Heavy cruiser with heavy fate. Warship mired in corruption swamp

General Director of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) Alexey Rakhmanov, of course, is aware that just the other day a meeting was held in the Main Command of the Navy of the Russian Federation. At this meeting, it was announced that the leadership of the Navy wanted to accelerate the release of the heavy aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov for testing after repair and modernization. But does Main Command of the Navy know what is happening around Admiral Kuznetsov today?

Recall that the repair work of the cruiser has been cariied out for more than two and a half years, since the spring of 2018. The ship survived two stressful situations: first the floating dock PD-50 sank, then there was a fire in one of the power sections. But the fleet is waiting: the heavy cruiser's launch for testing should take place as if in 2022, though the military men want to speed up the repair of aircraft carrier…

It seems that Mr. Rakhmanov, who does not blush, while promising an unprecedented time of repair and modernization of Admiral Kuznetsov, should finally admit that the "game", which the USC head has been playing for a long time, has already brought unprecedented damage: terminated a contract with an experienced contractor – it is about JSC Investments. Engineering. Construction. (JSC I.E.C.) - which could already be doing the final work on the site. But instead, there are legal proceedings. And on the construction site, thanks to Mr. Rakhmanov, Amateurs are in full swing. But in order to make a dry dock for the Admiral Kuznetsov, professionals in hydraulic engineering are needed. But specialists from JSC I.E.C. have been forced to defend their rights, honour and dignity in the courts for several months instead of working.

Looking ahead, let us note that the head of USC is assisted by the Zvezdochka Shiprepairing Centre, which quickly found a replacement for a professional of the highest class when it signed a contract with the infamous Orgenergostroy company. But the Orgenergostroy company has no special experience in hydraulic engineering, and other indicators are "lame".

Is there a failure of modernization of the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, which is controlled by the President of the Russian Federation?

The situation was investigated by the correspondent of The Moscow Post.

Questions to Marichev and Galimov

It is because of such a strange situation with the change of contractor - and the topic about repair and modernization of aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov has been written about by the editors of the Moscow Post since May 2020 – the journalist sent questions to the General Director of OJSC Zvezdochka Shiprepairing Centre Sergey Yuryevich Marichev and Advisor to the General Director of the Zvezdochka SC on Technical Re-equipment and Reconstruction of the Dry Dock Dmitry Viktorovich Galimov.

The questions are quite simple. The Moscow Post offers to answer, what is the current situation on the construction site with a new contractor – the Orgenergostroy company?

According to our information, the contract terms with the new contractor were broken at the construction site. Under the contract, Orgenergostroy promised to put the first stage of the dock into operation in September 2020. As of the end of December this year, less than 50% of the work volume was completed. For what reason does the Customer not terminate the contract with Orgenergostroy, as with the previous contractor, does not make demands for a bank guarantee and does not compensate the state for damage?

As it became known to the Moscow Post, the Orgenergostroy company "borrowed" from CJSC PYLON, in other words, took away structures and materials that have already been seized by the investigative authorities.

Next, we ask a question about the speed of work, because according to our information, Orgenergostroy performs work with turtle steps, goes against the approved project documentation of the first stage and in principle works without project documentation for the second stage (dismantling of the lintel, drilling and blasting on the bottom of the dock, etc.).

We reminded in our letter to both Sergey Marichev and Dmitry Galimov that it was for this reason that the general designer of the SSTC refused to carry out author's supervision. As a result, significant changes were made to the design, with critical deviations from the approved FAI Glavgosexpertiza.

Further, the editorial board asks to comment on why, instead of submerging the SPSP (steel pipe sheet pile) from a temporary bridge (again the property of PYLON CJSC), Orgenergostroy poured an embankment into the water area, which caused direct damage to the environment, didn’t it? Further - makes the immersion of SPSP on dry land from the embankment, and the price for immersion on dry land is several times lower than from water, as provided for by the project and estimates.

We are also interested in why the SPSP is not immersed according to the project? Why are the pile numbers mixed up in the cells? And the sheet pile does not reach the design mark, it is cut off, which significantly affects the stability of the lintel. And this is the pressure of a huge mass of water. How can all this be explained?

Why the work on the preliminary clearing of the bottom before diving SPSP is not done? Is it because of this, the SPSP does not reach the design mark and is deformed, as evidenced by the extracted dented SPSP?

Why the lintel of the dock is broken by hydraulic hammers instead of using diamond cutting, especially since the approved project provides for a gentle dismantling mode (diamond cutting and hydraulic washing). And that is why - whether Mr. Marichev and Mr. Galimov know it - there are numerous complaints about noise from residents of Murmansk.

Do the comrades from the Zvezdochka SC know that today the existing ponton dock-gates are under threat of destruction, since the dynamic load from the hydraulic hammers exceeds all permissible norms? And puts the entire structure at risk of flooding?

And why does Orgenergostroy perform the functions of general designer and general contractor in one person? Isn't that legal nonsense?

We are waiting for answers to these questions from both Sergey Yuryevich Marichev and Dmitry Viktorovich Galimov.

"Slaveholding system" in Orgenergostroy

And while the answers are coming, it is curious to get to know what kind of company Orgenergostroy is?

To do this, you can read the reviews of those who have encountered this office, worked or works in the Orgenergostroy company. Recall that the company is known in the construction market, including the international one, for a long time, and not always for good deeds.

Here is a review from the Retwork website.

"I work in Bangladesh for this company. This is complete lawlessness and arbitrariness. According to the contract, the working schedule is a six-day week, a shift of 8 hours. But in fact, the shift is not less than 10 hours, the weekend is not given. They refuse to pay for processing. You can't leave after 8 hours of work: they don't give you transport... in general, the slave system."

Here are the reviews from the Neorabote website:

"Hires subcontractors, does not pay them wages. The workers are hungry and can't go home..." This is the first review.

The second will be more sharp: "I worked in the Orgenergostroy company as an engineer of construction control. A complete violation of labour laws. Construction control is not allowed to perform its direct duties according to the job description. The issued warnings are not read by anyone and the foremen do not care about the construction control, the comments do not mean anything to them. This all comes from the top management, including the chief engineer A. Yu. Savitsky.

Instead of direct duties, you will be puzzled by the work of all departments. Work for a welding engineer: drawing up a welding form. Work for the flaw detector: to conduct the ultrasonic testing yourself. Work for the flaw detection engineer: make the technical maps yourself. Work for the TCD: independently carry out thickness measurement and present it to ASE representatives and the customer... On the website, there is a vacancy for an engineer of the CC for the control of welding of pipe sheet piling with detailed functionality, the date of the vacancy is regularly updated. The last sheet pile was welded on September 4, 2019. Draw your own conclusions!"

Frankly, the reviews are telling. And such an office was entrusted with the reconstruction of a dry dock for the country's only heavy aircraft carrier?

Zvezdochka is bogged down in court cases

But the bad trail stretches not only for the Orgenergostroy company warmed by USC. The Zvezdochka shipbuilding centre also has a lot of dark spots in its seemingly dashing biography.

And bad things with the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, it turns out that Zvezdochka has already been noted, no further than in autumn of 2011. It turns out that at that time the cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov was undergoing repairs in branch of the 35 ship repair plant of the Zvezdochka SC. And, as investigators found out, more than 9.7 million rubles were illegally transferred from the state budget for repairs. This was reported by RIA Novosti.

These violations were revealed by the Military Prosecutor's Office of the Northern fleet. It was military prosecutors who revealed an overestimation of the calculation of the cost of repair work on the cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov. Who is guilty? The investigation found that the head of the Technical Department of the Northern fleet, Rear-Admiral Viktor Bursuk, unreasonably approved the inflated cost of work.

The materials of the Prosecutor's check were sent to the military investigative bodies to resolve the issue of initiating a criminal case against Rear-Admiral Bursuk.

The case of Khasan Tumgoev, who received state contracts in the Zvezdochka SC, thanks to the help of the technical Director of the Zvezdochka SC, Mikhail Chernechenko, also turned out to be loud.

Reply to S. N. Verakso from SSTC on the introduction of technical supervision

As the investigation established, the technical Director of Zvezdochka initially received 285 thousand rubles for assistance in obtaining a state contract. Then Chernichenko was paid 1.4 million rubles for the promise to arrange a bank guarantee. This was reported by PASMI.

At one time, USC signed a state contract for 1.5 billion rubles with the Zvezdochka SC. The company had to perform large volumes of construction work. Zvezdochka transferred an advance of 100 million rubles. But after six months, the contract was terminated. However, the company did not perform the above work. The money was simply stolen.

And there is such very fresh news: the Moscow Arbitration court on November 16 this year considered a multimillion claim of the military men against the Zvezdochka SC. The amount of claims is more than 89 million rubles. This is reported by REGNUM.

On November 16, the Moscow Arbitration Court considered a multimillion lawsuit against the Zvezdochka SC. The amount of claims is more than 89 million rubles.

As it turned out, the Zvezdochka SC today has 9 contracts worth more than 6 billion rubles. But since mid-August of this year, Zvezdochka appears in the register of unscrupulous suppliers. This happened after the termination of the contract for 106 million rubles. Under this contract, the ship repair centre was to perform maintenance and repair work on the ships of the Northern fleet.

But it didn't do it!

How all these stories are similar to the one in which USC, Zvezdochka and JSC I.E.C. are taking part today.

Does it mean that they do what they want?

National, dredging...

The Investments. Engineering. Construction company has been known for 14 years. Since then, as in St. Petersburg, one after another, global infrastructure projects were launched, such as the alluvium in the West of Vasilievsky island with a "Sea facade" and many others.

The I.E.C. company deepened the bottom to the port of Ust-Luga in the Leningrad region and made deepening in the Barochny basin at the Petrolesport container terminal.

JSC I.E.C. was discussed in the context of the construction of four stations of the St. Petersburg metro: Gavan, Morskoy fasad, Novokrestovskaya-2 and Lakhta. The creation of artificial land for the station Novokrestovskaya at Zenit Arena - also thanks to Gleb Evtushenko.

The company prepared the city of Kaliningrad for the 2018 World Cup by building 2.5 km of the Paradnaya embankment.

Back in early 2019, the Investments. Engineering. Construction company was called the ideologist of the appearance of a national dredging company in the Russian Federation: Deputy Prime Minister Yu. I. Borisov issued an order on 29.05.2019 on the need to create a national dredging operator on the basis of JSC I.E.C.

So what turned the situation over? It would be more correct to say what did they turn in this situation? And why?

Cheating with payouts

Let us briefly recall the history of the arrival of JSC I.E.C. at the construction site for the reconstruction of the dry dock.

JSC I.E.C. received a contract for reconstruction in July 2019. Total cost of work: 23.9 billion rubles. But the Zvezdochka ship repair centre paid only 2.6 billion rubles of the promised advance of 7.1 billion rubles. Zvezdochka paid for the actual work performed only by 70 (seventy) million rubles.!!!

Also, Zvezdochka delayed the provision of design and estimate documentation for the first stage of reconstruction for more than 6 months, and did not send it at all for the second stage. The documents for the second stage were not even submitted to Glavgosexpertiza, which usually reviews such documents for two months, and without them, the work is simply blocked.

Work on two stages of repair had to be carried out simultaneously, so that in the planned period - in June 2021 - the cruiser could stand on the so-called one-time docking: the ship should go to the dock, it will install bottom-side fittings, put screws and shafts. Then the ship will leave the dock, specialists will make repairs on the water, and the contractor will complete the structure.

Heavy aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov

However, Zvezdochka unexpectedly broke the contract with JSC I.E.C. Such an ill-considered and deliberate act can now significantly shift the timing of the docking of the Admiral Kuznetsov to 2022 or even 2023.

And because the breakage of contract occurred grossly, there were no clear explanations except for the expressed desire to take away 100% of shares of JSC I.E.C. in favour of controlled by USC, Regionalnoe SMU LLC - in the protocol of the meeting of the RSC signed by Alexey Rakhmanov it is written: Gleb Yevtushenko is required to transmit 100% of the stocks to the property of Regionalnoe SMU...

Protocol of the USC meeting

And since there were no clear actions, the owner of JSC I.E.C. Gleb Yevtushenko was forced to apply to the Prosecutor General's office and the Security Council of the Russian Federation.

Claim to Security Council from I.E.C.

Mr. Yevtushenko asked to check both the customer and the construction site.

"The customer has created conditions in which the reconstruction of the dock becomes impossible," Mr. Yevtushenko described the situation.

A new contract

Recall that USC signed a new contract for the reconstruction of the dry dock for Admiral Kuznetsov on June 29 this year. The Contractor was the previously mentioned Orgenergostroy LLC.

"We changed the construction contractor at the 35th ship repair plant, because we were not satisfied with the dynamics of work," the head of USC Rakhmanov told reporters in those days. - The Orgenergostroy company came to the site. The work has been quite intensive, from at least eight points, so we expect that the ship will be docked in the summer of 2021."

Mr. Rakhmanov's optimism can only be envied!

Applications for the contest were submitted by 7 companies. How was the contractor chosen in the end?
Mr. Rakhmanov announced how it was: they chose a contractor with a fairly stable financial position, which confirmed that the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov could be docked in the summer of 2021.

Does it mean that they belied it, pushing away the experienced JSC I.E.C. company?

General Director of the USC Alexey Rakhmanov counts well?

It remains to remind you the following. Once in one of his interviews, the head of USC Alexey Rakhmanov boasted of such figures: "if earlier the percentage of state defense order fulfillment at USC ranged from 47 to 67%, then in 2017 we reached steady 85-90%."

But where is such a tricky numeral from, if the repair, and modernization at the enterprises of the USC last for years? Apparently, this beautiful percentage is obtained with the help of some circus trick, isn’t they?

Thus, the deadline for completing the state contract is approaching, and the technical readiness of the order is far from 100%. And then the representatives of the customer and the contractor conclude a previously discussed additional agreement to the contract. And this trick agreement pushes back the deadline by 1-2 years. And after 365 days, the procedure is repeated again! What is the result? The fact of violation by the contractor of its obligations ceases to take place. Penalties are not applied!

So it turns out: the implementation of the state defense order at the end of the year reaches a fabulous 85-90%.

Isn't that why Admiral Kuznetsov is stuck in a corruption swamp? And it is unlikely that the Russian Navy will see an aircraft carrier in 2022, as the head of USC promises.

We are waiting for answers to the questions of the Moscow Post from S. Yu. Marichev and D. V. Galimov. We managed to get through to Dmitry Viktorovich Galimov, he promised to "learn the questions" of the journalist.

TO BE CONTINUED