Clouds over Ladoga
Dubious schemes in resolving land issues, fraud and bribes in the allocation of land for forest management, alienation of municipal facilities in favor of affiliates… This is not a complete list of “pranks” of members of the team of the governor of the Leningrad region. The results of this “turbulent activity” could not but affect the quality of life of ordinary people.
During the New Year holidays, a wave of mass power outages swept across Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). Outdated boiler houses and electrical networks could not withstand the January frosts. People froze in their apartments for several days. This fate did not spare the residents of Vsevolozhsk, Leningrad Region. But this is just one “flaw” of the governor of the Leningrad region Alexandra Drozdenko. According to local media, 246 accidents were recorded during the New Year holidays in the Leningrad region, 211 of which occurred on power supply networks. According to the chairman of the committee on fuel and energy complex Sergei Morozov, about 95% of accidents were associated with exceeding permissible loads in SNT, DNP and cottage villages. This is quite understandable: during the holidays there were abnormal frosts in the region. Those who were financially able bought generators so as not to freeze in their homes in SNT and DNP. In this regard, the governor of the region, Alexander Drozdenko, belatedly instructed those responsible from the administration to conduct a full inspection of all energy facilities.
In our almost northern country, winter comes suddenly for officials every year. After hundreds of power failures, just as suddenly realized, that it would be necessary to quickly repair worn-out substations and networks. There are also plans to install smart metering devices for subscribers with the ability to control power withdrawal and limit it when exceeded. True, the officials did not say at whose expense the expensive equipment would be installed.
It’s too late to look for someone to blame for the situation. But it is noteworthy that back in December 2022, the head of the committee on the fuel and energy complex Yuri Andreev was suspected of receiving a bribe, and in April 2023 he was charged with a new charge – of forcing municipal employees to enter into contracts with certain “necessary” contractors. Is this why the electrical networks were not repaired on time? Let us assume that it is unlikely that Governor Drozdenko did not know about this active activity of the head of the committee on the fuel and energy complex.
And if this were just one question for the head of the region. Around the same time, a series of arrests of regional administration officials and heads of companies related to the execution of contracts took place. Let us remember again that many of them were in one way or another subordinate to Mr. Drozdenko.
Non-ordinary prisoners
In the last days of January 2022 arrested former head of the Lenobles department Leonida Lagoda for fraud on an especially large scale – theft of 2.4 million rubles from the regional budget. In January, former deputy chairman of the State Property Management Committee Oleg Zinchenko was placed in custody. He is suspected of receiving bribes for the allocation of land plots in the Vsevolozhsk region to businessmen at a reduced cost. In February 2023, the deputy head of the construction committee was arrested for extorting a bribe. Sergei Shalygin. His boss Konstantin Pankratiev interrogated on suspicion of corruption violations and dismissed from his position.
In March 2023, the ex-head of the Autonomous Non-Profit Organization “Directorate for Integrated Development of Territories” was detained. Daniil Fedichev on charges of abuse of power. This was followed by the detention of the now ex-vice-governor Mikhail Moskvin. According to investigators, Moskvin received a bribe for patronizing Fedichev.
The detainees allegedly wrote letters of resignation retroactively, so as not to drown their possible patron, Governor Drozdenko. This option is quite possible, since information According to the same media, Alexander Yuryevich was quite threatened with resignation in March 2023. Moreover, the detainees began to be “pricked” based on the activities of the regional governor, as well as the vice-governor Evgeniy Baranovsky. The latter was responsible for construction and housing and communal services. Interested in the investigation and the activities of the head of the Vsevolozhsk region Andrey Nizovsky. It is the situation in the Vsevolozhsk district of the Leningrad region that has increasingly raised questions among security officials and activists in recent years. The latest events, when people were freezing in their homes, took place in Vsevolozhsk.
Cottages in the forest and around the lake
Another deputy governor and former head of the Yukkovsky district Igor Petrov (by the way, he oversees the anti-corruption agenda) also almost came under investigation. Local activists wrote a letter to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Vsevolozhsk district. In it they write about the possible theft of municipally owned real estate, and their alienation in favor of Drozdenko’s right hand – the aforementioned Igor Petrov. And Mr. Drozdenko is also not aware of this?
Or is it simpler? According to the St. Petersburg portal, the governor has a house in the Yukkovsky district in the village of Copper Plant. And then it gets even more interesting. A certain company “Honka-Park” managed to build an entire cottage community on leased land near the village of Copper Plant.
And it all started in 2008. The company leased 34.4 hectares of land from the forest fund and 12 hectares near the village of Copper Plant. To permit construction, a scheme was organized for several moves. We developed a new master plan with new territories included in it “for the purpose of housing construction.” The development was paid for by Honka-Park LLC. Then the company turned to the administration of the Yukkovsky settlement with a request to approve the general plan.
And here Alexander Drozdenko appears again, who in those years was the head of the state property committee. He sent it to the then governor of the region for signature Valery Serdyukov two corresponding draft orders – No. 667 and 669. Thus, forest fund lands became lands for individual housing construction. After the approval of the general plan and a number of other bureaucratic procedures, Hoka-Park became not a tenant, but the owner of the specified lands with a category permitted for development, along with the territory around Lake Svetly.
And again an interesting fact: at that time the general director of Honka-Park was… the wife of the current governor Irina Drozdenko.
A little earlier than this multi-move, Igor Petrov, the current deputy governor and his “right hand,” came up with an even more daring scheme. From 2001 to 2005, Igor Petrov held the position of General Director of CJSC Radiotelecommunications Company (CJSC RTK). In short, Mr. Petrov liked 3.27 hectares of land from the forest fund. He asks for design and survey work for housing construction in the village of Yukki. After the work was completed, Petrov submitted to the administration of the Yukkovsky settlement a list of supposedly 15 employees of RTK CJSC – participants in the fighting in Afghanistan, who had the right to receive free land. They received the land.
It’s easy to guess that after some time these 15 “Afghans” sold their plots. As of August 2021, four of the 15 acquired properties were owned Ekaterina Petrova – full namesake of Igor Petrov’s mother, three – owned Lyubov Petrova, full namesake of his ex-wife. This situation did not raise any questions either at the State Property Committee or among law enforcement officers: land owners have the right to dispose of it at their own discretion.
Tag one more person – the head of the Priozersky municipal district Alexandra Soklakova. He sat in this chair in 2016, and has already managed to turn the majority of the region’s residents against him for allegedly “complete incompetence and professional incompetence.” Activists constantly write to Governor Drozdenko that Mr. Soklakov is allegedly involved in all sorts of fraudulent schemes. But Mr. Drozdenko does not react to the “attacks” on his protege.
One of the most daring schemes, which became known in 2019, and in which Alexander Soklakov could have participated, looks like this. During the division of the former land assets of JSC “Sudakovo” on the banks of Ladoga, Vuoksa, lakes Sukhodolskoye and Otradnoye, as writes one of the media, 14 owners became land owners. But, most importantly, several of them turned out to be teenagers under 18 years of age at the time of application.
And soon the cottage village DPK “Prigorodnoye” grew up on these plots. But the problem is that the land of the agricultural fund also included a piece of land of the forest fund. And the question on what basis the forest fund was transferred to an agricultural plot was left unanswered by the Committee on Natural Resources of the Leningrad Region.
In December 2023, Deputy Alexander Soklakov was arrested Oksana Kokulina. According to investigators, several years ago Oksana Kokoulina achieved the allocation of funds in the amount of more than 837 thousand rubles for the repair of a municipal bathhouse rented by her husband, although he was obliged to carry out the work at his own expense.
The amount, frankly, is ridiculous compared to the millions and billions of thefts and major fraud. This begs the question: wasn’t the woman arrested so that she would tell about all the schemes of her boss, Mr. Soklakov? However, this is just a guess.
Unknown
According to one of the media, Alexander Drozdenko’s wife Irina owns the assets of the largest port of Ust-Luga. True, she allegedly sold the shares, although the new owners are her relatives. Now Irina is engaged in the real estate business. By this time, the untouchable family had moved from the village of Copper Plant to the rebuilt (not without their participation) village of “Honka-Park”.
As journalists from the same media suggested, the Governor of the Leningrad Region will soon begin to fear his own shadow. After all, the security forces began breathing down his back more and more actively.
And the clouds were really gathering over Drozdenko at the beginning of 2023. After the President’s Address, there was serious talk about reshuffles both in the ministries and in the gubernatorial corps. Drozdenko could really lose his chair. So far, as they say, it’s gone. But in light of the New Year’s interruptions in heat and electricity in the Leningrad region, conversations about possible personnel changes may resume…
