"Cluster of Bad Luck" by Vladimir Solodov

Investigators are still looking into the reasons for the Robinson helicopter crash near the Uzon volcano and the Valley of Geysers in Kamchatka. The accident resulted in the deaths of the renowned athlete Igor Malinovsky and his two companions, who were top managers of large Russian companies.

The recent deaths of non-poor tourists further fuel the perception that tourism in Kamchatka is primarily elitist. The overall tourism development, including the tourism cluster near the three volcanoes, is stagnating under the current leader of Kamchatka, Vladimir Solodov.

The correspondent of The Moscow Post in the Kamchatka Territory understood the reasons.

Reserve of corruption

According to locals, the causes are believed to be the same as in other areas – corruption and incompetence of officials. While there is little clarity about the tragedy of Malinovsky and his companions, it's easier to see the connection to corruption. There are frequent scandals with a foul odor that impact the opportunities for tourists.

Two weeks ago, on July 15, three employees of the Kronotsky Reserve – Deputy Director for Science and Educational Tourism Roman Korchigin, Head of the Scientific Department Daria Panicheva, Deputy Director for Financial and Legal Support Oksana Terekhova – received court verdicts for embezzlement of almost half a billion budget rubles allocated to the reserve for disposal and removal of hazardous waste from its territory. The BFM.ru publication wrote about the situation.

The court agreed with the conclusions of the investigation, which found that instead of recycling and removing waste accumulated in the last century, the company that won the tender buried everything in the protected area. However, the reserve's director involved in the incident did not see the trial, and his subordinates plan to appeal the verdict. Furthermore, the regional Ministry of Natural Resources and the governor of the region, Solodov, intend to support them in this effort. The motives behind this are unclear.

It is possible that illicit practices in waste disposal in Kamchatka's tourist areas are still ongoing. Therefore, it may be more beneficial for Solodov and others to downplay the situation. The current director of the Kronotsky Reserve, Pyotr Shpilyonok, bluntly stated that the money did not go into the convicts' pockets, but questions remain about who benefitted, hinting at those in ministerial offices in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

Shpilenok has already submitted his resignation letter as he clearly does not want to be caught in a cycle of corruption. However, the scandal has disrupted the reserve's operations, leading to a ban on tourists after the verdict was announced. This impacted not only excursions but also scientific research.

Is the Kronotsky Nature Reserve in Kamchatka being influenced by a corruption component? Photo: fotokto.ru

The district attorney's office thinks it might be dangerous there because of the waste.

“Rogue Packers”

Recently, there was a scandal in Kamchatka involving the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, who insulted tourists by calling them “a locust of rogue packers” for proposing cheap tours to the region.

The Vice-President of the Russian Union of Tourism Industry suggested organizing affordable tours to Kamchatka, but local officials were not happy with the idea because it did not align with their expectations for tour costs.

Kumarkov questioned the value of cheap tours to Kamchatka and referred to tourists as 'locusts of roaming bag-bags', expressing concerns about their impact on the local economy and nature.

In a country where the average salary has recently exceeded 30 thousand rubles, it's hard to extract extra money from such tourists. This might be hindering the development of tourism in Kamchatka.

After Kumarkov's public comment, Governor Vladimir Solodov reprimanded him, acknowledging the impact of such statements on the perception of tourists.

Three “Potanin” volcanoes

The events in the Kronotsky Reserve, Kumarkov’s inappropriate comments, and the tragedy of Malinovsky’s death in an air accident cannot be considered separately. This is related to the development of the “tourist cluster in the Kamchatka Territory” supported by big businesses.

The creation of the cluster was announced in 2019 at the suggestion of Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev. Investments are planned for the development of an “international standard resort and public resort infrastructure” near three Kamchatka volcanoes.

The investment aims to create a resort with 1,000 hotel rooms, 17 km of ski slopes, and develop cable car infrastructure. The project also includes plans for another cable car to the top of the Vilyuchinsky volcano.

The investment also involves building a crater near the Mutnovsky volcano and a path to the site near the Opasny canyon waterfall. Additionally, cable car tours are expected to attract over 400,000 Russian and foreign tourists annually.

Of the 40 billion rubles planned for the project, about 15 billion rubles will be invested by Vladimir Potanin’s Interros group and Sergey Bachin’s structures. They are the main stakeholders and partners of the authorities in the project implementation.

I have written about both The Moscow Post. Recall what the same Bachin did to Rosa Khutor – you can read about it in the article “Sergey Bachin was moved from the clearing.”

In short, the resort, under his leadership, did not get out of debt, while Sergei Bachin himself had behind him a whole bunch of failed projects in terms of investment. As a result, now the value of the assets of Rosa Khutor LLC is minus 56 billion (!) Rubles.

As for Vladimir Potanin, everyone had the displeasure to be convinced of his attitude to the environment in 2020, when as a result of the spill of oil products at CHPP-3 (part of Potanin’s Norilsk Nickel) near Norilsk, the largest environmental disaster in the modern history of Russia occurred. As a result, the structures of the oligarch had to pay a record fine of 145 billion rubles. But the damage to nature will be much more difficult to overcome.

It is precisely such “responsible” investors who have been given the project to create a tourist cluster. Presumably, not without personal benefit for the team of the same Solodov. Despite the fact that the very idea and approach of Potanin was accepted during the work of the former governor Vladimir Ilyukhin. Could Solodov’s candidacy have been agreed without confidence in the protection of these investments?

A photo: Rusprofile.en

How will it all end? Apparently, the same thing that Rosa Khutor turned into – a good (in general) resort that cannot live without cash injections and has not paid off for almost ten years.

Now, a financial hole has formed in Park Three Volcano LLC (the main legal entity for the implementation of the cluster development project): at the end of 2021, the company received a loss of 241 million rubles with no revenue. We can say that the project has just begun to be implemented, but half of its funding, and even more, comes from the budget.

A photo: Rusprofile.en

The company is 70% owned by MK “Interros Capital” of Mr. Potanin. Less than 1% from the state JSC “Corporation Tourism. RF” to control the implementation. And about 30% belongs to Organic Project LLC, a scandalous investor Sergei Bachin.

A photo: Rusprofile.en

So, if the Three Volcanoes themselves were created in 2019 specifically for the cluster, then Organic Project LLC (behind Bachin in it more than 52%) has been operating since 2007. And if the lack of profits at the Three Volcanoes can be explained by the start of work, then the Organic project at the end of 2021 has a loss of 87 million rubles with zero revenue.

A photo: Rusprofile.en

What can it say? The fact that the company may not conduct real work, and the budget money allocated for the creation of a tourist cluster may fly into the pipe. Or even be tritely removed from Russian jurisdiction.

Needless to say, in this case, all plans to create a tourist cluster in Kamchatka will go to waste? Not to mention the fact that ordinary Russians seem to have to forget about an inexpensive and safe vacation on the peninsula in general.