Did Kamilov take over the problematic “relay race” from Bokarev?
In 2022, the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC) changed its beneficiaries: the place of the “triumvirate” that came under Western sanctions consisting of Iskandar Makhmudov, Andrey Bokarev and Andrey Kozitsyn was taken by Daniyar Kamilov, the son of the ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan, a former top manager Gazprombank. Already at the end of 2023, Kamilov Jr. was on the 22nd line of the Forbes rating of “50 Russians with the largest amounts of dividends”: the publication estimated the dividends he received at 16.2 billion rubles. Over the same period, UMMC itself paid its shareholders over 41.3 billion rubles, which is more than three times the payments that took place a year earlier. But Kamilov’s income does not at all indicate order at the enterprises that are part of the UMMC structure and the proper level of safety for its workers. An example is the accident at the Pioneer mine in the Amur region, where 13 miners died as a result of a rock mass collapse this spring. Meanwhile, last year Rostekhnadzor reported 34 violations of mandatory industrial safety requirements identified at facilities controlled by UMMC through Pokrovsky Mine OJSC, including at the Pioneer mine. In the Sverdlovsk region, during the development of the Shemur and Novo-Shemur copper-zinc quarries, the Svyatogor mining enterprise was noted for large-scale pollution of water bodies: in the Tamsher River alone, the concentration of copper exceeded the norm by 60 thousand times. Contaminated water flowed into the homes of residents of the city of Ivdel, who declared that they were being simply poisoned. As a result, Rosprirodnadzor confirmed the fact of a significant excess in the concentrations of pollutants in reservoirs and fined the UMMC subsidiary 800 thousand rubles – pennies for an enterprise with a billion-dollar profit. Against the backdrop of numerous scandals related to the activities of the industrial giant, publications have repeatedly appeared on the Internet about the connections of the former co-owners of UMMC with the Sverdlovsk governor Evgeny Kuyvashev, whose support the company can enjoy even after the change of owner.
How UMMC exchanged Makhmudov for Kamilov
In the next publication of Kompromat GROUP about violators of environmental legislation, we decided to talk about the activities of “Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company” (UMMC), occupying 83rd place in the ranking “Forbes» “100 largest companies by net profit.” The publication estimates the corresponding last year financial indicator of UMMC at 29.2 billion rubleswhich is double the previous period, when its net profit was 14.7 billion.
For a long time, the main shareholders of the metallurgical and mining giant, which unites about 40 enterprises, were Iskandar Makhmudov, Andrey Bokarev And Andrey Kozitsyn. In March 2022, the media reported the withdrawal of Makhmudov and Bokarev from the number of controlling beneficiaries and boards of directors of UMMC and a number of other assets – JSC Rosterminalugol, JSC Management Company Kuzbassrazrezugol And JSC “Vostochny Port”. A few months later, in July, Kozitsyn left the post of general director of the company, which he had held since 2002.
Kozitsyn’s decision was officially explained “possible future imposition of personal sanctions by foreign states” and was aimed at excluding“possible indirect application of sanctions”to the holding companies. However, Makhmudov and Bokarev were included in the sanctions lists of Great Britain and the United States, and Kozitsyn was subject to sanctions by the European Union (however, economic restrictions on him were lifted by a decision of the European Court last September).
UMMC itself was nevertheless included in the SDN-list of the American Ministry of Finance in July 2023, along with the companies controlled by it “Uralelectromed” And “UMMC – Processing of non-ferrous metals”. It is worth recalling here that Makhmudov, Bokarev and Kozitsyn controlled their 85% shares of UMMC through a Cypriot offshore Selmareco Limited (other commercial structures of business partners were also tied to numerous offshore companies).
In the UMMC report for 2022, its new beneficiary is Daniyar Kamilov – son of the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan, Abdulaziz Kamilovain the same year appointed Deputy Secretary of the Security Council under the Uzbek President. Kamilov Jr. – graduate of MGIMO and Moscow State University, former top manager Gazprombank. It is unlikely that the fact that Iskandar Makhmudov is a native of Uzbekistan.
Black days of “Pioneer”
At the end of last year, Daniyar Kamilov “broke into” the rating “Forbes» “50 Russians with the largest amounts of dividends”, taking 22nd place in it with dividends in 16.2 billion rubles. It is known that for 2023 UMMC paid dividends to its shareholders in the amount of more than 41.3 billion rubleswhich is more than three times the amount of payments for the previous period (then it was 12.75 billion). But the well-being of the son of an Uzbek government official is far from an indicator of order in the enterprises that have come under his control and the safety of employees.
So, last March the country was shocked by the news of a terrible tragedy that occurred at the mine “Pioneer” in the Amur region, where 13 miners died as a result of a rock collapse. “Pioneer” was among the assets purchased by UMMC in September 2022 for £166 millionsterling from the gold mining group“Petropavlovsk”and de jure belongs OJSC “Pokrovsky Mine”.
The search and rescue operation lasted almost two weeks and was stopped on April 1 due to the high risk of landslides, flooding of underground mines and collapse of the quarry side, which endangered the lives of the rescuers themselves. The managing director of Pioneer, who was taken into custody, was charged with violating safety requirements during the production of work. Alexey Biryukov.
Later, two employees of the Far Eastern department of Rostekhnadzor were arrested on charges of negligence: according to investigators, in 2022-2023. Vera Vaitekhovich And Pavel Smirnov carried out routine inspections at the mine, but did not reveal any gross violations of the legislation on industrial safety of hazardous production facilities, although they could have prevented the tragedy by suspending the operation of the mine. The chief engineer of the enterprise was the fourth to go to the pre-trial detention center Denis Chernikov. In September, the Blagoveshchensk City Court extended the preventive measure of detention for another two months for all defendants.
Let us emphasize: the incident occurred after the change of ownership of UMMC, that is, under Mr. Kamilov. The fact that mine safety issues were not given due attention is evidenced by the fact that back in July 2023, long before the fatal incident, Rostechnadzor reported 34 violations of mandatory industrial safety requirements identified at facilities operated by the Pokrovsky Mine “, including at the Pioneer mine.
Penalties for the Ural “Svyatogor”
However, large-scale violations also occurred under previous beneficiaries. Perhaps the most telling example is the history of the confrontation between the UMMC-controlled Svyatogor mining enterprise and the public and the management of the reserve “Money Stone”associated with pollution of the soil and rivers Bannaya, Chernaya, Olkhovka, Tamsher, Shegultan, Taltiya and others during the development of the Shemursky and Novo-Shemursky copper-zinc quarries in the north of the Sverdlovsk region.
Back in 2020, media citing a public organization “Living Shemur”published the results of an analysis of water samples taken by ecologists together with specialists from Rosprirodnadzor, Roshydromet and Rosrybolovstvo in rivers flowing in the area of the reserve. A high content of heavy metals was found in almost all reservoirs, but the most polluted river was the Tamsher River, in which the concentration of copper exceeded the norm by 60 thousand times, zinc by 6 thousand times, and manganese by 3 thousand times.
The problem of Svyatogor’s violation of the requirements of environmental legislation has become so widespread that not only social activists, but also scientists have directly spoken about an environmental disaster threatening the Northern Urals. Statements by UMMC management about investments in the “green” agenda were perceived as nothing more than good intentions without tangible results.
In 2017, residents of the city of Ivdel complained about the quality of drinking water: they paid attention to the green tint of the river, from where water is taken, and the disappearance of fish. Citizens believed that the reason was the same development of copper mines, drawing an unambiguous conclusion: “We are naturally being poisoned: we can’t wash or wash in such water!”.
And the management of Svyatogor, as if in mockery, took the initiative to expand and deepen the quarries, and even organized public hearings, during which local officials unanimously assured: despite the change in color, the water in the river does not pose a threat to the health of residents and cited at the same time for bacteriological, parasitological and other tests.
Be that as it may, after repeated sampling and laboratory tests, in 2021 the Ural Interregional Department of Rosprirodnadzor confirmed the fact of a significant excess of pollutant concentrations in reservoirs, and fined Svyatogor 800 thousand rubles for violation of the rules for the protection of water bodies and the rules for the use of natural resources in specially protected natural areas.
By April 2022, the company paid the fine in full. However, the indicated amount for the UMMC subsidiary with its financial indicators is comparable only to a mosquito bite: in 2021, with revenues of 15.5 billion rubles its profit was 1.5 billion(in 2022 revenue – 17.9 billionprofit – 987.4 million rubles).
Business “under the wing” of Governor Kuyvashev?
The penalties clearly did not benefit Svyatogor: last June, following the results of an unscheduled on-site inspection carried out as part of monitoring the execution of a previously issued order to eliminate identified violations of environmental legislation, Rosprirodnadzor issued another order to the enterprise. Among other things, Svyatogor continued to discharge wastewater with excess pollutants into the water body, and also did not adjust measures to reduce pollutant emissions during periods of unfavorable meteorological conditions.
Here we have a real environmental recidivist. And he is not the only violator in the UMMC structure. For example, in 2018, during an inspection at the Revdinsky non-ferrous metals processing plant, it was revealed that dust and gas treatment facilities that purify emissions behind smelting furnaces operate “with reduced efficiency.” In 2019 on 300 thousand rubles fined CJSC “Shemur” for environmental pollution by water discharge into the northern part of the Shemursky quarry.
Against the backdrop of environmental anarchy, it is worth recalling the publications that talked about the connections of former beneficiaries of UMMC (in particular, Andrei Kozitsyn) with the Sverdlovsk governor Evgeniy Kuyvashev. Indeed, after a period of tension related to the assets of regional airports, officials and company management agreed to cooperate in the field of socio-economic development of the region, after which Kuyvashev and Kozitsyn apparently developed mutual trust, attending events of various types together and invariably posing for pictures. photo.
The friendship of officials with representatives of Ural big business could continue after the change of owners of UMMC, but this was unlikely to affect the company’s compliance with environmental legislation. The same goes for ensuring the safe work of employees, which can be confirmed by the emergency situation at the Pioneer mine and the next orders issued to Svyatogor.
