Espo Glass workers are preparing for a new “sportsmen” raid on the glass factory in Anopino

Starting from 2019, the invaders tried four times to block the work of the city-forming enterprise in the Vladimir region.

The last time “fighters” in the amount of about 50 people appeared in Anopino in October 2021. Against the backdrop of forceful attacks, the tenant of the plant, who brought him out of the crisis, incredibly became a defendant in a criminal case himself. If not an attempted raider takeover, then what is it? The names of the organizers of the attacks are heard with might and main in the media, but the security forces seem to be playing on their side.

In October, a crowd of strong guys broke into the plant through a checkpoint in the administrative building and attacked a security guard. An employee of the private security company tried to resist, but the advantage was clearly on the side of the raiders, who took away the traumatic pistol from him. It’s hard to believe that something like this can happen these days in a calm Russian region, but anyone can to find in open access.

Eyewitness accounts are reminiscent of a chronicle of hostilities. In October, the “sportsmen”, who obviously came from another region, did not allow workers, trucks with raw materials, or buyers’ vehicles to enter the plant. Those who tried to pass through the checkpoint were stopped by force, at some point tear gas was sprayed. The news of the massacre at the checkpoint quickly spread around the small village, by lunchtime people began to gather near the factory management building. As a result, the workers, to whom there were quite distinct threats of reprisal, managed to move the entrance gate and squeeze the violators out of the enterprise. It was only by luck that there were no serious casualties.

Glass production in Anopino was founded in 1816. Actually, this small village grew up around it, 10 km from Gus-Khrustalny. The company, which is now governs Expo Glass LLC remains the main source of employment for local residents. More than a quarter of Anopine workers work at the plant. The factory is a city-forming enterprise, the largest taxpayer, gas and electricity consumer.

Anopinsk residents are seriously afraid of stopping the enterprise – there will be neither work nor heating in the winter. There is no doubt that a group of strong guys will appear in the village again. It is unlikely that any of the locals doubt that they will defend a normal life by any available means.

But who exactly is trying to take over the factory and, most importantly, where are the local security forces looking?

This complicated story should be told from the very beginning – from the time when the enterprise in Anopino came under the control of Expo Glass LLC. The company is one of the largest enterprises in the glass industry in the Gus-Khrustalny district of the Vladimir region. 850 people work at its factories, in 2020 it paid taxes and contributions in the amount of 450 million rubles.

So, in 2018, the management of Expo Glass LLC became aware that RASKO LLC, which owned the Anopinsky Plant, located in a difficult financial situation. How is it known? – From a letter from the administration of the Gus-Khrustalny district. Officials asked the company to lease the Anopinsky plant in order to avoid its emergency shutdown. Glass production is a continuous process, stopping the equipment will simply disable it, the cost of repairs is more than 1 billion rubles.

The founders of LLC “RASKO”, which was in a pre-bankruptcy state, seemed to support the request of the district administration. Expo Glass LLC leased facilities in Anopino and took on obligations, including the payment of salaries to employees, settlements with creditors and payment of mandatory payments to the budget.

Here it should be noted that the main creditor of LLC “RASKO” was “BBR Bank”, which gave her funds for the pledge of the property of the plant. When the borrower failed to fulfill its obligations, the bank considered two applicants for the purchase of the right to claim against the company. In addition to Expo Glass LLC, RATM-Holding, a Novosibirsk businessman Eduard Taran, was eyeing the factory, whose magazine “Profile” And “Independent newspaper” directly called “raider”.

As far as one can understand, the conditions of cooperation proposed by RATM-Holding were not satisfied with the bank, a long-term lease agreement for the plant’s property was concluded with Expo Glass. Since 2018, she has spent more than 850 million rubles on the modernization of production and settlements with creditors of RASKO LLC, although in essence it was about saving her former competitor. As NG writes, the general director of Expo Glass, Alexander Smirnov, proceeded primarily from the interests of the inhabitants of Anopino, since he understood that they could not find another job. The actual general director of the Anopinsky plant at that time was Andrey Evstigneev, who is a protege of BBR Bank.

Over the next year, Smirnov not only stabilized the work of the enterprise, but also took care of the social sphere of the village. A new boiler house appeared in Anopino worth 21 million rubles, another 13 million were invested by the entrepreneur in the reconstruction of local heating networks.

And here, as far as one can judge, the former owner, a former deputy of the Vladimir Legislative Assembly, Vitaly Mironov, suddenly remembered the plant. At the end of 2019, he and his partner at RASKO LLC Dmitry Dubinov initiated General Meeting of Shareholders. Then Mironov appeared before the workforce of the plant, naming himself the new director and announcing the termination of the lease agreement with Expo Glass LLC. The former deputy also said that he would continue to bring the enterprise out of the crisis himself with the support of a “serious investor.”

Eduard Taran, the owner of RATM-Holding, who has been eyeing the glass enterprises of the Vladimir region for a long time, is the last one in this story. In July 2020 he Meets with Governor Vladimir Sipyagin (he retired ahead of schedule in September 2021), promising to invest 2.5 billion rubles in the modernization of glass factories. By that time, the enterprise in Anopino had already managed to survive the first attempt to take over by force. Expo Glass lawyer Victor Raslin says that complaints were filed with law enforcement agencies regarding the facts of forceful provocations, but cases, at best, stall at the stage of pre-investigation checks.

The security forces not only do not stop the actions of those whom the media call “raiders”, on the contrary, they seem to be playing on the side of these people. It is difficult to perceive differently the events that began further around Alexander Smirnov himself.

The third attempt to forcibly seize the plant in Anopino happened on May 5, 2021. About 40 unknown persons were brought to the walls of the enterprise around 4 o’clock in the morning. Having broken the locking devices, they entered the territory and blocked the production. Apparently, the “sportsmen” began to use physical force against the workers of the plant, and only for this reason the police intervened with the case.

After that failure, the attack on Smirnov and Expo Glass began already under the other line. On July 20, 2021, a criminal case was initiated against the entrepreneur under paragraph “b”, part 2, art. 165 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (causing property damage by deceit or breach of trust). The reason for this, as far as one can understand, was the statement of the general director of the Anopinsky plant, Andrei Evstigneev, filed not without the participation of interested parties. In fact, the entrepreneur, who invested heavily in the rescue of production, was accused of paying too little for the rent of a production site, the debts of which markedly exceeded the value of the assets. Even so, why didn’t the landlord simply initiate a review of the contract, with the terms of which he had previously agreed?

Considering that the criminal cases on attempts to seize the Anopinsky plant have been stalling for years, and the case against Smirnov was investigated in just two months, our question looks rhetorical. At the moment, the founder of Expo Glass LLC is under house arrest, he faces up to 5 years in prison. The glass factory in Anopino continues to operate for the time being, but who knows what will happen next if Mr. Taran, Mironov and Dubinov succeed?

In 2018, before the transfer to the management of Expo Glass LLC, independent auditors found out that the plant’s profit was flowing to the accounts of one-day firms, which clearly happened not without the participation of the former owners of the enterprise. The crisis that had to be overcome at the expense of Alexander Smirnov’s company looks man-made. It seems that now that the problems have been resolved, the owners of RASKO LLC are ready to return to the previous schemes.

We repeat: the life of an entire village with a population of more than 2 thousand people depends on the results of this confrontation. The collapse of the Anopinsky glass factory can hit not only them, but also the economy of the Gus-Khrustalny district of the Vladimir region as a whole. For this reason, the point in the conflict between the tenant of the production site and its former owners must be put at the highest level. According to Versiya, Alexander Smirnov and Viktor Raslin have prepared appeals addressed to Nikolai Arefiev, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, and also intend to appeal to Business Ombudsman Boris Titov.