More and more facts are emerging in favor of the fact that the current governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Uss and Deputy Prime Minister Khloponin could be involved in the activities of the “Church of the Last Testament” and illegal logging.
According to the correspondent MorningNews, another criminal case has been initiated in the Krasnoyarsk Territory related to the religious organization “Church of the Last Testament” (TsPZ). This time it concerns the abuse of power in approving the general plan of the settlements of the TsPZ community, which occupied, among other things, forest fund plots. The investigation materials include the amount of damage in excess of 100 million rubles.
In the public domain, the specific names of the defendants are not mentioned, but judging by the plot of the case, it will probably be about officials of the Cheremshansky village council of the Kuraginsky district. Could they act without the knowledge of the representatives of the governor’s corps, up to the very head of the region, Alexander Uss, who had previously made no secret of his sympathy for the activities of the TsPZ community? Hardly.
And the investigation may also have questions to the former governor of the region, then deputy chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Russian Federation, and now a successful businessman and adviser to the rector of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation Alexander Khloponin. At one time, when he was the governor of Krasnoyarsk, the TsPZ enjoyed the maximum favorable treatment.
Sectarians on government contracts
Today it is no longer a secret that, until the scandal broke out, the highest ranks of the regional level communicated with the rector of the community of the TsPZ Vissarion (known “in the world” as a former police officer Sergey Torop) and gave flattering reviews about him. What is it – an epidemic of obscurantism in a particular region, or a non-standard precedent of public-private partnership with a religious bias?
Vissarion continues to preach even behind bars
Recall that the scandal around the TsPZ, which is also called the community of Vissarion, has not subsided for almost two years. Sergey Torop himself and his two closest associates Vadim Redkin and Vladimir Vedernikov have been in jail since September 2020 on charges of creating an organization that infringes on the personality and rights of citizens, in other words, a religious sect.
But the economic component of the activity of the TsPZ, as well as its connections with officials, is no less fascinating story.
In particular, it was the structures close to the TsPZ that got contracts for the construction of so-called zaimok, where the Krasnoyarsk elite and their guests rest. One of them, the Zorkiy Falcon, registered with Imeni Lope de Vega LLC in the Balakhtinsky District of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, was visited more than once by the Governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Alexander Uss, where he received guests from other regions, including from Moscow.
One of the elite cottages that the “Vissarionites” built presumably for officials
Against the backdrop of a wild scandal in 2020, Uss did not deny that he was familiar with members of the scandalous community, but called his communication with them meetings as part of working trips around the region.
At the same time, there was a rumor earlier that the “Vissarionites” were building a house for him on the 37th plot in the village of Akulinino, on his personal estate in the Balakhtinsky district of the region, and they also said that the sectarians could reconstruct the governor’s bath in the residence of “Sosny” in July-August 2020. Apparently, this information has not been officially confirmed.
But the TV channel REN TV reported that he had accurate data on the receipt by Sergei Torop and his deputies of millions from the regional budget. At the same time, the journalists referred to an extract from the settlement account of the “Istoki” school, which the community built for itself, where the size of the regional subsidy was clearly stated – more than eight million in 2019 alone.
The purpose of the subsidy was to support the educational program, to put it mildly, dubious. And often schools manage to get such funds from the regional budget?..
In this photo, Alexander Uss could have been taken surrounded by members of the Bessarion community during a visit to them. True, reliable data on who exactly these people were still not presented.
The community received large injections from the regional budget during the Universiade-2019 – more than 25 million rubles. As writes “Taiga.info”, allegedly the money went to the followers of the god Vissarion according to a very unusual scheme: in the form of a regular donation from the Kraslesinvest company, which contracted to build a wooden town for the festival of architecture, transferred funds for its construction to the Union of Timber Manufacturers, and he, in turn, hired followers of Vissarion – Tkachenko and Salfetnikova – as contractors. If so, then this is puzzling.
Moreover, the TsPZ was also mentioned in the context of the investigation into the case of the former head of the Krasnoyarsk Ministry of Forestry Dmitry Maslodudov and his brother. According to investigators, a high-ranking official patronized the large logging company Kraslestorg, the founders of which were acquaintances of his brother Yuri Maslodudov. Wrote about that story “Kommersant”.
The ex-official, who headed the department for more than two and a half years, is suspected of receiving especially large bribes, and his brother is suspected of mediating their transfer. The brother was already convicted last year, and the ex-minister is still waiting for the verdict.
Meanwhile, there are still rumors that the Maslodudovs (the ex-minister is a creature of Uss, because he was a member of his government) could also allegedly be related to the activities of sectarians. Even if not, this corruption scandal, like a drop of water, reflects the entire unfavorable situation with corruption in the forest industry under the current governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
Khloponin in the know?
The TsPZ community has existed for almost 30 years. And her story gives serious reasons to believe that the former governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Alexander Khloponin could patronize the TsPZ. At least, it is known for sure that Khloponin personally came to Sergei Torop-Vissarion back in 2008. Writes about it “Independent newspaper”.
Probably, the communication was so pleasant that Khloponin’s visit ended up in the so-called “Life of Vissarion”, which for many years was conducted on the Internet by adherents of the community. Of course, but after the arrest of “Vissarion”, the information from the page of the official website of the leader of the sectarians disappeared somewhere. However, there were people who managed to copy it. According to the authors of the site “Sirota.ru”allegedly they have preserved excerpts from that episode of the “life of the Vissarionites”.
Today Khloponin prefers to pretend that he hears about the community of Vissarion for the first time.
Allegedly, then Khloponin flew on a visit to the Kuraginsky district, where the community base is located. He was greeted with bread and salt, including Vladimir Tinkov, the then head of the administration of the Cheremshansky village council, where the “City of the Sun” is located, as well as the head of the local council of deputies Philip Shmik (by the way, here they are candidates for defendants in the new case, which was mentioned in at the beginning of this article!). It is also alleged that Khloponin and Vissarion-Torop communicated very warmly. The latter allegedly even showed the guest a reproduction of his paintings, and then gave him an excursion to the Abode of the Dawn (one of the settlements of the community).
But the real motive for the visit could be purely business. It is highly likely that the community was useful to the authorities, and its leadership could participate in the corruption schemes of officials.
A source who was then in Khloponin’s team told the UtroNews correspondent that, in his opinion, Khloponin and Vissarion then staged a kind of “cabal”, the true purpose of which was not completely clear to the governor’s entourage.
“In the subject” could be Prokhorov
An interesting version of the collapse of the Vissarion community was once offered by some experts. Allegedly, members of the community could interfere with the construction of the road to the Ak-Sug and Kingash copper deposits located in the Republic of Tuva. The right to develop them belongs to Intergeo Management Company, which is part of the ONEXIM group of Mikhail Prokhorov. True, it seems that the odious oligarch and former candidate for the President of Russia was not going to develop them at his own expense, nor was he going to pave the way to them. This issue has been discussed at the top for a long time.
The road must pass through the lands that were controlled by members of the community. In particular, allegedly not far from the village of Cheremshanka, where the base of the sectarians – the “City of the Sun” is located. The construction of the road was planned for 2021-2022. For these purposes, about 2 billion rubles were supposed to go, which were supposed to be allocated for the road funds of the Republic of Tuva and the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
Mikhail Prokhorov is clearly into the hands of the investigation in the case of the community of Vissarion
The members of the community clearly did not like these plans. Back in 2016, a petition was written against the construction of a road to these deposits through the taiga village of Zharovsk in the Kuraginsky district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The publication wrote about it “Peace Avenue”. And now, after Prokhorov’s interest, the latter could agree with Uss. And then the Vissarionites would have stood here like a bone in the throat …
One way or another, but last fall became knownthat state support for these projects of Prokhorov was approved: firstly, in the form of financing the costs for the construction of a power transmission line to the Ak-Sug field from the Tulun substation in the Irkutsk region, and secondly, the funds will be allocated under the program “Development of the transport system”, which provides for interbudgetary transfers for the financial support of road activities during the construction of mining and processing plants based on deposits.
Few doubt that Alexander Khloponin, with whom they were classmates and maintained relations, could have provided effective assistance in resolving this issue to the oligarch Prokhorov. And this, too, can indirectly illustrate the true motives of Khloponin’s previous contacts with the “Vissarionites”.
Nevertheless, who knows how many more surprises the case of Vissarion’s community can present…