The biography of Andrei Ryumin is not wordy. Despite this, after marrying the daughter of the famous Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, Ryumin’s career went up.
If until 2006 he was only engaged in scientific activities, then over the next 15 years he was able to climb the career ladder to the head of the state company Rosseti, where, in a relatively short period of government, he was able to get into a huge number of corruption scandals.
career lift
Andrei Ryumin is an unremarkable young researcher, if not for one “but”. In 2006, he married Viktor Medvedchuk’s daughter Irina. As you know, Medvedchuk has personal close ties with Vladimir Putin, which obviously played a huge role for Ryumin. After Ryumin’s marriage, they begin to be invited to various high positions in lucrative Russian innovative and industrial enterprises. We can say that at that moment a brilliant career was only at the start. In the period from 2011 to 2014, Ryumin first served as First Deputy General Director of United Energy Company OJSC, and then completely headed the enterprise. But in 2014, Ryumin’s career took a sharp turn. He meets the founder of Capital Group, Pavel Te. Ryumin, together with Cho, begin a large-scale building construction activity.
Pavel Te with Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin
Although nothing bad could be said about Cho’s business in those days, in the construction of “sides” they can get out much later. Poor preparation for the construction of a building can lead to tragic consequences. Capital Group, as developers of Moscow-City, either did not foresee, or simply decided to save money on exploration work at the construction site, and as a result, now the area near the houses is dangerous for people.
Asphalt failure near Moscow City
Having played enough in business, in 2016 Ryumin returns to state-owned enterprises. He enters a senior position at Mosenergo, and then moves to Rosseti Lenenergo. In 2021, Ryumin was appointed CEO of Rosseti.
The era of Rosseti
Andrei Ryumin’s predecessor, Pavel Livinsky, went on promotion, and moved from the position of the head of Rosseti to the Department of Energy of the Government. If you look at Livinsky’s declaration, it’s a dream. In the last year of his work as the general director of Rosseti, he officially earned more than 120 million rubles. Of course, such a position is enviable for many. Therefore, the appointment of Ryumin to the enterprises was negotiated at the highest level.
Officially, Rosseti is included in the rating of the most anti-corruption state-owned companies in Russia. They have everything: an anti-corruption policy and a separate department responsible for fighting corruption. But this did not stop over the past 15 years from stealing more than 10 billion rubles from the enterprise. It is clear that all this was done under the guise of top management.
After the arrival of Andrei Ryumin, the position of head of Rosseti, nothing much has changed. Corruption both existed and continued to exist. But Ryumin himself almost immediately found himself at the center of many scandals. After his appointment, the head of the enterprise admitted that Rosseti was unable to cover its own expenses, so the enterprise needed to receive 7.5 billion rubles from the State budget in order not to enter into a long-term debt burden. But how did the debt come about? The fact is that Rosseti is a huge holding that includes many enterprises. As is often the case in the public sector, in such huge business structures, most of the assets are unprofitable. Instead of selling or closing unprofitable factories, they continue to operate at the expense of taxpayers. But the case with Rosseti is much more revealing. Recall that the ex-head of Rosseti, Pavel Livinsky, showed more than 120 million rubles in his declaration. And at the same moment the enterprise itself is drowning in debt.
Pavel Livinskiy
Ryumin also decided to follow Livinsky’s path, asking the Government for an additional budget for the activities of the state-owned enterprise. But there are no fools in the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry immediately sensed something was wrong and opposed additional funding, pointing out that the enterprises had enough of their own resources, and if they managed them correctly, then there would be enough money for everything. Of course, the leadership of Rosseti was not satisfied with this option. In addition to solving real problems, it was also a matter of personal interest. With revenue of more than a trillion rubles in 2021, only a tenth of the funds received could become a profit. This demonstrates the inefficiency of the enterprise management.
But the real problems in the state-owned company were just beginning. Since September 2021, high-profile detentions have begun in the Rosseti structure. The first person to come under investigation was the ex-deputy director general of Rosseti Kuban PJSC Maxim Shchepakin. Law enforcers found that during his work, he was repeatedly seen taking bribes. During a search of his scrap, more than 70 million rubles, 100 thousand dollars were found in cash alone. The case went to court. In May 2022, Shchepakin was sentenced to 8 years in prison and a fine of 125 million rubles.
Maxim Shchepakin at trial
In April of this year, the general director of Rosseti Tyumen, Oleg Petrov, and most of the top management of the regional branch were detained. The head was accused of embezzlement in the total amount of 9 million rubles. But already in June, another criminal case was initiated against Petrov. The investigation is ongoing.
Oleg Petrov
The last high-profile story of recent months related to Rosseti occurred in Altai. Igor Gavrish, the head of a subsidiary of PJSC West Siberian PMES, was also detained there in a corruption case. He was also accused of embezzlement in the amount of 4 million rubles.
And these are high-profile arrests only in recent months. Naturally, corruption in the enterprise is covered personally by its management. It is impossible not to notice multibillion-dollar losses at the place where there may be a profit. And most importantly, then, in order to close the “holes” in the budget that arose as a result of inefficient management and total theft, ask for money from the state budget.
The ring around Andrei Ryumin is shrinking. Corruption completely corrodes Rosseti. Law enforcement officers barely have time to initiate cases against the leaders of the enterprise. But they work effectively, and there is hope for overcoming the problems of the state corporation. Massive personnel changes are needed.