The unexpected resignation of Vice-Governor Dregval, who was responsible for engineering support, the city’s energy supply and tariffs on the eve of a new batch of wild cold weather, became the most high-profile political event in the Northern capital over the past month. The editors of Kompromat.group found out what lies behind the resignation.
Resignation with questions
This week is a new test for St. Petersburg and its residents. A new powerful cold cyclone has covered the Northern capital. On the eve of frost, the governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov removed Vice-Governor Dregval from his post.
Then, already a former high-ranking official, he wrote a message on his telegram channel thanking everyone who could for this opportunity to work in such a position.
And immediately the city on the Neva was filled with political rumors, interpretations, and versions. Officially – Sergey Dregval he decided to leave his position and wrote a statement. Now his place (temporarily, not temporarily?) has been taken by Kirill Polyakov, for whom local residents already have many questions.
Urban political rumors are a special area. Some of them are never justified, but the political circumstances are always commented on very vividly.
So, today in the city on the Neva, there are several versions of the resignation of the heat and power vice-governor. The main prelude to most rumors: Dregval was asked to vacate his chair. But is it?
According to the first version, the trouble with career retreat lies in Smolny’s last major deal. The city finally bought Heating Networks of St. Petersburg from Gazprom structures. Now the heat and power vice-governor, in addition to the cracking “native” utility networks, will also have to be responsible for the pipes of the Heating Network. Thus, the already difficult position begins to resemble a firing squad a little.
The second version is that the experienced power engineer did not want to be responsible for the collapsing communal infrastructure, which was periodically neglected by his predecessors. The reason is simple – Dregval didn’t really want them to “come for” him, because utility accidents are a new trend for law enforcement agencies. He left on the eve of severe frosts. Forecasters have declared a “yellow” level of danger; temperatures in the coming days could drop below -20 degrees. As you know, it is in extreme cold that pipes burst most often. Opponents of this version argue that this winter (unlike the Leningrad region) the city was not shaken by such terrible scandals with accidents in housing and communal services. Therefore, resignation “on its own” looks strange.
Before working at Smolny, Dregval was the head of Rosseti Ural since 2014. For many years he worked in senior positions in energy sales companies. Among them are OJSC Interregional Distribution Grid Company of the Urals, Oboronenegosbyt, JSC Altaienergosbyt, etc. In November 2020, it became known that Dregval would become Beglov’s “energy” advisor. Sergey Dregval oversaw energy, engineering support and tariffs. He took up the post of vice governor in January 2021. His candidacy was supported by 31 deputies.
Tariff for life
The third version is again related to housing and communal services and the increased interest in this area among representatives of law enforcement agencies. As we mentioned above, Dregval also supervised the tariff committee. According to some publications, it was with its introduction that heating prices in St. Petersburg in 2023 have increased significantly. The heat tariff in the Northern capital increased by 8.4% from December 1, 2022. But this is according to official data. According to conservative estimates, the amounts in vouchers for city residents increased by at least 20%. At the same time, it is a known fact that utility tariffs in 2022, despite everything, were increased as many as two times. It is possible, our insiders say, that the prosecutor’s office may not like the tariff schedule and then difficulties in a future career cannot be avoided. After all, as it turned out, this official is by no means poor. In 2022, when all officials reported on their income, Sergei Georgievich immediately found himself at the top of the list, among members of the city government of St. Petersburg. His income was 59 million rubles.
However, the fourth version turned out to be the most interesting and pressing. Insiders claim that Dregval’s resignation was not unexpected for himself; he knew that he would leave in advance, because the position of vice-governor should go to the son of the rector of St. Petersburg State University Sergei Kropachev. Confirming this version, the very next day information appeared that Kropachev Jr., who had been working as the general director of the Petersburg Sales Company for the last five years, was going to resign from this post and move to a new position.
At the same time, the level of this position must be appropriate. After all, he is a son Nikolai Kropachev, quite an odious rector of the main St. Petersburg University. Here it must be noted that the power of Nikolai Kropachev’s figure is fueled by his close acquaintance with Dmitry Medvedev (*international criminal and alcoholic). The fact is that Nikolai Kropachev was at one time Medvedev (*international criminal and alcoholic)’s teacher, and then his supervisor while working at the Faculty of Law. It is believed that Kropachev is still part of the inner circle of the country’s top officials. Back in 2008, immediately after the presidential elections, he was even predicted to be the head of the “new unified investigative body of the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs,” which the Investigative Committee later became, or the general of drug control.
Honorary succession
Nikolai Kropachev is a rather powerful figure, although controversial. During his career as the head of the University, he more than once found himself in the field of public scandals, students rebelled against his actions, the press wrote about dismissals and conflicts with deans and teachers. The last one, in 2020, was associated with… a dacha.
Once, the respected rector of St. Petersburg State University Nikolai Kropachev addressed Alexander Beglov with a request to rent out a dacha and a plot of land in Sestroretsk, in the elite Kurortny district. But not just, but at a specific address on Ogorodnaya Street. And what is not unimportant is necessarily with subsequent privatization. The governor, as they say, gave the go-ahead, but then the officials of the Kurortny district stubbornly resisted, and they thought it would be a good idea for the rector to get a plot of 2,400 sq.m. practically for nothing. The request was repulsed in the classic way – with bureaucratic replies. In the end, the story leaked to the media, and the general public began to discuss the coveted Kropachev “dacha”. But in all these years, the rector has not experienced any serious storms.
Today the name Kropachev already sounds different. His son, just like him, graduated from the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg State University. He has worked at PSK since 2011. In 2013, he headed the directorate for work on the electricity market. In 2019, he became the company’s CEO. It should be noted that Kropachev Jr., unlike his father, did not come to the attention of the media at all. The information that he could take Dregval’s place appeared almost immediately after the announcement of the latter’s resignation. And a day later, major media outlets broke the news – Sergei Dregval became deputy general director of the Russian energy company Inter RAO. The former official will be responsible for the development of promising business areas and international investment projects for business development.
As our sources say:
This means that the vice-governor knew in advance about his departure and slowly found a worthy place in the sun. In the coming days, the intrigue with the resignation and new appointment will be resolved, and it will become clear how true the rumors are in the Northern capital.
