The investigation found no signs of abuse of power in the actions of those responsible for the accident.

Yesterday it was officially announced that the investigative department for the Central Federal District of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case in connection with the loss of three satellites of the GLONASS-M navigation system in December 2010. This was preceded by an inspection by the Prosecutor General's Office, which found that even unauthorized people sat on the state launch commission, and a pre-investigation inspection by the Investigative Committee, which estimated the damage from the accident at 4.3 billion rubles. The investigation, however, qualified the officials’ actions not as “abuse of official authority,” but as “negligence.” The maximum penalty under this article is three months' arrest.

Three GLONASS-M satellites, launched with a Proton launch vehicle on December 5, 2010 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, sank due to fuel overflow into the DM-3 upper stage near the Hawaiian Islands (see Kommersant on December 6 ). After this, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev instructed the Prosecutor General's Office to check the circumstances of the launch. Soon a number of violations were revealed: the “accelerator” was undertested, there were no precise instructions for refueling it and a final report on the results of its tests. Of the 32 members of the state commission who took part in the launch, only 8 were approved in the prescribed manner. Based on the results of the inspection, the Prosecutor General’s Office gave Roscosmos a number of instructions, and subsequently, having discovered criminal violations in the actions of officials, redirected the materials to the Investigative Committee. Based on the results of the pre-investigation check, signs of a crime under Art. 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (exceeding official powers).

Visit of Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Ivanov to the Idea Technopark in Kazan for the presentation of vehicles equipped with GLONASS navigation receivers
Photo: Mikhail Sokolov, Kommersant

However, yesterday it became known that a criminal case had been initiated under another article - Part 1 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Negligence”). This article provides for punishment in the form of a fine in the amount of up to 120 thousand rubles, in the amount of wages for a period of up to one year, or compulsory work for a period of 120 to 180 hours, or correctional labor for a period of up to a year, or arrest for a period of up to three months. The same article also provides for longer terms of imprisonment, however, since, as former head of Roscosmos Anatoly Perminov previously emphasized, “this is in no way a disaster - the starting position was not destroyed, no people died,” the maximum possible punishment is arrest for up to three months . Under the article “Exceeding official powers,” a similar violation is punishable by imprisonment for a term of up to four years.

At the same time, the inspection of the Investigative Committee only confirmed the claims of the Prosecutor General's Office to Roscosmos: the cause of the accident and the loss of three GLONASS-M satellites, according to their version, was an error in the documentation of RSC Energia, which was included in the operating instructions (it was this that led to an overflow of 1.5 tons of fuel). The Investigative Committee also estimated the damage from the accident at 4.3 billion rubles. instead of the 2.4 billion announced by Roscosmos. However, at the moment, the case has not been opened against specific officials, but only on the fact of “inadequate performance of their duties by officials of the management of means of launching ground-based space infrastructure and cooperation ties” of Roscosmos, which resulted in the loss of satellites.

The head of RSC Energia, Vitaly Lopota, commenting on RIA Novosti's report on the initiation of a criminal case, said that his corporation would defend itself, adding that some blame also lies with the employees of his corporation. “I relieved six people from their positions - everyone along the chain who made mistakes,” said Mr. Lopota, noting that the error correction program was sent to both Roscosmos and the Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems (ISS) company, which is the developer satellites. At the same time, Mr. Lopota added that “the most unpleasant thing in this situation is that we are looking for a switchman instead of building a system.” The general director and general designer of the Reshetnev ISS, Nikolai Testoedov, told Kommersant that the TFR questions were directed to the launch vehicle and upper stage, and there were no complaints about the spacecraft manufactured at the enterprise. The bug fix program is due to be completed in July this year. Let us note that it is not possible to quickly eliminate the claims of authorities specifically regarding the DM-3 block: when a criminal case is initiated, as a rule, documentation is seized. This is probably why the next launch of the trio of GLONASS-M satellites will no longer be carried out using the DM-3 upper stage, but using the “Briz-M” booster developed by the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center.

The Investigative Committee will continue the investigation: during the criminal case, a legal assessment will be given to the actions or inactions of officials who took part in preparations for the launch of the rocket and space complex.

Ivan Safronov Jr., Nikolai Sergeev

Companions lost due to negligence