Escapes from Minister Kolokoltsev's "diocese"

What is happening in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation? The latest news about what is happening in the huge apparatus of General Kolokoltsev: the heads of 5 territorial departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Yekaterinburg together wrote reports on their resignation. By the way, most police departments - 12 out of 17-in the capital of the Urals are headed by officers with the status of interim. And for some reason, there are no people willing to hold these "prestigious" positions. This is reported by Pravda UrFo.

The reason for the coordinated dismissals of the heads of police departments in Yekaterinburg, they say, was disagreement with the policy pursued by the new leadership in the person of the General-"varangian" Alexander Meshkov.

This news was followed by an equally fascinating one: two high-ranking officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - Deputy heads of the Main Centre for Administrative and Transport Support - Oleg Semenov and Alexander Shkirenko were detained. As established by the investigation, Semenov and Shkirenko required to sign acceptance certificates of works (which, in fact, was not done) under the state contract for service and sanitary maintenance of objects of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. And earned themselves a small fortune.

What is even more fascinating? Such, frankly, shocking news from the "dugouts" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs comes almost every day. What is Minister Kolokoltsev doing? Perhaps he is tired of such hard work, hence there are the following indicators: a frenzied turnover of staff, corruption, bribery, isn't he? And the Ministry of Internal Affairs began to put a lot of pressure on journalists. In particular, the editorial office of The Moscow Post. Is this a personal order of Minister Kolokoltsev?

A correspondent of The Moscow Post tried to study these delicate matters.

"Fever" in Yekaterinburg

The Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Sverdlovsk region, where the heads of police departments massively resign, has been in a fever for more than one month. And more then one year.

Back in 2017, in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Sverdlovsk region, there were very high-profile arrests: 4 employees of the Department – heads of divisions and operatives - appeared on trial at that time: Nikolay Zhukov, Evgeny Kulik, Alexey Vorlinsky and Alexander Kosman. The detention of all four was carried out by employees of the regional FSS. For this purpose, a special operation was carried out: the police participated in the operation to incite a bribe against a high-ranking employee of another Supervisory State Agency. This was reported by Kommersant.

The Sverdlovsk regional court sentenced all four policemen to suspended prison terms. The verdict was approved by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

In autumn of 2018, employees of the Federal Security Service of the Sverdlovsk region came to the Ministry of Internal Affairs again. The police began searching, during which the head of the Directorate of economic security and combating the corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Yekaterinburg Eduard Voronin was detained. This was reported by Interfax.

The visit of the regional FSS representatives and the Investigative Committee was related to a previously initiated criminal case.

Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Sverdlovsk region, General Alexander Meshkov

For a long time a candidate for the post of Chief of Police of Yekaterinburg could not be found. This post has been vacant since December 2019, when Sergey Kulagin wrote a report on his dismissal. Colonel Kulagin held this post since 2017.

In general, something is rotten in the "state of Danmark" in the Sverdlovsk region.

The case of journalist Golunov

It should be recalled that General Kolokoltsev took up his high post on May 21, 2012. But only 2 years have passed, and a number of media began to wonder: when will Mr. Kolokoltsev resign, as scandal followed scandal.

But for some reason, Minister Kolokoltsev is still surviving all storms and thunderstorms, despite the high-profile corruption stories in the Ministry of Interior and the poor reputation of the police among the civilian population.

It would seem that the hope for the departure of General Kolokoltsev was in the middle of January, 2020, when the Government of Dmitry Medvedev suddenly resigned. The Cabinet of Ministers was updated by half: such national allergens as Minister of Health Skvortsova and Minister of Education Vasilyeva have left. The "cultural" Minister Medinsky left. But Kolokoltsev remained! And for many people, this was an unpleasant surprise, taking into account the high-profile scandals that have shaken the "diocese" of General Kolokoltsev especially strongly over the past 3 years.

The most high-profile of them was, perhaps, the case of Ivan Golunov.

Journalist Ivan Golunov

The story of the detention of a journalist with "drugs" and his unexpected release after a wide public resonance resulted in the loss of positions for a number of subordinates of Minister Kolokoltsev.

In the middle of June, 2019, the President of Russia dismissed Yuri Devyatkin, head of the Main Directorate for Drug Control of the Moscow Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Andrey Puchkov, head of the Directorate of Internal Affairs for the Western District of Moscow. This was reported by TASS.

Then Head of the press service of Petrovka, 38 Yuri Titov left his post: Colonel Titov was convicted of publishing false photos in the case of journalist Golunov.

Former head of the press service of Petrovka, 38 Yuri Titov

And immediately 5 police officers became involved in a criminal case of abuse of power.

But even after the high-profile case of journalist Golunov, Minister Kolokoltsev remained sitting in his seat.

Polovnikov and Romanov case

But here's what's even more surprising: just the next day after the Government's resignation, General Kolokoltsev's reputation was dealt another, but very serious blow: the Head of the Komi Ministry of Internal Affairs, General Viktor Polovnikov, was detained on suspicion of taking a bribe of 25 million rubles. This was reported by RBC.

He has been the head of the Republican Department since 2015. Before that, he served as Deputy Head of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the far Eastern Federal district.

Former Head of the Komi Ministry of Internal Affairs, General Viktor Polovnikov

And even this emergency could not send General Kolokoltsev to resign. Kolokoltsev remained in the building on Zhitnaya street.

But during Kolokoltsev's reassignment to the post of Interior Minister, there were rumours that it was temporary. And the post of Minister will soon be occupied by the Head of the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, General Alexander Romanov, especially since last February Vladimir Putin awarded Alexander Romanov the title of Colonel-General of Justice. The Moscow Post wrote about this.

But on April 2, 2020, there was a huge emergency in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a kind of ninth wave went towards the Ministry of Internal Affairs: Deputy Heads of the Investigative Department of the MIA General Alexander Biryukov and General Alexander Krakovsky were arrested. The third in this company was General Alexander Bryantsev.

General Alexander Romanov

The decision to initiate criminal proceedings under the article "Abuse of official authority" was signed personally by Head of the IC, General Alexander Bastrykin.

According to the investigation, the accused for mercenary purposes helped to soften the measure of restraint to the person involved in a high-profile fraud case Albert Khudoyan.

What happened next? Vladimir Putin by decree deprived General Romanov of his position, and Vladimir Kolokoltsev dismissed the General from the authorities.

Head of the IC, General of Justice Alexander Bastrykin

So the main competitor of the unsinkable (so far, at least) General Kolokoltsev was eliminated.

40 bags with money

What happens in the labyrinths of Minister Kolokoltsev's "diocese" sometimes looks like cheap vaudeville. The arrest of Head of the Public Service and Personnel Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow Egor Panov belongs to this category of the theatrical action. They found... 2 tons of money at his place. This was reported by Express-Gazeta.

The investigation took place in the framework of a criminal case on the sale of posts.

Investigators searched the office, the apartment and the country house of Mr. Panov. More than 40 bags of money were found. Only rubles were in the bags, euros and dollars were laid out separately.

This is what was found… How much can there be where it wasn't found?

After some time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs issued a denial about the searches in the office and in the house of Panov. And he called on journalists to observe "information hygiene." This, in particular, was reported by REN-TV.

It turns out that the case was "covered up"?

Case of Yevgeny Kuzin

Another high-profile arrest and detention in the Ministry of Internal Affairs was covered by almost all Federal media. This is about an employee of the Main Directorate for Criminal Investigation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Deputy Head of the Crime Detection Department Yevgeny Kuzin.

Yevgeny Kuzin was accused of taking a bribe of 300 thousand dollars. The case against Kuzin were opened on January 29, the criminal case was also instituted against a certain Igor Frolov. Mr. Frolov was accused of mediating bribery. This was reported by TASS.

At the end of last year, 2019, Kuzin received through Frolov more than 25 million rubles from a certain Amadyan. The money was received for the fact that operational search measures were not carried out in relation to this person.

Igor Frolov is allegedly former FSS employee who was dismissed from the authorities several years ago. Kuzin and Frolov divided the money received from the thief-in-law Miron. This is about Miron Amadyan, who is also known as Dmitry Chanturia. He is a second nephew of the thief-in-law Aslan Usoyan, aka "Ded Khasan", who was killed in January 2013. RBC wrote about this in detail.

In this high-profile case Head of the Fifth Department for the Main Directorate of Criminal Investigation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Denis Bednarsky and Head of the Department of the Main Directorate for Criminal Investigation of the Ministry of Internal Afairs Oleg Agaev were also arrested. This was reported by Gazeta.ru.

Bednarsky's involvement in the crime could not be proved. And they let him go. Oleg Agaev was charged.

It is funny there, in the Ministry of Internal Affairs...

Alexander Melnikov case

Another high-profile arrest. This is about former First Deputy Head of the Main Directorate for Public Safety and Coordination of Interaction with Executive Bodies of the Constituent Entities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Major General Alexander Melnikov. He was arrested in September 2019. The General was accused of stealing 100 million rubles from one of the capital's businessmen. This was reported by Interfax.

Later, new corruption charges were brought against General Melnikov. The Investigative Committee of Russia additionally charges him with attempting to take a bribe for the same amount. This charge weighed down not only General Melnikov, but also three of his accomplices.

The Basmanny Court extended General Melnikov's arrest period until August 24, 2020.

General's accomplice, Andrey Frolov, was also left in detention centre.

According to investigators, Melnikov, Frolov, and two acquaintances of the General - some Vikol and Vikov offered to buy off the merchant from the criminal case. He agreed, but ratted on Melnikov and his assistants to the Main Directorate of Internal Security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The extortionists were taken immediately after receiving the models with millions.

Why does General Kolokoltsev continue to "conduct" the Ministry of Internal Affairs?

Even when Kolokoltsev was appointed to the post of Interior Minister, he was called a "passing Minister". General Kolokoltsev seemed to have to put in order the Ministry that had passed to him by "inheritance" with all the scandals from Rashid Nurgaliev.

General Kolokoltsev was expected to resign in 2014 after the defeat of the Main Directorate of economic security and combating the corruption, as well as after the high-profile arrest of General Sugrobov. Again past! Then they started talking about the resignation of the Interior Minister in 2016 after the exposure of the billionaire Colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko. Past.

In 2018, his possible successor, Governor of the Yaroslavl region Dmitry Mironov, spoke out about the departure of General Kolokoltsev as a practically decided question. Again, the resignation was not confirmed.

In 2019, there was a high-profile case of journalist Golunov. Once again, Minister Kolokoltsev got away with it.

So what, in the end, prevents the dismissal of an arrogant General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs?

Pressuring journalists

And finally, about the attitude of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to us, journalists. There is a real "black" hole here.

Today, apparently, it was on the orders of General Kolokoltsev after the publication of a number of sharp journalistic investigations about the "achievements" of Head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin, that the Ministry of Internal Affairs began to press The Moscow Post.

And the senior investigator of the Second Department of Inquiry of the Moscow Police Department Kirill Leonov recently informed Chief Editor of The Moscow Post Alexey Kozlov about the initiation of a second criminal case concerning the "space" publications of The Moscow Post.

As we believe, Rogozin, General Director of Roscosmos, butted heads with independent journalists and complained to Minister Kolokoltsev.

General Kolokoltsev gave the "go-ahead" to use "guns": and senior investigator Kirill Leonov reported the first criminal case to The Moscow Post lawyer Alexander Changli back in May. Then Mr. Rogozin took offense at our journalistic investigations "Is Rogozin the "undertaker" of Russian space?" and "Double-energy robbery." Later it became known that Rogozin was furious after the publication of "Musk dumping, Rogozin is indignant".

But there are plenty of publications by various media about Roscosmos failed cases. "Boulders" fly to Dmitry Rogozin's space "garden" almost every day, but the Chief of Roscosmos purposefully makes The Moscow Post an object for criminal cases, since we also write about Rogozin's family business, in particular, about the murky activity of the son of the Head of Roscosmos, Alexey Rogozin.

But we also write about the business of the son of Interior Minister Alexander Kolokoltsev.

The editorial Board of The Moscow Post appealed for protection to the Union of Journalists of the Russian Federation and personally to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Igor Krasnov.

Waiting for answers. And long-awaited news.

One last thing. The author of these lines has been waiting for more than 16 months for Kolokoltsev's office to open a criminal case against Vladimir Zaitsev, who beat the journalist during the attack, smashed her face and broke glasses. This was narrated by the journalistic investigation The Moscow Post Journalist beaten. Sobyanin silent.

The Babushkinsky police Department, having dismissed the inactive district police officer A. Danielyan (they have managed only such a victim so far), deliberately slows down the case since April 2019. Head of the Babushkinsky Department of Internal Affairs A. Kovtonyuk sends replies that injuries are… insignificant. And this is when you lose two teeth and have medical documents from the emergency room. Is this humiliation? Or is it also an "order" from some place in the Ministry of Internal Affairs? By the way, the police can't find a new district police officer for several months. It turns out, as the Head of Babushkinsky District Police Department V. Popkov admitted, 'this is a very big problem'...

Isn't it time to solve all these "big problems" that are making the whole country "feverish"?