Incriminating evidence on General Pyotr Fomin from the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Current publications

The security officers were primarily interested in contracts for the purchase of unmanned aerial vehicles, or quadcopters as they are called. The Ministry of Emergency Situations once concluded contracts with one of the Chinese companies to supply a batch of drones to Russia. We were talking about 200 drones, which the ministry purchased for 190 thousand rubles. per piece, for a total of 38 million rubles. At the same time, according to the inspectors, the retail price of each drone was 60 thousand rubles. According to the findings of inspectors of the Accounts Chamber, the Ministry of Emergency Situations not only inflated the price of drones, but the aircraft also turned out to be unable to perform the functions required of them in rescue operations. As a result, damage from concluded contracts, within which the price for each aircraft, according to investigators, was inflated several times, estimated at about 30 million rubles. In addition, it became known that in 2016 the ministry was going to purchase 700 similar Chinese quadcopters, but for 210 thousand rubles each, which would cost the budget 147 million rubles. As some media outlets write, no charges have yet been brought against specific ministry officials. But there is no doubt that this will happen soon. Missing three tens of millions of rubles is not like running to the store for cigarettes. And this is budget money, by the way. In general, the MSCh, with the arrival of its first head Vladimir Kryuchkov, became an emergency ministry in every sense. There is scandal after scandal around him. One has only to remember the last of them. Siberian microelectronics Last year, the head of the department of the main department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for Novosibirsk region Renat Aptrashov. He was accused of accepting bribes. As the investigation established, the bribers were representatives of two commercial enterprises producing microelectronic equipment. An inspection of medical personnel showed that safety regulations were grossly violated at the enterprises. Company leaders turned to the main regional rescuer for help. Little was required of him: not to draw up official protocols on identified violations. Aptrashov agreed to this. And he asked both companies for money to improve his life. They gave it. And not only with money. The head of the rescue department asked for more in kind - 10 tons of paving slabs and a ton of cement. Naturally, for own needs. After all, the life of a rescuer is not sweet. I received it too. Only Aptrashov didn’t have a chance to lay the tiles. The Emchees member was grabbed under the white hands by the competent authorities. It should be noted that the participants in the investigation of the Aptrashov case presented the court with the following arguments in favor of the arrest of the person involved in the case: allegedly he could hide, use his connections that were preserved in the main office, put pressure on witnesses and persuade them to give the testimony he needed. And now he lays tiles in other places, and not at his own dacha. No longer in personal, but in public interests. Khakass bribe taker At one time, the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Khakassia, Andrei Firsov, became a defendant in the criminal case. He was accused of bribery and regular extortion from his subordinates. The rescuer was taken into custody. According to the investigation, Firsov organized a valuable criminal group within his department. She was busy demanding bribes from employees for bonuses issued to them. Moreover, in the amount of almost half of the premium amount. As they said, over the course of several years, Firsov personally enriched himself by 2 million rubles from his subordinates. True, Firsov unexpectedly came under amnesty and the case against him was closed. Rumors and whisperers said that the head of the Khakass department had a furry hand in the capital. Let us recall that in mid-2015, investigators “waited” for an amnesty and closed the criminal case against the ex-head of the Khakass Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Andrei Firsov. The employee was accused of bribery and extortion from subordinates. Firsov was detained after charges of bribery were brought against him and a whole group of his subordinates, who demanded that service employees transfer to them part of the bonus they received for the opportunity to count on subsequent rewards! From March 2009 to December 2012, Andrei Firsov personally received more than 2 million rubles. Several leaders of Khakass rescuers were involved in the case of illegal bonuses. Firsov had connections in Moscow... Werewolves in uniform Several years ago, the story of how representatives of several law enforcement agencies at once organized a criminal community for the purpose of extorting and receiving bribes thundered throughout the country. The group included employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Emergency Situations. And the leader of this gang was the highest-ranking person involved in the case - General of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation Vladimir Ganeev. True, here too everything ended relatively well for werewolves in uniform. Although they were sentenced to real terms, they were soon released under an amnesty. General Ganeev also came out. Behind all this is the figure of the current head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Vladimir Puchkov. He has headed the department since 2012. And before that he was the head of the Northwestern Regional Center. And even there he managed to leave some traces. Here it is worth remembering the scandal when the regional center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the North-West, using the Autodesk 3ds Max program, created a three-dimensional database of geoimages (primarily, potentially dangerous objects - nuclear power plants, hydroelectric power stations and chemical industry enterprises). Moreover, the purchase of 12 licenses and training of 20 employees cost the budget as much as 2 million rubles. After becoming a minister, Puchkov carried out the so-called optimization in his ranks. 2,800 employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations were laid off. This year, the once exemplary Ministry of Emergency Situations stopped paying ordinary employees salaries! In the Chelyabinsk, Vladimir, Kaluga and Kirov regions they also could not find money to pay employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Before the New Year, a scandal broke out when the heads of the EMERCOM in the Perm Territory paid themselves bonuses, and ordinary employees were offered to take out loans to celebrate 2016! The whole country is burning in forest fires, choking in floods, and the leadership of the rescue ministry is cheating with the purchase of drones, which, in fact, are intended for reconnaissance and prevention of various types of natural disasters.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations celebrates Rescuer Day today. However, the most the best gift For the department there will be the resignation of Minister Puchkov.

December 27 is celebrated in Russia as a professional holiday for rescuers. Unfortunately, ordinary employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations should not have the most pleasant memories of this holiday. Last year, for example, many were left without wages. And some of Minister Vladimir Puchkov’s subordinates will even celebrate their holiday in a pre-trial detention center.

The prosecutor's office transferred to court a criminal case against the head of the department of supervisory activities for Volgodonsk of the Rostov State Administration of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Alexander Sukhorukov.

The investigation believes that a department employee, during a visit to a furniture store, suggested that its owner skip a number of points related to fire safety in exchange for a “discount” on the purchase. Thus, Sukhorukov purchased a soft corner at a reduced price.

Apparently, the rescuer was accustomed to using his official powers for personal purposes from time to time in his position. In the summer of 2016, the head of the supervisory department of the Vologda Ministry of Emergency Situations received a small kickback of 30 thousand rubles. The official helped ensure that the contract for fire safety work was concluded with the “right” company, whose owner “thanked” Sukhorukov.

Another “fresh” case against employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations is the theft of 12 million rubles, in which the former head of the department of medical and psychological support of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Olga Lebedeva, is suspected. The ex-official, according to investigators, in the company of her deputies and two “nimble” businessmen, arranged for the purchase of X-ray diagnostic equipment at state expense. The price was prudently multiplied by two, thanks to which the “beneficiaries” of the scheme allocated the “extra” 12 million rubles into their wallets.

Corruption in the rescue department has spread everywhere under Minister Vladimir Puchkov. They steal not only in the regions, but also in the center. True, the bill there is not in the thousands, but in the billions of rubles.

Let us recall that in October of this year, the Accounts Chamber published the results of an audit of the expenditures of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, which stunned anti-corruption fighters. Thus, since 2013, the department has spent 3.5 billion rubles in violation.

Basically, government funds in the Ministry of Emergency Situations were “saved” at inflated prices in the field of government procurement. The “surplus” was a pleasant burden on the pockets of high-ranking department officials. For example, last year, structures subordinate to the Ministry of Emergency Situations bought four Honda fire and rescue motorcycles, for each they paid 2.6 million rubles. But the market value of motorcycles is almost a million rubles lower.

In some government procurements, “cutting” schemes have been worked out and are repeated from year to year. Only the price increase factor changes. For example, in 2015, department officials purchased fire tanks based on KAMAZ trucks at 15 million rubles apiece, this year - already at 16.6 million rubles apiece. Although on the market a similar tanker costs about 6.6 million rubles. That is, the prices were inflated almost three times!

According to the report of the auditors of the Accounts Chamber, the budget lost 378 million rubles due to the price of housing construction being inflated by 43%. The Ministry of Emergency Situations once concluded a contract with the VIP-StroyEngineering company.

Not just a salary

One gets the feeling that it was the scale of theft in the department that prevented its leadership from paying off their debts on time. So, accounts receivable Ministry since 2013 has almost tripled - to 1.6 billion rubles. Over the same period, overdue debt immediately jumped 21 times - to 1.06 billion rubles.

Despite the dismissal of 10 thousand employees from the Ministry of Emergency Situations in 2015, there was not enough money even to cover current expenses. During the upcoming New Year holidays, rescuers in the Perm Territory and six other regions will probably remember how last year management left them literally penniless on December 31st.

At the same time, bonuses were paid to the “top” of the department. Ordinary employees were offered to take out a loan “for food.”

Last year, 3.8 billion rubles of rescue workers’ salaries apparently disappeared in an unknown direction from the rescue department’s account. The debt to ordinary employees of the department at the beginning of this year already exceeded 4.5 billion rubles...

At the same time, the Accounts Chamber found out that the leadership of the rescue department is not alien to the desire for comfort and luxury at budget expense. Thus, the department acquired a whole line of expensive cars, including the BMW 750Li XDrive and Audi A8L. The acquisition was apparently made in the interests of individual high-ranking officials who are unlikely to put out fires at work themselves.

In addition, instead of paying the rescuers their salaries on time, Vladimir Puchkov’s team continued to purchase premium “dragoon sabers” and “Cossack checkers.” Auditors found the stockpile of award weapons to be a violation of government regulations.

The glorious traditions, when bonuses are paid to regulars in ministerial offices and not paid to those who save lives, are sacredly observed in the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

For example, in the past 2016, this was observed in the departments of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Kurgan, Orenburg and Yaroslavl regions. In particular, Orenburg firefighters received bonuses... of 1% of their salary (!), while “office workers”, who most likely saw fires only on TV, received bonuses of up to 85%.

Kurgan officials demonstrated the most ardent adherence to the tradition of distributing bonuses. There, accountants and HR employees received 120-160% bonuses for “special risks” (cutting themselves with office paper?). Those department employees who pull people out of burning houses every day got nothing.

A disaster of ministerial proportions

Experts have long been stating that Mr. Puchkov managed to destroy in record time an agency that was once one of the best.

On the day of the rescuer, Mr. Puchkov spoke very Right words. For example, that next year he intends to “part ways” with those employees who do not use budget funds. The minister intends to strengthen control over budget spending and expel embezzlers from the department.

Well, then he has to start with himself. Here it is appropriate to recall the story of the rescue department’s purchase of drones. Vladimir Puchkov solemnly presented one of these cars to Tula. Perhaps the minister thought that drones were suitable for the purposes assigned to the rescue department. Unfortunately, professionals could not agree with the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations on this issue.

After all, in terms of their characteristics, drones purchased, of course, from China, were more like household cars. The purchased devices retained controllability at a distance of no more than 2 kilometers, and the duration of the flight was a maximum of 23 minutes.

All these errors did not prevent Puchkov officials from purchasing cheap drones at 1.5-2 times more expensive market value. In total, the Ministry of Emergency Situations purchased 200 similar devices for a total amount of 38 million rubles. on the market, even the retail price of DJI Phantom 3 Advanced did not exceed 70 thousand rubles, but armchair craftsmen, apparently the same ones who award themselves bonuses, managed to buy drones at a price of 190 thousand rubles.

The difference between the real price and the purchase price, according to rumors, was divided by the ministerial authorities. Without further ado, Vladimir Puchkov’s officials purchased the next batch of similar drones. But at an astronomical price of 210 million rubles per piece.

In the Ministry of Emergency Situations under Puchkov, they do not just steal petty and buy unnecessary equipment at an inflated price. Sometimes entire organized crime groups operate in the department and, as they say, the minister was aware of what was happening...

Let us recall that in 2013 it turned out that an organized crime group was operating in the Khakass department of the department, which included high-ranking employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The criminals were engaged in the collective and large-scale theft of millions of public funds.

However, in Lately There are rumors about the imminent resignation of Mr. Puchkov. Possible candidates for successors to the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are not encouraging, but the mere departure of the current minister from the department will have a beneficial effect on rescue work.

Vladimir Puchkov, who replaced the unsinkable Shoigu as head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, is hovering one step away from resignation. Quite a few complaints have already accumulated against him, and the number of accidental “flights” already exceeds all conceivable limits. The Kremlin administration strenuously denies plans to write off Puchkov, but it is worth keeping in mind that it is not customary for the Kremlin to warn the media about such decisions in advance.

So to be or not to be Puchkov in the same place? To understand the logic of future events, it is worth recalling the latest achievements of the reserve lieutenant general, candidate of technical sciences, prize winner Russian Federation Puchkova V.A.

The first alarm bell for our hero sounded in May of this year. Then the deputy chairman of the Chamber of Accounts, Vera Chistova, at the government hour in the State Duma, harshly criticized the senior management of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for unpaid salaries to ordinary employees. For some reason, “3.8 billion rubles were not enough for allowances and salaries,” Chistova emphasized. Although at the same time, under the guise of “mobile control centers and mobile communication points,” the Ministry of Emergency Situations purchased luxury cars BMW 750, AUDI, FORD Explorer, Chevrolet TAHOE and Volkswagen Crafter-223702 minibus with a bar counter inside.

Almost all of these “control points” naturally fell into the reserve of the department’s leadership. It cost the PR service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations a lot of work and, possibly, material resources to ensure that Chistova’s criticism went unnoticed by the “main viewer.”

However, “car” games with budget money are nothing compared to the desire of the top officials of the Ministry of Emergency Situations to personally lead all high-profile rescue events. After all, they are always in the spotlight of the media. A high-ranking source in this department said that Puchkov, in particular, personally supervised the work at the Severnaya mine in February of this year. At this time, a third methane explosion occurred. Five rescuers and another miner participating in search and rescue operations were killed.

Soon another tragedy occurred - a special Il-76 aircraft with an experienced crew crashed while putting out a forest fire. Those who died were made to blame for the disaster. "The main versions are related to the human factor, the performance of equipment and the influence environment“- MAC representative Nikolai Yakimenko cheerfully reported.

Why did pilots with enormous experience and experience neglect safety precautions? There is an answer to this question too. “Forest fires are the focus of attention of the country’s top officials...,” said a source in the Ministry of Emergency Situations. - Therefore, everyone is concerned about presenting themselves at its best, douse all fires before they start. According to unofficial data, the deceased crew did not work at the edge of the fire, but almost at the epicenter on orders from Moscow. And this is strictly prohibited by all instructions, but failure to comply with the order means unequivocal dismissal from service. So they take risks.”

And to make Puchkov’s image even better, the PR people of the Ministry of Emergency Situations systematically underestimated the area of ​​forest fires. Who will count them? - the brave but not smart campaigners probably thought. “According to space monitoring data, the area of ​​just one – the largest – fire in the Amur region is five times larger than the official area of ​​​​all active forest fires in the country,” experts suddenly reported.

The last straw was the death of the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for the Primorsky Territory, Oleg Fedura. Like the crew of the burned-out plane, he found himself in the very epicenter of a natural disaster, where human strength and technical capabilities are simply not enough to survive.

As you can see, in just six months, Vladimir Puchkov has done enough to really begin to save the department’s reputation at the cost of his own career. Perhaps, upon dismissal, they will leave him his favorite minivan with a bar counter as a souvenir?

Based on sources.

"Pimp" from the Ministry of Emergency Situations?

The head of the Siberian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Sergei Didenko, got into a major scandal: he called the rescuer who approached the president a “prostitute.” And after this the general will be promoted?

Ex-employee of the disbanded Ural Aviation Rescue Center Anatoly Dolgovykh wrote open letter to the president criticizing the Emergency Situations Ministry system. In response, the head of the Siberian regional center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, as reported by a correspondent of The Moscow Post, called the Dolgovs a person with “low social responsibility.”

Considering that quite recently Vladimir Putin used the same phrase in relation to the priestesses of love, what we are talking about is not at all difficult to guess.

I don’t want to take all these nuances: they are so petty and simply show the very low social responsibility of a person who decided to throw a fly in the ointment into the ointment. We are ready for this, for God’s sake: honey always pushes out everything foreign. I don’t want to say that we are honey, we are the Ministry of Emergency Situations, although the initial letters are similar. Anyone can stop any car and find 100 defects in it or go into any institution and find 100 defects in it. This is called “criticism,” Didenko said.

To harshly criticize his former subordinate, the lieutenant general was not too lazy to fly to the Urals and hold a big press conference in Yekaterinburg. At the same time, he replaced the head of the Ural division. And despite the fact that the official reason for Valery Kudinov’s resignation from his position was his own desire, it seems that this is how his subordinate’s letter came back to haunt him.

Difficult financial situation

General Didenko is generally moving quite briskly up the career ladder. Having worked for more than 10 years in command posts in the Ministry of Defense, in 2011-2015 he headed the Civil Protection Department of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, and in 2015 he was appointed head of the Siberian Regional Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, into which the Ural and Siberian divisions were then combined.

He also worked as deputy head of the Volga regional center, where he received the rank of general. For what merits, however, is unknown. But, according to his subordinates, he was also a tyrant - he allegedly mocked his subordinates and put them in a corner, and having received a “suggestion” from above, he took out his anger on the employees. Evil tongues say that when he left Moscow to work in Nizhny Novgorod, they didn’t cry with joy there - will they really accept him back with joy now?

He also behaved interestingly when he headed the SRC of the Ministry of Emergency Situations: in January 2016, it turned out that he asked... financial assistance for 600 thousand rubles due to the “difficult financial situation”. And I got it! And here the question arises: if a general who has taken a high position (and at the same time received a substantial increase in salary) complains of poverty, then how do his subordinates live?

Or was Didenko lying and simply putting Minister Vladimir Puchkov in an awkward position?

Burning Siberia

One of the main ideas of the letter from the former airborne rescuer, which he published on his page on social networks, was the lack of communication between pilots and rescuers as such. He also drew attention to the lack of helicopters, parachutes and the general terrible state of equipment.

And everything would be fine - really, which department is completely satisfied with the logistics? - but the Ministry of Emergency Situations has been performing its duties so poorly lately that this leads to certain thoughts.

Forests burn in Siberia every year. By the end of June, the total area of ​​fires exceeded 75 thousand hectares, even the Baikal-Lena Nature Reserve in the Irkutsk region was burning. Transbaikalia is choking in smoke; the area of ​​forest fires in the first half of summer increased by 3 thousand hectares almost every day. And now it turns out that the rescuers are unable to do their job due to the poor state of the equipment. Although funds are constantly allocated for these purposes. So where are they?

Consequences of Didenko's work?

For example, 1.74 billion rubles were allocated by the Ministry of Emergency Situations for the purchase of Be-200 fire-fighting amphibious aircraft. No one ever saw the planes, because instead of them they bought... fire trucks. To Crimea. And the Siberian unit, instead of the latest highly efficient aircraft, received one helicopter, which is used in an unknown place and how.

However, representatives of the department responded to the claims investigative committee They cheerfully reported: if we had not used the money, it would have been stolen. Well, well, no matter how it is! Maybe someone in Puchkov’s department simply received kickbacks?

It seems that this would not surprise anyone at the emergency response center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. For example, Evgeniy Leshchev, an employee of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the Omsk Region, was imprisoned for kickbacks. During the construction of the Ural Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, which is also subordinate to General Didenko, 25 million rubles were stolen. There, in the Urals, a fire station near Novouralsk remained unfinished, the money for which was also stolen. And all this no longer looks like isolated cases, but like a developed system.

Was it a waste of time?

It looks like Didenko truly deserves the promotion. It’s even funnier that if he does get the post of deputy minister, he will be put in the place of Leonid Belyaev, who became vacant in November 2016. He is still being investigated by the military prosecutor's office of the St. Petersburg garrison and the prosecutor's office of St. Petersburg.

Belyaev headed the St. Petersburg Ministry of Emergency Situations from 2006 to 2015. During this time, his family purchased about 20 apartments. And the money for this, it seems, was taken from the corruption schemes he was running, including money paid to him by developers for “biased” approval of their work. The total volume of detected violations exceeded 10 billion rubles. Against this background, it already seems insignificant that he got his nephew a good position in the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

And only the department sighed without Belyaev - they prepared a replacement for him. And it seems that Didenko can achieve even greater “success” in his post than the previous deputy minister. But before implementing the accumulated experience, he should remember that his predecessor will most likely end up in prison...

How rescue steel was hardened

“Now the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry has its own army, special services, government, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, air fleet, financial and industrial groups. Shoigu’s empire includes: Crisis Management Center, search and rescue services, civil defense troops, State Central Airmobile Rescue detachment, Center for Special Risk Rescue Operations "Leader", All-Russian Research Institute for Civil Defense and Emergency Situations, State Unitary Aviation Enterprise, All-Russian Center for Monitoring and Forecasting, Academy of Civil Protection, Russian Center for Rescuer Training, Agency for Support and coordination of Russian participation in international humanitarian operations (Emercom agency), the Russian National Emergency Humanitarian Response Corps and much more.

Sergei Shoigu began creating his rescue paramilitary empire in 1991. The idea of ​​organizing a rescue service to replace the ineffective USSR Civil Defense system turned out to be very useful. New Russian service was named the Russian Rescue Corps, then - the RSFSR State Committee for Emergency Situations, and then became the Russian Federation State Committee for Civil Defense, Emergency Situations and Disaster Relief. Created from scratch, it was in the right place at the right time. The collapsing “single economy” of the USSR produced man-made disasters with depressing regularity.

Sergei Kuzhugetovich himself successfully fit into the new political and economic reality. At the dawn of the formation of Russian statehood, the young and efficient Shoigu managed to get under new service premises of the commission of the Council of Ministers of the USSR (“Doguzhiev commission”), which was involved in the restoration of Armenia after the 1989 earthquake. The building was located in the center of Moscow and was simply crammed with special communications.

In 1994, the Russian Federation State Committee for Civil Defense, Emergency Situations and Disaster Relief was transformed into a ministry. The change in status and the favor of the top allowed Shoigu to continue the methodical construction of the rescue vertical. In the conditions of scarce funding in the early 90s, Shoigu showed himself to be a skilled business executive of a new type: money for the maintenance of the ministry was obtained through personal connections, earned by the commercial structures of the Ministry of Emergency Situations itself, and received as humanitarian aid from the West. As a result, Shoigu's department became one of the most well-equipped ministries.

One of the ministry’s first successful commercial projects was participation in the TV Bingo Show lottery. Then the Emercom agency was created under the Ministry of Emergency Situations. He was instructed to purchase rescue equipment for the ministry and import it duty-free into Russia.

Like many other structures, the agency traded in “black gold”. 73.5 million barrels of Iraqi oil were sold through Emercom as part of the Oil-for-Food program. The company earned about $7.6 million from this.

In 1995, the State Unitary Aviation Enterprise (SUAP) was created under the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Now the ministry’s aviation fleet can be the envy of even the Ministry of Internal Affairs: 5 transport airliners Il-76 TD, a passenger Il-62 M equipped with special communications - a total of 12 airplanes and 29 helicopters (mostly of the Franco-German concern Evrocopter). In 2005, the ministry's aviation should be replenished with 3 more An-3 aircraft and 2 Be-200 ChS amphibious aircraft, 1 of which NPK Irkut will transfer to the Ministry of Emergency Situations at the end of May.

The staff of the Ministry of Emergency Situations also expanded. At first, the ranks of rescuers were formed by the Civil Defense Forces of the USSR reassigned to the Ministry of Civil Defense - mostly retired military personnel leaving the rapidly impoverished army. Now there are about 370 thousand people subordinate to the ministry.

Shoigu’s cherished dream was to join his department with the fire service, which was part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. However, the minister was able to realize his plans only by 2002: as a reward for supporting United Russia and Vladimir Putin personally in the parliamentary and presidential elections of 1999-2000. By the way, the issue of joining the fire service to the Ministry of Emergency Situations had serious financial grounds and was removed from the agenda only when the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations agreed that the funds from the pension and social fund firefighters will remain on the accounts of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Main Fire Service (GFS), the jewel in the crown of the EMERCOM empire, has about 300 thousand personnel, a branched structure in the regions, and a huge budget.

Shoigu was unable to implement another idea - to subordinate Gostekhnadzor and Gosatomnadzor. If successful, these services would give the Ministry of Emergency Situations the right to close or temporarily suspend the work of any enterprise due to non-compliance with the technological regime.

It is now obvious that Shoigu’s organization has reached the limits of its power and, apparently, will not grow any further. The budget for the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations for 2005 was formed on the same principles as law enforcement ministries and departments and is nevertheless impressive. It amounts to 20.420 billion rubles, not counting the funding allocated as a separate line for “fire safety” (12 billion rubles).

The budget provides for a more than 6.4-fold increase in spending (compared to last year) to increase the readiness of civil defense forces to protect the population and territories in peacetime and war, as well as 965 million rubles for the maintenance and equipment of the state inspectorate for small vessels.

In 2005, 1.3 billion rubles will be allocated from the budget to equip the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations with modern aviation equipment. For the phased technical re-equipment of the State Fire Service, 980 million rubles are provided. To implement measures to reform the civil defense forces and complete the construction of infrastructure facilities for rescue centers on Lake Baikal and the south of the country - 248 million rubles.

President's Rescuers

Photo by Sergey TETERIN

How peaceful the rescue profession should be is an open question. The last major natural disaster that happened in the USSR - the earthquake in Spitak - showed that it is necessary not only to clear the rubble of destroyed buildings, set up field hospitals, look for survivors under the rubble, but also to protect ourselves from looters. So the presence of armed units in the Ministry of Emergency Situations is justified. Nevertheless, it is still worth raising the question: are the units of the Ministry of Emergency Situations capable of conducting “non-rescue” operations.

Few people know that the “rescue” structures created by Shoigu were initially conceived as a small army ready to support the country’s new president, Boris Yeltsin. The first president treated the young builder Sergei Shoigu, whom Yeltsin met back in the days of disgrace, when Shoigu worked as deputy chairman of the RSFSR State Committee for Architecture and Construction.

When creating the Ministry of Emergency Situations, developments in creating in Russia were used National Guard, conceived as a support for the president and a counterweight in case the army finds itself on the other side of the barricades. In the highest echelons of power, the concept of creating a guard was ultimately rejected. But the regional centers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations were divided into the same districts in which it was planned to station the guards.

In 1997, Shoigu proposed a plan for reforming the Ministry of Emergency Situations. According to the minister’s plan, first of all, the security forces of the ministry were expected to expand and strengthen with new personnel. The new structure of the ministry provided for 122 general positions alone: ​​9 colonel generals, 33 lieutenant generals, 76 major generals and 4 rear admirals. The head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations received the rank of army general.

At the same time, Shoigu already had an elite unit armed with light small arms. In any case, Sergei Kozhugetovich himself, speaking in the Duma in 1997, unequivocally admitted this.

However, then Shoigu’s plan was not supported by the country’s leadership. In 1998, the State Duma Security Committee sent an official letter No. 315-2666 to the then director of the FSB, Vladimir Putin, with a request to carefully check the information that in Moscow, the Moscow region, Noginsk, Novogorsk there are support bases in which units of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are preparing events intended for the hour " X". This request indicated that a special forces battalion of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and a central command post were stationed in the villages of Ustye and Porechye, located near Ruza. And in Tyoply Stan the so-called anti-terrorist center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations is located. There was also information about the creation of its own special forces within the structure of the Ministry of Emergency Situations - with sniper weapons and personnel recruited from retirees of Vympel and Alpha and GRU special forces.

It is unlikely that this information was news to the country’s chief security officer. According to a former employee of the presidential administration, in mid-1997 Shoigu sent a secret document to the Kremlin - “On the prospects for the development of the Ministry of Emergency Situations”, in which he insisted on creating an anti-terrorist center and a special forces battalion to ensure the security of the existing constitutional order.

Now there are about 40 thousand “bayonets” in the paramilitary civil defense units. These units are armed with small arms and bladed weapons and light armored vehicles, such as the BTR-80. It is quite difficult to imagine that these forces could now be some kind of alternative to the army. Even non-military structures look much more impressive compared to the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The same private security service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation employs more than 300 thousand people, and the number of internal troops today is almost 200 thousand people; the armed forces are armed with modern armored vehicles and military transport helicopters.

Nevertheless, on at least two occasions, the forces of the Ministry of Emergency Situations were used for other purposes. During the August 1991 events, rescuers participated in organizing the defense of the White House and distributed small arms to the population from Civil Defense warehouses. In October 1993, by order of Gaidar, Shoigu allocated weapons to Muscovites who took to the streets at the call of the democrats. Batteers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations participated in the storming of the Khasbulatov Supreme Council (“Profile” No. 37 (159) dated 10/04/1999).

So Sergei Shoigu can take his rescuers to the streets if others do not want to do this. Times, however, have changed. The current president does not need the services of “pocket armies”. Coming from the FSB, he enjoys the support of the intelligence services. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is headed and controlled by former counterintelligence officers. A native of the SVR, Sergei Ivanov looks after the army. So there is no political need for the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the form in which it exists now. If the ministry is not disbanded, then the power component in it will steadily decline."