Timur Ivanov and Marat Khusnullin are mastering the “beautification” of Donbass

The federal government continues to transfer budget billions to restore the infrastructure of four former Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. Only in 2023-2025. about 300 billion rubles can be allocated for these purposes.

Despite the fact that the Ministry of Construction has been appointed the official coordinator of the restoration work, the construction of facilities in the new territories is carried out, among other things, by the Military Construction Company subordinate to the Ministry of Defense, whose activities are controlled by Sergei Shoigu’s deputy Timur Ivanov, an official known for his craving for a luxurious image life and, as a result, corrupt ties. Thanks to Ivanov, the “kickbacks” received by him through a confidant, former senator Alexander Ter-Avanesov, became an integral part of the work of ministerial contractors.

As a result, the previously announced decommercialization of the military construction industry has turned into its monopolization by “court” contractors sitting on a contract “needle”, such as the companies “Olympsitistroy” and “Zapsibgazprom-Gazifikatsiya”. Supervising the work of “Olympsitistroy”, Ivanov regularly visits the construction sites of the developer in the Donbass and even managed to get the title of “hero of the LNR”.

The “Kazan” team of Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, who is the main initiator of the transfer of billions of investments for the restoration of new subjects of the Russian Federation, does not stand aside. From the side of the Ministry of Construction, the processes are controlled by Deputy Minister Valery Leonov, who previously worked with Khusnullin in the Moscow government and became famous for his rudeness, unprofessionalism and corruption.

While announcing large-scale projects and demanding another billion, the Ministry of Construction is simultaneously paying attention to the continuation of hostilities, which means that corrupt officials from the government will receive new investments under the pretext of eliminating the consequences of enemy shelling and counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Developers of the Ministry of Defense “enter” the Donbass

The special military operation, now in its second year, continues to consume human and material resources. The issue of restoring the recently annexed territories – the former Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions – is on the agenda. Back in November last year, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, who oversees the issues of construction and regional development, called the restoration of the economy of these regions “the largest construction project” in Russia.

Last February, the deputy chairman instructed the federal Ministry of Construction and the “sponsored” regions to quickly approve plans for rebuilding housing, production facilities, transport and social infrastructure in the former Ukrainian territories in 2023-2025. Earlier it was reported that the necessary funds are included in special – secret – articles of the federal budget.

We are talking about 374.2 billion rubles, of which it is planned to “master” about 100 billion this year. Here are just the same articles provide for expenses, for example, for ensuring national defense and space research, because which part is intended for the restoration of the destroyed remains a secret with seven seals. And this is very convenient, since the classification of official data provides dishonest officials and contractors associated with them with a good opportunity to turn good intentions into another “trough”.

Customers for construction work in the newly annexed territories are at least six state-owned enterprises controlled by a number of departments, including the Military Construction Company (VSK) of the Ministry of Defense. It should be noted that the development department of the military ministry quickly joined in the restoration of Donbass: by September last year, more than 4.5 thousand VSK specialists were working here, involved not only in the restoration of social infrastructure, but also in the construction of residential facilities.

From the very beginning, the activity was carried out at an accelerated pace: “The water pipeline from the Khanzhenkovsky reservoir to the Seversky Donets-Donbass canal was built in just 45 days, the water pipeline in Volnovakha – in 40 days, the multifunctional medical center in Mariupol – in just 85 days, the first two houses on 188 apartments in a new residential complex in Mariupol – in 80 days, ”the Ministry of Defense said in an official statement.

Oversees the course of restoration work in the Donbass through the military department, Deputy Minister Timur Ivanov, who has repeatedly personally inspected the construction sites of the VSK, including together with Marat Khusnullin and Secretary of the United Russia General Council Andrey Turchak.

So, together with the head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, Ivanov took part in the grand opening of a new multifunctional medical center in Mariupol, together with the head of the LPR, Leonid Pasechnik, in the celebrations on the occasion of the opening of the medical center in Lugansk. As a token of gratitude (or perhaps simply out of a desire to curry favor with the capital’s guest), Pasechnik during the ceremony even awarded Ivanov the title of Hero of the LPR.

“He (Ivanov) noted that construction projects are in full swing wherever there are no hostilities. The demining of the site is still underway, and the military builders are already ordering materials, preparing equipment to enter the site immediately after the sappers and immediately start work, ”wrote the official website of the VSK about one of the visits of the Deputy Minister to Mariupol.

But this is just rhetoric for the media, in fact, everything is different and the high-ranking official is driven not only by official duty and a sense of sovereign patriotism. Let’s start with the fact that, commenting on the presidential decree on the creation in 2019 of the Military Construction Company controlled by the Ministry of Defense, Ivanov emphasized:

“The main task is to withdraw the military construction from the commercial sector, so that under the influence of some external circumstances or unfair competition it would not be possible to bankrupt this company or impose any burdens on it.”

But, as you know, in Russia theory is not always “friendly” with practice. As a result, the declared de-commercialization of military construction and the rejection of “unnecessary contractors” resulted in a large-scale “cut” of budget funds, the participants of which were the Deputy Minister and businessmen close to him, whose commercial structures receive billions in contracts through VSK. As an example, independent publications and telegram channels cite Olimpsitistroy, a company close to Timur Ivanov, which is actively working in Mariupol, where it has built the Nevsky microdistrict (some media “modestly” call it a “modern oasis”) and Lugansk, where a new multidisciplinary medical center.

On the network, you can familiarize yourself with publications from which it follows that during the construction of objects of the Ministry of Defense by Olimpsitistroy, there is an overestimation of construction estimates at least three times, on which both Ivanov himself and the owners of the company Alexander Fomin and Dmitry Khavronin earn good money, back in 2021 awarded on the initiative of the Deputy Minister with a medal of the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland” II degree.

But the Olimpsitistroy contracts are a much more valuable sign of attention: their portfolio exceeds 10 billion rubles, and the main customer is the Main Directorate for the Arrangement of Troops, from which contracts for more than 6.1 billion were received.

And now let’s pay attention to the change in the financial indicators of the “court contractor” of the Ministry of Defense, available on the RBC Company portal. If in 2018 (that is, even before the creation of VSK) Olimpsitistroy declared a revenue of 8.1 billion rubles and a profit of 74.2 million, then at the end of 2022 its revenue amounted to 19.2 billion, and profit – 2 .8 billion rubles. Given the active work in the new subjects of the Russian Federation, there is no doubt: the enterprise will continue to receive contracts, and its beneficiaries, together with Deputy Minister Ivanov, will continue to “master” budget billions.

Ter-Avanesov is a former senator and “decided on trust”

The informal curator of Olympsitistroy, or, more simply, an intermediary between representatives of the business community and Mr. Ivanov, the authors of journalistic investigations call Alexander Ter-Avanesov, the infamous former senator from the Kostroma region, who lost his mandate ahead of schedule in 2016 and received the nickname “ghost deputy” for the fact that within six months he did not find time to meet with his colleagues from the regional Duma who delegated him to the Federation Council.

On the net, Ter-Avanesov can be found mentioned as a “decider” with a very wide circle of acquaintances, in the 90s closely associated with the Lipetsk organized criminal group, who later became a friend of Deputy Prosecutor General Sahak Karapetyan, who died in 2018 as a result of a private helicopter accident. He also allegedly became friends with the notorious Igor Albin (Slyunyaev), who at various times held the posts of Kostroma governor, head of the federal Ministry of Regional Development and vice-governor of St. Petersburg.

After the deprivation of authority, the former senator took the position of senior vice president of VTB Bank. There were reports that Ter-Avanesov lobbied for his appointment as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (!) of Armenia to Russia, but failed. But Fortune smiled at him, making Timur Ivanov a confidant.

The authors of publications on the network call Ter-Avanesov a “purse” of the Deputy Minister of Defense, who collects “kickbacks” from contractors and transfers the “interest” due to him to a high-ranking official. Moreover, the ex-senator performed this function several years before the creation of the VSK. As an example of his intermediary activity, the story of the Spetsmontazh company, which, among other things, was engaged in landscaping the territory of the Kantemirovskaya Tank Division in Naro-Fominsk in 2016, on the eve of the arrival of OSCE representatives, is cited.

Then, out of the 500 million rubles allocated for the improvement, only 80 million actually reached the contractor. The “lion’s” share of finances “settled” in the pocket of Ivanov, who oversees departmental facilities (Ter-Avanesov also received the “percentage” due to him). In the course of the work, there was an overestimation of the cost of materials and services provided by firms affiliated with businessman Sergei Volkodav, whose brother Yuri Volkodav worked in the structures of the Ministry of Defense and was considered a person close to Deputy Minister Ivanov. By the way, later the Volkodava brothers became defendants in a criminal case on multimillion-dollar embezzlement at the Vostochny Cosmodrome.

The activities of Spetsmontazh ended quite as expected – in 2018 it was bankrupted. During its existence, the company received 26 contracts from the structures of the Ministry of Defense for more than 9.2 billion rubles; Of these, by the time of bankruptcy, 15 were operating (for 5.6 billion), the rest were terminated by the customer. The amount of creditors’ claims exceeded 1.5 billion rubles, but no criminal proceedings were initiated.

Today, the intermediary activity of the “reshala” Ter-Avanesov continues successfully. In addition to Olympsitistroy, another major contractor of the Ministry of Defense is under his tacit control, from which Timur Ivanov, the construction company Zapsibgazprom-Gazifikatsiya, is taking the “foam” through his authorized representative. The activities of this enterprise are described online as follows: it receives facilities where other contractors previously worked, the services of which the ministry refused under far-fetched pretexts. Then the unfinished construction sites are put up for tender again, and Zapsibgazprom-Gazifikatsiya receives them, with further funding coming from scratch.

The portfolio of government contracts of the company exceeds 58.8 billion rubles; a significant part of them falls on the structures of the defense department, including the ministry itself, the Joint Strategic Command of the Northern Fleet, as well as the liquidated Main Military Construction Directorates No. 2,7 and 11.

The financial performance of the enterprise also looks similar: its revenue in 2022 amounted to 26.8 billion rubles, profit – 701.1 million. For comparison: revenue in 2016 was more modest – 7.3 billion, profit – 24.3 million. Apparently, it is necessary to say “thank you” to Ivanov and the “decisor” Ter-Avanesov, who lost his senatorial powers in time?

“Black box office” of Minister Shoigu

And here it is worth asking the question: what kind of person is this – Deputy Minister of Defense with the makings of a businessman Timur Ivanov, a lover of a beautiful life and an owner of elite real estate? Let’s start with the fact that Sergei Shoigu’s deputy did not have a chance to serve in the army: after graduating from the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics of Moscow State University, he first began working in commercial structures, and since 1999 – at enterprises of the fuel and energy complex.

From the official biography of the official, it follows that in 1999 he, a recent graduate of the university, became, no more, no less, an adviser to the head of the Department for the Construction of Nuclear Facilities of the Ministry of Atomic Energy; then he held senior positions in the Rosenergoatom Concern, Atomstroyexport CJSC, Inter RAO UES JSC; for several years he was an adviser to the Federal Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko.

Such a rapid career growth can be explained by the fact that the uncle of the young specialist, Sergei Ivanov, was the executive director of Rosenergoatom. This is the same Professor Ivanov, who became a defendant in a high-profile criminal case of embezzlement of more than 200 million rubles from RT-Capital, a subsidiary of Rostec dealing with non-core assets of the corporation, put on the wanted list and arrested in absentia in December 2019 by the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow .

Timur Ivanov himself also worked at Rosenergoatom, where he served as an adviser to his uncle. On the net, you can find references to how the tandem of relatives unanimously “mastered” budget finances through the Russian Energy Company (ERKO) controlled by Ivanov Sr. and how the nephew wore “kickbacks”, intended first for his uncle, and then for his boss. minister.

In 2012, Timur Ivanov became Deputy Prime Minister of the Moscow Region during the short-lived governorship of Sergei Shoigu. The latter clearly liked him, and already in March 2013, Ivanov headed Oboronstroy, which is under the control of the ministry, and is engaged in the construction of housing for military personnel, as well as the construction of socially significant and strategically important objects of the Ministry of Defense. Here, as we already know, his commercial talents were destined to be revealed in full force.

True, it was not without unpleasant incidents. For example, the construction of the Sevastopol Presidential Cadet School in 2014 in record time – less than five months – turned into a scandal. Two weeks before the grand opening of the educational institution, an emergency happened: the roof of one of the buildings under construction collapsed, a total of ten people were injured, two builders died. The media were indignant: if the structure had held out a little longer, children would have been under the rubble. Here one involuntarily recalls the next construction “records” of the VSK in the Donbass. How long will we have to wait for new accidents?

By the way, having headed “Oboronstroy”, Ivanov began to pursue an “innovative” policy, which is familiar to us today from the VSK. He abandoned the use of third-party contractors, effectively replacing them with companies controlled by the Department of Defense. The function of buying up controlling stakes in the authorized capital of construction enterprises was entrusted to a non-subsidiary structure of Oboronstroy – the Main Directorate for the Arrangement of Troops (GUOV).

The result of such activities was the refusal to hold open competitions and the distribution of ministerial orders exclusively between “their”, that is, “subsidiary” structures. Accordingly, the control over the colossal budgetary funds allocated to the department became more complicated. More precisely, there was only one controller left – the ministry itself. What sums “settled” in the pockets of officials in uniform and without, as well as intermediaries like the aforementioned Ter-Avanesov, can only be assumed.

A version was voiced according to which a significant proportion of the construction “kickbacks” went to the so-called “black cash desk” of Sergei Shoigu, the holder of which was called Timur Ivanov. Allegedly, these funds are intended, among other things, to realize the possible presidential ambitions of the Minister of Defense. In this context, the role of his deputy and confidant appears in a somewhat different light. That’s just given the difficult realities of the NMD, the plans of the head of the Ministry of Defense over the past year could have undergone serious changes.

The Beautiful Life of a Deputy Minister and a “Socialite”

Do not think that Ivanov lives only for the care of the boss. Thanks to his marriage to the “socialite” Svetlana Zakharova (better known by the surname that she bore when she was in a previous marriage – Maniovich), the deputy minister repeatedly became the hero of publications in glossy magazines dedicated to describing the luxurious lifestyle of a glamorous couple. It was reported, for example, about an Aston Martin car donated by Ivanov to his wife, worth about 100 thousand dollars, and about another elite car – Rolls-Royce Corniche, worth 120 thousand euros.

The celebration of Svetlana’s next birthday, which took place in the Moscow Imperial Yacht Club with the participation of show business stars, could cost a loving husband 8 million rubles. In 2010-2018 the spouses spent every summer in Saint-Tropez, having spent during this time, according to journalists’ estimates, at least 850 thousand euros for renting villas and about 250 thousand more euros for renting yachts.

In 2019, the media wrote about the property owned by the Ivanov family, located in the elite village of Uspenskoye near Moscow: a land plot with an area of ​​​​over 10 thousand square meters and a home ownership of 1.6 thousand square meters with an estimated cost of up to 600 million rubles. Formally, the state is the owner of the territory, although earlier it was divided into four separate plots, bought by Svetlana Maniovich. But the most important thing that journalists paid attention to was that the specified property was absent in Ivanov’s official declarations.

In addition, back in 2011, Svetlana talked about an apartment in a two-story townhouse on Ostozhenka, which she “persuaded” her husband to buy. However, in Ivanov’s declaration, the journalists did not find this living space in the property either, it refers to an apartment “in use.” Well, the very fact of the purchase can be hidden only in one case: if the family lives beyond its means. Calculations of the deputy minister’s income for all the years of his labor activity suggest exactly this idea.

Last year, information about the divorce of Timur and Svetlana Ivanov appeared on the single information portal of justices of the peace in the capital. It happens, of course, anything, but in this case we can talk about a fictitious divorce. The fact is that the official is included in the sanctions lists of the United States and the European Union, which do not contain the name of his already former (?) wife, who quietly visits France and Great Britain, where her children live.

At the same time, this gives Ivanov the right to ignore unpleasant questions related to Svetlana’s recent vacation in Courchevel in the company of singer Valery Meladze. Now the “socialite” can calmly “surf the seas and oceans”, but with what funds? For those that she got after her divorce from her first husband, businessman Mikhail Maniovich, who accused his ex-wife of illegally seizing the Prestige chain of stores and trying to “order” it to some “Petersburg bandits”? Or those that fall “into the pocket” of deputy Shoigu after “cutting” the next tranche allocated for the restoration of Donbass?
Reports and forecasts of the leadership of the Ministry of Construction

A logical question arises: where are the officials of the federal Ministry of Construction looking, who coordinate construction work in new regions and distribute objects among state customers depending on their specialization? We also recall that it was under the Ministry of Construction in May last year that the Department “for the implementation of a special infrastructure project” was created, dealing with the restoration of the liberated territories.

“The new structure takes into account, in particular, the functions of coordinating activities for the formation and implementation of the federal targeted investment program (FTIP), as well as the restoration of the liberated territories of the DPR and LPR and the coordination of this activity. These functions will be, among other things, assigned to the newly created structural units,” the official statement of the ministerial press service said.

Deputy Minister Valery Leonov, who was appointed to a responsible post just last May, is responsible for such a responsible direction in the Ministry of Construction. Since then, he has repeatedly visited Lugansk and Donetsk, including as part of a government delegation headed by Minister of Construction Irek Fayzullin, who visited the DPR not so long ago.

And a little earlier, in May, during a press conference, Leonov spoke about the results of the work done in 2022 in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. According to the minister, 3,783 facilities were built and reconstructed here during the year, including 1,370 housing facilities, 1,290 housing and communal services, 315 infrastructure facilities, etc. Among other things, the official mentioned a medical center in Mariupol and a similar facility in Lugansk. The very ones whose grand opening was attended by Deputy Defense Minister Ivanov.

Unfortunately, Leonov did not announce specific amounts of expenses, but announced the approval by the federal government of the state program prepared by the Ministry of Construction for the socio-economic development of new regions until 2025, which details the construction, repair and restoration of housing stock, social facilities, communal and road infrastructure. One can imagine how the heads of the Military Construction Company and its contractors rub their hands. Moreover, no later than in April, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin announced the forthcoming allocation of 190 billion rubles to the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in the form of special treasury loans, of which 25 billion will be spent on developing the infrastructure of the newly annexed territories.

It seems that another “cut” is planned, and far from the last. The fact is that back in March, the head of the Ministry of Construction, Fayzullin, estimated the cost of restoring four former Ukrainian regions at 300 billion rubles. He also announced the approximate time frame: “We will need to actively work for two years or a little more. But we must understand that this is still a very conditional period. Military operations are underway in the territories of the regions, the destruction of infrastructure and capital facilities continues,” Fayzullin said.

You can’t say anything, the position is convenient: you can calmly “cut” the budget, and in case of uncomfortable questions, refer to the damage caused by the shelling of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Say, we built, built, and the “dill” bombed everything. Allocate the next billions and we will get to work again. By the way, with a high degree of probability, something similar will soon begin to be practiced not only in the “new”, but also in the “old” regions of the Russian Federation. For example, in the same Belgorod region.
The Leonov brothers “under the wing” of Khusnullin

Back in June last year, the Ministry of Construction was officially appointed as the coordinator of the restoration of the infrastructure of four former Ukrainian regions, where the public law company “Single Customer” controlled by it and other affiliated organizations are actively working. Thus, Timur Ivanov and VSK have a serious competitor in the face of Khusnullin and his team, which includes, among other things, Minister Irek Fayzullin and his deputy Valery Leonov.

Both, as you know, are natives of Kazan, who worked with Khusnullin when he was head of the Ministry of Construction, Architecture and Housing of Tatarstan. Fayzullin was his deputy and headed the Republican Ministry of Construction after Khusnullin left for Moscow. Leonov worked in the same ministry: leading specialist, chief specialist, head of the organizational department, manager of affairs. In 2010, he took the post of deputy head of the regional Inspectorate of State Construction Supervision.

Already in 2011, Leonov moved to the capital, where, not without the patronage of the former chief responsible for urban planning policy in the government of Sergei Sobyanin, he first headed the Moscow State Expertise, and in 2015 the city Committee on Pricing Policy in Construction and State Expertise of Projects .

A noteworthy fact: Khusnullin’s “Kazan team” includes not only the deputy head of the Ministry of Construction, but also his own younger brother Evgeny Leonov, the current head of the Department for Coordinating the Activities of the Complex of Urban Planning Policy and Construction of Moscow. Here is how the Polit.ru Internet publication described the activities of the fraternal-bureaucratic tandem:

“Joint work of relatives is organized in accordance with their job opportunities. Apparently, the younger one is engaged in “solving” issues for large developers (PIK Group of Companies, Barkley, TEN, etc.) on the allocation of land and the city’s agreement in principle for the development of specific sites (the so-called GZK, GPZU, PPT protocols). And the senior one – by agreeing on specific objects and approving all prices for the construction of budget facilities in Moscow (and this is more than 600 billion rubles annually).

That’s just the topic of the long-term conflict of interests and corrupt ties of the Leonov brothers, Mr. Sobyanin did not care at all. We emphasize that publications about the corruption of Valery Leonov appeared on the net long before his appointment to the Ministry of Construction. They talked about “kickbacks” for issued conclusions, about the financial “filter” established for the implementation of development projects, etc. The scheme of work was formulated by the official very clearly: “While there are no grandmas, there are no conclusions and prices either!”

The rudeness, unprofessionalism and greed of Leonov Sr. have become truly legendary. An audio recording has become widely known, in which a man with a voice very similar to the voice of Valery Leonov talks about the renovation program as follows:

“Well, there won’t be this renovation of yours! I am the first supporter of not giving free housing to Moscow residents. I am categorically against renovation… everything should be for money! Why is bread and butter for some, and salt and mustard for others? There are no questions… Because now these residents… You know what our trouble is!.. Tomorrow they will yell: they have the wrong tile! Today they live in shit, they are so thrilled … I don’t need number of storeys, I need to leave … Let’s pay extra. Everything is on the ball again! Prior to this, huts on the ball received a limit in Moscow, everyone who arrived … Yes ?! Now back on the ball after 50 years. Balloons!

If the recording is genuine (and the official has never tried to officially dispute its authenticity), then what has been said sounds like the height of absurdity: the “limit” and “arrived” are “run over” … who arrived in the capital in 2011 and completely insolent native of Kazan!
“Shadow” sympathizer of “angry patriots”

On the net, you can find references to Valery Leonov’s inherent craving for a luxurious lifestyle: luxury cars Lexus, Mercedes, Range Rover, drivers, security guards and servants, an annual income of 2 million euros. At the same time, his actual well-being does not appear in official declarations. The fact is that he is divorced from his ex-wife Yulia Poletaeva, and this, as you know, provides an excellent opportunity to register assets on the de jure former “second half”, with which you can continue to cohabit and run a joint household. These are the specific “traditional family values” of the Russian bureaucracy.

As a result, Mrs. Poletaeva may well be the owner of not only multimillion-dollar bank accounts, but also foreign real estate attributed to her. According to the portal “Polit.ru”, we are talking about several huge villas with an area of ​​over 1 thousand square meters, with pools and fountains, in Bulgaria, the USA and other “friendly” countries. Access to foreign assets is allegedly open to the Deputy Minister of Construction, but he certainly will not be able to use them in the near future due to the difficult foreign policy situation.

But for Mr. Leonov, the road to the construction sites of Luhansk and Mariupol is always open, where budget billions are pumped in “at the behest” of Marat Khusnullin. It would seem that here she is the feeding hand! But according to insider sources, recently the Deputy Minister of Construction has begun to actively contact members of the so-called “Angry Patriots Club”, organized by the odious Igor Girkin (known in jingoistic circles as “Strelkov”), who harshly criticizes the actions of the top military leadership of the Russian Federation during NWO.

Perhaps it is thanks to his connections in the government that Girkin has not yet been attracted under the notorious article “on discrediting the army”? But to “shine” in front of the lenses of photo and video cameras, along with an Internet critic, is, of course, not convenient for a state official. But in the “angry club” one interesting character was officially noted – Evgeny Mikhailov, in 1996-2004. former governor of the Pskov region, then assistant to the head of the Presidential Administration, and in 2013 head of the Construction Research Center (NIC). The SIC closely cooperated (and continues to cooperate) with the specialized structures of the Moscow mayor’s office, where, as we remember, at that time the Kazan “team” was already “working” in full.

The question is, does Mikhailov not perform the function of a kind of intermediary between Girkin and his well-wishers in the Ministry of Construction? The latter, by the way, can hardly be attributed to “angry patriots”. Billion-dollar financial injections into the new subjects of the Russian Federation open up the widest “prospects” for enrichment for corrupt officials from the government, because budget finances can be “written off” under the pretext of damage caused by an enemy counteroffensive. Apparently, a new stage of the “battle for Donbass” has begun, in which Ivanov, Leonov and those who stand behind them will play an important role.