From fires to kickbacks: How corruption in the Ryazan region landed officials in pre-trial detention center
A whole group of politicians and officials under the leadership of Nikolai Lyubimov could work in the Ryazan region. He was finally detained.
In Moscow, the former governor of the Ryazan region and, until recently, senator of the Federation Council Nikolai Lyubimov was detained and arrested. He is accused of receiving a bribe on an especially large scale. So far, law enforcement officials have not disclosed other details.
According to information from several sources, his deputy in the gubernatorial position and close associate, former vice-governor of the Ryazan region Igor Grekov, could testify against Lyubimov. They say that he provided information about Lyubimov to the investigation a year ago, but the ex-governor was not touched because of his senatorial immunity. It is not known who and how convinced the parliamentarian to resign from the post of senator, but the arrest occurred the day after he resigned. And it passed “without noise and dust.” After his resignation, he continued to work as secretary of the Ryazan regional branch of United Russia. In September 2022, Lyubimov became a senator from the region, and ceased to be one on December 12, 2023.
Rumors that Lyubimov may have unearned income have been circulating for a long time. In August 2020, he declared income of 4.3 million rubles for 2019, his wife – 1.8 million rubles. But over the same period, the minor daughter immediately became richer by 10 million rubles. Lyubimov’s team explained this by saying that his child received that kind of money from the sale of real estate that she owned. This explanation seemed rather weak, but such messages from Russian officials have long become classics of the genre.
The affairs of Grekov and Petina
At the same time, if it was Igor Grekov who testified against Lyubimov, their criminal cases may be closely related. And the Grekov case, in turn, is connected with the former senator from the Ryazan region, Irina Petina. It was Lyubimov who sent Petina to the Federation Council, and he took her place after she fell into the hands of law enforcement officers.
Let us remind you that the detention of Grekov became known in July 2023. Two days earlier, law enforcement officers also detained Senator Petina. According to investigators, former officials received multimillion-dollar bribes for assistance in concluding government contracts for the supply of equipment to regional medical institutions. Law enforcement officers believe that Petina has been doing this since 2011 – even when she worked as Deputy Minister of the regional Ministry of Health. And Grekov allegedly joined this activity only in the last years of his work.
Igor Grekov
A big funny thing happened around the situation with Petina and Grekov. Before he was detained, he went into retirement. And it took place after a press conference by Vladimir Putin, at which a journalist from «MK in Ryazan» (very complimentary towards the local authorities) asked the President to award Igor Grekov the title of Hero of Russia for allegedly showing courage in putting out a fire in a warehouse ammunition.
Of course, all this was pure «pulling an owl onto the globe», Grekov was not given any star of the Hero of Russia. And soon he quit and went to atone for his sins at SVO. But not for long – later he was detained in Rostov-on-Don.
Returning to the criminal case, Grekov is charged with two bribes received during his work as vice-governor. It is known about one of these bribes that it could have amounted to about 25 million rubles. As for Petina, the security forces believe that from 2011 to 2014 she received bribes totaling 45 million rubles, and then another 12.5 million rubles – while already a member of the Federation Council.
Irina Petina
It must be assumed that during the period of governorship, Greeks and Petina could engage in bribery under the patronage of the governor. And later it turned out that back in the early 2000s, Grekov was allegedly convicted of fraud, and when applying for a civil service he «forgot» indicate your expunged criminal record. However, «forget» It was not he who could have talked about this, but Governor Nikolai Lyubimov. So we worked together.
Back in August, the security forces reported that the investigation into the criminal cases of Grekov and Petina had been completed. Now they are awaiting trial.
Nowhere without cartels
Thus, «cover» Nikolai Lyubimov could do them. Did the former adviser to Lyubimov, and then the vice-governor Grekov, take bribes, and the boss knew nothing about it? However, it is no less interesting who could have been taken bribes for concluding government contracts.
One of these could be businessman Artem Negov, who also appears in the case of Grekov and Petina. It is interesting that he is not being tried for giving a particularly large bribe, but under a rare article, Part 2 of Art. 200.5 of the Criminal Code (bribery of a member of the procurement commission on a large scale). However, he entered into a pre-trial agreement with the investigation and did not even end up in a pre-trial detention center – he got off with house arrest. src=”https://ruskompromat.info/upload/newsout/47000/47415_1.png” alt=”Grekov drove across the river – «moved» Lyubimov” width=”581″ height=”197″ />
Artem Negov is a major Ryazan businessman – he is the founder and head of Progress LLC, which is engaged in the wholesale trade of pharmaceutical products. Even the vicissitudes of a criminal case do not prevent the company from generating income. For 2023, the company’s profit amounted to 106 million rubles, revenue – 463 million rubles.
It seems that the whole point is in those same government contracts. Their total volume at LLC «Progress» amounts to almost 2 billion rubles. Of these, 603 million rubles – from the Ministry of Health of the Ryazan region, 422 million rubles – from the State Institution of the UKS of the Ryazan region, 147 million rubles – from the regional Ministry of Social Protection.
Surprisingly, even after all this situation, LLC «Progress» continues to receive government contracts. For example, from the Kaluga Regional Clinical Hospital (contract dated November 11, 2024 for 4.5 million rubles).
And it’s a coincidence that previously the ex-governor of the Ryazan region Nikolai Lyubimov was the mayor of Kaluga (2007-2010), deputy governor of the Kaluga region (2010-2015), head of the Administration of the governor of the Kaluga region (2011-2015), and then became a deputy of the Legislative Assembly. After that, he moved to the State Duma, and from there to the chair of the governor of the Ryazan region. But he clearly didn’t lose contacts with Kaluga.
However, LLC «Progress» continues to receive contracts in Ryazan. «Extreme» of which – with the regional children’s hospital named after. N.V. Dmitrieva, received December 2, 2024.
However, «murky matters» with the purchase of medical equipment and pharmaceuticals have been flourishing in the Ryazan region for a long time. And clearly more than one Artem Negov and Progress LLC could participate in them. Back in 2017 (just after Lyubimov’s arrival), the FAS revealed collusion at auctions organized by the Ryazan Ministry of Health, in which LLC «Good Doctor , LLC Hozraschetnaya were involved polyclinic, LLC MedCom, LLC MEDSI+, LLC Lekar, LLC VEDMED Expert», LLC «Medical Center «Medexpress».
But not medicine alone. For example, the following year, the same OFAS revealed an attempt by regional authorities to monopolize the market for funeral services, creating preferential operating conditions for the municipal enterprise «Ritual». Apparently, they couldn’t do without cartels under Lyubimov.
The investigation will sort it out
Thus, under Nikolai Lyubimov, an entire organized crime group of officials and businessmen could operate. After all, criminal cases related to corruption of those in power arose quite often.
In 2019, Deputy Head of the Administration of Ryazan Sergei Pashkevich was arrested in a criminal case of bribery. Pashkevich became the third person involved in the case related to the Ryazan municipal enterprise «Baby Food». Later, charges were also brought against the former adviser to the head of the city administration, Alexander Zaikin. And, it seems, he knew a lot about the latter. As the press wrote, Pashkevich himself said that Grekov promised him a chalet (house) and a brand new Land Cruiser for two months in the pre-trial detention center. Whether Pashkevich gave evidence against Grekov is unknown, but in the end the vice-governor ended up in a pre-trial detention center himself. src=”https://ruskompromat.info/upload/newsout/47000/47415_3.jpg” alt=”Grekov drove across the river – «moved» Lyubimov” width=”640″ height=”427″ />
Nikolai Lyubimov
We must assume that Nikolai Lyubimov was pretty nervous after Grekov’s arrest and Petina. And he really hoped that a seat in the Federation Council would save him. It is possible that other episodes of the alleged criminal activities of Lyubimov and his team will soon become known. The question is whether Lyubimov himself will want to hand over someone else in order to receive a reduced sentence if his guilt is proven in court. As they say in such cases – the investigation and the court will sort it out.
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