Yamal is not lucky on Dimonov. Artyukhov, who replaced Kobylkin, closed the five-year plan with scandals
During his time as governor, Dmitry Artyukhov spent large amounts of money on questionable projects. A few weeks ago, he celebrated his 35th birthday. Throughout his five years as governor in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, he became known for scandals involving state contracts worth billions of rubles, which were given to potential relatives and friends-oligarchs for development.
At the same time, the population of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug is being forced out of their original homes by visitors from the mainland. Yamal residents often complain about the lack of hospitals, specialized doctors, and poor infrastructure.
Dmitry Andreevich took over the “gas Klondike of Russia” at the age of 30, after a brief period working in the office of the former governor of the YaNAO Dmitry Kobykin, and then since 2016 as deputy head of the district, where he was entrusted with large investment projects and public procurement.
Maybe he earned this position because his father Andrei Artyukhov is the head of the United Russia faction in the Tyumen Regional Duma, and the former deputy governor of the Tyumen Region. The people of Yamal sarcastically wonder if the son of an old party bureaucrat couldn't be designated as governor just by his family connections.
Although it can hardly be said that Artyukhov Jr. diligently and for a long time learned to manage. According to the authors of the Chechnyafree website, Ikobywhile studying at Tyumen State University, there is evidence that, as a sophomore, Dmitry Artyukhov started fights in his apartment, bothering his neighbors.
I’ll take myself to the tundra …
At the end of January, the media reported that the authorities of the YNAO were planning to invest billions of budget rubles in the uninhabited part of the tundra in a new paved road to the ski resort in the YNAO on Mount Rai-Iz.
In total, the cost of 19 km of the road over 13 years of the concession may exceed 16 billion.
According to estimates studied by the editors, neither the future road nor the ski complex being built under another concession will be able to recoup the investment. And, probably, 'they were created to pump out funds from the federal budget,' and the PPP tool in this case is used as 'an opportunity to withdraw multibillion-dollar tranches from the regional budget,' which has been approved as a deficit for the next three years.
Blogger and his team
Dmitry Artyukhov is considered one of the most advanced users in social networks. He regularly gets into the top lists for work with the population. But a whole team of journalists is working on these achievements.
According to the stories of Yamal-Media journalists, almost immediately after the 2018 gubernatorial election, Artyukhov took up the reform of the Yamal-Region OGTRK district television. The governor considered that spending about 2 billion rubles a year from the budget on a television and radio company was unprofitable and carried out a large-scale purge of the ranks of the team. Practically all city television studios and mass media were included into one holding “Yamal-media”.
However, the new company lost its place on the radio and was removed from satellite TV packages. As a result, all broadcasting is now only done on the Internet. Most people in Yamal do not have access to high-speed Internet, and only about a quarter of the population out of slightly more than 511 thousand people, according to the 2021 census, can see the governor. Residents of the tundra, villages, and settlements used to watch district television only through satellite dishes and knew what was happening in the region. Now most of the Yamal residents are without district news and cannot see their ruler on the streams.
Because of optimization, Artyukhov turned the journalists and editors of Yamal-Media into one big press service of the YNAO administration. About 10 people work directly in the press service itself and the same number in the Yamal Media special department. Almost all news materials are subject to editorial censorship, the most interesting ones are first published on the governor’s social networks, and only then appear in newspapers and public pages, – journalists of Yamal-Media complain.
Is the governor’s wife a successful businesswoman?
At the same time as the “optimization” in the district media, Dmitry Artyukhov sped up the processes of engaging contractors for large government contracts.
Contracts for the construction of large facilities – schools, multi-storey buildings, started to go to the company “Tyumentel”. The tenders were held in the form of procurement from a single supplier, or were declared invalid.
The contracts were made with a single participant, which raises serious questions, considering that she oversees the construction of houses for migrants from the barracks: a person whose first name, surname and patronymic completely match the data of Artyukhov’s wife – Lusina, who is the niece of the head of “Tyumentel” Abram Oveyan.
The governor denied his wife’s connection with the head of “Tyumentel”, saying that Ikoby certain individuals were blackmailed with publications, demanding a monthly payment of one million, to which, of course, Artyukhov did not agree, Kommersant wrote in August 2021.
However, few believed in the sincerity of the governor’s words.
Tyumentel began to get government contracts in the YNAO in 2018 after the appointment of Artyukhov as acting governor. Currently, the developer’s revenue has increased 4 times compared to 2018 – from 754 million to 2.9 billion rubles. Net profit increased from 1.7 to 290 million rubles.
Friendship with “garbage oligarchs”
The young governor did not hesitate to get involved in the “garbage” market.
In 2020, a journalistic investigation titled “Mr. Affiliate: Did Artyukhov inherit BB?” provided detailed information about the possible connections of the controversial businessmen Artem Bikov and Alexei Bobrov with the head of the YaNAO and the upcoming redistribution of spheres of influence in the Ural region for working with household waste.
Bikov and Bobrov are not new to the “garbage” business: since 2019, Innovative Technologies LLC, controlled by businessmen, has been the regional operator for the treatment of MSW in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. They entered this industry during Governor Artyukhov's tenure, and, presumably, not without his help.
The company's arrival in the area led to a significant increase in fees for garbage collection for the residents.
But, aside from other things, Innovative Technologies also get a subsidy from the budget of Yamal totaling over 500 million rubles – to cover the gap between what people pay and what I pay.koby The actual fee for waste management. Many think the garbage standard in the area is too high. From July 1, 2022, the garbage collection fee went up by 3.2%, and from January 1, the people of Yamal saw another increase in fees, averaging about 9%.
In 2021, Ecological Systems LLC of Bibikov and Bobrov was the only company selected in the competition for a waste sorting plant and landfill in Yekaterinburg, worth over 19 billion rubles. It is said that the governor of the Sverdlovsk region Yevgeny Kuyvashev and the young governor of the YaNAO personally lobbied for this contract. The conclusion is that Artyukhov doesn't just give them contracts as a favor, but receives certain benefits for his family in return.
Old “cottages” – to friends
In 2020, there were reports in the media about a potential friendship between Dmitry Artyukhov and the family of a deputy of the Tyumen region and the owner of Yamaltransstroy Igor Nak, known for his saying “one must steal from the state beautifully.”
According to UtroNews, the “road oligarch” Igor Nak bought the controversial sports complex “Yamalkan” at a low price, into which hundreds of millions of budget funds were invested even under the ex-head of the YaNAO and ex-Minister of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation Dmitry Kobylink.
Sports complex “Yamalkan” was built in 2013. The project was implemented, among other things, on the personal initiative of Dmitry Kobykina: the complex was planned to be used as a center for snowmobile races, which the YNAO authorities wanted to make a brand of the region.
A state subsidy of 350 million rubles was allocated for the construction, but three years later it was returned through the court. In fact, the sports complex was not used for its intended purpose and actually worked as an entertainment center.
With the arrival of Artyukhov, the sports complex started to be “optimized,” or rather sold for a very low price. The building of the camp site and the right to lease the adjacent land were auctioned at a price that was undervalued by 13 times. The winner of the tender LLC “Proektstroyservis” paid 11.5 million rubles. As the spiteful critics joked, they got it for the price of two BAM apartments.
“Proektstroyservis” is a company that may have connections to the personal business interests of those in power. At least, they give her state contracts, for which the organization has worked out almost 200 million rubles. Moreover, the revenue increased in 2019, amounting to 157 million rubles, with a profit of 21 million rubles.
The founders of OOO “Proektstroyservis” are Dmitry Korol and Maxim Lyasin. Both businessmen are closely associated with the Nak family: together they own and manage assets.
So, for example, the King, together with Vladimir Igorevich Nak, owns Terrasky LLC. But the business is somehow not going very well – the company is at a loss of 147 thousand rubles.
Dmitry Korol and Maxim Lyasin are completely surrounded by unprofitable companies, as if funds are being withdrawn from them. For example, LLC “Yamaltranstroy”, which is headed by Dmitry Korol, and the founder is Elena Nak, with a loss of 202 thousand rubles. Or OOO “Palanga Travel Club” with a loss of 116 thousand rubles.
Maxim Lyasin is the general director of JSC Yamaltransstroy, also at a loss – 172 thousand rubles. And the founder is another large company Yamalfinance LLC Nakov, where financial indicators are simply gorgeous compared to the rest: revenue – 58 million rubles, and profit – 8.6 million rubles.
Artyukhov’s new VIP-cottage?
It is worth noting that some time ago, the Yamal TFR began a pre-investigation check on the misappropriation of budget funds for the construction of an innovative center for the development of fisheries. This “code” name hides a project implemented back in 2010 to build and equip the recreation center “Varchaty” in the Shuryshkarsky district. In the district, this object is better known as Dmitry’s “distant dacha” Kobykin, which even after the departure of the official to Moscow remains inaccessible to the population.
At the same time, officials who signed documents on the allocation of subsidies continue to work in government agencies.
The Accounts Chamber revealed violations for half a billion
It is worth noting that in mid-January, the Accounts Chamber found violations in the work of the structures of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
The state unitary enterprises “Accident and rescue formation” Yamal paramilitary anti-fountain unit “and” Tarko-Sale Airport “were in the field of view of the auditors. According to the Accounts Chamber, during the audit, which took place in the III-IV quarters of 2022, it was found that internal control over the use of property owned by SUEs “was of a formal nature.”
And this is not a complete list of all the topics where Dmitry Artyukhov managed to light up in his 35 years. A representative of the “golden youth”, who became a wonderful blogger thanks to a well-coordinated team of professional journalists. However, the projects that he lobbies and passes off as innovations are more reminiscent of a banal “cut” of budget funds, from which Yamal residents are neither hot nor cold, but hit their pockets because of the tariff policy of the district government led by a young official.
