German machines are not worthy of turning Russian missiles

As it became known to Kommersant, the presence of German parts in the equipment supplied to the Tactical Missile Corporation (KTRV) became the reason for the criminal prosecution and arrest of Andrei Sakharov, the general director of the Russian division of the large international company Chiron Group – Chiron Rus. The defense of the entrepreneur, who is also accused of unreasonably inflating prices for products, claims that he acted within the law.

According to Kommersant’s sources, investigators of the Main Investigative Committee of the ICR for the Moscow Region are preparing to charge Andrey Sakharov with especially large-scale fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) in the final version and provide the defendant and his defense with the materials of the criminal case for review.

An investigation into the embezzlement of funds by KTRV located in Korolev near Moscow was launched back in November 2021. The criminal case was based on the data of the inspection conducted by the Prosecutor General’s Office, as well as the materials of the FSB. The Corporation is one of the largest Russian weapons holdings, uniting 39 enterprises engaged in the development and production of anti-ship, anti-radar and multi-purpose missiles designed to equip aviation, ship and coastal missile systems for tactical purposes.

Initially, the leaders of Shiron Rus LLC, unidentified by the investigation, appeared in the criminal case, with which a contract was signed for the supply of KTRV of a batch of machine tools for 83 million rubles.

It should be noted that LLC is a Russian division of a large international company Chiron Group, specializing in the production of high-precision vertical milling machining centers with numerical control. At the same time, on its website, the group positions itself as one of the leaders in the global, including the Russian market in the production of high-tech metalworking equipment. The production of the entire line of Chiron machines in Russia has been carried out since 2014 at the Togliatti Chiron Rus, whose products are classified as domestic production by the decision of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in 2017.

According to investigators, the machines supplied by KTRV were, contrary to the law, not of Russian, but of German origin. In addition, they were sold, according to the TFR, at an inflated cost.

For almost a year, Mr. Sakharov was involved in the case as a witness. The businessman regularly appeared for interrogations and gave exhaustive evidence. However, at the end of last year, he was detained and arrested by the decision of the Tverskoy District Court.

As representatives of the entrepreneur’s defense explained to Kommersant, he categorically denies his guilt, insisting that the machines fully complied with the terms of reference.

According to them, the customer uses the received equipment “in full” and has no complaints. Defenders admit that the machines had foreign components, but such equipment is simply not produced in Russia. They also deny claims regarding overpricing, explaining that the investigation took the “bare” cost of machine tools, not taking into account overhead costs for transportation, taxes, salaries to employees, etc. Representatives of the defense also say that the charge is largely based on the data of examinations, however, they consider their results incorrect. According to them, they received the conclusion of independent experts, which confirm the version of the innocence of their client.

It is worth noting that the criminal case of Andrei Sakharov is almost identical to the case of the CEO and beneficiary of the Baltic Industrial Company (BPK) Diana Kaledina. As Kommersant reported, she was detained at the end of 2021 in Moscow, when she arrived on business from St. Petersburg. The police investigation was related to a contract concluded by BPC in 2016 with JSC Scientific and Production Enterprise Signal, controlled by Rostec. He allegedly, contrary to the terms of the contract, was supplied with a milling machine that had a Chinese “stuffing”. Subsequently, other episodes appeared in the case. Meanwhile, representatives of state corporations spoke in her defense, who did not recognize themselves as the injured party, and business ombudsman Boris Titov, who considered that the arrest of the businesswoman “could cause unjustified damage to the Russian machine tool industry.” As a result, the defendant’s measure of restraint was changed, and now she has been banned from certain actions.