Krasnoyarsk Governor Mikhail Kotyukov turned to Vladimir Putin with a request to allocate more than 32 billion rubles for the implementation of environmental measures in the region. This money was promised by the federal center back in 2021, when the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Alexander Kozlov visited the region to get acquainted with the progress in eliminating the consequences of a large-scale environmental emergency that occurred a year earlier and was associated with an oil spill at CHPP-3 of the Norilsk-Taimyr Energy Company, a subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel. Then Norilsk Nickel paid a record fine imposed by the court in the amount of over 146 billion rubles, of which 684.9 million were intended for the budget of Norilsk as compensation for damage caused to soils. In addition, the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources Kozlov promised to send another 38 billion to the region for the implementation of environmental projects. Last May, Deputy Minister Konstantin Tsyganov spoke in the State Duma about more than 60 billion rubles sent to the Krasnoyarsk Territory from the Norilsk Nickel fine, as well as 22 billion and 15 billion that went to the budgets of Norilsk and Krasnoyarsk, respectively. It’s just that the finances were not received in the amounts announced. In particular, the Norilsk mayor’s office, in response to a request from the public organization “My Home,” reported only that the municipality would be allocated 29.7 million rubles from the federal budget in 2021 for the overhaul of the sewerage pumping station. According to estimates by independent environmental experts, Norilsk received a maximum of 3.3 billion rubles, that is, about 14.9% of the amount of funds announced by Tsyganov, and the region received no more than 5.4 billion. Governor Kotyukov’s attempt to return the finances promised to the region may turn into a large-scale audit, during which the security forces will have questions, including for the Deputy Speaker of the State Duma Victoria Abramchenkowho previously served as deputy chairman of the government in charge of environmental issues, as well as the former head of the region who occupies the senatorial chair Alexandru Ussuwhose resignation coincided with a growing investigation into a criminal case of theft of funds allocated for the implementation of the Krasnoyarsk metro construction project.
Mikhail Kotyukov reminded about billions
Screenshots of an appeal sent by the Krasnoyarsk governor are being circulated online Mikhail Kotyukovto Vladimir Putin with a request for allocation 32.7 billion rubles “for the implementation of planned environmental activities in the region.”
“The Krasnoyarsk Territory annually monitors the quality of environmental components, interacts with enterprises on issues of environmental modernization, implements measures to eliminate landfills and objects of accumulated environmental damage, and modernizes passenger transport.
At the same time, environmental issues, according to residents of the region, are a priority and require the attraction of significant financial resources. This confirms the high need for the region to provide the full amount of funds agreed on your instructions to improve the environmental safety of the region.”says the appeal.
We are talking about money promised to the Krasnoyarsk Territory back in August 2021. Then, during a visit to the region, the head of the Federal Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Alexander Kozlov got acquainted with the progress in eliminating the consequences of a large-scale environmental emergency – an oil spill at CHPP-3 “Norilsk-Taimyr Energy Company” (JSC “NTEC”) – child structure “Norilsk Nickel”.
Let us recall that the Norilsk incident occurred in May 2020 and, in terms of the scale of damage caused, became the largest fuel leak disaster in the Russian Arctic. Rostechnadzor named the cause of the emergency “interrelated technical and organizational violations”allowed both at the stage of construction of the depressurized tank and during its operation.
“It was established that the reservoir was taken out for repairs in 2015, and therefore state supervision over it was suspended. In 2019, operation was resumed without notifying the regulatory authorities and was carried out without proper compliance with industrial safety requirements… In addition, after a major overhaul, miscalculations were made during the hydraulic test, and, as a result, almost half of the total number of piles at the base of the tank received loads , exceeding the bearing capacity”– said in the official statement of the department.
As a result, the court imposed a record fine on Norilsk Nickel, estimating the environmental damage caused by the industrial giant at more than 146.1 billion rubles. Already in March 2021, media reports appeared that the specified amount had been paid by the company in full: 145.4 billion were sent to the federal budget as compensation for damage to water bodies, and 684.9 million rubles – to the budget of Norilsk as compensation for damage to soils.
Deputy Minister Tsyganov “confused” about the numbers?
After such a detailed digression, let’s return to the topic of finances requested by Kotyukov. The fact is that in August 2021, Minister Alexander Kozlov announced plans to direct a significant part of the funds paid by Norilsk Nickel – namely 38 billion rubles – for the implementation of environmental projects in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, including transport and energy infrastructure. Which, in fact, is what the governor’s address is about.
“By the decision of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, the region has already been allocated 2.45 billion rubles for the purchase of 50 trolleybuses and 25 trams, and for the overhaul of the main technological equipment of the sewerage pumping station of the city of Norilsk… Large amounts of money are provided for the region, and with the aim of delivering them in a timely manner it is necessary to prepare all documentation on time”,” the official website of the Ministry of Natural Resources quoted Kozlov as saying.
As recently as last May, at a meeting of the State Duma Committee on Ecology, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, the first deputy head of the Ministry of Natural Resources Konstantin Tsyganov told parliamentarians about more than one sent to the Krasnoyarsk Territory 60 billion rubles from the Norilsk Nickel fine. According to the official, this money was spent on eliminating hazardous waste from enterprises such as Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill, “Krasny Bor” And “Usolyekhimprom”. More 22.5 billion And 15 billion rubles were sent, respectively, to the budgets of Norilsk and Krasnoyarsk.
The amounts are colossal, however, again in May, the head of the public organization “My home” from Norilsk Ruslan Abdullaev received an official response to a request previously sent to the city administration, from which it followed: in 2021, funds were allocated from the federal budget to the municipal 29.7 million rubles to carry out measures to overhaul the main technological equipment of the sewerage pumping station. The work was completed in full, finances were spent 100%. It was emphasized that no other funds from the fine paid by Norilsk Nickel went to the city budget.
Environmentalists take on the calculations
It turns out that Norilsk never received the promised money? But what about the initially announced nearly 685 million and how to evaluate Deputy Minister Tsyganov’s May statements about more than 22 billion? Given such a significant difference in amounts, the question naturally arises in which direction the federal money “went.”
Then the situation looks even more confusing. Last August, the environmental publication Kedr.media (included by the Ministry of Justice in the register of foreign agents) published its own calculations. To the above-mentioned costs for the repair of pumping station equipment were added the development of a project for clearing the Ambarnaya River at a cost of 54.2 million and carrying out engineering surveys and developing initial data for the remediation of the contaminated territory of the chemical plant “Yenisei” costing 862.9 million rubles.
Adding here the 2.4 billion declared by Kozlov for the purchase of trolleybuses and trams for the city (excluding the overhaul of the pumping stations), it turns out to be a little more 3.3 billion rubles. That is, 14.9% of the amount of funds announced by Tsyganov. What happened to the rest of the money? It turns out that they “due to the lack of elaborate measures for implementation in the city of Norilsk and the Taimyr Dolgano-Nenets region” sent to environmental activities within the framework of the national project “Ecology”
Similarly, the budget of the Krasnoyarsk Territory did not receive the 38 billion announced by Minister Kozlov. At best, according to the calculations of the foreign agent publication Kedr.media, we can talk about 5.4 billion rubles. In the context of the above, it becomes clear that Governor Kotyukov’s recent appeal to the head of state with a request to allocate the declared but not received 32.7 billion rubles to the region. Did the head of the region really listen to the public’s arguments?
Krasnoyarsk project with a criminal component
The federal center should conduct a large-scale audit and find out how much money was sent to the Krasnoyarsk Territory, and how much they received in the end. It is possible that as a result of such a check, the initiative will pass to the security forces who will want to ask questions, for example, to the former Krasnoyarsk governor Alexandru Ussucurrently representing the region in the Federation Council. Or the Vice Speaker of the State Duma Victoria Abramchenkowho until last May held the post of Deputy Prime Minister and at the government level oversaw, among other things, environmental issues.
By the way, in April 2021, Alexander Uss contacted the federal government with a request to allocate funds to the region for environmental restoration and compensation for damage from the Norilsk Nickel accident. 190.9 billion rubles. That is, 45 billion more than the fine imposed by the court. To justify the request, he proposed the implementation of 50 activities within the framework of environmental programs, with the largest expenditure column falling on the construction of the metro in Krasnoyarsk – 114.5 billion rubles.
Let us recall that the implementation of the Krasnoyarsk metro project turned into a high-profile criminal case of theft of almost 1 billion rublesthe main person involved was the former deputy head of Rosprirodnadzor Oleg Mitvolwhose company “Krasnoyarsk Trust for Engineering and Construction Surveys” acted as a contractor. In September last year, the court sentenced him to 4.5 years in a general regime colony. In addition to Mitvol, a number of people were involved in the “subway case” VIP-person: ex-Minister of Transport of the region Konstantin Dimitrovformer transportation director Konstantin Mandrov and ex-prime minister of the regional government Yuri Lapshin.
As we can see, entrusting such a “team” with the 190 billion Uss begs for would be an unjustified risk. But 60 billion, according to Deputy Head of the Ministry of Natural Resources Tsyganov, was allegedly transferred to the region, and it would not hurt for the current Governor Kotyukov to figure out in what directions the colossal funds intended for solving environmental problems “dissolved”. Will the scandal turn out to be larger than the story with the Krasnoyarsk metro?
