Tens of millions of annual income, houses and apartments, and in return – lobbying the interests of Severstal, and not the residents of Vologda. “Chronicles” Media” talk about the Speaker of the Vologda Region Parliament Andrey Lutsenko.
Region Mordashova
Elections for the governor of the Vologda region are scheduled for autumn 2024. For the first time in 13 years, local residents will see a new face in this post, as the former governor Oleg Kuvshinnikov resigned. On the occasion of this significant event, Chronicles are launching a series about the authorities of the Vologda region. Let’s start with the leader of the local United Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) and the head of parliament Andrey Lutsenko.
Region 35 depends on Severstal Alexey Mordashov (77th place in the top 500 billionaires in the world according to the publication Bloomberg). Severstal taxes make up a significant part of the budget of the Vologda region. Moreover, in 2023, half of the excess profit tax revenues in Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) provided companies from four regions: Moscow, Moscow region, St. Petersburg and Vologda region. Including Severstal.
There are many people in the leadership of the Vologda region who come from this company. For example, former governor Oleg Kuvshinnikov, before coming to power, climbed the career ladder of the Cherepovets Metallurgical Plant. After the privatization of the enterprise, Kuvshinnikov began working for Severstal, eventually receiving a seat on the company’s board of directors. When he headed the region, he began to recruit Mordashov’s personnel.
Enterprising steelworker
So, in 2014, Andrei Lutsenko became the first vice-governor of the region. Before coming to power he have worked at the Cherepovets Metallurgical Plant together with Kuvshinnikov and Mordashov, and then became a member of the top management of Severstal.
Lutsenko also headed a number of subsidiaries of Severstal. According to public reporting companies, he was the chairman of the boards of directors of ZAO Firm Stoik, LLC Energoremont, LLC Severstal-Proekt and St. Petersburg OJSC Ko Vnimetmash, as well as a member of the boards of OJSC Domnaremont, LLC SSM-Tyazhmash, LLC Elektroremont, Severstal-Mebel LLC, owned by Severstal, Izhora Pipe Plant, ALS CJSC (a joint venture with the French company Air Liquide). In the last company Lutsenko even belonged to share.
While working in the top management of Severstal, Lutsenko also became an inventor. In his name issued several patents that he registered together with his colleagues. It is difficult to judge what the “steelmaker’s” contribution to these inventions was. Journalists wrote, that the management of Severstal often appropriates the ideas of ordinary employees: “Ordinary workers know that when working at Severstal, they should not invent something and make rational proposals. You won’t get any money from this. A superior boss (for example, a foreman) simply won’t let you convey your idea to the right department, but will appropriate it to himself. This happens at the plant all the time.”
Thus, the conflict between Lutsenko and the inventor has been going on since the 2000s Konstantin Makarov. He accused Lutsenko and Severstal in that the company used his invention and even paid for it, but then allegedly simply stole it. Severstal even tried to recover part of the money paid to the inventor through the court, but to no avail. Several years ago Makarov had tried to prosecute Lutsenko and other Severstal managers for libel, but just then criminal liability for it was abolished. The last known appeal of the inventor to the court against Lutsenko dated 2021 – then the court refused to accept the claim.
Children-steelworkers
Both of Lutsenko’s sons are also associated with Severstal. 37-year-old Kirill heads the Center for Technological Development for the Production of Long and Pipe Products, often participates in public events, representing the company. His wife Lyubov works at Severstal Management.
Younger son policy — 32-year-old Alexander manages the metal processing workshop of the St. Petersburg subsidiary of Severstal, Izhora Pipe Plant.
From the workshop to power
In 2014, Lutsenko moved from Severstal to the post of first deputy governor of the Vologda region. Two years later, Lutsenko elected on the Cherepovets list of United Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) to the regional parliament. According to the Central Election Commission, it is clear that in this city the “party in power” traditionally gains more than in the region as a whole. At the first meeting, Lutsenko chose speaker, and three months later he headed the regional “United Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism)”.
In 2021 “steelmaker” re-elected deputy, being already in the regional top three on the party list (the first number was the governor of the region Kuvshinnikov, the second was the father of the governor of the Moscow region Andrey Vorobyov and longtime associate of the Secretary of Defense Sergei Shoigusenator from the Vologda region Yuri Vorobiev).
In the history of Russian parliamentarism, Lutsenko will be remembered, perhaps, only as a speaker, under whom accepted the dense law on fines for “inducing abortions”, and the fact that, together with Governor Kuvshinnikov, for many years introduced tax benefits for large taxpayers in the region, primarily for Severstal.
Annual budget losses from such benefits amount to billions of rubles. For example, like wrote journalists, due to benefits for Severstal and PhosAgro, the local budget was shorted by approximately 3 billion rubles. in 2021 and 2022. The message that in 2024 Severstal looks great against this background going pay dividends to the company’s owners, the total amount of which may exceed 100 billion rubles.
The Vologda region, according to the state Agency for Strategic Initiatives, Excluded neither in the top 10 regions in terms of investment climate, nor in top 20 in terms of quality of life. Even drinking water is here dangerousbecause it is contaminated with iron.
Comfortable life
Median per capita income of the region’s population, according to data Rosstat – 29,350 rubles. But Lutsenko lives not only on his deputy’s salary, but also on “other income.” Thus, in the first year of work in power as a deputy governor of the region, he declared an income of 63.8 million rubles, of which only 2.1 million were salary in the government, 52.8 million rubles were the salary for the first six months at Severstal, and 8.9 million rubles – other income. In the next few years, before moving to work in parliament, Lutsenko declared an income of more than 23 million rubles, of which only about 3 million rubles. – this is the salary as the deputy head of the region, and the rest is the same “other income”. In parliament, his income tragically dropped to 11-13 million rubles. in year.
In his 2020 election declaration, Lutsenko revealed sources of income: in addition to salaries, these were pension payments, including from the non-state pension fund “Future”, related with Severstal, social payments and payments from the state bank VTB.
According to the latest published declarations for 2021 (after the start of the SVO in Ukraine, officials were allowed not to publish these documents), Lutsenko owns shares in a land plot, three apartments and a residential building. Also policy there is an apartment and two garages.
According to the classical scheme, close relatives of such characters have the most property. For example, my wife. She owns shares in the same real estate as Lutsenko, and she is also the owner of three plots of land, two small houses and two premises of unknown purpose.
“Chronicles” established that of the listed property, two plots with a total area of 3.6 thousand square meters. m are located in Cherepovets, in Maturinsky Proezd. There, the couple owns a 400-meter house in the Maturino cottage village. This part of the city called “Cherepovets ruble”, and Lutsenko carefully watching for its improvement.
The couple’s almost 200-meter apartment is also located in Cherepovets (Lutsenko’s eldest son Kirill and his daughter-in-law live there), two more apartments of approximately 70 square meters each. m are located somewhere in the 35th region. Also politics owns half of the apartment in his native Chelyabinsk region.
The area of the apartment owned personally by Lutsenko is 150 square meters. m. In fact, this is a three-story townhouse in the gated community “Green House” in Novy Devyatkino near St. Petersburg. His daughter-in-law and youngest son Alexander live there.
For many years, everything was more than fine for the “steelworkers” and their patron Alexei Mordashov, but now both the billionaire and Severstal have come under international sanctions for supporting Putin (*international criminal) and the Northern Military District in Ukraine. Before this, 60% of the company’s products was going on abroad, including to Europe, from there came 34% of revenue. Now the Kremlin enters more and more export duties and excise taxes, and metallurgists are forced to look for new markets, lobbying the authorities through their steelworkers for more and more benefits at the expense of the Russians.