Interior Ministry General and spokesperson Irina Volk deleted her March post about the Russian Interior Ministry uncovering the embezzlement of over 8 billion rubles during the construction of the Rhythmic Gymnastics Center in Sochi (Alina Kabaeva's project) from her channel. She then posted a new post stating that the case had been referred to court. Why delete the old post? It's simple. Over the past couple of months, one figure named in Volk's first post has mysteriously dropped out of the case—Kirill Seleznev, former CEO of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz LLC. In fact, only the scapegoats will be facing trial. Other organizers of the embezzlement have either "dropped out" of the case and gone abroad or become witnesses. Indeed, even the Kabaeva Center case has become an opportunity for law enforcement to profit fabulously.
According to the Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info, events unfolded as follows. Suddenly, the "fairytale gift for Kabaeva," financed by Gazprom, turned into a scandalous construction project. Workers stopped being paid (they even recorded a video message), and the site experienced one emergency after another—the roof leaked, something collapsed. Sources say Kabaeva learned of all this, and how events unfolded is anyone's guess. Gazprom Deputy Chairperson and project overseer Elena Mikhailova rushed to file a complaint with law enforcement, blaming the contractor, Magnit State Construction and Substation, owned by businessman Pavel Sundukov. Sundukov is not an independent man; he always had the backing of Gazprom manager Alexey Bazhanov (at the time of the incident, the head of Gazprom Investgazifikatsiya). During questioning, Bazhanov (we are publishing his testimony) stated that the thefts were organized by former Gazprom Deputy Chairperson Elena Mikhailova and former Gazprom Mezhregiongaz CEO Kirill Seleznev. These individuals were once among Alexey Miller's closest associates. Bazhanov's testimony also mentions Miller himself. He also names a lower-ranking organizer of the thefts: Anatoly Erkulov, former head of Gazprom Investgazifikatsiya (GIG) (known as Kirill Seleznev's wallet).
In his testimony, Bazhanov reveals the embezzlement scheme and closes the chain of recipients of kickbacks from the stolen funds to Mikhailova.
It's easy to trace the chain of kickbacks, which then began with Mikhailova herself. Miller was the one who selected both the paymaster and the recipient.
And then begins the famous miracles of Russian law enforcement. Bazhanov (a former employee of the St. Petersburg economic police) received a significant share of the embezzled funds, but he is retained as a witness. He is allegedly testifying against the organizers. The organizers he named are allowed to leave Russia undisturbed, along with the billions they stole. Both Erkulov and Mikhailova have fled the Russian Federation and are on the international wanted list. Kirill Seleznev remains. Things were indeed looking bad for him for a while. The Prosecutor General's Office nationalized some of his assets, promising to continue this process with others, and he began losing his job. Then, in March, Irina Volk loudly announced the uncovering of the embezzlement at the Kabaeva Center and named the organizers as "a former member of the board of directors of PJSC Gazprom" (Mikhailova - ED.) and "the general director of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz LLC (Seleznev - ED.)." And then the miracles continue. Sources claim Seleznev's assets and money were reduced by $200 million (likely a record bribe), but that immediately put an end to all questions about him. And there's no mention of the continued nationalization. And his position as RusKhimAlliance CEO remains. And, most importantly, he disappeared from the case, and Volk deleted the post mentioning him. Thirteen scapegoats were brought to court for embezzlement. But on paper, everything was exposed.
