| OPS "Uralmash" decided to win back another plant The management of the Artemovsk machine-building plant "Venkon" (Sverdlovsk region) is preparing to repel a new forceful attack by one of the shareholders. The general director of the enterprise, Vladimir Makarov, claims that in the coming week, representatives of the now disbanded socio-political union (OPS) Uralmash will make a second attempt to enter the enterprise.
Artyomovsky Machine-Building Plant "Venkon" (AMZ) is the only Russian manufacturer of fans for main and local ventilation of mines, mines, subways, dust collectors and smoke exhausters. 48% of the company's shares belong to the Perm West Ural Machine-Building Concern (ZUMK), which owns the Kizelovsky Machine-Building Plant, the Perm Mining Machine-Building Plant and the Yugo-Kama Machine-Building Plant. 51% of AMZ shares are owned by individuals, including both the general director himself and representatives of the Uralmash public union, including one of the union’s activists, Igor Novozhilov.
According to Mr. Makarov, the Uralmash people became shareholders on his initiative in order to prevent the takeover of the enterprise by the Perm concern. 25% of the plant’s profits were transferred to the union as payment for services. However, soon the OPS was no longer satisfied with this scheme. The general director believes that this is why, on the night of October 13, representatives of the union, led by lawyer Vladislav Kostarev, who also helped the OPS gain control of the Nizhnesaldinsk metallurgical enterprise, appeared at the entrance of the enterprise. Mr. Kostarev occupied the director's office and refused to let Vladimir Makarov into it. The lawyer himself explained this by saying that the board of directors of the plant decided to change the general director, because, despite all his promises, Mr. Makarov did not pay off his wage debts to the workers. “There is no OPS in this story, but only shareholders - individuals, including me,” says Mr. Kostarev.
However, Vladimir Makarov is sure of the opposite. Last week, he filed a lawsuit in the Oktyabrsky Court of Yekaterinburg, demanding that the actions of Vladislav Kostarev, who prevented him from fulfilling his duties as general director, be declared unlawful. The court found Mr. Makarov right, and last Friday he returned to the plant. Now Mr. Makarov claims that there will soon be a second seizure of the plant, since on the night of October 18, unknown armed persons had already surrounded the territory of the plant. According to him, the task of OPS Uralmash is to sell the ZUMK enterprise for $2 million. Mr. Makarov fears that “during Kostarev’s management at the enterprise, his assets have already been registered in some other city, as this lawyer has repeatedly done in other factories." Mr. Kostarev, in turn, claims that Mr. Makarov will soon bring the company to bankruptcy in order to gain full control over it. “ZUMK and I act together, but the management does not want to pay attention to us, although we control 99% of the company’s shares,” says Mr. Kostarev.
The socio-political union "Uralmash" was created on April 5, 1999 by 23 residents of Yekaterinburg, who in one way or another were treated by law enforcement agencies as members of the Uralmash criminal group. That is why the abbreviation OPS in Yekaterinburg was often deciphered as “organized criminal community.” The main reason for the emergence of the union was the desire of its members to legalize, which was subsequently done. Members of the union were given the opportunity to officially meet with authorities at various levels. In the legislative assembly of the Sverdlovsk region there are two deputies associated with the OPS; in the Yekaterinburg City Duma there is an entire faction that also has close ties with the union. The influence of the latter is so strong that the Yekaterinburg mayor’s office often makes concessions to members of the union so that the faction is loyal to its initiatives. In December last year, after the union completed its task of legalization, it was decided to disband. By this time, the members of the union had accumulated not only political, but also economic capital, controlling several hydrolysis plants, part of the region's timber industry, and machine-building enterprises. Now several former members of the union are running for State Duma deputies, and its ex-leader Alexander Khabarov has put forward his candidacy for the election of mayor of Yekaterinburg. Mikhail VIUGIN, Ekaterinburg |
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