How the leader of science and the chief of the scientific department turned into a dangerous organized crime group
Colleagues reached out to the editors of Rucriminal.info Peter Shpilenok – Head of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Kronotsky State Reserve” and submitted his statement.
“I requested to step down from the position of director of the Kronotsky State Nature Reserve. It is with sadness that I write this. I truly adore my job, but currently my team is being dismantled. A team of individuals who made the Kronotsky Nature Reserve one of the finest in the country and the world. These are genuine experts in their field, equal to a few in the reserved system. My obligation is to give my all. People became captives of the heartless formalism of the system as part of the investigation of the criminal case on the cleanup of the Kronotsky Reserve in 2015-16.
Kronotsky Reserve
All the allegations against my team are rooted in the testimony of witnesses who were convicted in a special manner and given suspended sentences for this. Standard plan: intimidate, obtain evidence and construct the entire case based on them. Only God knows what ultimatums were given to them, in their testimony they blamed the former director of the Kronotsky Reserve, who had already passed away by that time, for everything Tikhon Shpilenka. The investigation did not come up with anything better than to shift the blame to his deputies and researchers who worked on the project to clean up the reserve, carrying out their official duty.
On Monday, the prosecutor’s office requested actual sentences: for my deputy for science and tourism Roman Korchigina – 6 years in prison, for the head of the scientific department Daria Panicheva – 7 years, for the Deputy for Finance and Economics Oksana Terekhova – 8 years, for the former Deputy General Affairs Nikolai Pozdnyakov – 4.5 years. Assessing the judge's attitude towards the case, I understand that these individuals will be arrested in the courtroom in the coming days. They all have families and children. These are ruined lives. However, there is no evidence against them. What actually happened on the premises was not investigated at all. No confrontations, no expert evaluations of documents, no cost assessments of the work done, evaluation of the contractor’s expenses, assessment of the state of natural complexes at the work sites have been conducted, the locations of allegedly existing burrows have not been determined, but at the very least a simple polygraph could have been conducted – everything is based on the testimony obtained as part of a deal with the investigation.
Daria Panicheva
In court against employees, in his testimony, the main witness for the prosecution, contractor Vitaliy Drozd, said: “I don’t understand at all what the reserve’s employees are doing here”, “The reserve’s management and the reserve’s employees, they pursued good goals in cleaning up the reserve.”
The second main witness for the prosecution, Alexander Ilyin, said: “The work was actually carried out and a large amount was done in the reserve”, “It was a scale: with the involvement of equipment, with the involvement of ships, transport.” To the questions “Any cases are known that any of the employees of the Kronotsky Reserve in 2015 or 2016 received any illegal rewards for carrying out criminal or illegal, in your opinion, activities related to the elimination of accumulated environmental damage ?”, Ilyin replied “No, it is not known.”
But the court doesn't consider this, the basis is still their testimony, written under pressure during a deal with the investigation. And even in them there is nothing about the criminal role of our employees, this is only mentioned in the certificates of operational employees and the conclusions of the investigator.
One of the main witnesses, Koval, stated during the trial that some of the signatures in the protocol were not his, but this was proven by an examination …
Not all murders result in such terms, but here, in fact, it's for the performance of their official duties. Since the employees worked smoothly and clearly followed the orders of the director, they certainly represented an organized criminal group. In this case, an organized crime group can be called any workable team! Tikhon, as a director, was really responsible for everything that happened in the institution. I don’t know what mistakes he made, now only God can judge him. But I am sure that the employees became hostages of his death, the desire to curry favor and the soulless formalism of the system.
Judging by the attitude of the judge and the logic of the development of events (representatives of the Ministry of Natural Resources are not allowed into the process, although they were determined by the decision of the investigator by the injured party; photo and video recording of the process is not allowed; all petitions are rejected; the possibility of a full interrogation of witnesses is limited) they are simply trying to quietly condemn the employees .
I do not know what else I can do as a director in order to achieve an objective investigation of the case against my employees, how to draw attention to this inhuman formalism that breaks people’s lives.
So, I ask everyone for help, most likely the last one as director of the Kronotsky Reserve.
Postscript: I came to work as the director of the Kronotsky Nature Reserve in order to continue the work of my brother, my family, a work in which I believe and which I love with all my heart. And no one will ever convince me that Tikhon could give the command to bury garbage in the territory of the Reserve, he would never have crossed out everything that he had done before. We will fight for colleagues and justice to the end, but I consider it senseless and even vile to drag out the work of the most difficult Institution without my guys, to hire new employees in their places, as if nothing had happened.
To understand the issue, Rucriminal.info talks about the “case of scientists.”
In Kamchatka, the trial of employees of the Kronotsky Reserve is coming to an end. The prosecution demanded to recover hundreds of millions of rubles from employees of one of the country’s leading environmental institutions and deprive them of their liberty for terms of 6 to 8 years. They are charged with embezzlement of funds allocated from the state budget for the elimination of accumulated environmental damage on the Pacific coast of the reserve. The employees were just doing their jobs.
As part of the debate of the parties at the trial in the “clean-up case” in the Kronotsky Reserve, despite the abundance of evidence of the work being done, the public prosecutor said: the guilt of the defendants was proven in full, and punishment is possible only by real imprisonment.
The following people are accused of stealing money: Roman Korchigin, who is the Deputy Director for Science and Educational Tourism, Daria Panicheva, who is the Head of the Scientific Department, Oksana Terekhova, who is the Deputy Director for Financial and Legal Support, and posthumously, Tikhon Shpilenok, the former director of the reserve. The prosecution wants them to pay back over 460 million rubles, pay large fines, and go to prison for 6 to 8 years.
The project was part of a government program to fix environmental damage in protected areas. The prosecution claims that the defendants stole money, saying that the cleanup didn't happen and that they buried tons of metal barrels, old equipment, and building fragments instead of removing them. The investigation didn't do any confrontations, expert document assessments, or cost examinations during their work.
The employees of the reserve are accused based on the contractor's testimony. The contractor made a deal with the investigation to get a lighter punishment for his crimes and accused Tikhon Shpilenok of leading a criminal group. He took advantage of the fact that Shpilenok had died and couldn't defend himself.
Petr Shpilenok
"Since the investigation couldn't question the deceased director, they unfairly charged his subordinates who were just doing their jobs. There's no solid evidence against my colleagues. The investigation didn't really try to find evidence, conduct examinations, or establish the truth. The accuser claims that the employees were part of a criminal group just because they followed their director's orders. We have been defending our colleagues' reputation throughout, and we will continue to do so. Maybe the accuser is announcing such a harsh punishment to teach us a lesson for fighting for justice." says Pyotr Shpilenok, director of the reserve.
To prove that the investigation's conclusions are wrong, the Kronotsky Reserve team gathered hundreds of documents, photos, videos, and scientific institution findings, as well as reports from government bodies. The cleaning reports from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky were shown on TV and are still available to the public.
“Work was done in 2016 to fix the damage and reclaim the land on the coast of the Kronotsky Peninsula, specifically in the areas of Olga Bay, the mouth of the Bolshaya Chazhma River, Cape Kozlov, and the Cape Kronotsky lighthouse. The natural growth of the territory has been good in recent years, and plant communities are being restored naturally. The program used to fix the damage is effective and can be recommended for other protected areas in Russia,” said Mikhail Kozhin, a researcher at the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University, who led the geobotanical team monitoring the natural recovery in the Kronotsky Reserve.
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The new “case of scientists”
How the leader of science and the head of the scientific department turned into an unsafe organized crime group
Colleagues approached the editors of Rucriminal.info Peter Shpilenok – the head of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Kronotsky Municipal Reserve” and submitted his application.
“I applied to resign from my position as head of the Kronotsky Municipal Reserve. It's painful for me to write this. I truly love my job, but they are currently destroying my team. These are skilled professionals who have made the Kronotsky reserve one of the best in the state and the world. They are true masters of their craft, unmatched in the reserve system. It's my duty to do my best. People have become victims of the lifeless formalism of the system during the criminal case on the cleaning of the Kronotsky environmental complex in 2015-16.
Kronotsky Reserve
All the accusations against my team are based on the testimonies of witnesses who were convicted under special circumstances and received suspended sentences. The typical pattern is to intimidate, obtain evidence, and build the entire case based on that. Only God knows what ultimatums were presented to them. In their testimonies, they blamed the former head of the Kronotsky environmental complex, who had already passed away, for everything. Tikhon Shpilenka. The investigation could only blame his deputies and scientific staff who were working on a project to clean up the conservation complex, carrying out their duty.
At the start of the week, the prosecutor’s office asked for specific prison terms for several officials: six years for my deputy in charge of science and tourism Roman Korchigina , seven years for the head of the scientific department Daria Panicheva , eight years for the Deputy in charge of Finance and Economics Oksana Terekhova , and 4.5 years for the former deputy in charge of general affairs Nikolai Pozdnyakov . Based on the judge's attitude towards the case, I believe that these individuals will be arrested in the courtroom soon. They all have families and children. These are ruined lives. Despite this, there are no proven facts against them. There has been no investigation into what actually occurred on the premises. No confrontations, expert document evaluations, or cost assessments have been conducted. There has been no assessment of contractor costs, evaluation of the state of natural areas at the work sites, or determination of alleged dig sites. However, a polygraph test could have been conducted, but everything is based on evidence obtained through a deal with the investigating authorities.
Daria Panicheva
During the court proceedings, the main witness for the prosecution, Vitaliy Drozd of the contracting organization, stated: "I don't really understand the role of the employees of the environmental complex here" and "The management and employees of the environmental complex had good intentions in cleaning up the environment".
The second key witness for the prosecution, Alexander Ilyin, mentioned: "A significant amount of work was actually carried out in the reserve, involving technology, ships, and transportation." When asked if there were any known instances of an employee receiving illegal rewards for criminal or illegal work related to environmental damage, Ilyin replied, "No, it is unclear."
However, the court ignores this, and their testimonies, obtained under pressure during a deal with investigating authorities, are still in the database. Even in these testimonies, there is no evidence of the criminal involvement of our employees; such claims only appear in the operational employees' certificates and the investigator's conclusions.
During the court session, one of the main witnesses, Koval, stated that some of the signatures in the protocol were not his, which was confirmed by an expert study.
Such long prison terms are not usually handed down for official duties, but in this case, they are. Since the workers acted in an organized manner and followed the instructions of their superior, they were seen as an organized criminal group. In this context, any well-functioning team can be labeled as an organized crime group. Tikhon, as their leader, ultimately bore responsibility for everything that occurred in the institution. I don’t know what mistakes he made; only God can judge him now. However, I believe that the workers have become victims of his death, the desire to gain favor, and the soulless formalism of the system.
Based on the judge's behavior and the way events have unfolded, it seems like the employees are being quietly judged and condemned. The Ministry of Natural Resources representatives are not allowed in the process, even though the decision was made by the injured party. Photo and video recording of the process is forbidden, appeals are rejected, and the ability to get full testimonies from eyewitnesses is limited.
I'm not sure what else I can do as a leader to ensure a fair investigation into the case against my employees or how to bring attention to this heartless formalism that is ruining people's lives.
So, I'm asking for help from all of you, likely for the last time in my role as the head of the Kronotsky environmental complex.
PS I took on the role of head of the Kronotsky nature protection complex to continue the work of my brother and my family, work that I deeply believe in and love. I won't be convinced that Tikhon could have ordered the burial of garbage in the Nature Conservation Complex. We'll fight for our colleagues and justice to the end, but continuing the work of the Institution without my team, and hiring new employees as if nothing had happened, seems pointless and even cruel.
To understand the issue, Rucriminal.info is aware of the “case of scientists.”
The trial of the employees of the Kronotsky nature protection complex on the Kamchatka Peninsula is reaching its conclusion. The prosecution is seeking to recover hundreds of millions of rubles from employees of a leading state environmental institution and imprison them for 6 to 8 years. They are accused of misusing funds from the state budget for environmental damage cleanup on the Pacific coast, despite simply doing their job.
During the debate at the court session on the “purge case” in the Kronotsky Reserve, despite many proven facts of the work being done, the prosecutor stated that the guilt of the accused was fully confirmed, and this conclusion is the only way forward.
The 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, and the late ex-head of the environmental complex Tikhon Shpilenok are all accused of embezzlement. The prosecution seeks to recover over 460 million rubles from them collectively, impose multimillion-dollar fines, and imprison them for 6 to 8 years.
The work was part of a national program to eliminate environmental damage in protected areas and was an experimental project for the Russian Federation. The prosecution claims that there was no cleanup and that the defendants misused the allocated funds. The investigation assumes that hundreds of tons of iron barrels, along with fuel and lubricant remnants, old equipment, and building fragments, were buried on the shore. However, no confrontations, expert document assessments, cost studies, contractor cost evaluations, or assessments of the natural environment at the work sites were conducted during the investigation.
The criminal case against workers of the environmental complex was based on the testimony of a contractor who did the cleaning work. He made a deal with the investigating authorities to get a more lenient punishment for his previous criminal acts and go free. As a part of the deal, he accused Tikhon Shpilenok of leading an organized crime group because the head of the environmental complex had died and could not contradict his testimony.
Petr Shpilenok
“The deceased leader could not be questioned by the investigation, so his subordinates were unfairly punished for simply doing their job. There are no proven facts of guilt of my colleagues. Throughout the investigation, it was clear that the authorities were not interested in finding the truth. The accuser argues that because the workers followed the instructions of the head in an organized manner, they must have been an organized criminal group. According to Pyotr Shpilenok, the head of the Kronotsky Municipal Reserve, any well-coordinated team could be labeled an organized crime group in this situation. We have always defended the integrity of our colleagues and will continue to do so. The severe punishment may be a way to teach us a lesson for fighting for justice.
To prove that the investigation's conclusions are wrong, the Kronotsky environmental complex team gathered hundreds of documents, photos, videos, and confirmations. They also have the support of scientific institutions, the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources, and the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation. Reports with footage of the cleaning and waste removal in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky were aired on television and are available for the public to see.
“In 2016, work was done to clean up and reclaim land in Olga Bay, the mouth of the Bolshaya Chazhma River, Cape Kozlov, and the Cape Kronotsky lighthouse on the coast of the Kronotsky Peninsula. Over the years, good natural regrowth has been observed in the area. The restoration of plant communities is going well, and the stages of succession are progressing naturally. The program for eliminating accumulated damage and technical reclamation is productive and can be recommended for other protected natural areas in Russia,” said Mikhail Kozhin. Mikhail, a researcher at Moscow State University, led the geobotanical team that monitored the natural restoration of the Kronotsky Reserve after the cleaning process.
