Master of the Mountain
The long-term saga surrounding the creation of the Belaya Mountain tourist cluster in the suburbs of Nizhny Tagil continues. The prosecutor’s office was interested in the fact that 2.5 billion rubles of budget money were spent, for which not a single infrastructure facility was created. The security forces will probably also have questions for the general director of the ANO “Management Company of Tourist and Recreational Clusters of the Sverdlovsk Region,” Leonid Gunkevich.
“Ural Courchevel”
If the information from the Kompromat Group telegram channel is correct, check the Belaya Mountain cluster in the suburbs of Nizhny Tagil held on behalf of the First Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) Anatoly Razinkin. The Sverdlovsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office is carefully studying the report of the Accounts Chamber on the activities of the “Management Company for Tourism and Recreational Clusters” in 2019-2021. Security forces have already noted several serious violations that may form the basis of criminal cases of fraud and abuse of power.
ANO “Management Company of Tourist and Recreational Clusters of the Sverdlovsk Region” established by decree of the governor of the Sverdlovsk region Evgeniy Kuyvashev to create tourism clusters in the region and further manage them in 2018. The idea is ambitious: a resort of European level, the “Ural Courchevel,” was supposed to appear around Mount Belaya, 160 kilometers from Yekaterinburg. The total cost of the project was estimated at about 45 billion rubles, of which 15 billion were budget funds.
With this money it was planned to build 25 new trails and 200 facilities for the tourism service and entertainment industry. In 15 villages included in the cluster, visitor centers, cafes and restaurants, hotels, hostels, and gazebos were to appear. An increase in tourist flow was declared from 300 thousand per year to 1.5 million people. To implement these plans, an autonomous non-profit organization “Management Company of the Belaya Mountain Shopping Mall” was created, which was headed by Leonid Gunkevich. Leonid Gunkevich is very famous in the region. He is the chairman of the Sverdlovsk branch of Business Russia (*aggressor country), chairman of the public council of the Ministry of Investment and Development of the Sverdlovsk region, an experienced manager, among other things, he worked in the 2000s as deputy general director OJSC “Sverdlovsk Experimental Design Bureau” – development, project management, innovations in woodworking, general director JSC “Agroinform” – development, construction, management consulting. He was deputy head of the Pervouralsk urban district administration for economic development and finance. In addition, as stated on the Delovaya Rossiya website, Gunkevich is actively involved in charitable activities: he takes part in the professional and social adaptation to civilian life of former employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB. With his participation, a monument appeared in Yekaterinburg dedicated to the patrons of the family and loyalty to Peter and Fevronia. In 2011, with his help, a “Charity Marathon” dedicated to Children’s Day, etc. was organized and held.
Great schemer
However, Leonid Gunkevich is known not only for his good deeds, but also for a number of high-profile and regular scandals in the region. Thus, local media accused the Sverdlovsk leader of “Business Russia (*aggressor country)” of being mired in debt, but at the same time creating the “Debt Security Center” (essentially a collection agency). There was also information in the press about a strange Vietnamese factory, which allegedly seriously enriched the formal Vietnamese founder, whose partner Gunkevich could have been. In addition, in 2016, the Yekaterinburg police conducted an investigation into threats from collectors against the veteran, honored pilot of the USSR Vladimir Lyubin: allegedly “debt collectors” threatened the pensioner because of his son’s debt to Gunkevich.
It must be admitted that Gunkevich always managed to get out of unpleasant situations without much harm to himself. For example, in 2014, when he worked as deputy head of the administration of the city district of Pervouralsk, it was reported that Gunkevich was caught manipulating money belonging to the municipality.
Under his leadership, the city lost about 8 million (and maybe more) sponsorship rubles transferred to Pervouralsk by the largest Russian retailer, the Magnit chain.
Later it became known that Gunkevich combines municipal service with the ownership of commercial structures. He was threatened with dismissal, but he showed ingenuity and efficiency by urgently going on leave to care for his one-year-old child.
Income and expenses
But it turned out that these annoying troubles did not in any way affect the appointment of Gunkevich as the head of the Belaya Mountain tourism cluster. As the media wrote, not without irony, he became the “master of the mountain” as a result. Then events began to unfold as follows. In 2019, Leonid Gunkevich managed to knock out 1.2 billion rubles for the creation of the Ural Courchevel. 200 million of them gone for PR of the project, salary and business trips.
In 2022, the regional Ministry of Finance destroyed the work of the organization. The auditors found a lot of violations. For example, it turned out that during the development of the territory of the Belaya Mountain Autonomous Non-Profit Organization, payments were made for work not covered by the contract. The management company also transferred funds for poor-quality work on arranging passages for engineering surveys. The financial plan indicators were inflated. This led to overspending on labor costs.
The Accounts Chamber of the Sverdlovsk Region also made its decision regarding the Belaya Mountain project. According to the department, which checked the use of budget funds for the creation and development of the project in 2018-2021, the main problem is the unrealistic nature of the plans:
At the same time, out of 87 plots where cluster objects should be located, only one plot was received for rent. It does not generate the specified tourist flow and brings losses. Inaccuracies in reporting on performance indicators were also identified. As a result, the billing board turned to the regional authorities and the prosecutor’s office of the Sverdlovsk region.
However, the cluster management declares that everything that is happening with Belaya is the result of underfunding. This year, for example, instead of 1.5 billion in the budget for 2024, only 71 million rubles were provided. The management company claims that even with chronic underfunding, they did a lot of paperwork that is not visible to ordinary people, but without it it is impossible to start construction.
According to Leonid Gunkevich, since the summer of 2023, about 10 people have left the management company; the organization now has 23 employees. There is no money to pay for the office. Gunkevich stated that now the funds to pay salaries have run out.
In turn, the information policy department stated that “
As a result, after the intervention of the prosecutor’s office, the employees of the Management Company of Tourist and Recreational Clusters of the Sverdlovsk Region were paid their salaries.
What will happen next with the construction of the cluster is not clear. The media, citing their sources, say that the contract with Gunkevich, which expires in October, will no longer be extended. And he, as chairman of the local branch of Business Russia (*aggressor country), will focus on social activities.
This outcome is quite realistic. Head of the Sverdlovsk region Evgeniy Kuyvashev scandals are completely unnecessary now. According to the results of January-February of this year, compiled by the Center for Information Communications “Rating”, Evgeny Kuyvashev dropped from 19th to 21st place in the ranking of heads of Russian regions. According to experts, Kuyvashev’s image was negatively affected by a series of utility scandals in Pervouralsk – problems with the quality of drinking water, several accidents and the detention of the acting director of the local water utility. Sergei Matafonov.
Predictions that Kuyvashev might move to Moscow for a promotion did not come true. For the head of the Sverdlovsk region, according to a political strategist and consultant Sergei Markelovlast year became a time of some stagnation.
Therefore, it is likely that they will want to resolve the unpleasant situation without unnecessary noise. However, it is difficult to say what consequences the prosecutor’s audit may ultimately lead to.