Makhonin lost his way in Sosnin: opponents of Kiriyenko dealt him a “blow” in Perm
The scandal with the media holding “Magma” may cost Eduard Sosnin the prospect of becoming the mayor of Perm, or even put an end to his career.
According to The Moscow Post, its own sources, the so-called. The “power bloc” in the Presidential Administration opposes the appointment of Eduard Sosnin, a protege of the head of the Perm Territory, Dmitry Makhonin, as mayor of the region’s capital.
It is curious that until recently there was practically no negativity about the official.
Recently, the Magma media holding, which is associated with the authorities of the Kama region, as well as the regional agency for the development of small and medium-sized businesses, were searched. It is believed that both the holding and the agency are supervised by Eduard Sosnin. If this is not a warning to the entire team of Makhonin – then what is it?
Eduard Sosnin appeared in the team of Governor Makhonin somewhat unexpectedly. Back in 2018, he was not involved in politics at all. On the other hand, he won the Leaders of Russia competition, which is supervised by the first deputy head of the Russian Federation, Sergei Kiriyenko, and in 2020 he was already invited to the regional government.
Somewhere between these events, he also managed to get a grant to study at the Stockholm School of Economics, in Sweden, a country that is now extremely unfriendly to us, striving for NATO. And before that, he was engaged in business, which we will talk about later.
Get burned on Magma
In 2020, Sosnin’s appointment was associated with the desire of Makhonin’s team to “rejuvenate” the region’s managers to match the governor – one of the youngest governors of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. At the same time, there was a “cleansing” of the team of Maxim Reshetnikov, to which Sosnin had no relation before.
At the same time, Eduard Sosnin was approved for promotion to mayor in the Presidential Administration, where Sergei Kiriyenko is in charge of such matters. Like Makhonin, he is considered in many ways to be his creature.
And so, right on the eve of filing documents for the competition for the election of the mayor of the regional capital, the FSB conducted searches in the media group “Magma” (LLC “Magma”), which is considered close to the regional authorities. During the searches, the operatives were interested in financial transactions related to the allocation of budgetary funds to Magma LLC.
In addition, searches were carried out at the same time in the agency for small and medium-sized businesses in the Perm Territory, which is supervised by Sosnin. Documents were seized there, but no other details are known yet.
The curator of Magma is Eduard Sosnin. The agency also acted as a customer for organizing various events and forums, where Magma LLC was the executor. As if it was just the financing schemes for these events that interested the security forces.
Regarding Magma, a small detail needs to be clarified: earlier this media holding was associated with the scandalous State Duma deputy from the Perm Territory Dmitry Skrivanov. For many years, Skrivanov was constantly in conflict with the authorities of the Perm Territory – starting with the teams of Oleg Chirkunov and ending with Maxim Reshetnikov, using large media resources.
Edward Sosnin. Photo: Konstantin Dolganovsky/New Companion
In this case, Makhonin’s team was able to neutralize this “threat” – the holding was bought out by people allegedly close to the current regional authorities. And Skrivanov in 2021 retained his deputy mandate from the region in the State Duma.
“Help” the security forces
Note that neither the SME agency nor Magma have government contracts with each other. The “Magma” itself is formally owned by Mikhail Dolgushin, who, most likely, is only a nominal owner. Previously, he owned the relatively small companies Stroygazarmatura LLC and New Day LLC, now they have been liquidated. Has nothing to do with media.
At the same time, financing of events could be carried out through completely different channels. In the Perm Territory, there is a charitable foundation “Assistance to the 21st Century”, created under Oleg Chirkunov. The largest enterprises of the region are Lukoil, Sibur, and others. allocate funds there for the implementation of socially significant projects.
But officials seem to be able to use the fund for their own purposes. Now a criminal case is being considered regarding the theft of 67.7 million rubles from the fund. The defendants are Elena Naidanova, former General Director of the Foundation, and Elena Lopaeva, former Deputy Prime Minister of the Perm Territory, ex-head of Maxim Reshetnikov’s apparatus.
According to investigators, the defendants entered into false contracts through individual entrepreneurs, to whom large sums were transferred, but services were not provided. And here it is surprising: recently Elena Naidanova fled the country right before the next court session.
According to evil tongues, the alleged criminal case of Naidanova and Lopayeva could have ended badly for the current head of the Ministry of Economics of the Russian Federation, Maxim Reshetnikov, and allegedly Naidanova could have been helped to escape. If so, then it was not Reshetnikov’s people who could do it, but Makhonin’s.
At the same time, back in May 2022, it became known that the Fund’s funds were spent inappropriately – for the representative purposes of the government. And if this could have happened under Reshetnikov, why couldn’t this have happened under Makhonin and Sosnin?
At the same time, the conflict between the deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Perm Territory from the NWRP Ilya Lisnyak and the team of Dmitry Makhonin continued throughout the last year. Lisnyak is considered the beneficiary of a number of media activities in the Kama region, including popular city publics. All the last time they acted with the sharpest criticism personally of Dmitry Makhonin and his people.
And in April 2023, a criminal case appeared against Lisnyak on charges of extorting funds from a major regional official for not distributing negative information about him. According to our information, we are talking about acting. the head of the administration of the governor of the Perm Territory, Alexandra Smertina, one of Makhonin’s closest associates.
There is an opinion that the administration of Governor Dmitry Makhonin is clearing the political space of the Perm Territory from constructive deputies. Considering that Lisnyak can’t be called “constructive” (rather, destructive), this publication may be custom-made.
However, Ilya Lisnyak personally went on the attack against Makhonin. In his telegram channel, he claims that allegedly at the beginning of Makhonin’s governorship, he, through his people Stanislav Shubin and Nikolai Ivanov (well-known media people and political technologists, Ivanov is considered the man of the oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, worked for a long time in Novagory-Prikamye, the structure of Renova) suggested its media resources cooperation.
That pier agreed, after which his resources touted Makhonin’s team. First – for free, and then allegedly received “support” in finance in the amount of 1.8 million rubles for the “personal PR” of the governor. And this money was allegedly taken from the Assistance XXI Century Foundation.
Those. Lisnyak claims that already after Reshetnikov, the Fund could be used as a “box” for the regional authorities under Makhonin’s team. In the light of the latest searches in the same “Magma”, which could change Lisnyak’s structures in praising the governor’s team, this statement plays with new colors.
Your man in the “media”
This is what could have become the reason for the interest of the security forces in both Magma and the agency. Or maybe to Sosnin himself – so far nothing is known about this. But it is known that serious business can stand behind the head of the Ministry of Economics of the Perm Territory. As mentioned, before participating in politics, he was engaged in entrepreneurship. Behind him was LLC “Plastmassa” from the city of Lysva, Perm Territory.
Photo: Rusprofile.ru
In 2020, upon transition to the civil service, he withdrew from the capital of the company. The alleged relative Oleg Sosnin remained on the farm. At the same time, the company itself looks extremely doubtful. The value of assets is minus 10 million rubles, zero revenue, losses.
Until 2021, Oleg Sosnin acted as a co-founder of another structure, Mercury LLC. Which is now owned by Elena Vladimirovna Sosnina. And there are already serious numbers – over 100 million rubles in revenue at the end of 2022, the value of assets is 34 million rubles.
Photo: Rusprofie.ru
But all these are “flowers”. Because the same Oleg Sosnin turned out to be the director of Media Office LLC, which is owned by an unknown businessman Andrei Bushuev. And it was this company, unlike others, that turned out to be the recipient of state contracts from the structures of the Perm Territory.
Photo: Rusprofile.ru
The total amount is small – about 10 million rubles. The main part is from the Electoral Committee and the Ministry of Education. The key direction is the monitoring of regional media. However, it turns out that government contracts from the Kama region can be received by a company whose director is an alleged relative of the minister, in the future, the mayor of Perm. At the same time, the company itself officially has zero employees and only 10 thousand authorized hzikhidtidekrt capital.
It is clear that possible claims against Eduard Sosnin are a blow not only to Makhonin personally. This is a strong “kick” of opponents, according to his opponent, deputy head of the Presidential Administration Sergei Kiriyenko. And if another resource candidate shows up for the competition to elect the mayor, it will be clear who started this political game.
