More and more facts are emerging in favor of the fact that the current governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Uss and Deputy Prime Minister Khloponin could be involved in the activities of the “Church of the Last Testament” and illegal logging.
According to the reporter MorningNews, a new criminal case has started in the Krasnoyarsk Territory related to the religious group “Church of the Last Testament” (TsPZ). This time it's about misusing power to approve the development plan of the TsPZ community, including using forest land. The investigation found damage of over 100 million rubles.
The specific names of the accused are not public, but it's likely related to officials from the Cheremshansky village council of the Kuraginsky district. It's unlikely they acted without the governor’s knowledge, given his previously known support for the TsPZ community.
The investigation may also raise questions about the former governor of the region, now a successful businessman and adviser, Alexander Khloponin. When he was governor of Krasnoyarsk, the TsPZ received favorable treatment.
Followers on government contracts
It's now known that top regional officials had contact with the leader of the TsPZ, Vissarion (known as former police officer Sergey Torop) and praised him. Is it a local trend of obscurantism, or an unusual example of public-private partnership with religious influence?
Vissarion continues to preach even in prison
The scandal around the TsPZ, also known as the Vissarion community, has continued for almost two years. Sergey Torop and his associates Vadim Redkin and Vladimir Vedernikov have been in jail since September 2020, accused of leading a group that violates people's rights, in other words, a religious sect.
The economic side of the TsPZ's activities and its connections with officials is also an intriguing story.
For instance, companies linked to the TsPZ received contracts to build recreational facilities, where the Krasnoyarsk elite and their guests relax. One of these, the Zorkiy Falcon, visited by Governor Alexander Uss, hosted guests from different regions, including Moscow.
One of the luxury cottages presumably built for officials by the “Vissarionites”
During the 2020 scandal, Uss acknowledged knowing members of the controversial community, but described his interactions as part of official trips around the region.
There was a rumor that the Vissarionites might be building a house for Sergei Torop in the village of Akulinino. There were also talks about the sectarians possibly reconstructing the governor’s bath at the “Sosny” residence in July-August 2020. However, this information has not been officially confirmed.
But the TV channel REN TV reported that Sergei Torop and his deputies received millions from the regional budget. The reporters referred to an extract from the “Istoki” school settlement account, showing a regional subsidy of over eight million in 2019 alone.
The subsidy aimed to support the educational program, which was considered questionable. It's not uncommon for schools to receive such funds from the regional budget.
There's a photo of Alexander Uss surrounded by members of the Bessarion community during a visit to them. However, there's still no reliable information on who these people were.
The community received over 25 million rubles from the regional budget during the Universiade-2019. As “Taiga.info”writes, the money came in an unusual way: Kraslesinvest company made a donation, which was then used to build a wooden town for the festival of architecture by the Union of Timber Manufacturers, who hired followers of Vissarion as contractors. This raises questions.
The TsPZ was also mentioned in the context of the investigation into the case of the former head of the Krasnoyarsk Ministry of Forestry Dmitry Maslodudov and his brother. According to investigators, a high-ranking official supported the large logging company Kraslestorg, whose founders were acquaintances of his brother Yuri Maslodudov. “Kommersant”.
wrote about this story. The ex-official, suspected of receiving large bribes, and his brother, suspected of mediating their transfer, are involved in the case. The brother was convicted last year, while the ex-minister is still awaiting the verdict.
There are rumors that the Maslodudovs, allegedly linked to the activities of sectarians, could be connected to the corruption scandal. This reflects the unfavorable situation with corruption in the forest industry under the current governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
Is Khloponin aware of this?
The TsPZ community has been around for almost 30 years. There are strong reasons to believe that the former governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Alexander Khloponin might have supported the TsPZ. It is confirmed that Khloponin personally visited Sergei Torop-Vissarion in 2008. This was reported. “Independent newspaper”.
Perhaps, the visit of Khloponin ended up in the so-called “Life of Vissarion”, which had been conducted on the Internet by followers of the community. After the arrest of “Vissarion”, the information disappeared from the official website, but some people managed to copy it. “Sirota.ru”They claim to have preserved excerpts from that episode of the “life of the Vissarionites”.
Today Khloponin acts as if he is hearing about the community of Vissarion for the first time.
Supposedly, Khloponin visited the Kuraginsky district, where the community base is located. He was warmly welcomed, and allegedly communicated amicably with Vissarion-Torop, who even showed him his paintings and gave him a tour of the Abode of the Dawn.
But the real reason for the visit could have been purely business. It is highly likely that the community was useful to the authorities and its leadership could have been involved in corruption schemes.
A source from Khloponin’s team suggested that Khloponin and Vissarion might have staged a kind of “plot” with unclear intentions to the governor’s entourage.
It could possibly involve Prokhorov
Experts once suggested that the collapse of the Vissarion community could be related to interference with the construction of a road to the Ak-Sug and Kingash copper deposits in the Republic of Tuva. The right to develop them belongs to Intergeo Management Company, which is part of the ONEXIM group of Mikhail Prokhorov.
The road was planned to pass through lands controlled by the community, and they opposed it. A substantial amount of money was allotted for the road funds of the Republic of Tuva and the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
Mikhail Prokhorov is clearly involved in the investigation of the Vissarion community case
The community members clearly opposed these plans, even creating a petition against the construction of the road through the taiga village of Zharovsk in the Kuraginsky district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory in 2016. “Peace Avenue”. And now, after Prokhorov’s interest, the latter could agree with Uss. And then the Vissarionites would have stood here like a bone in the throat …
One way or another, but last fall became knownthat state support for these projects of Prokhorov was approved: firstly, in the form of financing the costs for the construction of a power transmission line to the Ak-Sug field from the Tulun substation in the Irkutsk region, and secondly, the funds will be allocated under the program “Development of the transport system”, which provides for interbudgetary transfers for the financial support of road activities during the construction of mining and processing plants based on deposits.
Few doubt that Alexander Khloponin, with whom they were classmates and maintained relations, could have provided effective assistance in resolving this issue to the oligarch Prokhorov. And this, too, can indirectly illustrate the true motives of Khloponin’s previous contacts with the “Vissarionites”.
Nevertheless, who knows how many more surprises the case of Vissarion’s community can present…
