Lost on promotion

If the gray eminence of Russian Technologies Igor Zavyalov does not leave his post on his own, he will be helped

After a series of failures with AvtoVAZ, Wings of the Soviets, Rosavia, the state corporation Rostekhnologii is changing its management structure. This is confirmed by several Newsweek sources at once. Power in it is decentralized and will not be rigidly fixated on the first person, or rather, on the second - Igor Zavyalov, the ears and hands of the head of the state corporation Sergei Chemezov. Zavyalov himself, according to some reports, may leave the corporation this spring. Perhaps he will move to the government under the leadership of First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, with whom he allegedly became friends during the restructuring of AvtoVAZ.

Many of his partners and colleagues do not like Zavyalov, which, however, did not prevent him from making a brilliant career and sharing ambitious plans. “He often said that he should be in the place of the head of VTB Kostin or the head of Sberbank Gref,” says an employee of the Ministry of Transport who knows him. Zavyalov's candidacy was allegedly considered in 2007, when Andrei Kazmin was fired from the post of head of Sberbank. As a result, the choice fell on German Gref, and Zavyalov left for Russian Technologies. And he, say numerous interlocutors of Newsweek, completely seized power in this giant state corporation. The problem is that at the beginning of the year, sources say, he seriously angered Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin and is likely to leave Russian Technologies in the near future.

DRILL ROOM

In 2008, Russian Technologies became the owner and sponsor of the Samara football club Krylya Sovetov. Zavyalov was appointed president. The new owners promised to turn the Wings into a superclub. However, in the middle of last year, the money ran out, and soon the threat of liquidation loomed over the club.

In mid-January, a source in Russian Technologies made it clear that the issue with Wings had been resolved at the very top. Sergei Chemezov went to see Vladimir Putin, who summoned his deputy Igor Sechin and entrusted him with this issue. For almost a month, Sechin personally selected new sponsors, and the Russian Football Union repeatedly postponed the procedure for licensing the club to participate in the Premier League. The final list of 22 firms was read out by the governor of the Samara region Vitaly Artyakov on February 18.

And on February 19, the prosecutor's office launched a case into the theft of $160 million from VTB Bank. The materials have been sent for a new examination, and one of the suspects is Igor Zavyalov. In July 2007, he worked at a bank and oversaw a transaction for the purchase of drilling equipment for VTB-Leasing. As the investigation of the minority shareholder of VTB Alexei Navalny showed, the equipment was bought by VTB-Leasing at an inflated price by one and a half times, and unknown intermediaries made a profit of $ 160 million. He took the materials to the police, who, as Navalny expected, sent him a refusal in initiating a criminal case: he received this paper on February 11.

The minority shareholder is sure that the case was slowed down by VTB security officers and almost succeeded in this. But on February 19, law enforcement agencies suddenly changed their minds. The prosecutor's office canceled the decision to refuse to initiate. Last week, Navalny received a response from the prosecutor's office and immediately posted it on his website.

Newsweek's source at the Transport Ministry does not believe Navalny is acting on his own. “I myself was a small shareholder and I can say that minority shareholders do nothing on their own,” he says. Moreover, the scandal came at the right time. “This is the first click on Zavyalov. Usually this is how it is done: first they spread the most harmless compromising evidence. If a person pretends not to understand the hint, a new compromising evidence will appear, even more painful,” says a source in the Ministry of Transport.

Many wanted to send a signal to Zavyalov. Having strengthened himself in Russian Technologies, the manager closed the solution of all significant issues to himself. Many heads of structural subdivisions lost their real powers and began to fight to get them back.

In the hardware struggle, they almost succeeded. At the beginning of the year, the state corporation began to discuss the reorganization, which was supposed to decentralize the management system. In particular, it was decided to transfer many issues from the central office to industry holdings. Zavyalov, according to an official familiar with the situation, did his best to slow down this reorganization. This official says that one of the leaders “pushed” by Zavyalov mobilized his connections in law enforcement agencies in the middle of last year, and in the end, materials compromising him were found.

“If a criminal prosecution is launched, Zavyalov will certainly be forced to leave the state corporation,” says Dmitry Klenov, partner at UFG Wealth Management. Many in Rostekhnologii hope that with his departure, the managers of the holdings that are part of the state corporation will return to their managerial functions.

CHAIN ​​REACTION

Another conflict situation around Zavyalov is related to aviation. This direction in Russian Technologies has its own boss, but in practice, Zavyalov oversees aviation projects. In 2008, the state corporation began to form Rosavia, which was supposed to become the largest airline in Russia. They tried to gather a competitor for Aeroflot from a dozen unprofitable state-owned companies, but by the beginning of this year, only dreams remained from Rosavia. In February, Vladimir Putin instructed to transfer six state-owned companies to Aeroflot.

However, representatives of the new owners could not even physically enter the territory of these companies for a long time - allegedly because of the opposition of the managers of Rostekhnologii. According to the market, Russian Technologies linked access to these airlines with the signing of a cooperation agreement. Under this agreement, the state corporation should receive the right to maintain domestic aircraft and finance leasing contracts, and also be able to take part in tenders for the purchase of new aircraft.

Industry experts are not sure that Rostec will be able to fulfill this agreement. “They have neither the capacity to carry out maintenance, nor the financial leverage to get involved in the maintenance of leasing schemes,” says Yevgeny Shago, an analyst at Ingosstrakh-Investments Management Company. The meaning of the cooperation agreement, according to a source close to Rosaviatsia, is different - Rostekhnologii wants to gracefully exit the aircraft project.

So, saving face, Igor Zavyalov resigned as president of the Wings of the Soviets. The base has been laid, new sponsors have been found for the team, he said. This statement, according to sources, greatly upset Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who personally conducted the most difficult negotiations with potential sponsors.

Now, more than ever, it is beneficial for Zavyalov to maintain the image of a strong business executive. The top manager of Russian Technologies is preparing to move to a new job, several sources in the government and in the market say at once. “He will certainly go to the government's economic bloc, to First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov,” one of them clarifies.

Aeroflot agrees to the contract proposed by Russian Technologies, sources say. The company says it's a reasonable compromise that will give it access to six airlines. In the meantime, Aeroflot cannot even conduct a preliminary audit of six companies, which were going to be completed before the end of March. And the general director of Aeroflot, Vitaly Savelyev, has already promised Igor Shuvalov that he will not ask for a penny from the budget. “Our financial position after leaving Rostekhnologii is getting worse every day,” an airline top executive told Newsweek.

Worse another. The project of transferring six airlines to Aeroflot was lobbied by Transport Minister Igor Levitin. He reported this to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and Putin will ask him if something goes wrong with these companies - and this is quite likely. And Levitin has been considered one of the first candidates for resignation for almost a year now.

And the resignation of Levitin can immediately revive the intrigue with the creation of a competitor to Aeroflot. The Moscow airline Atlant-Soyuz, which withdrew from Rosavia in time and thus avoided being taken over by Aeroflot, is now building Napoleonic plans. “By 2015, we plan to become the second largest company,” says Evgeny Bachurin, its CEO. With Levitin, this is hardly possible. After the minister personally dismissed Bachurin from the post of head of the Federal Air Transport Agency in the fall of 2008, their relationship leaves much to be desired.