On April 17, 2022, five workers died in Buryatia on the territory of one of the largest enterprises in the republic. Exactly a year has passed since the tragedy at the Selenginsky Combine, but during this time against the director of the JCCC Lilia Deeva and plant owner Evgenia Pruidze never brought charges, thereby freeing them from responsibility for the deaths of their subordinates. And the results of the trial were not officially announced. Babr provides a chronology of events and important details of the case.
Deadly gas leak
On the evening of April 17, the bodies of two men and three women were found on the territory of the Selenginsky Pulp and Cardboard Mill (STsKK) in Buryatia.
According to official reports, a female dispatcher was checking the pressure in an irrigation barrel where a chemical processing liquid is stored, and due to a sudden release of poisonous gas, the employee almost immediately lost consciousness and died on the spot. The same thing happened with the rest of the workers: one after another they went out in search of missing colleagues and became victims of a toxic release. Only one woman managed to get out of the room on her own, after which she was taken to the hospital. She was the last guest of the deadly place.
During the investigative checks, it turned out that hydrogen sulfide was the cause of the lethal poisoning of five employees. And here’s what’s interesting: according to the owner of the plant, Yevgeny Pruidze, the sump drive was out of order on January 21, 2022 and needed urgent repair. But as a result of the negligent attitude of the JCCC management to the safety of the workplace, the repair was not organized on time. The sump was not emptied and filled with water for three months, as it should be.
The high concentration of poison gas at the scene of the accident remained extremely high even a day after the emergency: at the treatment plant, the MPC values exceeded almost a thousand times. In the air above the settlements near the plant, the concentration of gas exceeded ten times the permissible values. Consequently, not only the six affected employees, but also the rest of the employees, as well as local residents, were in the infection zone – this is more than thirteen thousand people.
case investigation
On the fact of the incident, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under Article 143 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Violation of labor protection requirements resulting in the death of two or more persons.” At the same time, from the beginning of the investigative process, Lilia Deeva did not give up the post of director of the JCCC and deputy, even if, based on at least moral principles, she had to do this. She had the opportunity to resign, since as a director she could not fulfill her professional duties, but as a deputy she could not protect the interests of the Kabansky district, which she represents in the People’s Khural.
Deeva not only did not give up her position, but also decided to take a personal part in the investigation, identifying the persons involved in the emergency. It is possible that such a position could contribute to the concealment, including to protect her own reputation. And the reputation of Evgeny Pruidze.
The investigators allegedly did not at all note the fact that the responsibility for the death of the workers lies primarily with the director of the enterprise. Deeva had to know that the equipment at the plant was out of order. Consequently, she simply ignored the dangerous conditions at work, and after the tragedy, she completely pretended that the incident was a great surprise for her.
Brilliant game.
According to investigators, the director of the Selenginsky plant for production, Fyodor Lankovich, was guilty of the tragedy. According to the decision of the investigators, it was he who did not provide safe working conditions for employees and did not take the necessary measures for the trouble-free operation of the treatment plant equipment.
The employee was charged under two articles at once: “Violation of labor protection requirements, resulting in the death of two or more persons” and “Violation of the operation of facilities, resulting in air pollution and death of people.” On April 20, during the investigation, he was detained and placed under house arrest until June 17. Later, not only were the charges dropped from Lankovich, but he was also returned to his post. More on this later.
In parallel with the investigation, in order to somehow make amends to the families of the victims, Lilia Deeva said that the board of directors of the SCCC would increase the amount of payments from one to five million rubles for each family of the deceased worker. Even then, Babr suggested that the company’s generosity was due to nothing more than pressure from the authorities of Buryatia and society, as well as Deeva herself evading criminal responsibility for the death of workers.
Where are such conclusions from? The fact is that initially the management of the plant planned to pay the families of the victims only one million rubles each, which is only insurance, which in any case was provided as compensation in accordance with federal law. And only after the head of the republic obliged the directorate to provide additional support, its amount increased.
Also in the course of the investigation in connection with the increased MPC for hydrogen sulfide, which was mentioned above, the East Baikal Interdistrict Environmental Prosecutor’s Office submitted submissions to the JCCC. After the intervention of the prosecutor’s office, the management of the plant deigned to issue local acts that were aimed at ensuring the safety of workers and protecting the treatment complex.
According to the act, specialists had to check the air in the premises of the plant daily. But even here there were no disputes. The plant’s representatives diligently tried to challenge the prosecutor’s demands. According to them, the control of effluents is not part of the duties of the staff. They withdrew the complaint during the course of the trial. Either conscience tortured, or someone from above tapped on the head.
Selenginsky CombineIn addition, Babr’s assumptions that the plant did not have gas leakage sensors and video surveillance, and employees did not use personal protective equipment, were confirmed. Again, after another scolding, Deeva promised that the complex of treatment facilities would be equipped with gas analyzers, video surveillance, light and sound alarms for the receiving reservoir.
Also, according to her, in 2022, the treatment complex should have been subjected to a technical audit and modernization. Spoiler alert: none of this has been done. The mill has not seen an adequate air purification system, and will not see it for a long time. In the meantime, local residents have to breathe the stinking emissions of the enterprise.
On June 3, 2022, as in August of the same year, the Selenginsky Central Control Commission was convicted of serious violations of the legislation on atmospheric air protection. Experts have identified excess emissions of pollutants into the atmospheric air, the lack of permits for such emissions and the operation of emission sources without their registration in the state register of objects of negative impact.
Following a disciplinary check by the environmental prosecutor’s office at the JCCC, five officials were punished and two were fired. Also, the leaders of the organization were ordered to eliminate violations of industrial safety legislation and brought to administrative responsibility.
So what about the accused Fyodor Lankovich? The situation is as follows: in June 2022, the director of the CCC for production filed a lawsuit with the Kabansky District Court to recognize his dismissal as illegal and return to his position. According to the man, the repair of the sump drive was not part of his area of responsibility, and no one informed him about the withdrawal of ventilation.
The court granted the man’s claim in part. The dismissal of the employee was declared illegal, in connection with this, an order was issued to reinstate Lankovich to his previous position and recover compensation for non-pecuniary damage in the amount of 10 thousand rubles from JSC “STsKK” in favor of the man.
fake success
In this story, one cannot fail to note how dodgy the leadership of the JCCC is trying to avoid a major punishment for the death of workers. First, Lilia Deeva threw off the responsibility for the emergency on her wards, and moreover, the dead themselves. According to her, the employees ended up in a fatal place for an unknown reason, and indeed it was a non-working space. And later Evgeny Pruidze joined her excuses.
The businessman decided to order as many as two interviews with the local newspaper Baikalskiye Ogni in order to publicly justify himself for the mass death of workers and accuse the media of spreading fake information. And later, custom-made material appeared on YouTube, in which the management of the Selenginsky plant was endlessly praised, as if Pruidze “saved” the city of Selenginsk.
Nevertheless, the involvement of the plant’s management in the tragedy seems obvious, because it was they who committed gross violations in the conduct of the technological process and the safe operation of equipment. Therefore, until the management becomes fully responsible for their negligent attitude towards production, the JCCC will pose a danger to the life and health of employees.
