “bayonets” in the paramilitary civil defense units. These units are armed with small arms and bladed weapons and light armored vehicles, such as the BTR-80. It is quite difficult to imagine that these forces could now be some kind of alternative to the army. Even non-military structures look much more impressive compared to the Ministry of Emergency Situations. More than 300 thousand people work in the same private security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, and the number internal troops Today there are almost 200 thousand people, the explosives are armed with modern armored vehicles and military transport helicopters.

Nevertheless, on at least two occasions, the forces of the Ministry of Emergency Situations were used for other purposes. During August events In 1991, rescuers participated in organizing the defense of the White House and distributed small arms to the population from Civil Defense warehouses. In October 1993, by order of Gaidar, Shoigu allocated weapons to Muscovites who took to the streets at the call of the democrats. Batteers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations participated in the storming of the Khasbulatov Supreme Council (“Profile” No. 37 (159) dated 10/04/1999).

So Sergei Shoigu can take his rescuers onto the streets if others do not want to do this. Times, however, have changed. The current president does not need the services of “pocket armies”. Coming from the FSB, he enjoys the support of the intelligence services. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is headed and controlled by former counterintelligence officers. A native of the SVR, Sergei Ivanov looks after the army. So there is no political need for the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the form in which it exists now. If the ministry is not disbanded, then the power component in it will steadily decline."

April 3rd, 2017

It's good to be a minister. And a minister-reformer is even better. You reform yourself as God wishes, but of course, taking into account your interests, and in the Kremlin you talk about “changes for the better” that are about to begin. Well, very soon - in a year, two, three, twenty, fifty. And the most amazing thing is that even if the ministerial business concerns the main thing - saving people, their lives, then a well-trained minister will be able to tell his superiors another story about difficult circumstances, about the lack of funding, about the lack of good specialists. This is what happens. And then, in my opinion, the minister turns into unsinkable ballast, that is, he, the minister, seems to exist, pretends to be doing something, imitates the desire to do “the best,” but based on the results of his work, it seems to be absent. And the overall situation is getting worse and worse, moving into a position of outright danger.

It is clear that we are talking about the head of the Ministry Russian Federation for civil defense, emergency situations and disaster relief, Lieutenant General of the Reserve Vladimir Andreevich Puchkov.

And so that no one doubts everything said above, I will simply cite some facts and figures that Mr. Minister of Emergency Situations, it seems to me, prefers not to remember, including in reports to the country’s leadership. But I still dare to remind you, since the actions of the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation Puchkov, allegedly aimed at implementing the “Plan for the construction and development of forces of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia for 2016 - 2020”, judging by the facts given below, jeopardized the effectiveness of the functioning of the entire system of ensuring national security .

Story one. Personnel and money.

Misuse of financial resources by the leadership of the Ministry and violation of the rules of the budget code, specified in the Report of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation dated May 31, 2016, ultimately led to a budget deficit for the Ministry of Emergency Situations for 2015-2016. And as a result of the deficit, wage arrears at the beginning of 2016 amounted to about 4.5 billion rubles.

What does Minister Puchkov do in this situation? Does he appeal to the Chairman of the Government, the President, repent of his own oversight, write a letter of resignation or a confession to the Prosecutor General's Office? No. Vladimir Puchkov finds another equally exciting solution. To compensate for the debt wages, the largest reduction in the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation begins - to date, more than 30% of the employees of the ministry responsible for rescuing citizens have been fired.

And one more thing. Of course, it is not the officials of the central apparatus, nor the assistants, advisers and secretaries of the minister who are being fired, but the operational staff of the fire departments of the territorial bodies of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations. Think about these words. Proof? Please:

And now some numbers. More than 60 percent (sixty percent!!!) of employees of the State Fire Supervision, 100 percent of all firefighters over 45 years of age are being laid off (without taking into account their qualifications, work experience and the degree of demand for specialists, that is, the most experienced professionals are being laid off), more than 50 percent of aviators, rescuers of various services, including paramilitary mine rescue units of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, which in the future are planned to be completely destroyed. Of course, one can present this mass layoff to the authorities as economic “optimization,” but in fact, vast areas of the country were left without cover and protection of the population from the consequences of emergencies and incidents.

So in 2014, there were twelve and a half thousand vacant positions in the ministry, and in 2017, thanks to layoffs using the “Puchkov method,” 58 thousand (fifty-eight thousand!!!) vacancies were created in the Ministry of Emergency Situations, that is, five times more. Moreover, the majority of highly professional rescuers were fired. And now the question is: for what purpose is such a massive vacancy of positions taking place? In my opinion, the answer is very simple: the fact is that the wage fund, financed from the federal budget, is not decreasing at all, but is growing, regardless of massive layoffs. That is, money for salaries of employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations is allocated in the planned amount, but the number of workers decreases and, accordingly, thanks to the presence of 58 thousand “dead souls”, huge financial surpluses are formed. It turns out that the bill amounts to billions of rubles, which are used to pay off both long-standing wage arrears and other expense items using cunning paper adjustments.

The second story. Manual statistics or where fires go

Also no less fascinating are the statistics of the “victories” of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, which Minister Puchkov heroically achieved. With the help of amazing digital reporting games, "the number of fires and dead year decreases from year to year.” But this number is decreasing, as can be seen from the documents, not because of the wise leadership of the structures of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, but due to manipulations with statistics.

As a result, in the absence of a well-functioning system of departmental control (including in connection with the liquidation of regional centers), the formation of objective fire statistics in each specific subject of the Russian Federation remains solely “on the conscience” of the head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, for whom fire reduction indicators are one one of the main criteria for evaluating its activities by senior management. Today, facts of violations of the statistical accounting procedure are revealed everywhere, but it turns out that these facts are hidden by the top leadership of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Here are just a few terrible examples of recent times: in April 2016, based on the results of consideration of a complaint and an inspection carried out in one of the Main Directorates of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the facts of “failure to register” 4 dead in 2015 were established, and in 4 months of 2016 - already 18 dead. To understand the scale of the all-Russian fire disaster, it makes sense to consider the number of fire departments responding to reports of fires and fires. Thus, at the end of 2015, the official analysis of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations recorded 385,696 trips to sunbathing, while at the end of 2013 this indicator amounted to 275,939. So, there was an increase in the number of departures over two years by 40 percent (forty percent!!!). But, with an increase in fires of forty percent, the official reporting figures from Mr. Puchkov’s department are surprising. Attention! It turns out that the number of registered fires in 2015, compared to 2013, somehow mysteriously decreased by 4.5% (152,959 fires occurred in 2013, 145,686 in 2015). I doubt that citizens are one and a half times more likely to call firefighters by mistake or to a fire in a nearby trash can.

Story three. How much are tanks today?

In addition to the exciting games listed above with reports on fires and thousands of “dead souls” paid from the budget, the citizen minister-rescuer, judging by the facts given below, is actively involved in certain commercial enterprises that make it possible to ensure comfortable retirement years. I, of course, cannot claim that there were direct kickbacks in favor of Minister Puchkov himself, one of his associates or relatives, but the strange stories that occur with the purchase of expensive fire-fighting equipment at the expense of the budget raise vague doubts about the crystal honesty interested parties. Here's just one of those stories.

So, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, including to “provide the World Cup in 2018,” needed additional fire tankers “with improved tactical and technical characteristics of a medium type with a tank volume of at least 3.2 cubic meters.” They were needed in quite large quantities and in 2016 a decision was made to purchase one hundred tank trucks. Of course, from the budget. Moreover, in 2015, the cost of one such tank for the Ministry of Emergency Situations was 16 million rubles, but in 2016, in the bowels of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the price in the “purchase plan for the year” for some reason is corrected to... 18 million rubles, for some reason increasing their cost by 200 million rubles

However, the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia for the city of Moscow, contrary to the wishes of the minister, conducted an independent review of market offers and found average price for tanks, again, only 16 million rubles. In addition, the disobedient Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia for the city of Moscow informed the authorities that in accordance with the law, if the purchase amount exceeds one billion rubles, it is necessary to hold public hearings. Which is exactly what was planned.

And suddenly, in May 2016, Minister of Emergency Situations Puchkov unexpectedly canceled the purchase of fire-fighting tankers, and a month later, in June, now the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Crimea announced the purchase of the same fire-fighting tanks, with the same technical data and in the same total quantity. But the number turns out to be divided into several positions, which made it possible to do without “useless” public hearings. And at a price... 20 million rubles for each tank! That is, the total order amount of 1,600,000,000 rubles turned from 2,000,000,000 rubles, forming a “top” of 400 million rubles that disappeared from the budget!

And just imagine, the auction for the “GU EMERCOM of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Crimea” ended successfully and a certain company JSC “PO Special Fire Extinguishing Equipment” won the victory, which, as it turned out, for last year I have received, probably by a strange coincidence, already more than 50 percent of the entire budget of the ministry under the “procurement plan.”

Here is a price comparison table for completely identical “firefighting tank trucks” with improved tactical and technical characteristics of a medium type with a tank volume of at least 3.2 cubic meters. On the left is the purchase by the Ministry of Emergency Situations, made on December 10, 2014 at a price of 15,951,241 rubles per unit, and on the right is the “Crimean purchase” of the same product, made by the Ministry of Emergency Situations in June 2016, but at a price of 24,000,000 rubles per unit. Feel the difference:

And please note that “one application was allowed: CJSC Production Association “Special Fire Extinguishing Equipment”. How did this happen? And this happened because the other two “applicants” were simply not allowed to participate in the auction.

And another no less fascinating and inexplicable fact. Here is an extract from one of the official reports of the Ministry of Emergency Situations about the held (and failed) auctions for the purchase of those same “medium-type fire tankers with improved tactical and technical characteristics with a tank volume of at least 3.2 cubic meters.” As already indicated, in order to bypass public hearings, the total tanks purchased were divided into several lots. Here is the official history of one of the lots of ten units:

See for yourself: on May 11, 2016, the auction for the purchase of ten fire tanks by the Ministry of Emergency Situations at a price of 217 million 475 thousand rubles was successfully canceled in Moscow, and on June 29, 2016 (a month and a half later!!!) it was successfully held in Crimea, but at a price... 240 million rubles. Where did the difference of 22 and a half million rubles go? And this is only for ten out of hundreds of fire tanks. Oh yes. According to the technical conditions, all fire tanks were to be delivered not to Crimea, where the auction took place, but to... Noginsk near Moscow. Well, that's just an addition.

I wonder why the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Vladimir Puchkov, knowing full well about such, so to speak, “purchases,” is politely silent? Maybe he's just busy? Or thinking about salvation Russian citizens? Moreover, he has room to think. For example, in a luxurious VIP super-liner or in luxury cars purchased with budget money.

Story four. About a beautiful life

It’s interesting how it turns out - as soon as a person turns into a minister, his needs immediately increase significantly, and in strict accordance with the position he holds. Of course, if he is a minister, then he is supposed to have a plane and a limousine. This is a no brainer. But for some reason, in most cases, a minister-person is somehow unaware that the level of his personal benefits (comfort of flights, travel, and so on at the expense of the state budget) should be at least minimally consistent with the general situation in the department entrusted to him. That is, if the ministry is in complete trouble, say, with salary payments, transport aviation and other priority tasks, then it is somehow not very ethical to buy expensive VIP airliners and luxury limousines for yourself, your loved one, at the expense of the budget.

So, I’ll start with, perhaps, the most striking example that occurred in the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergency Situations and Disaster Relief.

For some reason, items aimed at developing the priority areas of the Ministry’s activities almost completely disappeared from the procurement plan for the needs of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for 2016. Thus, last year the acquisition of two IL-76 aircraft and a Mi-26 helicopter was excluded, and the provision of equipment to rescue military units, Arctic centers, and specialized fire and rescue units was significantly reduced. At the same time, the purchase of machinery and equipment for equipping the airmobile hospital of the Tsentrospas detachment was excluded, subsidies for the fulfillment of state assignments by aviation rescue centers of regional centers, subsidies for equipping training and methodological centers of the Federal Border Guard Service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia disappeared somewhere.

Well, at the same time, by the way, in June 2016, in a number of regional centers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations,... anti-corruption departments were cut.

And shortly before the above-mentioned “exceptions,” the Ministry of Emergency Situations, in violation of the main functions and tasks, purchased an aircraft based on the short-haul aircraft RRJ-95LR-100 (Sukhoi Superjet), equipped with a 19-seat VIP cabin and other oligarchic pleasures. And why “in violation of the basic functions and tasks of the Ministry of Emergency Situations”? But because this aircraft does not provide such additional functionality as fire extinguishing, medical evacuation, or parachute delivery of cargo. And the colors of the acquired luxury, approved by the minister, do not at all correspond to the “color scheme for painting the aircraft of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Thus, from the federal budget allocated to ensure the activities and fulfillment of the tasks of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia, cash in the amount of (attention!) 1.9 billion rubles (32 million dollars at the exchange rate!) for the purchase of an aircraft that does not correspond to the main goals and objectives of the Ministry of Emergency Situations (the luxury of the minister is clearly not included in the main goals and objectives). And it looks especially strange against the backdrop of the general difficult situation in aviation support for the activities of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, associated with the aging fleet of aircraft of the IL-76 and BE-200 class, the lack of funds for carrying out planned and major repairs aircraft. Thus, the BE-200 ChS aircraft No. RF-32767 was repaired for more than a year and a half.

But this is not all that Minister Puchkov wished for. As the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation managed to find out (which was confirmed and supplemented by my investigation), in violation of the requirements of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 20, 2014 No. 1084, which limits the luxury of official cars, on February 6, 2015, the Ministry of Emergency Situations purchased two BMW 750 Li Drive cars with the maximum configuration for price... 13.6 million rubles. And the most interesting thing is that in the procurement these two luxury sedans were designed as a “mobile control center”.

Also, on December 14, 2015, the Ministry of Emergency Situations purchased an AUDI A8 L car in the highest configuration at a price of 7 million 600 thousand rubles, and for some reason this car was also called a “mobile communication point.” And three days later, on December 17, 2015, another BMW 750 Li X-Drive was purchased for the leadership of Russian rescuers for 4 million 100 thousand rubles, and this car-miracle, of course, was also called a “mobile communication point.” Not bad? Really? Can you imagine any rescue operations taking place with the help of these multimillion-dollar luxury special equipment?

And, as we managed to find out, two luxury BMW 750 Li Drive cars purchased for 13 million 800 thousand rubles are assigned to the Minister of Civil Defense, Emergencies and Disaster Relief Vladimir Puchkov (I don’t understand, why two? On one - the Minister work, and on the other - my wife to the store?), and the rest of the cars are in the reserve of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations “for management”.

Here is just a small part of the stories about the “main rescuer of Russia” and his exploits in the field of saving his compatriots. And I would like to hope that the General Prosecutor’s Office and other regulatory authorities will still check with Minister Puchkov about where the money owed is going “ dead souls", and also how identical fire tanks were first purchased with budget money for 16 million, and then for 24 million, and where did the difference go?