A week ago, among the new Duma assessors was the former presidential envoy for the Northwestern Federal District and the former head of the Federal Customs Service, Vladimir Bulavin. The honorary customs officer became a State Duma deputy. How the general avoided punishment for the corruption crimes of his subordinates was found out by the editors of the online publication “Kompromat Group“
Difficult candidate
A fresh senatorial suit and a chair in the State Duma are already waiting for the former head of the Federal Customs Service Vladimir Bulavin at the new session of people’s deputies. The governor of the Ivanovo region, Stanislav Voskresensky, vested Bulavin with the powers of a representative of the regional government. The head of the region signed the corresponding decree on September 19.
Attentive people noted that the new status is a great salvation for the Colonel General, in view of the corruption scandals that accompanied his tenure as head of the Federal Customs Service. It is no secret to anyone that it was these scandals that tore the service apart for the last three years that became the reason for Vladimir Ivanovich’s departure from his important position, and not at all his reaching the “age limit of 70 years,” as officially reported. Using the example of the head of the Constitutional Court and the same Investigative Committee of Russia, everyone sees that 70 years and even older age is not an obstacle to a big post.
But the current position of General Bulavin, let’s say, is much more stable than the previous one. According to official sources, the rotation of the senatorial corps will begin at the first plenary meeting of the autumn session of the Federation Council. 20 new senators of the upper house will be presented there, including the former head of the Federal Customs Service Vladimir Bulavin. A political career, lawmaking and complete protection from the close attention of security forces – this is an incomplete list of preferences for the general’s new position.
This will also give him the opportunity to secretly and without consequences influence the behind-the-scenes struggle of various lobbying groups that have already fought like bulldogs in a serious battle for the chair of the head of the Federal Customs Service. Although, knowledgeable people say that after all the criminal scandals at customs, the general lost his appetite for hardware games.
Help from Kompromat Group:
Vladimir Bulavin was born in 1953. Military rank: Colonel General. Since 1977 he served in state security agencies. Since 1992 he held the position of head of department FSB Russian Federation in the Nizhny Novgorod region. In 2001, he took the post of Chairman of the Council of Chiefs of Authorities FSB Russia in the Volga Federal District. In 2006, he was appointed chief of staff of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee. From 2013 to 2016, Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative for the Northwestern Federal District. In 2016, he was appointed to head the Federal Customs Service. At the beginning of 2023, he was relieved of this position as he reached the age of 70.
Edges of the past
In addition, we cannot forget the whole heap of corruption scandals that began to swirl around the North-West Customs Department in 2018. Let us remind you that it was in 2018 that the oligarch Dmitry Mikhalchenko was charged with “organizing a criminal community.” No one smiled at being in the same column as a disgraced businessman, especially after the exposure of the smuggling routes of the North-West. It is no coincidence that in the same 2018, Bulavin appointed head of the counteraction service corruption in the problematic North-West Technical University of a proven lieutenant general Alexandra Povoda. Then, as we know, he took the place of the leader, instead of the one who quickly fell from his post. Alexandra Getmanto whom, as they say, Bulavin was especially favored.
Flower garden of criminal cases
It is no coincidence that the Prosecutor General’s Office immediately publicly stated that “will look for traces of criminal schemes, in the organization and patronage of which the former head of North-West Technical University is suspected.” To further intimidate, the prosecutors rushed with the check at the ready, but the deft Bulavin, like us already wrote, through complex hardware intrigues, it was temporarily possible to postpone the check to a later date. However, the scandal still happened. Suffice it to recall the searches in the apartment of the deputy head of North-West Technical University, General Alexander Bezlyudsky. Let us only note that Bulavin managed to get both him and Getman out of harm’s way and thus saved his position too.
But, if Bulavin got out of that situation, then the following scandals, in general, became conceptually clear. Corruption story with the arrest of the former head of the department of customs investigations and inquiries of the Federal Customs Service Alexandra Kizlykathen the arrest and sending to a pre-trial detention center of the head of the counteraction department corruption FCS Dmitry Muryshov in December 2022, the shares of General Bulavin were hit hard. That this was seen as a forceful attack with a “long-range aim” became clear when it became clear that the TFR was operating with operational support FSB.
Everything wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the old story. The arrest of Nizhny Novgorod resident Muryshov, whom, as they say, the general had his eye on while still serving in FSB in the Nizhny Novgorod region, turned out to be inextricably linked with the scandalous case of the head of the counteraction service corruption NWTU Maxima Rozsypalo, who is said to have testified against the general as part of a “plea deal.” Rozsypalo himself was detained in 2021 in a bribery case, as they say, red-handed, he had nowhere to run, so in order to save his skin, he, as the criminal investigation team puts it, “sang.” An interesting fact, but in his position as the main fighter against corruption, a lover of million-dollar bribes, lasted only about a year. In June 2023, the Zyuzinsky District Court of Moscow sentenced the ex-customs officer to 8 years in prison and a fine of 3 million rubles.
Previously, in February 2023, Vladimir Bulavin left his post in the Federal Customs Service. As they say, all these lines of corruption were just a prelude to properly weakening his position under the general. Indeed, in the plans of some ministers, such as Mikhail Mishustin, for example, the unification of the Federal Customs Service and the Federal Tax Service into one structure under the leadership of the person “necessary” for the minister. Important departments of Lubyanka also have their own plans for this chair. But one way or another, Bulavin managed to cleverly hide from the long arms of his former colleagues in the senator’s chair. As they say, obtaining this place was achieved thanks to the patronage of as many as three ministerial portfolios. But if Bulavin’s story ended more or less well, then the story of the fight for the office of the head of the Federal Customs Service has just begun.