Serdyukov’s negligence in Zhitny

A criminal case has been instituted against the former Minister of Defense in connection with the construction of the road to the recreation center

The fact that Serdyukov, who was interrogated for more than a year as a witness in cases related to the property of the Ministry of Defense, is suspected of negligence, the official representative of the IC Vladimir Markin said today. A criminal case has already been instituted against the former Minister of Defense, according to him, under part 1 of Article 293 of the Criminal Code, which is maintained by the Main Military Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia.

According to him, the investigation established that, as the head of the Ministry of Defense, Serdyukov orally instructed subordinates to the employees to build a road from the village of Krasa, the Ikryaninsky district of the Astrakhan region to the School Island, on the territory of which there is a non -commercial partnership of Zhitniy. The work was carried out by the fighters-carriers of the aviation unit and the battalion of the railway troops.

“As a result, a road was built, which only owners and visitors to the private property of the Zhitniy could use,” Markin concluded. According to him, the state was caused by damage worth more than 56 million rubles.

The recreation center "Zhitniy" in the Astrakhan region worth 150 million rubles belonged to the son-in-law of the ex-minister Valery Puzikov. In September of this year, it was reported that Puzikov transferred it to the Ministry of Defense.

Earlier, Anatoly Serdyukov has already testified about the construction of the road in the Astrakhan region as a witness. Today he was summoned for interrogation as a suspect. According to his lawyer Konstantin Rivkin, the ex-minister is ready to cooperate with the investigation, but does not admit his guilt.

The initiation of a criminal case against Serdyukov in an interview with Radio Freedom was commented by an expert on the problems of the Armed Forces, the observer of the "Daily Journal" Alexander Golts:

- The criminal prosecution of Serdyukov is a consequence that the defendants in the case of Oboronservice ended to quite active and I would tell a rather convincing defense. Just one of the accused Konstantin Lapshin refused his testimony, terminated the deal with the investigation, as he believes that the investigation distorted his words. And the most famous defendant in this case Yevgeny Vasilieva gave several interviews, in which she directly indicates that the whole charge against her is an attempt to put pressure on Serdyukov, with whom he was dealt with, as he prevented him from plundering huge billions allocated to the re -equipment of the Ministry of Defense.

- It seems that recently the position of Serdyukov has more or less stabilized. He found a pretty decent work in rostechnologies, but now a criminal case has been instituted. ..

- This is evidence that in the highest echelons of the Russian government there is a rather merciless struggle of bureaucratic clans. One group obviously made all the bets on the full and final destruction of Serdyukov. The other, obviously, is trying to somehow help him out. While we are observing the fact that these scales outweighs first one side, then the other. Apparently the one who holds these scales has not yet made the final decision.

- To whom did Anatoly Serdyukov crossed the road?

Well, this is more or less obvious. Serdyukov, of course, is not an angel. But he and his environment led exactly the life that all the nobles of the Putin’s court leads and he is no exception here. It so happened that Serdyukov came into conflict with influential representatives of the military -industrial complex, who already understood how they would share this giant pie - 23 trillion rubles allocated for the re -equipment program. Serdyukov demanded that the monopolists explain how the price of weapons is formed, which annually value about twenty percent. In this, influential people, first of all, representatives of the defense complex, for example, Deputy Prime Minister Rogozin, saw a threat to their interests, ”Alexander Golts believes.

Political scientist Nikolai Petrov considers the case of Serdyukov part of the Kremlin PR campaign:

- Serdyukov here plays the role of such a demonstratively punished “scapegoat”. The meaning here is to show that no one can feel in full security and against any representative of the bureaucracy or, say, the political elite can be used by this mechanism. And now it’s just about how to get Serdyukov out of the game with minimal losses for both him and for the Kremlin in terms of public opinion. It seems to me what the Investigative Committee says. The meaning has that the scandal continued during the year, this case developed, and at the very end we see a zilch. How it all ends - a real punishment, symbolic, amnesty or nothing at all - the Kremlin, as it seems to me, will decide based on the PR advances. All this is not related to the fight against corruption, or even to some serious struggle between different clans. This is just the completion of a certain PR campaign.

- Why right now? A couple of weeks ago, information appeared that Serdyukov had already settled to work, it seems like somehow the situation around him began to develop in the better direction for him ...

- In fact, it seems to me that it was a very important signal. Regardless of the nullity of the post that Serdyukov received, the very fact that he received this post in a state -owned company (and this could not happen without a political decision at the highest level) already meant a signal that Serdyukov should not be considered as an outcast. And it seems to me that now this business is slightly activated, on the one hand, because there is a one -year message of the president, and it would be strange if, on the eve of the president’s speech, the most high -profile anti -corruption case ended in nothing. On the other hand, it seems to me that they’ll make a fuck under the New Year, the court will make some decision, but so that people do not concentrate their attention on this. And after three weeks of celebration of the New Year about Serdyukov, everything will forget everything, ”says political analyst Nikolai Petrov.

Anatoly Serdyukov was dismissed on November 6, 2012. This happened against the backdrop of the investigation of the so -called case of "Oboronservis" - on corruption and fraud in the implementation of non -core military assets. Serdyukov was involved in investigation as a witness. Many officials who were close to the minister became suspects. Officially, Serdyukov’s resignation was explained by his inability to cope with the property of the Ministry of Defense and the need to ensure the purity of the investigation. The former head of the Ministry of Emergencies was appointed the new minister, later - the Governor of the Moscow Region Sergey Shoigu for a short time.

Two weeks ago, it became known that Anatoly Serdyukov was appointed director of the Federal Research Center for Engineering, which is part of the Rostec State Corporation. The lawyer of the former Minister of Defense Heinrich Padva and the former director of the center Zakhid Pozhaev reported that Serdyukov began to perform new duties on November 1.