In the Samara region, even before the completion of the formation of the regional government after the re-election of Governor Dmitry Azarov, two officials were detained and arrested. The acting minister of construction of the region, Mikhail Aseev, and the former acting first vice-governor, the chairman of the government of the Samara region, Viktor Kudryashov, were behind bars.
They were detained on November 14. The accusations against officials are related to violations of the law during the construction of two metro stations in Samara.
According to investigators, Aseev is charged with fraud in the design of the Samarskaya metro station. Kudryashov, according to law enforcement officers, in 2022-2023. fabricated an increase in the marginal cost of construction of the Teatralnaya station to 18.4 billion rubles, acting in the interests of the Volgatransstroy company, which later won a fictitious competition for the construction of a metro station.
Kommersant.Ru, 11/16/2023, “The metro led to a pre-trial detention center”: According to the investigation, Viktor Kudryashov, acting as part of a criminal group, signed documents in the interests of the Volgatransstroy Group of Companies on increasing the maximum cost of construction of the Teatralnaya metro station to 18.4 billion rubles, after which another auction was held, the winner of which was structure of the Volgatransstroy Group of Companies, later it was paid 3 billion rubles. advance Thus, the investigation believes, the appearance of effective use of the infrastructure loan was created (in 2021, the Russian government approved it for the region in the amount of 10.4 billion rubles). The investigation believes that in the economic justification of the loan, Viktor Kudryashov misled the president and government of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism).
The Volgatransstroy holding owned by Vyacheslav Sonin is one of the largest contractors under government contracts in the construction sector of the Samara region. In 2019, Oleg Azarov, the brother of the Governor of the Samara Region, Dmitry Azarov, became a member of the town planning council under the governor as a representative of Baltic Construction Company JSC, owned by Vyacheslav Sonin. — Insert K.ru
Izvestia.Ru, 11/14/2023, “They agreed at the station: what is the reason for the detention of the Samara vice-governor”: Officials detained […] after searches that took place in the regional government building on November 14. The reason for them was the failed construction project of the Samarskaya metro station, Izvestia’s interlocutors reported. It was supposed to appear in the center of the regional capital, but in 2021 the authorities abandoned these plans. At the same time, almost 200 million rubles for its construction have already been transferred to the contractor – the Volgatransstroy-proekt company. They did not return to the budget. […]
In 2018, the region’s Capital Construction Department concluded a government contract with the Volgatransstroy-proekt company for almost 200 million rubles for the construction of the station. The deadline for its execution was December 2021. But in November 2021, the head of the regional Ministry of Construction, Nikolai Plaksin, told local media that they decided to abandon the construction of Samarskaya. […] However, Vladimir Kudryashov, in an interview with Samara Review in January 2022, stated that the construction of Teatralnaya does not mean a complete abandonment of Samarskaya. — Insert K.ru
Some time before his arrest, Kudryashov announced his resignation from his position. The regional government explained the resignation due to health reasons.
On November 16, Aseev and Kudryashov were placed under arrest at the request of the investigation. The region’s construction minister will remain behind bars until December 20, writes RIA Novosti.
At the meeting, Aseev’s lawyer said that he does not deny guilt. According to the Kommersant-Volga source in investigative bodies, an official can make a deal with the investigation and testify, because he did not have time to do this before the meeting to select a preventive measure. One of these days he may enter into a pre-trial agreement with the investigation.
Regional media reported that before his appointment on June 19, 2023, Aseev worked as Deputy Minister of Construction of the region, previously in different years he headed the regional capital construction department, senior positions in the cosmetics company “Vesna” and the construction company “Horizon”, which were part of the investment and financial the Business Sphere group of Nikolai Chudaev, the founder of the Drevo cultural center, the father of the ex-Minister of Construction of the region Evgeny Chudaev. The defendants in the criminal cases were two heads of the regional Ministry of Construction.
The investigation asked Kudryashov to choose a preventive measure in the form of detention until January 12, since the former official “acted for personal gain, as part of an organized crime group, among the witnesses are his subordinates, and the state prosecution fears that he could put pressure on them, threaten, offer bribes to refuse or change indications,” portal 63.ru reported.
The former deputy governor noted that he does not intend to put pressure on witnesses, “the accusations are superficial and unfounded,” and the interest in his case is “politically biased.” “We can easily collect evidence of my innocence,” Kudryashov said. — I am not working in a position now, I cannot use my official position. In 32 years of work, including 17 years in the civil service, I have never been involved in criminal cases. I have awards <...>. I’m a statesman <...> I’ve been to the SVO zone several times, supervised the restoration of the city of Snezhnoye, and I help families who were in the SVO zone.”
Kudryashov came to work for the regional government in 2016 as an adviser to the governor of the Samara region. In 2017, he was appointed acting first deputy chairman of the regional government, and in 2018 – first deputy chairman of the government of the Samara region. In 2019, Kudryashov was approved for the post of first vice-governor – chairman of the government of the Samara region.
After Azarov was elected for a second term in September 2023, the head of the region was unable to finally form the government of the region. As Kommersant-Volga previously reportedin Moscow they refused to approve Kudryashov’s candidacy for the previous post, allegedly for public statements by the deputy governor’s son on social networks about the military operation in Ukraine, which a State Duma deputy from the region and ex-adviser to the head of the Russian Guard regularly wrote about in his Telegram channel Alexander Khinshtein. The deputy has repeatedly criticized regional officials on social networks and the media. State Duma deputy from the Samara region Mikhail Matveev (Communist Party of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism)) noted that the detention of Kudryashov and Aseev was a serious blow to the reputation of the regional government.
According to political scientist Alexander Kynev, despite the fact that the gubernatorial elections have already taken place, the internal political struggle continues in the region. Khinshtein would like to have a more significant influence on regional affairs, he notes in a conversation with Vedomosti. Country” political scientist Vitaly Ivanov. Khinshtein, of course, is at least an information beneficiary of what is happening, since he previously attacked the team of the regional government. “But I don’t directly connect these events. There are clearly other participants in this story,” the political scientist is sure.
President of the Center for Regional Policy Development Ilya Grashchenkov notes that the Samara region is a region with a rich history of inter-elite conflicts. Perhaps Azarov will have to make personnel concessions that he has not yet had time or did not want to make when forming the government after the elections, says political scientist Rostislav Turovsky: this will stabilize the situation.
“Vedomosti” Country” sent a request to Khinshtein’s representative.
Over the past few years, the official income of the ex-head of the Samara government amounted to about 30 million rubles. This can be judged from declarationswhich were published annually by Viktor Kudryashov.

In 2018, the politician earned 2.2 million rubles. At that time, his property included two plots of land with a total area of more than 1,700 square meters, a share in an apartment, a house, a summer house and a trailer.
In 2019, the income of the first vice-governor almost doubled and amounted to 5.1 million rubles. Along with the growth of the head of government’s earnings, the list of his property has also increased:
land plots with an area of 872.6 and 838.5 square meters;
4/5 share in an apartment with an area of 118.6 m2;
two garages with an area of 21.3 and 35 square meters;
residential buildings – 49 and 326 square meters;
mobile home – trailer “SKIF”.
In the same year, the income of Viktor Kudryashov’s wife also became known. She declared earnings of 2.1 million rubles. And among her property were the same objects as her husband, and also an apartment of 65.4 square meters, a parking space, BMW X3 and GAZ-21R Volga cars.
In 2020, the official income of the first vice-governor continued to grow. Then he declared 6,919,779.25 rubles. The list of real estate has not changed.
But the wife’s income has decreased significantly. In 2020, according to the declaration, she earned only 871,495.21 rubles.
In 2021, Viktor Kudryashov’s earnings continued to increase. His declaration indicated the figure of 12,621,161.20 rubles. That is, the official received a little more than a million rubles every month.
Also during the year, the politician acquired new property. In addition to the above houses, land plots, garages and a trailer, Viktor Kudryashov purchased a Larson 285 Cabrio boat.
“An apartment with an area of 118.6 square meters disappeared from the list of real estate owned by the politician,” follows from the official’s declaration.
For the same period of time, the wife of Viktor Kudryashov 1,197,375.05 rubles. According to the documents, she still owned an apartment, a parking lot and cars. The common property of the family of the first vice-governor was considered to be an apartment of 52.6 square meters, 2 residential buildings and 3 plots of land.
2022 was the last year that politicians published income statements. In 2023, the region’s top officials did not report their earnings. But not everyone took advantage of this right.
But this is not the end of the analysis of Viktor Kudryashov’s property. For example, at the first plenary meeting of the regional parliament, which took place at the end of October 2023, an official came with a luxury watch – similar to those produced by the famous Swiss brand TAG Heuer, the Carrera Caliber 16 Day-Date model.
According to information on the brand’s website, the design of the watch is laconic and refers to the first collections that were associated with racing. The model has now been discontinued. It cannot be found even on the TSUM website, but leftovers can still be purchased in all kinds of Swiss watch boutiques. The issue price is 727,700 rubles. […]