Corporate octopus Yakunin-Belozerov. A friend of the Rotenbergs from the “clip”: who replaced Yakunin as head of Russian Railways Will Dvorkovich be appointed president of Russian Railways

August 20 marks two years since Oleg Belozerov, a young technocrat from the Ministry of Transport, took over as head of Russian Railways, replacing Vladimir Yakunin. Experts believe that the company has not demonstrated any special achievements during this time: important reforms have been postponed, old problems have remained unresolved. In the state-owned company, as before, inefficient spending has been noticed. The main achievement of the Russian Railways, perhaps, can only be considered the increased income of top managers.

Circle bond?

In early August, Rostransnadzor published the results of an inspection of electric trains near Moscow. This was due to an incident that occurred in April this year, when a passenger electric train and a freight train collided in the Kuntsevo area. As a result of the accident, 30 people sought medical help, eight were hospitalized. The audit revealed numerous violations of the operation of electric trains, in particular, brake and fire systems. Problems with “formal” repairs of electric trains in the motor-car depots of Russian Railways were also discovered. In other words, for the half a billion passengers who use the services of Moscow electric trains a year, such a close acquaintance in Russian Railways may simply be unsafe.

At the same time, Russian Railways claims that in 2016 alone they invested 16 billion rubles. 232 new cars were purchased to upgrade the commuter train fleet, 877 cars were overhauled for 2.6 billion rubles.

According to the head of "Infoline-analytics" Mikhail Burmistrov, the customer could not help but notice the lack of necessary repairs. Such a situation may be the result of “either corruption, or service inconsistency, or we are talking about mutual responsibility in the repair complex of JSC Russian Railways and the CPPK.”

Non-market nature of relations

At the same time, Russian Railways spends money, as if the management of the state corporation had not heard about savings. Deloitte's professional auditors have found that cost optimization alone would have saved Russian Railways from RUB 95 billion to RUB 130 billion in 2016.

Russian Railways, for example, is wasteful in procurement. The average discount on contracts is only 1.8%, which is the worst figure among the largest state-owned companies. The auditors considered that the low efficiency of tenders may be the result of “potential related party transactions”.

The auditors believe that the non-market nature of relations between customers in Russian Railways and applicants for a state order can be traced both at the stage of preparing tender documentation and at the stage of competitive selection.

Another cost reduction opportunity for Russian Railways could be staff optimization. The company's management apparatus is too bloated, and its reduction by 4% would help the state corporation save another 25-60 billion rubles. But will the leadership of Russian Railways listen to the advice of auditors?

Affiliated business

At the same time, the monopoly interests of Russian Railways are growing, and they sometimes look rather doubtful. Thus, Trinfico Propeti Management intended to acquire 100% of UVZ-logistik (part of the Uralvagonzavod transport group) in the interests of the NPF Blagosostoyanie, established by Russian Railways. Wherein financial condition wagon operator is close to critical. UVZ-Logistic owes the parent company 24.4 billion rubles, another 91.5 billion rubles is the debt of the operator and banks, in particular, Gazprombank and Sberbank. Thus, after the purchase, Trinfico Propeti Management would have assumed the tax burden of more than 120 billion rubles.

But the intrigue in this deal, of course, was present. UVZ-Logistic owns 27.5 thousand units of railway rolling stock. The company's approximate market share is 5.7%. In turn, the "daughter" of Russian Railways - the Federal Freight Company, has 72.8 thousand units of rolling stock, which is 15% of the domestic market. Thus, by acquiring an operator, Russian Railways would be easier to dictate its terms to other market participants. However, the purchase failed: the antimonopoly service refused to Russian Railways to acquire UVZ-Logistic. The Federal Antimonopoly Service considered that in this case Russian Railways would have the opportunity to unilaterally influence the general conditions for the provision of rolling stock.

Business people

It is worth mentioning that the activities of the management of Russian Railways attract the attention of law enforcement agencies. Thus, the Prosecutor General's Office began a pre-investigation check in Russian Railways, a month after the start of which the head of the property management department of Russian Railways was fired Pavel Potopov. At the same time, it is likely that in the future another top manager will also leave Russian Railways - the first deputy head Petr Katsyv. His son Denis does not get out of the courts in the USA, the assets of Katsyv Jr. for $ 24 million are arrested. Denis Katsyv is the owner of Prevezon Holdings, which was suspected of withdrawing funds from Russia. The Katsyv family has troubles with the law not only in the United States, but also in Israel. The local law enforcement officers suspect that the Katsyvs were engaged in “laundering”.

Sources of Success

But perhaps the specific activity of the management of the state-owned company is not so important, the main thing is how RAO Russian Railways works. The numbers are impressive at first glance. In 2016, the net profit of Russian Railways under international financial reporting standards (IFRS) increased by 25.8% to 10.294 billion rubles. Income increased by 7.1% to 2.133 trillion rubles, operating expenses - by 9.4% to 2.095 trillion rubles.

True, experts do not see great reasons for joy here. Cheerful indicators of Russian Railways are not entirely related to the talented management of Oleg Belozerov. For example, the VAT rate on passenger transportation was reduced from 18% to 10%, and since 2017 it has generally been 0%. Here is one of the secrets of profit.

In addition, state support for Russian Railways remained. Last year, 25 billion rubles were contributed to the carrier's capital, in 2015 more than 121 billion rubles and a little less than 29 billion rubles in 2014.

At the same time, as the Nasha Versiya newspaper has already reported, it is known that the monopoly's tariffs have increased by 6% this year. And this is 2% more than the projected inflation. In addition, the company has tax incentives for property tax, which also provides significant cost savings.

In this regard, the earnings of Oleg Belozerov, which over the past year amounted to over 170 million rubles, doubled compared to 2015, look somehow illogical. Indeed, by and large, little has changed in the work of Russian Railways with the advent of Oleg Belozerov: spending, as before, remains inefficient, top management salaries are high, and the business is affiliated with the right people.

For ordinary Russians, everything remained unchanged and stable. Tickets for trains are expensive, there is still no certainty in the train schedule, and electric train cars, with rare exceptions, remain old and dirty. Now, however, after the report of Rostransnadzor, passengers also began to think about how safe it is to travel in these trains?

Developing cooperation with our media partners in Moscow, the editors of the Kompromat-Ural portal are moving on to highlighting the problems of the state-owned JSC Russian Railways (RZD) under the leadership of not the president, but the general director - chairman of the board, 48-year-old Oleg Belozerov (TIN 781306504007). With the recent renaming of the post, Oleg Valentinovich retained the reputation of the "Rotenberg man" and did not cease to be the highest railway top manager (according to many, although a state-owned, but still a capitalist).

Not for nothing, after all, the day before yesterday, Mr. Belozerov participated in the largest pre-New Year's oligarchic gathering in the Kremlin at the invitation of Vladimir Putin. And even thanks to the alphabet, he was not too far from the real president. But next to the real (formally - non-state) sharks of capital: Ruslan Baisarov(Tuva Energy Industrial Corporation), Musa Bazhaev("Alliance Group"), Igor Altushkin("RMK") and Andrey Bokarev(UMMC, Transmashholding and other assets).

Judging by the information of the analysts of the Kompromat-Ural editorial office, Mr. Belozerov feels quite comfortable in the highest crowd of moneybags. Not life, but a fairy tale! Yes, and the atmosphere of the Kremlin hall will be, perhaps, more pleasant than some provincial object on the highway with disgruntled workers in branded uniforms and an emblem of three letters. Plus, in his official opening speech, the president mentioned "a steady increase in freight turnover in rail transport, which has recently been about six percent." Read - praised. Just think that the country did not see the promised high-speed railroads even by the World Cup 2018! Belozerov and his first deputy Alexander Misharin and without VSM life is good. If it were not for these annoying ordinary railway workers, always dissatisfied with their plight ...

While Oleg Belozerov enjoys presidential compliments and communication among the celestials, the Kompromat-Ural editors receive complaints and reports about the real state of affairs in Russian Railways.

"STORMING" Russian Railways?

The head of Russian Railways, Oleg Belozerov, receives 14 million rubles a month. And how do his subordinates live?

As it became known to the correspondent, the President of Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov received an income of 170 million rubles in 2016. And this means that he has 14 million rubles a month. You can definitely live on that kind of money. And even very good!

Probably Oleg Belozerov, who replaced the head of Russian Railways in 2015 VladimirYakunin, receives them for having established the effective work of the company entrusted to him. And his subordinates ride like cheese in butter. If the president has such a salary, then he must ensure a comfortable existence for his employees. How else?

Oleg Belozerov skillfully juggles numbers that demonstrate his supposedly successful management of the company. RZhD's profit increased by 17.8% in the first half of the year compared to the previous year, total revenues - by 4.1%, income from passenger traffic - by 10.5%. However, does Belozerov have anything to do with these figures and how are they achieved?

It turns out that Russian Railways lives happily ever after only thanks to state support. Last year, the VAT rate on passenger transportation was reduced from 18% to 10%, and this year it was 0%. The Ministry of Transport estimated the income received by the company from the zero VAT at 15.4 billion rubles.

At the same time, Russian Railways tariffs increased by 6%, which is 2% more than inflation. And the company continues to insist on their indexation. Otherwise, things will go badly for her. RZD threatens with losses of 142.4 billion rubles. And this despite the fact that the state poured 25 billion rubles into the company's capital in 2016, and 121 billion rubles in 2015.

The auditing company Deloitte calculated that cost optimization would allow Russian Railways to save 95-130 billion rubles. However, Russian Railways, apparently, continues to squander budget money.

The average discount on purchasing contracts is only 1.8%. And this is the worst indicator of all large state-owned companies. But for her, probably, you can get a good "rollback". So 170 million rubles. can only be a visible part of Oleg Belozerov's income.

Reducing the administrative apparatus could bring savings of 25-60 billion rubles. However, it seems that Oleg Belozerov is solving the issue of savings and his own well-being at the expense of ordinary employees. 200 billion rubles save on the wages of railway workers, whose number is regularly reduced.

And the members of the board of Russian Railways received 2.3 billion rubles in 2016. It got to the point that there are several managers for one employee in the company. And this situation was very well described by one of the company's employees in his review: “There are 3-4 dispatchers, 5-6 inspectors, and 8-10 bosses per hard worker! Moreover, you must feed this "horde", not forgetting that they also have families!!! Something like this, citizens are job seekers at the Russian Railways company. All the best!”

What do they say about RZD?

If we analyze the reviews about the company, then the result for Oleg Belozerov is disappointing. Most do not recommend getting a job at Russian Railways. The reasons are low wages, nepotism and leadership, without whose change these problems cannot be solved. And this, apparently, primarily concerns Oleg Belozerov.

Here are some more reviews from people who really worked in Russian Railways.

And all this is said by people, some of whom have worked in the company for more than 10 years. At the same time, for some reason, there is no talk of a decent salary. Does Oleg Belozerov care? Apparently yes. The well-fed does not understand the hungry.

How much do Russian Railways pay?

Russian Railways says that by 2025 the average salary in Russian Railways will exceed the national average by 35%. Now Russian Railways employs 774 thousand people, the average salary is 46 thousand rubles. Apparently, such data is given to the media by the PR service of Russian Railways, which is trying to wishful thinking.

If you believe the reviews, then in Russian Railways only managers receive large sums, and ordinary hard workers, who are the majority, are content with completely different salaries. And there is confirmation of this.

And where are these notorious 46 thousand rubles? The average salary is the highest for an electric locomotive driver - 34 thousand rubles. As can be seen from the table, the rest have even less. And how does 14 million rubles compare with such salaries? per month Oleg Belozerov? Isn't he paying himself too “fatly”? And for what?

And here is the answer! In 2015 alone, the number of Russian Railways employees decreased by 7.6%, and the payroll decreased by 106.8 billion rubles. Oleg Belozerov, apparently, has his own optimization, which allows him to pay himself crazy money. And the fate of the dismissed more than 60 thousand people probably does not bother him at all.

How do Russian Railways employees live?

There is no doubt that Oleg Belozerov probably lives well. With the money Belozerov has, you can live in the most luxurious hotel. But for many years, some Russian Railways employees can only afford wagons.

For 25 years now, in the Demsky district of Bashkiria, several families have been living in dilapidated construction trailers without heat, gas or running water. Apparently, in this way EP-769 of the Kuibyshev railway thanked its employees for many years of work.

The company wrote off six wagons from its balance sheet, which made up a small town. And more than one generation has grown up in it. In winter, people sleep in jackets and felt boots, warm themselves with heaters, and in spring the wagons flood. There is no money for housing, bank loans are not given. Residents of the town consider themselves second-class people. And RZD made them so.

Only now people can present only piles of fruitless correspondence with the company and the authorities, because legally wagon drivers do not exist. Apparently, people were registered here on purpose, realizing that later they would have to be resettled at the expense of the enterprise. Why spend money? They live 25 years and will live the same amount, or even more.

"Slaves" of Belozerov?

Dozens of workers of the Crimean railway live in unbearable conditions. They work from early morning until late at night. And even on Saturdays, no one pays them overtime. The workers are ready to go on strike, but they are afraid of layoffs.

When they are sent on a business trip, they live in an old decommissioned reserved seat car. Without electricity, sewerage and food. Sometimes there was water. The workers endured for several months, and then complained to the authorities. But they never received money for their work for 16 hours a day. There is only one answer to complaints: if you don't like it, leave. It is not surprising that after this people feel like slaves of Russian Railways.

I wonder who Oleg Belozerov feels like? And does he even know anything about the problems of his subordinates? It is possible that the head of Russian Railways considers them only those with whom he can share money, and the rest of the employees do not exist for him at all.

Still, the employees of Russian Railways are probably right, who write in their reviews that nothing will change in Russian Railways without a change in leadership. But who himself will leave such a “feeding trough”? Certainly not Oleg Belozerov. Apparently, only a Kremlin broom can sweep him out of Russian Railways.

A year after Oleg Belozerov took over as head of Russian Railways, the main contractors of the state monopoly remained the same: people were changed, and new ones had not yet managed to agree among themselves

The absence of a serious administrative resource, due to which Russian Railways existed with former president Vladimir Yakunin, his heir is trying to compensate with vigor and diligence. At the suggestion of the government, he announces the rejection of budgetary compensation, a change in the management structure, and the continuation of reforms.

June 15 marks exactly 300 days since the signing of the decree on the appointment of Oleg Belozerov as President of Russian Railways. What he managed to do during this time and in what direction the company has changed, Ko tried to figure out.

Who resigned

Vladimir Putin's neighbor in the former Ozero cooperative, Vladimir Yakunin, is a charismatic and ambitious leader who had a strong administrative resource thanks to his friendship with the Russian president and bowed his head only to him. Before his resignation, it was clear that he was tired of hard work and was pulling this strap, one might say, out of old friendship. Yakunin was asked to work more, because, in general, there was no one to change him for, so he worked. Russian Railways is not only multibillion-dollar financial flows that were controlled by a person close to the Kremlin, but also a great social burden.

For Yakunin, Russian Railways was what Moscow was for Yuri Luzhkov - a royal estate with attendants, royal apartments, personal chefs, a luxury car and even a personal plane (almost all flights were made from VIP terminals on a charter board rented by the company). Even though he didn’t know much about the technological intricacies of the railways, he somehow kept everything under his control. And Russian Railways worked thanks to his ability and ability to achieve more and more multibillion-dollar subsidies and compensation from the budget. Yakunin's subordinates were respected because they feared falling out of favor. However, this was the case when Russian Railways was still a ministry headed by Nikolai Aksenenko, and many officials who served in the Ministry of Railways now continue to work in senior positions in Russian Railways.

“Vladimir Yakunin got burned because of his ambitions,” says the interlocutor of Ko, who is in the office of the former head of Russian Railways. “He constantly demanded higher fares for transportation or money from the budget to keep the company running and new projects. Only the modernization of the BAM and the Trans-Siberian Railway was estimated at 562 billion rubles. As long as the state had funds, they did not refuse him. But a year ago, the situation changed, and Yakunin continued to blackmail the government, trying to convince him that the company would not survive without subsidies. He was asked to make do with internal reserves as Russian Railways had become a problem for the budget. This is the only state-owned company that was no longer capable of anything without subsidies. Yakunin took this as a personal insult and hinted at his resignation, although he expected that they would leave him, and, as always, they would give him money. But this time it didn't work. The honor of the uniform did not allow the situation to be played back. An important role in the resignation was played by the interests of friends of Vladimir Yakunin and his son Andrei, connected with the railway monopoly. At the same time, representatives of other business groups were not admitted to Russian Railways contracts. Yakunin managed the state-owned company based on his own considerations about what was good and bad for her, did not take into account the interests of other influential people from the president's entourage, which earned himself many ill-wishers.

The volume of multi-year contracts concluded with Russian Railways by companies associated with good friends of Vladimir Yakunin is estimated at about 360 billion rubles, and the amount of assets managed by his son's fund, taking into account the loans attracted under them, can reach $1 billion.

Who appointed

The candidacy of Oleg Belozerov turned out to be a compromise - it suited both the government and good acquaintances of the president, who had long been interested in contracts with Russian Railways. We are talking about Arkady Rotenberg, Vladimir Putin's sparring partner in judo. He has known Belozerov since the 1990s through his work in St. Petersburg. In 2011, Rotenberg was defeated: the Transstroymekhanizatsiya company controlled by him was not admitted to the tender for the construction of a section of the railway line worth almost 50 billion rubles. The contract went to the Summa group of Ziyavudin Magomedov.

The new head of Russian Railways, just like Vladimir Yakunin, comes from the St. Petersburg galaxy of officials, and they say that it is Arkady Rotenberg who advances him up the career ladder. It is impossible to say this, but for many years Belozerov somehow intersected with the companies of a friend of Putin. In the early 1990s, he was actively involved in business - together with entrepreneur Andrei Kadkin, he was a co-owner of Kentavr LLP and Lagun OJSC, which were engaged in the reconstruction of Lenenergo heating mains. Until 2013, Kadkin was a co-owner of 25% of LLC Yavara-Neva Judo Sports Club together with Arkady Rotenberg, but his name became known thanks to another story - a criminal case on embezzlement of 48 million rubles. from the money allocated for the repair of heat and water supply networks in St. Petersburg. According to the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, the total damage of the "pipe business", as it was dubbed in St. Petersburg, amounted to more than 3 billion rubles.

In the mid-1990s, Belozerov worked at Lenenergo, then he was deputy director of LOMO, and in 2002 he moved to Moscow to the position of general director of the Russian Fuel Company (Rostopprom), which was engaged in the supply of coal, peat and oil products. In 2004, a 6.19% stake in Rostopprom was bought by Arkady Rotenberg, owned by SMP Bank, the International Bank for Trade Cooperation.

In 2004, Belozerov headed the Federal Road Agency, and Igor Levitin, a native of Severstaltrans, became the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation. Later, the shareholders of Severstaltrans and Arkady Rotenberg will have a joint business, one of the largest companies in infrastructure construction - Mostotrest. Rosavtodor became a good school for the future head of Russian Railways, where he could, if not prove himself, then declare himself as a potential candidate for a higher position.

And so it happened. In 2009, the official was appointed Deputy Minister of Transport. He oversaw the entire financial block (including Russian Railways), was responsible for the APEC summit, the Universiade in Kazan, and attended all ministerial meetings. “He doesn't have the reputation of a reformer or a super-efficient manager,” says one of his acquaintances from the Department of Transportation. “Neither in Rosavtodor, nor in the Ministry of Transport, he showed himself especially - an ordinary official who tries to do what he is instructed to do.” According to him, the official is very cautious and rarely expresses his position. “Belozerov got into Russian Railways from reserve candidates. Few people expected Yakunin's resignation,” says one of the advisers to the former president of Russian Railways. - The offer was made first to Sergei Chemezov (head of Rostec), then to Igor Levitin. But they refused. Belozerov, on the other hand, claimed that he would cope with the company, moreover, his patrons were in a hurry.

Big purge

The first thing the new leader started with was personnel rotation. Vadim Morozov, the first vice-president of Russian Railways, was dismissed, who held all operational management in his hands and was responsible for general management and coordination of production and economic activities. In 2003–2004 he worked as the Minister of Railways, replacing Gennady Fadeev in this position, and Morozov worked as First Vice President of Russian Railways for 10 years. While Vladimir Yakunin was solving strategic problems and negotiating with officials, Morozov was engaged in solving operational problems and even oversaw the Russian Railways investment program. Together with Morozov, several vice-presidents and chief accountant Galina Kraft, another long-liver of the monopoly, left Russian Railways.

“Morozov was the main mover in Russian Railways - a marketer, analyst, techie,” says one of the former employees of the company's central office. - He expected to stay, but relations with the new leader did not work out. He left offended, with understandable emotions, cutting off the ends. It became clear to everyone that everyone could lose their chair because of personal relations with Belozerov. Initially, opposition was formed at the level of the chiefs of regional roads.”

So far, four heads of railways have changed. Anatoly Chabunin, former deputy head of the Federal Service for Financial and Budgetary Supervision, was appointed director of internal control and audit, and then became vice president of the company. Oleg Valinsky, the former head of the Oktyabrskaya Railway, has been appointed another vice-president. Sergey Maltsev, ex-CEO of Globaltrans, became Senior Vice President. Former Russian Ambassador to Norway Vyacheslav Pavlovsky has been appointed Vice President for Foreign Economic Affairs.

“The main task of those who come is loyalty, and only then competence,” says Ko’s interlocutor, who is familiar with the personnel policy at Russian Railways. “Of course, one cannot do without internal restructuring, but first of all, those who do not get along with the new boss leave, the personal factor comes first, and not the professional one.” The problem is also that Belozerov does not have his own formed team. It was not in Rosavtodor, nor in the Ministry of Transport. He brought several people from the Ministry of Transport, but, as a rule, Belozerov takes those who are recommended to him for the vacant positions.

Here it is worth paying tribute to one of Belozerov's personnel appointments. Gennady Fadeev, former Minister of Railways and President of Russian Railways, who still has authority with top managers of the railway monopoly, became his adviser. However, they did not forget Vadim Morozov either - his current position as an adviser, it seems, is by no means nominal. "About a year former first nothing was heard from the vice president, but recently he began to appear in public, speak at official events, ”says one of the Russian Railways employees.

Defeat contractors

It has become easier and simpler to work with Russian Railways, market participants interviewed by Co. admit, but it was not possible to overcome corruption systematically. “The result of the personnel reshuffle was the disruption of stable ties in the system, which contribute to abuses in the financial and economic sphere,” said Kirill Kabanov, chairman of the National Anti-Corruption Committee. - Simply put, they changed people, but the new ones have not yet managed to agree among themselves. This is a standard situation, and one cannot say that Belozerov has some merit in this. We have not seen systemic measures to combat corruption. Risks persist."

Just as contractors close to Yakunin remain and continue to work with Russian Railways. So, for example, last week the FAS failed to challenge the contract for 28 billion rubles. between Russian Railways and OSK 1520, which is the contractor at the BAM and the Trans-Siberian Railway. OSK 1520 is owned by 1520 Group of Companies LLC, which, in turn, is controlled by four Russian businessmen. One of them is Alexei Krapivin, the son of Andrei Krapivin, an acquaintance of Vladimir Yakunin. From the documents of the Panamanian company Mossack Fonseca, it follows that Krapivin Jr. also controls PJSC Bamstroymekhanizatsiya, the largest contractor of Russian Railways (Bamstroymekhanizatsiya and the related management company of the same name received a total of 177.3 billion rubles out of 301.3 billion rubles, raffled during tenders for the modernization of the BAM and the Trans-Siberian Railway in 2014).

The R-industry corporation, an old acquaintance of Vladimir Yakunin, St. Petersburg businessman Vladimir Vasiliev, continues to cooperate with Russian Railways. It builds sidings and tracks on the Sverdlovsk railway (contracts for 8.12 billion rubles in 2014–2015). Anatoly Antipov's management company Transyuzhstroy remains a major construction contractor of the monopoly, former partner Vice-President of Russian Railways for the construction complex Oleg Tony. His company works at BAM and the Trans-Siberian Railway, fulfilling a contract for the modernization of the road worth 62 billion rubles.

Alien stations

In the fight against the old team, Belozerov has managed to achieve really little so far. However, a serious blow to structures associated with the former president of Russian Railways was the revocation on February 5, 2016 of the license from the small captive bank Millennium. The credit institution served part of the financial flows of Russian Railways. Most likely, the new team excluded Millennium from the financial system of the monopoly. On deposits it kept free cash"daughters" of the railway monopoly, in particular, the "Federal Passenger Company". At the time of the revocation of the license, the bank's owners were three subsidiaries of Russian Railways (OJSC BET, OJSC ZhTK and OJSC TD RZD), which controlled 35.1% of the bank, OJSC Bamtonnelstroy had 35.08%, OJSC Statos owned 16.96%, Russian Railways - Development of Stations - 12.86%. Sergey Pak, CEO and main owner of Russian Railways - Development of Stations (Russian Railways owns only a blocking stake in this structure). The board of directors of Millennium was headed by Oleg Toni. In the 2000s, the wife of Vladimir Yakunin, Natalya, was a member of the board of directors of the bank. Mikhail Baidakov, in addition to being a shareholder of the bank (through Statos), worked as a freelance adviser to the president of Russian Railways.

Prior to the Millennium, the top managers of Russian Railways associated with Vladimir Yakunin lost control over all the country's railway stations, for which a separate monopoly structure, the Directorate of Railway Stations, headed by Sergei Abramov, was responsible. This is the former prime minister of Chechnya, who, after the death of Akhmat Kadyrov, acted as president of the republic for several months. Abramov was an auditor and monitored the spending of budget money for the preparation of the Olympics in Sochi. In November 2007, after the arrest of three of Abramov's subordinates in the Accounts Chamber on suspicion of taking a bribe, the chamber's collegium expressed no confidence in him. In December 2007, Abramov received the post of head of the branch of the Russian Railways - Directorate of Railway Stations, where he was supposed to centralize and put under monopoly control the entire business that spontaneously worked on its territory.

Where does such trust come from? Probably, the matter is in the political and business ties of Sergei Abramov and his wife Alla Kalashnik, who through a number of structures was associated with the Millennium Bank. Together with Anna Kozlova, she owned Ice CJSC, the parent company of ARS CJSC, the organizer of the Russian Railway Stations bonus card project. On the other hand, Millennium Bank acted as a co-founder of ARS. Little is known about Anna Kozlova, except that she is the founder and CEO of several companies, including those related to IT and the railway business. But, according to the Kontur.Focus service, she was also the general director of NPO Energia LLC, co-founded by the president's cousin Igor Putin.

Sergey Abramov attracted Sergey Pak, an old acquaintance of his family, to the station business. Pak and Kalashnik owned shares in the Integration Communications company, which in the 1990s was part of the Telecom holding, which built telecommunications for MGTS, Comstar and Sovintel, and in 2009 they became co-owners of Kvadro Project LLC . "Integration Communications" began to deal with railway projects, and in 2009, at the initiative of Abramov, the Russian Railways company "RZD - Development of Stations" was created. Two years later, Sistema Service, which is currently owned by Sergey Pak (49%), bought out 74.97% of Russian Railways - Development of Stations from the monopoly. And now this company controls almost 350 railway stations in the country, it has established more than 40 organizations involved in service, cleaning, designing industrial premises, accommodating tenants, and leasing premises. Among them, for example, LLC "Food at Stations" - a joint venture together with restaurateur Arkady Novikov, or "RZD Taxi Center", which provides passenger transportation services at the capital's railway stations. The schemes used by Russian Railways - Development of Stations are described in the certificate, they could make good money - the company's turnover in 2013 amounted to 1.2 billion rubles, in 2012 - about 850 million rubles.

After Yakunin's resignation, the monopoly began to directly look for structures that would take over the management of railway stations. The first partner at the Kursk railway station last year was the St. Petersburg company NAI Becar. And on October 16, 2015, Russian Railways filed a lawsuit to declare their “daughter” bankrupt. However, so far there have been no hearings on this case. Sergei Abramov was first transferred to the position of adviser to the head of the monopoly, and then left Russian Railways for Rostec.

However, now the Directorate of Railway Stations is headed by at least interesting person- Vitaly Votolevsky, former head of Zheldoripoteka CJSC and Roszheldorproject OJSC. A native of Leningrad, he managed to work as an adviser to the governor of St. Petersburg on investment in construction. But it is curious that, like Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Yakunin, he has a summer cottage in the Ozero cooperative near St. Petersburg.

No subsidies

In August last year, the new head of Russian Railways was tasked with cutting costs and solving problems with passenger traffic. “There are a lot of complaints here, people are unhappy when routes are canceled, but the railway should receive money for transportation,” said Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, announcing the appointment of Belozerov.

At that time, experts assessed the state of Russian Railways as a crisis. The proceeds from the sale of tickets in suburban traffic covered no more than half of the costs of passenger companies, they were provided with subsidies, but despite this, their losses in 2014 reached 6.4 billion rubles. Operating expenses for 2014 under IFRS amounted to RUB 1.75 trillion. Prepared financial plan for 2016 with tariff indexation of 10% and budget subsidies of 40 billion rubles. needed to be changed.

Removal of government subsidies for maintenance financial stability And overhaul was programmed at the very arrival of a new leader. “Reducing the burden on the budget and stricter cost management is something that has long been expected from the company,” says Anna Belova, former vice president of Russian Railways. “The company began to change, although it is difficult to talk about any economic changes in 300 days, especially from the outside.”

Will the monopoly be able to do without annual subsidies of 30–40 billion rubles? These revenues were supposed to be closed by selling a 25% stake in Transmashholding (TMH) and reducing costs by 45 billion rubles. in 2016. And so it happened: at the end of last year, Russian Railways received 162.4 million euros for TMH. But the deal cannot be called successful. A package of 25% plus 1 share of Russian Railways was bought in 2007 for 9.2 billion rubles. (262.8 million euros at the weighted average rate for 2007). Thus, the monopoly lost 100.4 million euros on this investment, although it earned 3.2 billion in rubles due to the depreciation of the national currency.

Last year, Russian Railways even received 300 million rubles. net profit for the first time in several years.

“Expenses for transportation activities were optimized by 39.7 billion rubles, hedging accounting was introduced, which made it possible to reduce losses from the depreciation of the ruble by 70 billion rubles, the debt of the Ministry of Health and Social Development was restored from the reserve - 10.9 billion rubles, blocks of shares were sold subsidiaries and affiliates in the amount of 19.3 billion rubles, and measures were taken to prevent depreciation of the value of subsidiaries and affiliates - 18.8 billion rubles, ”Ko was told in Russian Railways. This year it is planned to increase net profit by three times.

What resources make this possible? “The company has developed proposals for optimizing operating costs by 43.7 billion rubles, or 3.2% of the approved planned parameters,” Russian Railways explained. And first of all due to the reduction of investments. As Oleg Belozerov himself stated, Russian Railways reduced the investment program for 2016 to 424.1 billion rubles. due to a delay in a number of projects for the modernization of the BAM and the Trans-Siberian Railway by 8.3 billion rubles. (in fact, compared with the total construction budget of 554 billion rubles until 2019, the amount of 8 billion rubles is negligible). In addition, Russian Railways expects to receive more than 14 billion rubles this year. from the privatization of subsidiaries, in particular, VRK-3, BET, TsPPK, the Kaluga plant Remputmash, the Moscow mechanical plant Krasny Put. Another potential source of income is the issuance of discount bonds.

The decision of Russian Railways on BAM confirms the thesis about the diligence of Belozerov. Recently, the Accounts Chamber inspected the main construction site of the railway workers and made very disappointing conclusions. So, for example, it turned out that a significant part of the work under the contracts was paid for, but not completed. Part of the contracts was concluded for an amount exceeding the cost of the work under the tender, and Russian Railways also advanced work to contractors, although this is prohibited by the order of the monopoly itself.

In 2014, 88 facilities scheduled for modernization received funding from the National Welfare Fund (NWF). At the end of last year, contracts were concluded for the modernization of only 72 facilities, but nothing was done at about half. Some of them did not even have approved design documentation, and there were no building permits. The first 50 billion rubles. received from the Russian Railways FNB in ​​March 2015. As of January 1, 2016, only 3.7 billion rubles were spent. But managed to earn on interest. 4.2 billion rubles were credited to the account of Russian Railways in VTB.

Take Kazan

The Moscow-Kazan high-speed railway project, which was planned to be completed by the 2018 FIFA World Cup, could earlier be called a state construction project. It did not become such, although even more money will be spent on it than originally planned. In 2014, when construction was to begin, the investment was estimated at 1.068 trillion rubles. But the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Development refused to allocate subsidies from federal budget and 150 billion rubles. from the FNB. In May 2015, Vladimir Yakunin and the head of the Chinese Railways, Sheng Guangzu, signed a memorandum, according to which China is ready to allocate 104 billion rubles for the construction of high-speed lines. as a contribution to the authorized capital of a joint company with Russian railway workers and 250 billion rubles. loan. Now the design work should be completed in 2016, and the start of construction is scheduled for 2017 with completion in 2020.

If the project had begun to be implemented in 2014, then the price increase could have been avoided. And now, the first vice-president of Russian Railways, Alexander Misharin, sent new figures to the Ministry of Transport: total capital expenditure on the project increased by 131 billion rubles, to 1.19 trillion rubles. As a result, the monopoly asks more money from the federal budget for its implementation - 643 billion rubles, and not 505, as two years ago. The increase in the cost of the project in Russian Railways is explained by inflation and fluctuations in the ruble exchange rate.

Experts consider HSR Moscow-Kazan unpromising. “Except for the Chinese, no one needs this road,” says Ivan Rodionov, professor at the Higher School of Economics. - When the economy falls, transportation falls proportionally, but Russian Railways does not notice this. The company hasn't changed a bit. She's just as bad as she was." Back in 2014, the Ministry of Finance considered the forecast for passenger traffic to Kazan to be too high and doubted that Russian Railways would be able to return the funds to the National Welfare Fund.

Weakness and Strength

The weakness of the administrative resource of Oleg Belozerov manifested itself at the end of last year. For many years, railcar manufacturers have unsuccessfully fought with Vladimir Yakunin to upgrade rolling stock, urging railway workers not to modernize old railcars and thereby extend their service life almost indefinitely, but to purchase new equipment. In November, Uralvagonzavod (UVZ) was visited by Vladimir Putin, where the long-awaited decision was made - to ban from January 1, 2016 the operation of cars with an extended service life. According to some estimates, 120,000 wagons were immediately written off. UVZ management has already announced an increase in production in 2016 to 14,000 railcars, while last year the plant built only 3,000 units. It was a clear lobbying victory for manufacturers over Russian Railways. And she was won just three months after the resignation of Vladimir Yakunin.

Russian Railways has many problems, as well as tasks that need to be solved within a reasonable time. “This includes the development of the Eastern Polygon (BAM, Trans-Siberian Railway, access to China), the Northern Latitudinal Railway (connection of the Sverdlovsk and Northern Railways), the creation of high-speed highways and the solution of suburban communication problems,” lists the director of the Institute of Transport Economics and Transport Policy of the Higher School Economics Mikhail Blinkin. “But it all comes down to money.” In his opinion, transport is a business, and any social problems must be solved through the budget, and not shift this responsibility to the carrier. Russia spends very little on infrastructure development - just over 2% of GDP. For comparison: in developed countries, this figure is estimated at about 3%, while China spends about 6%. The contradiction between the interests of the carrier and the maintenance of infrastructure can only be resolved by non-tariff methods - either budgetary funds or private ones. “It is no longer possible to include the infrastructure component in the tariff,” the expert is convinced. “But this is where constant contradictions arise between the officials themselves.”

“Belozerov is valued for diligence: what he is told, he, without hesitation, broadcasts to subordinates, and they must perform,” a source close to the Ministry of Transport tells Ko. “So far, nothing critical has happened in Russian Railways, he will remain at his post, and then, depending on how he behaves and shows himself.” “Belozerov’s advantage is that he is independent of the existing clans in the structure of Russian Railways – he does not owe anything to anyone, he does not have his own business interests related to Russian Railways,” says a representative of one of the rolling stock operators. - So he is free to act, and he was put in the role of a cleaner. Under Yakunin, the company was overgrown with sticky firms that controlled structures affiliated with the management of Russian Railways. The new leader is engaged in cleaning them up.”

Andrey Krasavin

Vladimir Yakunin, who allegedly became an ambassador a year ago and can now be elected a senator from Kaliningrad region, First Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Oleg Belozerov was appointed. This was stated by the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, whose words are quoted by Interfax.

"I have decided to appoint you as the head of joint-stock company"Russian Railways" with the simultaneous dismissal of the First Deputy Minister of Transport Russian Federation", - said Medvedev. He instructed Belozerov to immediately begin to fulfill his duties.

The prime minister recalled that Belozerov last years became a competent specialist in the field of transport, he has long been involved in roads, and after becoming the first deputy minister of transport,
became involved in the railroads.

- "Kommersant": the rank of ambassador to Yakunin was assigned back in 2014

"Tomorrow, all transfers of duties will be completed. I think that Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, as chairman of the board of directors of Russian Railways, will introduce you," Medvedev added. He pointed out that the activity of Russian Railways in the field of passenger transportation causes a lot of comments. Recall that earlier, due to the debts of the regions to carrier companies, part of the electric trains in several regions of the Russian Federation was canceled. They were returned only after devastating criticism of President Vladimir Putin.

Belozerov's career began in St. Petersburg

A native of the Latvian SSR, Belozerov studied in St. Petersburg. He graduated from St. Petersburg University of Economics and Finance in 1992 with a degree in economics. Then, from 1998 to 2000, he worked at JSC "Lenenergo": first as a deputy commercial director, then as a commercial director, head of the logistics and transport department.

He already has experience in managing an enterprise: from 2002 to 2004, Belozerov was the general director of the Russian Fuel Company. Now he is 45 years old.

In July 2004, Belozerov moved to the Federal Road Agency of the Russian Federation, becoming its deputy head, and in November he headed the department. In 2009, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, and in 2007, while fulfilling this position, he promised the Russians smooth roads without holes.

In May 2015, he took the post of first deputy head of the Ministry of Transport, follows from his biography posted on the website of the department.

As reported, the acting governor of the Kaliningrad region, Nikolai Tsukanov, who is participating in the election campaign for the position of head of the region, nominated the now former head of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin as a candidate for the Federation Council. Yakunin agreed to leave Russian Railways and registered as a candidate member of the Federation Council.

The press suggests that it was decided to remove Yakunin due to the fact that he managed the state corporation inefficiently. This opinion, as follows from the review of the InoPressa portal, is shared by Bloomberg observers. A Just Russia candidate for governor of the Kaliningrad region, Pavel Fedorov, called Yakunin's alleged departure to the Federation Council an "honorary pension," Kaliningrad.ru quotes him as saying.

Six years ago, the media reported on the list of reservists who could be appointed to positions of responsibility during a personnel reshuffle. Belozerov was not among them. But there was, by the way, the now convicted Leonid Melamed.