04 June 2009, 22:15 Politics

For the people and Deripaska

Putin solved the Pikalevo problem in favor of Deripaska

Roman Badanin , Svetlana Bocharova , Maria Tsvetkova , Elena Bogusheva (St. Petersburg) Vladimir Putin went to Pikalevo, where he allegedly forced Oleg Deripaska to sign an agreement with Phosagro, which should launch Pikalevo enterprises. Deripaska did not seem to want this, but the compromise turned out to be beneficial for him.

Putin arrived in Pikalevo by helicopter at about four o’clock and went on a tour of Baselcement-Pikalevo, which was given to him by the deputy general director of the Deripaska-owned Glavstroy company, Evgeniy Ivanov .

After walking through the plant, Putin was dissatisfied: “Why is your plant so neglected? They turned it into a garbage dump."

Two days ago, when residents of Pikalevo blocked the Vologda-Novaya Ladoga federal highway demanding that their salaries be paid, the prime minister was shown the newly built Nissan plant. Later, at a meeting in Pikalevo, Putin claimed that he was going to the crisis-hit city on June 1, but the authorities of the Leningrad region dissuaded him, offering to see the new plant.

In addition to the owners of Pikalevo enterprises - Deripaska , Filaret Galchev ( Eurocement group - owns Pikalevo-cement) and Alexander Bronstein (UK Sevzapprom - owns Metakhim CJSC), Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin also took part in the meeting with Putin , who oversees the situation in single-industry towns, head of the Ministry of Regional Development Viktor Basargin , presidential envoy to the Northwestern Federal District Ilya Klebanov and head of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin , head of the FAS Igor Artemyev and VTB President Andrey Kostin .

According to Putin , someone really didn’t want him to come to Pikalevo. He is sure that this is precisely why the road closure was organized: “The last thing you could do to prevent me from coming here was to start breaking the law here.” Surely someone incited people to do this, the Prime Minister is convinced: “Maybe it was done in conspiracy, and maybe for money.”

Addressing trade union representatives, Putin recalled that on May 26, during a meeting with trade union leaders, he had already warned them that the times when brick was a tool of the proletariat were already over, and now they could use their heads to solve their problems.

The authorities of the Leningrad region got it: “No one can convince me that the regional leadership did everything in their power to help people.” One of the meeting participants told Gazeta. Ru” that during the meeting Putin “looked sternly” at the governor of the Leningrad region Valery Serdyukov and even drew his attention to the fact that shouts were heard outside the windows demanding his resignation.

Putin also feigned severity with the owners of Pikalevka enterprises: “They made thousands of people hostage to their ambitions, unprofessionalism and, perhaps, just greed. This is absolutely unacceptable, where is the social responsibility of business?” The Prime Minister ordered within a day to repay all debts to former and current employees of suspended enterprises, mainly BaselCement, in the amount of 41 million 200 thousand rubles.

The climax of the meeting was the demonstration in front of journalists of forcing Deripaska to sign an agreement with the supplier of Baselcement-Pikalevo, Phosagro. It traditionally supplied the enterprise with nepheline concentrate, from which alumina is produced at Baselcement, and waste from this production is used to produce cement at Pikalevo-cement, as well as soda and potash at Metakhim. Until now, Basel and Phosagro could not agree on the terms of the supply agreement in 2009, and it was because of this that production at all three plants in Pikalevo stopped ( see reference ).

When Phosagro CEO Maxim Volkov reported to Putin that the text of the agreement had been prepared, the prime minister asked, “Have you signed it?” Volkov answered in the affirmative. “Did Oleg Vladimirovich (Deripaska) sign? I don’t see your signature, go and sign,” the prime minister commanded. Deripaska approached the presidium, read the agreement and signed.

Everything that happened was essentially a staging to demonstrate Putin’s diplomatic talents to the population, he told Gazeta. Ru" high-ranking negotiator.

According to Gazeta.Ru, the salary debts that Putin spoke about were paid off by Basel by Wednesday evening.

The terms of the agreement between the companies were also agreed upon the day before in Moscow at a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Sechin , says a source in the management of one of the Pikalevo factories. There were representatives of all three Pikalevo enterprises, as well as Phosagro.

As the source says, even during the meeting, Phosagro opposed reducing the price of nepheline supplies, and Eurocement and Metakhim objected to the partial repurposing of Baselcement for cement production, since in this case Pikalevo-cement would receive a direct competitor in region, and both enterprises are automatically reduced in the supply of raw materials - waste from alumina production.

However, Sechin managed to achieve consensus between the enterprises, says a source close to one of the owners, threatening those who disagree with nationalization. On the same day, to the State Duma . United Russia introduced a bill on the nationalization of enterprises in Pikalevo

A representative of the Phosagro company confirmed to Gazeta.Ru that Volkov had taken part in a meeting with Sechin the day before, after which draft documents were prepared. A source at Basel said that someone from the management of Baselcement visited Sechin. Eurocement and Metakhim were unavailable for comment.

The agreement is beneficial to Deripaska.

It was concluded for 3 months and provides for a price of 750 rubles per ton of nepheline concentrate. This is two times lower than Phosagro previously demanded from Basic Element. Deripaska’s company also obtained from Russian Railways a reduction in the cost of transporting raw materials from Murmansk from 500 to 300 rubles t/km, says a participant in the negotiations. Now the cost of raw materials with delivery for Basel will be 1,050 rubles per ton, and under the agreement that the company refused to sign before, it would be more than 2,000 rubles.

Phosagro recognizes that the agreement is unprofitable for itself and expects that a commission with the participation of relevant ministries and departments will develop a “mutually acceptable solution” on issues related to the Pikalevsky plant, a company representative said. Phosagro estimates the cost of a ton of nepheline concentrate at 2,717 rubles, given that the contract does not establish a minimum supply volume.

A source close to one of the owners of Pikalevo enterprises considers the agreement “a victory for Basic Element.” An interlocutor at Basel admits that problems will arise in three months, when the contract expires. Ivanov says that Baselcement is completely satisfied with the signed agreement.

In addition to reducing the price of raw materials, Putin allowed the partial repurposing of the Basel plant - one “mill” will be transferred to cement production, a source in the company said. The cost of the project is 700 million rubles. This is beneficial for Basel, since “cement is cost-effective,” and disadvantageous for its peers—“they will get a direct competitor in the region,” explained an interlocutor at Deripaska’s company.

Vneshtorgbank will provide a loan for reprofiling the enterprise, the same interlocutor claims.

Ivanov told Gazeta. Ru” that by the end of June alumina production in Pikalevo will be launched again, and the thermal power plant will be operational by June 10.

According to a participant in the meeting, trade union leader Svetlana Antropova , who took part in it , was satisfied with the agreement. There will be no new protests, the source says.

At the end of the meeting, Putin came out to the townspeople and was the only one who received a standing ovation. In addition, the prime minister was greeted with shouts of “Serdyukov resign!” Similar screams interrupted the governor’s personal conversation with the people. Chairman of the regional government’s press and media relations committee, Vladimir Ugryumov, told Gazeta.Ru: “The agreement is a breakthrough not only in solving the Pikalevo problem, but also, perhaps, the beginning of the formation of a model for solving the problems of other Russian single-industry towns. Of course, this is an act of manual control, but it should be noted that all participants in the process (with rare exceptions) demonstrated a willingness to seek a compromise in order to relieve social tension in Pikalevo.”