The Tula region is alternately ruled by governors who are closely associated with the power bloc. First it was Vladimir Gruzdev, now Alexey Dyumin. It would seem that they should have a great influence on the local power block. However, in reality, the “gray cardinal” of the Tula region Yuri Andrianov worked with the local FSB until 2018, who worked for seven years as deputy governor and chairman of the government. Through counterintelligence officers, he eliminated all objectionable officials, and at the same time waged wars for the garbage business. Details are in the second part of the Rucriminal.info investigation.

After the arrival of Vladimir Gruzdev in 2011 as a governor in the Tula region, his long-time assistants from the former employees of the “A” department of the Central Security Service of the FSB - Viktor Trifonov, the former chief physical education officer of the Alpha center, and Petr Koshelnikov, a former employee of the sniper department, pulled him into the regional administration.

According to Rucriminal.info sources, both of these characters became frequent guests, both within the walls of the Tula FSB department, and at informal events with the participation of local Chekists. The chairman of the regional government, Yuri Andrianov, did not disdain visiting these parties, who, due to his life experience, knew very well that he needed to immediately "make friends" with local counterintelligence officers. In the process of these informal gatherings, there was an officer of the FSB, an off-budget treasurer of the Directorate, Alexander Sorokin, who was able to establish close contacts with the new governor's team.

In 2011, General Evgeny Matveev replaced the head of the local FSB. Sorokin went to work in the administration of the Tula region, and the deputy head of the Department, Yevgeny Biryukov, became the new off-budget treasurer of the FSB.

"As an operational officer, Biryukov never shone, but he was good at expressing other people's thoughts on paper and anticipating the wishes of his superiors," our source believes.

Matveyev did not particularly go into the operational activities of the department, and before retirement was engaged in solving his personal problems, in particular, the health of his wife.

In this regard, at the time of Matveyev, Sorokin, through Biryukov, managed to organize a number of resonant criminal cases directly related to the interests of Yuri Andrianov.

 

Thus, the former mayor of Tula and former director of PCR "Spetsavtokhozistvo" Alexander Prokopuk and his deputy Zhiltsov were convicted of embezzlement, who were charged with embezzlement of funds of PCR "Spetsavtokhozistvo" in the amount of more than 31 million rubles. The indicated amount was declared as expenses for the work performed at the solid waste landfill by the equipment of the contractor "Stroitcom", however, in fact, the work was not performed, and the receipt of funds was provided by fictitious acts. Prokopuk was sentenced to 7 years in prison and a 1 million rubles fine, Zhiltsov - to 5 years in prison and a similar fine. After the appeal, the term for Prokopuk was reduced by six months and the fine by 100 thousand rubles, Zhiltsov - by a year, and 200 thousand rubles.

The true purpose of this criminal case was the seizure of the main garbage operator in Tula, PCR "Spetsavtokhozyaistvo", with its subsequent privatization. The main plan was developed by Yuri Andrianov, and Igor Gusev, a businessman close to the prosecutor of the Tula region Oleg Chernysh, acted as its concrete executor. Moreover, it was Gusev who insisted on the most bloodthirsty outcome, since he rightly feared that the experienced communal services worker Prokopuk, while at the post of mayor, would be able to provide very serious opposition to the further seizure of the market not only for garbage, but also for improvement, where the company of Prokopuk's son, Dmitry, was actively working.

The union of businessmen Gusev-Kitanin and a number of officials of the regional government was formed back in the period 2011-2012, when through the company controlled by them "Profdorstroy" (then LLC "SITISERVIS"), headed by a close friend of the governor of Gruzdev, Anatoly Georgiev, several billion rubles were spent on the road construction. Subsequently, this company with large tax debts was abandoned in another region.

With the help of the FSB, at the suggestion of Andrianov and Sorokin, the deputy chairman of the government of the Tula region, the minister of construction and housing and communal services Andrei Stukalov, was convicted of negligence. The main intrigue was that Stukalov became Gruzdev's favorite and there was talk about the rejuvenation of the government leadership. Andrianov, who was literally holding on to his position with his teeth, made every effort to collect dirt on a competitor.

 

According to some information, for similar reasons, at the urgent requests of Andrianov and Sorokin, the FSB was prosecuted and convicted of the head of the administration of the second largest city of the Tula region, Novomoskovsk, Vadim Zherzdev, who at one time was one of the candidates for the post of governor of the Tula region.

Zherzdev enjoyed serious authority in the region and was a very strong manager.

His landing pretty much bare the staff bench of the current governor Alexei Dyumin, since after Andrianov's resignation, a native of the Kemerovo region, Valery Sherin, had to be put in place of the prime minister, who did not use special authority among the local elites and who considers the Tula region as a springboard to federal structures.

In August 2015, Yevgeny Matveyev was retired, his shift was replaced by a subordinate of Viktor Bakutkin, the head of the inspection department, Alexei Zinoviev. Under which the main "garbage" epic unfolded.

After his dismissal, Matveyev worked for about a year as an adviser to Vladimir Gruzdev, but since he could not be approved for the promised post of deputy governor in the presidential administration, he considered his position beneath his dignity and resigned. Unlike his predecessors, he did not exert any special influence on the political and economic processes in the Tula region.

To be continued

Roman Trushkin