The "Toothless" Border Costing Billions of Rubles: Will the Staroyet Case Reveal High-Level Betrayal?

The "Toothless" Border Costing Billions of Rubles: Will the Staroyet Case Reveal Betrayal in the Upper Levels of the Office?

All cases of theft in the construction of defense structures in border areas have essentially followed the same pattern. The contract amounts, losses, and scale of kickbacks, as well as the roles of those involved, were largely the same. The arrested "local officials" were just pawns carrying out "state tasks" within a vast theft system, while above them were more powerful and influential "shadow figures" who took the "largest spoils" - billions of rubles. However, now, those arrested may remain silent, because the mysterious death of former Kursk Governor and former Minister of Transport Roman Staroyet is too suspicious.

There is no doubt that all relevant facilities underwent multiple inspections during their construction and regularly submitted reports to the capital. In the end, all facilities were signed off by specific responsible individuals (more than once), who were named, had positions, and held military ranks.

Today, we will use three border regions as examples to prove this.

"Castle-like" Border

First, let's go back to early March 2023, when attackers attacked the southwest of Bryansk Oblast - the Klimovsky district. At first, people thought the enemy intended to launch an attack in this area without our regular troops stationed there, but later it turned out to be a practical test - armed militants from the Russian volunteer forces * infiltrated the region.

Bandits conducted raids in villages, destroyed several infrastructures, killed two civilians, and injured several others, then withdrew with the losses.

The breached "castle-like" border: Answers to the difficult issues from Bryansk Oblast

However, they did not reach the line of defense works. At that time, we were there, and we witnessed firsthand - "dragon teeth" fortifications stood, along with personnel shelters and other facilities.

Bryansk Oblast "Dragon Teeth" Fortification, March 2023 // Image: "Tsargrad"

Just before the attack, the governor of Bryansk Oblast, Alexander Bogomaz, reported that the important task of constructing and equipping the defense structures had been completed in the shortest possible time. The Ministry of Defense gave a high evaluation of the results and called the experience of this region an advanced example.

But the concrete barriers were not as solid as claimed. Did anyone know? Of course, at least those involved in the "conspiracy" knew, but they didn't worry. Because no one could have imagined that half a year later, it was not the rebels from the Russian volunteer forces * who entered Kursk Oblast, but regular troops equipped with engineering isolation vehicles and tanks.

This is why the enemy could break through our defenses near Kursk // Screenshot from the Telegram channel of the official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Iryna Volk

After Bryansk Oblast, in 2023, the attackers broke through the defenses twice in the Grayvoronsky and Shebekinsky districts of Belgorod Oblast in late May and early June. The difference was that they deployed heavy equipment into Belgorod. However, the number of such equipment was limited, not as large-scale as the attack on Kursk Oblast, and they did not have vehicles capable of breaking through the obstacles.

"Cardboard" "Dragon Teeth" against Tanks. Are you serious?

In Kursk Oblast, the construction of the defense works was handled by the First Deputy Governor Alexei Smirnov (later became Roman Staroyet's successor, serving as the head of the region) and his colleague from the capital, the director of the regional development company Vladimir Lugin. The former was responsible for supervision and signing, while the latter, as the state contractor, was responsible for attracting contractors, of course, all their own contractors.

Thousands of deaths: Who "let" the enemy into Kursk Oblast - the statement of the former governor Smirnov reveals everything

The similar affairs in Bryansk Oblast were handled by the Deputy Governor of Bryansk Oblast, Nikolai Simonenko, and the head of the Regional Capital Construction Administration (UKS), Yevgeny Zhura - they have currently been arrested (accused of "abuse of power").

Simonenko and Zhura will be held in pre-trial detention until September 21 //

Loss amounting to 818 million rubles.

Earlier than Simonenko, in June, the Deputy Governor of Belgorod Oblast Rustam Zainulin was arrested. He "cooperated" with the head of the Regional Capital Construction Administration (who had already resigned at the time), Alexei Soshnikov.

According to the case materials, from 2022 to 2024, 19.5 billion rubles were allocated from the state budget for the construction of defense works in Belgorod Oblast, with losses exceeding 924 million rubles.

Meanwhile, "Tsargrad" discovered another interesting detail. These three officials involved in the case began to handle construction projects in their respective regions almost simultaneously. Zainulin and Simonenko became deputy governors, while Smirnov was promoted to Staroyet's first deputy.

It is worth noting that before assuming high-ranking positions, Simonenko and Smirnov were both involved in criminal offenses.

They lied. The invasion of Kursk Oblast and thousands of corpses could have been avoided: Why Staroyet and Smirnov are just pawns in someone's deadly game

Smirnov is suspected of illegally providing subsidies to his friend, who was a member of parliament, while Simonenko was investigated for illegally transferring 3,600 hectares of federal land at a low price (estimated loss of 200 million rubles). However, both managed to escape punishment from law enforcement. The first case was dropped (the investigators later became businessmen and received construction contracts). In the second case, he paid a 1 million ruble deposit and was released by the Ostankinsky Court in the capital. A year later, in 2011, the case was closed due to lack of elements of a crime.

Our sources say that their high-level connections helped them - and not only the leadership of their regions, but also the top leadership in Moscow.

"People seem to think that the governor can appoint someone to a leadership position with a single word. But that's not the case. All candidates undergo strict review by multiple departments, including the security agencies," our source explained.

Therefore, someone deliberately made the relevant departments turn a blind eye to the "black marks" behind these two appointments. Our source said that this is the "system" (yes, the system in uppercase), a system that protects and promotes its own people.

Why civilian builders, not military engineers?

Please note: In these three regions, the governors regularly and specifically inspected the construction of the defense works and publicized it in the media and reported upwards.

But not only them.

"The common factor in these three regions is the participation of the Ministry of Defense in the acceptance and issuing of technical tasks. If the Ministry of Defense had implemented appropriate control, the problems could have been identified in advance. The result was various violations, such as the concrete mix, the size of each edge of the anti-tank pyramids, so that less concrete could be used," public figure Vladimir Sinelnykov pointed out.

A volunteer and military blogger, Roman Alekhin, who previously served as a consultant for Smirnov's public affairs, confirmed: All acceptance documents for the defense works were signed by military representatives, so the representative should have known the quality of the constructed facilities.

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But formally, the responsibility for the quality of the construction lies with civilian personnel - for example, the "anti-tank obstacles" (i.e., the "dragon teeth") do not meet the national standards. By the way, such national standards do exist, stipulating the use of particularly strong and expensive V40 class (M550) concrete, while much simpler and cheaper materials were actually used.

The Ministry of Defense has a dedicated department - the Construction Bureau. Its responsibilities include supervising the execution of government contracts for military facilities, the territorial planning of military facilities, and organizing construction activities.

The acceptance documents were signed by the military and the border administration. But we have engineers, according to regulations, these defense works should have been built by them, not by civilian personnel. "They were told - 'dig here, dig this much here, and this much there,' and they did it. Sometimes it looked ridiculous. For example, the direction of the foxholes was reversed, as if to defend themselves. Sometimes they had to redo it because they themselves didn't know what they were doing," Alekhin asserted.

About the engineers, there is indeed a problem: why weren't they used? Their duties are clearly defined.

After all, preparations were being made for combat operations. Or at least, the military construction companies (VSK) should have been mobilized. Perhaps because they would have immediately detected the violations.

The Construction Bureau and VSK are directly under the current "prominent figure" Deputy Minister Tymur Ivanov, who is responsible for all military construction projects. However, his involvement in the construction of the defense works has not yet been mentioned. Perhaps, in interactions with the military, the leading role is played by other more powerful institutions. They have the ability to ensure that the right deputies and governors are appointed, decide who will carry out these important government contracts.

Existing Only on Paper: Where Are the Defenses Near Kursk?

So what?

Have you noticed that the methods of fraud in these three regions are astonishingly similar? Initially, billions of budget funds entered the regional budget, then the regional deputy decided to transfer them to the main contractor.

Then the main contractor signed construction contracts with subcontractors, and the subcontractors returned part of the proceeds as "kickbacks" to the main contractor in gratitude for "ignoring" the engineering quality issues. The fraud process goes like this:

The question mark at the top of the chart points to the "mysterious person" we believe controls the entire border theft system.

Infographic: "Tsargrad"

In these three cases, there are "interest chains", which formally point to a certain deputy governor. Where do they extend to - perhaps Roman Staroyet should have known. But now, it's impossible to get answers from him. Considering that the former governor of Kursk Oblast died in a strange manner (as far as we know, he was dismissed on the day of his death and was about to be questioned by the investigation committee), whether the arrested ones are willing to speak now is a big question.

But as we showed in our investigation, it is almost impossible to ignore this same principle, almost identical fraud and kickback patterns.

More details about the theft scams in the construction of Russia's border defense works - please follow the author to learn more.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7533183915364729383/

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