The Khimki City Court of the Moscow Region found guilty the general director of the Scientific and Production Association named after V.I. S. A. Lavochkin, Vladimir Kolmykov, and the former head of the Rocket and Space Corporation (RKK) Energia, Vladimir Solntsev, in abuse of power that entailed grave consequences, a Vedomosti correspondent reports.
Judge Elena Efremova sentenced Kolmykov to three years in prison to be served in a penal colony. Solntsev, according to the verdict, received six years in a penal colony. Both are taken into custody in the courtroom.
In addition, the court recovered from the defendants in favor of Energomash the amount of material damage in the case in the amount of 662 million rubles. In the court debate, the public prosecutor stated that the guilt of the defendants was fully proven, and requested terms from 5.5 to 7 years for them.
By court decision, Kolmykov and Solntsev are prohibited from holding senior positions in government bodies and commercial organizations with state participation for a period of two years. Until the verdict comes into force, sums of money in the amount of 33 million rubles, 446,650 euros and $140,000, as well as funds on the settlement accounts of the convicted totaling several million rubles, will also remain under arrest.
On January 12, the Kommersant newspaper, citing sources, reported the details of the criminal case against the heads of enterprises in the rocket and space industry. According to the publication, in March 2015, Kolmykov, being the executive director of NPO Energomash, under pressure from Vladimir Solntsev, who previously held this position, signed amendments to the license agreement with RD-Amros (RD Amross LLC).
The agreement was signed at the end of September 2002 under a contract for the supply of RD-180 liquid-propellant rocket engines for their installation on American Atlas launch vehicles. The deal was concluded on unfavorable terms for Russia and NPO Energomash, Kommersant writes, referring to these investigations. According to this information, RD-Amros, which was a joint venture between NPO Energomash and the American company Pratt & Whitney, from 2022 was transferred the right to use patents and technical documentation of rocket engines for their production, repair, testing, technical support and use in the USA.
In turn, Roskosmos told Vedomosti on the eve that the damage in the amount of more than 662 million rubles, indicated in the article by Kommersant, which allegedly entailed changes to the license agreement, “never occurred.” A spokesman for Roskosmos suggested that publications about the damage ahead of the verdict “can be seen as an attempt to put pressure on the court.”
Solntsev was detained and arrested in 2018 as part of another criminal case under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which refers to the theft of more than 1 billion rubles. when supplying an electronic component base (ECB) for the module of the International Space Station (ISS).
