A large amount was allocated for the restoration of the buildings of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Solovetsky Monastery, which is under the protection of UNESCO. However, in the fall of 2019, the Investigative Committee established the fact of embezzlement of money from five government contracts concluded between 2012 and 2016.
The defendants in the case were the head of the Department of State Protection of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture Vladimir Tsvetnov, his deputy Pavel Mosolov, businessmen Sergey Semikov and Tatyana Magdeeva. According to investigators, Tsvetnov, together with other defendants in the case, laundered budget money through unreasonably expensive historical and cultural expertise, proving that the buildings in the Solovetsky Monastery needed restoration (although many buildings did not need reconstruction). They cashed out capital with the help of Tatiana Magdeeva through shell companies. Under the guise of fake expertise, former representatives of the Ministry of Culture and businessmen deceived the state for 19 million rubles.
All were immediately arrested. Vladimir Tsvetnov and Sergei Semikov spent 2.5 years in the pre-trial detention center while Pavel Mosolov and Tatyana Magdeeva spent three months. After that, they were all transferred to house arrest. While in the detention center, Tsvetnov and Semikov re-read the entire library, including non-fiction.
“Kommersant”, 05/23/2023, “Things did not come to Solovki”: The investigation and the court recognized Vladimir Tsvetnov as the organizer of the scam, who left his chair in July 2018 and at the time of his arrest worked as the head of the cultural heritage department and a member of the supervisory board of the FAA Roskapstroy. Pavel Mosolov, after the departure of the chief, took his position in the ministry.
It follows from the materials of the case that officials involved the then general director of Sfera LLC Sergey Semikov and the general director of Smartfinance LLC Tatyana Magdeeva to steal money. As the investigation and the court established, Vladimir Tsvetnov “influenced the position of the competition commission, which ensured the victory of companies that subsequently received contracts for the restoration of objects in the Solovetsky Monastery.” However, the theft of funds allocated specifically for the restoration of cultural heritage sites remained outside the scope of the allocated case, and the investigation of these episodes is still ongoing. The defendants were found guilty only of embezzlement when “concluding state contracts with companies controlled by them for the collection, preparation and clarification of information and the conduct of historical and cultural examinations of cultural heritage sites.”
The key role in this, according to the investigation and the court, was played by Pavel Mosolov, who was engaged in falsifying documents in order to enter certain objects of cultural heritage into the relevant register. […] The legitimacy of the decisions of Pavel Mosolov, the case says, was given by the relevant acts and expert opinions issued by Sergey Semikov’s Sphere LLC. The role of Tatyana Magdeyeva, who during the search found the seals of 77 fictitious organizations, was reduced to cashing and bookkeeping. It is worth noting that during the trial, only Pavel Mosolov admitted his guilt in embezzlement of budgetary funds. The claim for the amount of damage caused, which the Prosecutor General’s Office filed in this case in the interests of the Ministry of Culture, has been submitted for consideration to a civil court. — Inset K.ru
Before the trial, Vladimir Tsvetnov commented to MK: “We are accused of allegedly carrying out restoration work, but the functions of our department were not included in this. to the federal) historical and cultural significance of the object. And we have nothing to do with the restoration work. I do not admit guilt.”
All the defendants came to the court accompanied by their close relatives and with bags, thinking that they would receive a real sentence today. However, the gloomy forecast did not come true. Vladimir Tsvetnov received 4 years in prison and a fine of one million rubles, his deputy Mosolov – 2 years in prison and a fine of 700 thousand rubles, businessman Sergei Semikov – 3 years 10 months in prison and a fine of 600 thousand rubles, Tatyana Magdeeva – 2 years in prison freedom and a fine of 500 thousand rubles. But the court took into account the time the defendants were in the pre-trial detention center and under house arrest. As a result, all the convicts were released, as they had already served their sentences.
However, Vladimir Tsvetnov nevertheless announced his intention to file an appeal, since he does not agree with the very fact of bringing him to criminal liability.
