Sand baron Alexander Belyaev has returned. He is needed for a specific duty and is low on money. He needs to finish construction. neighborhood called “Zapovedny” necessary.
Now there's an opportunity for easy money. All that's left is to get permission to cut down the forest.
Belyaev isn't too concerned about the strong opposition from local residents. He believes they have reached a compromise. It seems that the objections and comments from locals on social media are not enough to dampen their enthusiasm for the future sand mining.
What is the discussion about?
(Forest between Kaftanchikovo and Takhtamyshevo)
On January 26, 2022, at the Council of Deputies of the Zarechny Settlement, four out of seven officials supported changes to the boundaries of the green zone of the forest area near the village of Kaftanchikovo to make space for a sand pit.
Last summer, local residents strongly opposed the new sand pit in the area with centuries-old pine trees. They sought help from the governor of the Tomsk region, Sergei Zhvachkin, to intervene and protect nature. However, they were told: “There is no specially protected area there.” NPO Tomskgeotan LLC (Belyaev’s company) warned against violating mandatory requirements by taking measures to exclude the exploration and production of minerals within the boundaries of the Chernaya Rechka water protection zone.
The conflict has not been resolved. The only action taken is to reduce the area for exploration and sand production from 350 hectares to 50. However, the area is still substantial, and the locals are not in agreement. Their last hope rested with the local council of deputies, but that did not work out either. The villagers raised the alarm and sought help from the media.
On January 31, 2022, residents of the Zarechny settlement (Takhtamyshevo, Kaftanchikovo, Kislovka, Chernaya Rechka) asked journalists to revisit the topic and convey their opinion to the local authorities.The sand baron Alexander Belyaev himself attended the meeting to “reach a compromise.” In reality, he forced his decision upon the people.
So mister Belyaev attempted to convince the villagers of the purity of his intentions.He even bragged about having a license for extracting inert materials five kilometers away from the meeting point (the village of Kaftanchikovo).
“Shady business”
Indeed, the company LLC NPO Tomskgeotan, which blatantly reminded the residents of Tomsk about the impossibility of violating obligations for exploring and producing sand in the designated area, holds such a license. The company has three founders: Alexander Belyaev (25%), Petr Petrov (25%), and Knyagnitskaya Lydia (50%). Familiar faces, right?
The LLC has only one employee – the CEO, who is financially dubious. The company was registered in 2016. A year later, the company had zero income and net profit. In 2018, the income was zero rubles, and the net profit was negative four thousand rubles. In 2019, the income remained at zero rubles, and the net profit was zero. In 2020, the income was stable at zero, and the net profit was negative two thousand rubles. Additionally, no tax payments were made.
Two lawsuits have been filed by LLC NPO Ecological Safety, totaling 2.6 million rubles. Initially, the company tried to resolve an economic dispute with Belyaev’s company and then attempted to declare it bankrupt, but the proceedings were halted.
(In the income and net profit column of LLC NPO Tomskgeotan).
How did companies with one employee and no income manage to get a license for sand exploration and production? The answer is simply through connections.
Short educational program: Where does the sandy backstory come from?
The news about the mining of sand and loam in the Kaftanchikovo area for backfilling a land plot on the left bank of the Tom (future interuniversity campus) emerged in January 2021. The case was immediately assigned to Belyaev, which makes sense. He started his business career with low-quality sand. Details are in the investigation. Sand dust for “Brest”).
The budget for the Interuniversity Campus project should allocate 35 billion rubles.Will the Tomsk campus be a sand castle?Imagine sand being extracted using old, inexpensive methods through personal connections. This leads to significant cost savings and potentially sharing the rest of the money. Perhaps this is why all regulatory agencies only review Belyaev on paper. The businessman has been given complete freedom – deforestation has already begun. Unofficially, of course. Official permission has not been granted yet. Presumably, the sand baron’s associates are cutting down the forest.
Alexander Belyaev, a member of the United Russia party and Deputy of the Duma of the Tomsk region:
According to the law, I don't need to get approval for a sand pit. These are federal forest lands. However, we took the initiative and applied to the Zarechny Council ourselves. When trees are cut down, one must be planted in return. I personally proposed to the Council to plant trees where the nearby villagers wish.
If these are federal lands, why were the green boundaries of the site changed and coordinated with ordinary rural deputies? Why not send it to the Russian government? Probably because Moscow wouldn't approve. However, the local council doesn't have such authority.
Therefore, Deputy Belyaev, skillfully shifting attention from a sensitive issue to his 'good deeds,' tries to appear benevolent. It's like saying, 'Look, people, we (the officials) are making concessions to you. We want to plant a forest, but you're not satisfied.' In reality, the residents of Zarechny are rightfully outraged. The sandy businessman is leaving behind destruction and otherworldly landscapes.
What are the locals concerned about?
Residents of the village of Kolarova have raised concerns about the Belyaev quarry's operations. Since 2019, the businessman has been extracting sand there, along the banks of the Kolarovskie Wetlands SPNA. Heavy vehicles traverse the roads daily, causing damage and noise. The deforestation continues, and since the quarry's commencement, the water level in local wells has dropped by 1.5 meters. The quarry is excavating soil more than eight meters deep, beneath the Kolarovsky wetlands, jeopardizing the natural monument. However, Belyaev pays little heed to this, prioritizing profit above all else.
Residents of Zarechny are scared because they use water from their own wells and there is no central water supply. They asked the deputy to prove that the quarry wouldn't affect the groundwater, but he didn't show the evidence.
The Sand Baron confidently said he was 100% sure based on the Ministry of Natural Resources' expertise.
He didn't specify the exact examinations or share the research data of the Ministry of Natural Resources. Belyaev is known for breaking promises. Alexander Belyaev and accomplices: how to lay a paw on gas and the budget).
Local residents are understandably worried. Belyaev didn't answer how deep the sand would be taken, but he tried to calm them by promising building materials without mentioning the felled trees.
It's obvious that Mr. Deputy wants to keep 50 hectares of forest for himself and his allies. Cutting down forests in the 50-kilometer zone of Tomsk was banned by the former governor, and the quarry falls under that law.
There's a loophole. As a former lawyer, Belyaev took advantage of it. The ban applies to commercial timber harvesting, not sand extraction. Trees get in the way.
Nothing stops him from cutting and selling the trees to make money. Belyaev wins budget money, money from sand and wood. As for planting new trees, he doesn't promise anything specific. The extraction of despicable metal threatens the Tomsk reserve).
They managed to defend the land near the Larinsky reserve, but the situation with Zarechny is different. Influential people are already involved and they tried to hush up the hype around the quarry.
Do not agree? extremists
From a reliable source of BABR, it became known that Marat Valeev controls the topic of the quarry in Zarechny. He is also a deputy of the regional Duma and a member of the Just Russia party.
Belyaev accused opponents of wanting to build their own election campaign and promote themselves by slandering him. The locals said they would resist the quarry construction, even if the local authorities allowed it.
The businessman half-jokingly replied: “Are you now declaring that you will go to extremist actions?”
Extremist activities? Seriously? That is, for Mr. Belyaev, the desire to protect his home, water, forest is a commitment to extreme views, which creates a real threat to the state, encroaches on the constitutional rights and freedoms of the country’s citizens, public safety and public order?
Or is this a hint that department “E” may be interested in especially zealous opponents of the quarry? If the latter, then Belyaev really stands behind high-ranking people. And his words can be taken as a threat. By the way, after meeting with the businessman, some villagers received a call from the police and asked: “Who and why organized the rally?” Did you decide to intimidate people? After all, the sand baron could not agree with them. All the more interesting against the background of this information is the post about the “compromise solution” in Belyaev’s Instagram profile.
It is not clear what kind of compromise he is talking about. Apparently, about a compromise with his own conscience. Or in the hope that all the media will take his word for it. True, the businessman decided not to clean or close the comments. Therefore, the inhabitants of Zarechny hastened to tell him their opinion on the situation.
What else can be added? Judging by how everything is spinning around the quarry, people in power are interested in its construction. Therefore, there is a high probability that no one will take into account the opinion of local residents.
And especially zealous opponents will be demonstratively detained, for “prevention”, so to speak. BABR will continue to monitor developments.
