Kommersant: Evgeny Rybin, Witness Against Pichugin, Rewarded with State-Owned Enterprise
April 3, 3018
Accounting might detonate
Law enforcement probing the Sverdlov state-owned plant
Photo: Roman Yarovitzyn / Kommersant
A massive document seizure took place at the Ya.M. Sverdlov plant, a Federal state owned enterprise, as part of the FSB’s pre-investigative probe. FSB staffers came from Moscow specifically for this purpose. Kommersant sources say the FSB has been watching the defense plant’s business activity for about a year, documenting various types of violations. Plant general manager Vadim Rybin was on vacation and unavailable for comment, and neither were his deputies.
Kommersant learned that, last week, documents and electronic media were seized at the Ya.M. Sverdlov plant, a large Federal state-owned defense plant in Dzerzhinsk (1) that produces explosives, industrial chemicals and ammunition. Late last year [2017], the plant started producing 500 kg-caliber high-explosive drop bombs that can augment the Russian forces’ stockpiles of this type of ammunition depleted in Syria.
According to Kommersant’s sources, Russian FSB operatives came to the plant as part of the probe; Nizhny Novgorod [region] (2/3) law enforcement was not brought in. Plant general manager Vadim Rybin didn’t take Kommersant’s calls for two days, and his office advised he’s on vacation. His deputy Yuri Shumsky was also unavailable for comment, and plant representatives said he’s busy. Nizhny Novgorod [Region] industrial circles know of the special services’ probe into the plant. One director posited that “for the Rybin family, which got to manage the Sverdlov plant as a reward for the Yukos Affair, the State’s mandate of trust has expired.”
To remind [readers], Vadim’s father Evgeny Rybin actively accused Yukos executives Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Leonid Nevzlin of crimes. In late 1990s, Rybin Sr., who represented the Austrian firm East Petroleum Handelsg[e]s GmbH that had a dispute with Yukos, survived two attempts on his life. His driver was killed when [Rybin’s] car was blown up, and the Evgeny Rybin attempted murders counts are part of the former Yukos Security Division employee Alexei Pichugin’s verdict. Rybin Jr. was appointed head of the Sverdlov plant in November 2009; prior to that he was deputy head of the Federal Agency on Energy, dissolved in 2008. In earlier interviews, Vadim Rybin had said that Russian Federation Ministry of Industry and Trade brass invited him to apply for the vacant position of the Sverdlov plant general manager.
An informed Kommersant source in Dzerzhinsk confirmed that documents were seized at the Sverdlov plant. He said the plant has been subject of a probe “over the course of a year,” and now law enforcement might initiate action against plant management regarding taking money out to offshore [accounts] and spending government funds received under special federal programs. The security agencies also took interest in how the plant interacts with its suppliers: some plant business partners have previously complained of [having to pay] kickbacks to Dzerzhinsk law enforcement and supervisory authorities. The Kommersant source added that also being looked into is the degree of involvement of Rybin Sr., who has foreign citizenship, in the actual management of the strategic defense plant.
Hexogen will remain in the government’s hands
The source believes that, in the next two years, the Sverdlov plant may be reorganized from a Federal state-owned enterprise into a shareholding company and subsequently become part of the State-owned Rostec (4) corporation, although he says this is not tied to the FSB probe. [We should] add that, as far back as 2016, Rostec head Sergei Chemezov (5) was trying to have the Dzerzhinsk state-owned enterprise [(the Y.M. Sverdlov plant)] join the [Rostec] corporation, but at the time this issue was put off due to objections from Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. (6)
It was previously reported that the plant’s 2018-2025 investment program will reach 25 Bln. Rub. In that time period, the plant planned to start 16 new defense and civil process units, and begin production of new dual-use goods. (7)
Afanasiy Sborov
Translation from Russian; bracketed text and footnotes added by translator; original article here.
Notes:
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzerzhinsk,_Russia
(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nizhny_Novgorod_Oblast
(3) Translator note: the city of Dzerzhinsk where the plant is located is part of Nizhny Novgorod Region.
(4) https://rostec.ru/en/
(5) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Chemezov
(6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry_Rogozin
(7) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-use_technology
