Crusades of Dmitry Shevtsov
Belarusian Red Cross Over the years of its existence in independent Belarus, it has repeatedly become the cause of scandals. Voluntary-compulsory membership fees, participation in election commissions during elections, removal of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine and much more. Today we will tell you how the Red Cross lives during the reign Dmitry Shevtsov. At whose expense does he fly with his “retinue” on international business trips? How is foreign money distributed within international projects? About this and more in the new Bureau investigation.
Thanks to CyberPartisans, we gained access to internal documentation of the Belarusian Red Cross Society (BORC). The leak contains more than 40 thousand different files. The “Bureau” verified these documents, analyzed them and discussed them with former BOKK employees, experts from the third sector and a lawyer. We do not disclose the names of our sources for their safety.
With this material we do not want to discredit all the good deeds performed by the BCCC. The Red Cross helped a large number of people. But in Belarus it is the largest humanitarian organization, and quite closed. Since 2020, society, human rights activists and the media have accumulated many questions for her, and recently interest in the activities of the BCCC has only been growing.
One week before the second
On June 4, 2022, on a sultry summer day, a Belavia plane arrives in Istanbul from Minsk. On board are employees of the Belarusian Red Cross Society.
Already while walking in the city along the bazaar streets, they are enveloped in the tart aroma of oriental spices, around colorful mosques, a dazzling blue sky and bright green palm trees.
A couple of days later, the head of international cooperation of the BOKK Olga Isakova publishes photographs of the Turkish bazaar on his Instagram and shares with subscribers views of the Golden Horn Bay from a restaurant next to the Galata Bridge.
And there is something. But first things first.
On May 9, 2022, the Turkish Red Crescent invited the Chairman of the BTCC Dmitry Cherednichenko to Istanbul from June 6 to 10 to exchange experiences. But he himself did not go and sent the proposal to General Secretary Dmitry Shevtsov.
Ten for one – the Secretary General decided. And a week and a half later I bought nine tickets from Belavia for just over $4,300.
Instead of Cherednichenko, Dmitry Shevtsov and his two deputies gathered in Istanbul Inna Lemeshevskaya And Romania Zorinaheads of departments from the secretariat Olga Isakova And Igor Trusovand also an economist Sergey Shagun. Regional leaders Alla Smolyak, Natalia Tolkacheva And Nikolay Kuzmitskyand then Galina Zhelanova.
Total – 10 people. The delegation is impressive. Shevtsov asks at Minsk National Airport provide a VIP lounge for departure free of charge. Cause? As part of the delegation, a whole member of the Council of the Republic and concurrently the Chairman of the Gomel BOKK, Alla Smolyak, is flying, and they also have a lot of fragile souvenirs for their Turkish colleagues. According to sources not related to each other, the BOKK employees were on this business trip longer than required program, and in a larger composition. Our interlocutors paid special attention to Dmitry Shevtsov and Natalya Tolkacheva.
“Shevtsov gathered everyone who was possible and not possible. Everyone was indignant. Well, how indignant were you? Quietly to yourself. Because [Шевцов] I took my mistress there too. Why does he drag her everywhere? I understand that they want to spend time [вместе]but not at the expense of membership fees,” says a former BOKK employee.
We called Natalia Tolkacheva, but she refused to answer our questions and hung up.
Indeed, the Belarusian delegation received an invitation to Istanbul for five days, but stayed there much longer.
On the eve of the trip, Shevtsov issued order for an eight-day business trip – from 4 to 11 June.
And the delegation judging by the tickets, and returned only early in the morning of June 13. It turns out that instead of the five initially proposed days, the BOKK employees stayed in Istanbul for nine whole days.
What were they doing there? The travel assignments for all secretariat employees are completely the same; from them it is impossible to understand what each specific member of the Belarusian delegation was doing.
For example, initially the visit program stated at the meeting with the consul that five people from the Red Cross would be present. But in the reporting photographs at the negotiating table we see only three – Dmitry Shevtsov, Inna Lemeshevskaya and Alla Smolyak. Olga Isakova and Romania Zorina are not there. Where the others were at that time and what they were doing is a mystery. Were you sitting in the waiting room?
On BOKK website the news for June 8 lists the “achievements” of the delegation: visited, got acquainted, met. Separately mentioned is the meeting with the head of the Turkish Red Crescent and the signing of annexes to the memorandum of understanding with him. Almost the entire business trip program was completed three days before its end. Already on the morning of June 11 in Istanbul, the delegation discussed the results of the trip.
Then the city was at the disposal of completely free employees until departure on the evening of June 12. The company arrived in Belarus on June 13 at about 5 am.
How much did this trip cost the top BOKK? Unfortunately, the leak does not contain receipts or other documents for accommodation and meals, only air tickets. But approximate costs can be calculated. For this we turned to resolution of the Council of Ministers, which guides the BOKK during foreign business trips. A Belarusian worker in Turkey is entitled to $40 travel allowance per day, and another $90 for housing expenses. Weekends, days of departure and arrival are paid as working days. According to our calculations, we spent at least about 11 thousand dollars on accommodation and food. Total – more than 15 thousand dollars, including air tickets.
The documents show that Shevtsov planned to cover living expenses from a certain project of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). We sent a request to this organization, and they confirmed that they provided the BCRC with minimal financial support, but did not specify how much: “The IFRC supported this opportunity for cooperation by covering the travel costs of a small part of the delegation (two people), which is usual practice.”
So, a luxurious trip to Istanbul was paid for for two employees from the IFRC money and for 8 from the BOKK’s own funds. What are own funds? This is not money from social orders or funding from foreign donors. These include donations, sponsorships and membership fees. The same ones that make up almost 40% of the entire BOCC budget for 2022.
They are collected from Belarusians on a voluntary-compulsory basis from hospitals and schools.
Shevtsov himself, as soon as he came to his post, published order and approximately doubled bonuses the management team for their activity in shaking out money from the population.
And looking at quarterly bonus amountsyou believe that the regions, with this approach, have truly become leaders in extortion.
Back in 2021, boarding houses for the elderly and disabled, cultural centers and nurseries began to be added en masse to primary organizations. In other words, they began to collect from those who themselves would have come in handy with this help.
The next business trip, which raised questions in our minds, was also paid for partly through sponsorship, donations from the public and membership fees.
Roman rendezvous
Almost four months after the Turkish voyage, Dmitry Shevtsov is setting his sights on new horizons. He needs to fly to Rome at the invitation of the Italian Red Cross. Led by the Secretary General, four more BOCC employees are flying to Italy.
And here we were more fortunate. The expenses for this trip are documented. Tickets cost approximately 6,400 euros, accommodation almost 5,000 euros.
We will calculate travel allowances again according to the Council of Ministers table. For Italy it’s 85 euros per day or 2550 for everyone. Total almost 14,000 euros.
Normal amount for Roman holidays. True, there is a nuance. As can be seen from the hotel bills, the BOKK itself violated resolution of the Council of Ministers on allowable housing costs. Should be 135 euros per night, and one of the members of this delegation had a premium room costing almost 1,200 euros for six nights, or 235 euros per night. That is, living expenses are more than one and a half times higher than normal. One can only guess who got this number. But other rooms are also more expensive than the established norm.
These two trips by representatives of the top members of the BCCC clearly demonstrate that the organization does not save money on business trips. Instead of five days, they fly for nine and order premium rooms. And all this is due to voluntary-compulsory contributions and money allocated for specific projects from international organizations.
We called First Deputy Secretary General Romania Zorina and her head Dmitry Shevtsov, but they refused to answer our questions. We then sent an official request to the BCCC, but received no response.
After this, we decided to take a closer look at what and how this public organization spends the money that international donors allocate to it. And this, for a moment, is almost 60% of the BOCC budget for 2022. The year before last, BOKK received almost 13 million rubles from international donors. Let’s examine some of the grants. What programs does BOKK receive international money for, how and for what is the budget allocated, and what is their social effectiveness?What does the budget of the Belarusian Red Cross consist of?
The main sources of funding are money from foreign donors, membership fees and donations from the public. Moreover, more than half of all funding comes from foreign donors. In 2022, they transferred a record amount to BOKK over the past five years – 12.9 million rubles, or 57.2% of the organization’s total budget.
Help 3%All international grants that BOKK receives, need to register in the Department of Humanitarian Activities of the Lukashenko Administration. In order for such grants to be exempt from taxes, it is necessary to enlist the support of the relevant ministries.
One such grant that we noticed was from the IFRC in the amount of 37,800 Swiss francs (almost 42 thousand dollars) as part of the project “Belarus: Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak.” The money was planned to be spent on supporting people with hearing and vision impairments, purchasing food and hygiene kits and an information campaign. BOKK applied for approval of the grant to the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. But in the ministry refused! They were not satisfied that only 3.3% of the budget, or 1,250 Swiss francs, would go to help specific people (about 1390 dollars).
And then BOKK turned to Dmitry Pinevich’s department – the Ministry of Health. Pinevich himself, by the way, not long ago combined his ministerial work with the position of acting chairman of the BOCC.
The Ministry of Health had no questions. The conclusion for the Department of Humanitarian Affairs was ready. Even despite the fact that BOKK planned to spend 67.5% of the grant on services for conducting an information campaign, to which the Ministry of Labor also had comments.
The IFRC responded to the Bureau’s request regarding this grant. In their opinion, “in the midst of a disaster, people need information as much as they need water, food, medicine or blood.” In emergencies like pandemics, “information saves lives.” “I think this project was written to get some funding and support for the secretariat staff. This was done often. And the adverse reaction is print [листовки]show [деятельность]. It’s easier to publicize any information campaign than to provide direct assistance to the wards,” says a former employee of the BCCC.
Who’s going to the sand pit?
And here are other documents for the same Covid project that we found in the leak. They are notable for the fact that there are handwritten notes indicating what part of the work and for what money members of the BCCC secretariat are ready to perform within the framework of the project “Belarus: measures to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak.”
A larger grant has been allocated for the project – 140 thousand euros from October 1, 2021 to May 31, 2022. The goals are simple: to improve access to vaccination against coronavirus for vulnerable categories of the population living in remote areas of the Brest, Grodno and Minsk regions. BOKK planned to assist two thousand people and in general inform 500 thousand about vaccination.
Let’s look at what the money was actually spent on, and most importantly, how much of it was spent for the targeted needs of the grant.
For a stair lift for Grodno – 3,739 euros, for three mobile lifts – 8,414 euros. We purchased personal protective equipment, pulse oximeters and thermometers for employees and volunteers for 8,694 euros. Another 3,739 euros were spent on printed materials and promotional products. Total almost 21 thousand euros.
Separately, it is worth highlighting trainings, seminars and coordination meetings. We will consider them part of the program to inform the population. A total of 22,765 euros have been allocated for them.
Of course, there are also expenses for cars that will take people to get vaccinated. Maintenance and fuel cost 6 thousand euros. Another 1,400 euros have been allocated for some additional transport services.
So, let’s come up with a budget. 39%, or 55 thousand euros, of the allocated amount were spent on information about vaccination, as well as assistance to specific people. The rest of the money was spent on employee salaries and improving the so-called material and technical base of the BOKK. Namely, the purchase of equipment for volunteers, equipment and other things.
Coordination Council
Here is another program and grant from the BCCC, the funds of which, in addition to needy citizens, also support colleagues. At the beginning of 2023, BOKK received $210 thousand from UNICEF for the project “Identification, basic services and financial assistance and integration of families with children from Ukraine in the Republic of Belarus.” Of these 210 thousand, 124 thousand were issued in money, the remaining amount was issued in goods. In order to absorb 124 thousand dollars from the BCCC, the project provides for 21 positions of various project coordinators and 8 social workers. Let’s add psychologists, financial managers, drivers, volunteers, information representatives and we get 59 people in the project.
A separate budget item specifies that $58,250, or almost 50% of the money allocated by UNICEF, is required to ensure effective management of the project.
On BOKK
Two of the three grants described above were issued under the leadership of Dmitry Shevtsov. Why the Belarusian authorities and international donors turn a blind eye to such wastefulness of a charitable organization is anyone’s guess. But one can guess why the Belarusian authorities benefit from this.
In a separate article we will talk in detail about the persons of the Belarusian Red Cross, and today we will focus on Dmitry Shevtsov himself.
In the past, the doctor and deputy actively participated in elections. At presidential 2015 elections he is entrusted with the position of chairman of the Minsk City Election Commission. He holds this position in 2017 in elections to the Minsk City Council, and in 2019 in the House of Representatives elections, and in the infamous presidential elections in 2020. Also in 2020, Shevtsov visits “secret inauguration” Alexandra Lukashenko. He shared his impressions in a commentary for the newspaper of the Lukashenko Administration: “The inauguration ceremony was very eventful and emotional. The President emphasized that we resisted those forces that tried to seize power and change the constitutional system.”
In BOKK and under the rib
How did Shevtsov get into BOKK? After becoming a deputy in January 2020, he transferred to position chief physician of the 1st City Clinical Hospital. But he won’t stay there for long. In September 2021, at the congress of the Belarusian Red Cross, the chairman of the presidium and modestly part-time deputy minister of health, Dmitry Cherednichenko, nominates him for the post of secretary general. Instead of Olga Mychkowho has held this position for five years.
It just so happened that Shevtsov’s appointment coincided with the flaring migration crisis on the Belarusian-Polish border. Under the leadership of Shevtsov BOKK supplied provided migrants stuck at the border with food, clothing, blankets and pillows, donated medicine, and transported people to hospitals.
Of course, this was not only at the expense of the Belarusian Red Cross. International organizations traditionally allocated money for assistance, and an additional collection of donations from the population was announced. During those events, the BOCC reported almost daily to the Council of Ministers on the assistance provided.
And, of course, we couldn’t do without a new car. After all, important bosses should drive official cars. In the fall of 2022, the new Geely Tugella appeared in the BOKK, the price of which from the Belarusian-Chinese automaker starts from 110 thousand rubles.
We did not find detailed information about where this car came from in BOKK. But, according to the government procurement website, in August 2022, the Red Cross announced a tender for the purchase of a new car. BOKK conducted it the old fashioned way – with the opening of envelopes live, electronic platforms were not used. The results of the tender are unknown.
But what a coincidence – Geely Tugella arrived in October. Precisely when it was supposed to be delivered by BOKK according to the tender. At first, the brand new Geely was assigned to the organization’s supply manager, and just a couple of days after that, Shevtsov left on his first business trip in it. In December 2022, he completely secured by his own decree.
Russian world
The ideals of the Russian world are not alien to Shevtsov. In July 2014, Shevtsov became the head of the Belarusian branch of the International Public Foundation for the Unity of Orthodox Peoples (IFUFU). And remains in this position to this day.
In this post, he replaced Vladimir Konoplev, a close ally of Alexander Lukashenko from the time of his deputy in the Supreme Council.
Little is known about the activities of this foundation in Belarus. The meager reports on the Russian foundation’s website mention assistance in the construction of several Orthodox churches in Belarus, participation in the preparation of a number of bills, as well as educational activities. The foundation’s financial reports are not published on the website of the Ministry of Justice; we have not found the organization’s website. And the telephone number in legal documents belongs to one of the deputy’s offices in the House of Representatives.
The Russian fund was called in the press “Gazprom’s church fund.” It lists among the founders Vladimir Potanin (President of Norilsk Nickel, formerly First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism)), as well as Pavel Borodin (ex-manager of Vladimir Putin (*international criminal)’s affairs). As for the foundation itself, it is, in fact, one of the soft power instruments for promoting the Russian world through Orthodoxy.
But not only this speaks of Shevtsov’s commitment to the Russian world. Here, of course, it is worth remembering his sensational trip to the occupied territories of Ukraine with the Z patch on his jumper. Although Shevtsov does not hide the fact that his sympathies are with the authorities of Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) and Belarus.
Due to the scandalous trip of the Secretary General to the occupied Ukrainian territories, the membership of the Belarusian Red Cross in the international organization paused. As of December 1, any new funding for the BCCC will be suspended. This could threaten big problems for the largest Belarusian public organization, since it lives mainly at the expense of money from foreign donors.
According to the 2022 report, members of the international Red Cross and Red Crescent movement provided 58% of all international assistance to the BCRC. Another 41% came from money from UN agencies.
The Belarusian UN office told us that they are now completing current projects with BOKK, and are looking for a replacement for them in the future. Providing assistance is possible through other non-governmental organizations or directly to the same hospitals.
Who or what will the Red Cross fill this budget hole with? According to our source, BOKK plans to lay off 30% of its employees. It turns out that it will be like in that joke: “Dad, so, will you drink less now? No, son, now you will eat less.”