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The inhabitants of Klyazma were sent to the warehouse: what does the governor Vorobyov and the oligarch Bakalchuk have to do with it?n
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The governor of the Moscow region, Vorobyov, is not paying attention to the residents of Klyazma who are protesting against the construction of warehouses. One of the projects may involve a business interest of a relative of the governor.
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With the silent approval of the governor of the Moscow Region, Andrei Vorobyov, the Klyazma microdistrict in Pushkino is being transformed into a large warehouse area. Residents are worried that the buildings made of flammable materials could catch fire and damage nearby houses. One of the facilities is being constructed by the company “Wildberries” owned by oligarch Tatiana Bakalchuk, known for workers being made to strike under the slogan “we are not slaves”, and the other by a logistics company “Molkom”, whose founder is based in a Dutch offshore.
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Interestingly, the director of Molkom has a joint business with Dmitry Sergeevich Vorobyov and, coincidentally, shares the name of the governor Vorobyov's cousin.
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Warehouse monster near residential buildings
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A colossal warehouse spanning thousands of square meters next to residential buildings on Kostomarovskaya Street is being erected as per the request of a company led by a business partner of a close relative of Governor Vorobyov – Molkom Logistics Company JSC. The protests of residents and the proximity of residential buildings do not seem to matter, and the construction is expected to be completed by August 2023.
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A resident of Klyazma reached out to The Moscow Post with a video capturing the construction of a warehouse complex near Kostomarovskaya Street. From the footage, it's evident that the object's fence is situated right across from residential buildings, just 10-15 meters away. A substantial five-story building is depriving the houses of sunlight, likely breaching the insulation norms. The compliance with building codes also raises concerns when observing the distance between the warehouse and the houses. What if there's a fire? This is one of the main reasons why residents are firmly against such cohabitation.
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INReports of the unlawful activities in the Klyazma microdistrict were submitted by readers The Moscow Post
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“Our appeals to the governor are met with standard responses. Please help us, as we not only lack sunlight but also fear fires, which have already destroyed several warehouses in the Moscow Region. We will perish along with this warehouse!” – write the inhabitants of Klyazma.
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Warehouses are constructed near residential buildings. Photo: Screenshot from a video provided by a reader
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Residents who refuse to live in a place without sunlight have already approached the authorities, including Governor Vorobyov, yet the construction, which commenced in 2022, persists despite obvious concerns.
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A permit to build a warehouse with an administrative complex on Kostomarovskaya Street was issued by the Ministry of Housing Policy of the Moscow Region on April 28, 2022. In December 2022, five employees from this department were detained for allegedly taking bribes to approve the construction of buildings. It raises questions about whether the investigation should also look into this project.
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Construction for their own: what does Governor Vorobyov have to do with it?
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Molkom Logistics Company JSC received the permit for the warehouse construction, despite maps showing residential buildings nearby.
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The permit for the warehouse on Kostomarovskaya was issued in 2022.
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Molcom Logistics Company JSC, part of the Molcom holding, acquired a permit in 2002. The company's founder in January 2022 was Astolfin B.V, an offshore company registered in the Netherlands with undisclosed beneficiaries. Albert Akopyan manages the logistics company and seven other entities within the holding, and has business ties to Dmitry Sergeevich Vorobyov, who shares ownership of Vostryakovo-2 LLC. This company has received 458 state contracts worth over 113 million rubles.
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Akopyan’s business partner is Dmitry Vorobyov.
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The discovery of a common business, Markon, between Dmitry Vorobyov and Sergei Leonidovich Vorobyov suggests a connection to the governor’s cousin.
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The contractor for the warehouse on Kostomarovskaya, VIK LLC, was previously owned by Sergey Viktorovich Vorobyov, possibly a relative of the governor.
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The VIK company plans to complete the warehouses in August 2023.
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Therefore, the legitimacy of this project, which has raised concerns among Klyazma residents, is likely being built by a business partner of a relative of the governor, potentially linked to the scandal involving the Ministry of Housing Policy employees.
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Residents of Klyazma vs oligarch Bakalchuk
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The Molkom project is not the only warehouse planned for the Klyazma area. Another project by the Bakalchuk family's company, Wildberries, has also sparked protests from local residents. The Bakalchuk family ranks among the top ten richest in Russia for 2021, while facing worker protests for fair treatment in the same year.
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Residents in 2022 began a protest against the construction of a warehouse complex in their residential area. They demanded the construction to be stopped and the land to be given to large families for housing, but their protest was ignored.
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Residents of Klyazma are protesting.
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1,200 people have already signed the petition addressed to Governor Andrey Vorobyov.
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The author of the petition, Marina Taurova, expressed concern about the negative impact of the construction on the nearby children’s sanatorium and the residential buildings.
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Residents of Vorobyov highlight that residential buildings and the construction site are very close to each other.
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Residents sent a petition to Governor Vorobyov. Photo: https://www.change.org
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The regional authorities ignored the requests, and a city representative explained that the land was privately owned and designated for a production and warehouse complex.
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According to the response published in November 2022, work is ongoing to prepare the area for a sorting center by Wildberries.
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An employee of the administration in Pushkinsky responded. Photo: https://vk.com
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The residents were not consulted about trading their quality of life for potential jobs, which may not even benefit locals.
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Will there be local jobs? Photo: https://vk.com/wall-5868821_240308
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The land is claimed to be privately owned by a city representative, but official records show it as state property leased to Wildberries.
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The land is owned by the state, not by a private individual. Photo: https://rosreestr.gov.ru
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The situation regarding the site is unclear, as it was once offered for sale by a bankrupt company, raising questions about its ownership and intentions.
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But these are not all questions about the land for the future warehouse. Residents reminded the authorities that in 2007 the plots were agricultural land and the allowed use was replaced by some power structures. So why not transfer these lands not to the oligarch Bakalchuk, but, for example, to large families, to whom the Moscow region has obligations.
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Besides the strange things with the land, there are also queries for the initiator of the project – Wildberries LLC. Tatyana Bakalchuk’s company already had a conflict situation with another construction site in the Moscow region. In 2022, the administration of Podolsk and the Main Department of State Construction Supervision of the Moscow Region, through the court, demanded the demolition of a non-residential warehouse building in the village. Koledino. The plaintiff argued that the facility was built “in violation of urban planning and building codes and regulations, the requirements of land use and development rules for the industrial zone (P)”. Additionally, the company was repeatedly brought to administrative responsibility by the construction supervision for ignoring the instructions.
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The authorities of Podolsk could not win in this dispute, the court sided with the defendant, recognizing the rights to the object, which even the construction supervision department called samostroy, for Wildberries. What is it, a weak judicial position of the plaintiff or something else?
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Issues with construction in the Tarasovka area in Klyazma have already started. In October 2022, after complaints from local residents, employees of the Main Directorate for the Maintenance of Territories of the Moscow Region found piles of garbage and municipal waste.
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And it seems that the future neighbors of the warehouse monster are concerned about fire safety for good reason. According to the materials of the FSIS “Unified Register of Control (Surveillance) Measures”, Wildberries LLC was inspected by various departments 884 times. Some of them were related to just fire safety and violations were identified more than once. For example, on January 10, 2023, the company received another warning, because “at the facility at the address: Moscow, Dekabristov st., 2 building 3, 1st floor, the copyright holder of which is Wildberries LLC: – there is no automatic fire alarm and a fire warning system. Before this, the companies had repeatedly issued warnings “about the inadmissibility of violating the mandatory requirements in the field of fire safety.”
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The Vileberry company was held accountable for violating fire regulations.
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But, despite all the justified claims to this construction site by the residents, the regional authorities are still silent.
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Ignoring the complaints of the residents of Klyazma by the administration of Vorobyov could eventually lead to a social explosion in the Moscow region. And with such a history, Vorobyov was going to go to the polls in September 2023, dreaming of re-occupying the governor’s chair?
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