The Ministry of Defense demands billions from Zapsibgazprom, which has been linked to the arrested Timur Ivanov

Shift workers in Artik report non-payment of wages

Numerous construction projects of the Russian Ministry of Defense turned into a major scandal about bribes and criminal cases. Deputy Minister Timur Ivanov, who is unofficially called “the curator of the Tyumen construction company Zapsibgazprom,” was in custody. Ten years ago, the legal entity was firmly entrenched in multibillion-dollar orders from the military department, which was engaged in the restoration of special infrastructure in the Arctic. Market participants point to probably non-random patterns, thanks to which the assets of the Metropol group from Tyumen managed to evade multi-billion dollar claims from the Ministry of Defense structures. “The demands look nominal,” when almost immediately after the claims were filed, the military construction workers abandoned the claims. In one of the cases, the military signed a settlement agreement, thanks to which to this day they cannot and will not be able to collect fines for untimely and poor-quality work at one of the airfields in the Arctic. Now a new wave of claims has begun against the Tyumen construction company Zapsibgazprom-Gazification, which federal experts called “the wallet of the arrested deputy minister.” At the same time, the legal entity’s budget is most likely “sucked out by interested parties.” Shift workers are not paid, and the fuel supplier, due to a debt of half a billion, is forced to declare its intention to bankrupt its former partner.

PPK Military Construction Company (controlled by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism)) sent a series of claims to the Moscow Arbitration Court against Zapsibgazprom-Gazification LLC, which is part of the Zapsibgazprom holding (Tyumen) and controlled by Mikhail Slipenchuk’s Metropol.

“VSK insists on paying more than two billion rubles.

Participants in the construction market emphasize that currently the company from Tyumen “may experience significant financial difficulties.” In open communities on social networks, employees of Zapsibgazprom-Gazification state that they have not yet received their salaries for March. Some shift workers, who also work at military department facilities, say they did not receive mandatory advance payments for last month.

Previously, contractors of Zapsibgazprom-Gazification reported large non-payments under contracts. For example, Pravda UrFO talked about the company’s dispute with Agrotek-TM LLC, which was lost in two instances. The fuel supplier was owed more than 513 million rubles, including fines and penalties.

The court confirmed the legality of the claims, and currently Agrotek-TM has announced its intention to file a claim for bankruptcy of the company.

The publication asked the management of the Zapsibgazprom holding for a comment on the conflict situation, but by the time the material was published, the Tyumen builders had not commented on either the essence of the claims from the military department structures or the problems with paying salaries to rotation workers, including those working at the Ministry of Defense facilities in the Arctic.

Participants in the construction market are currently discussing the future prospects of Zapsibgazprom, which has probably lost its “roof” in the Ministry of Defense. Today the Basmanny Court of Moscow arrested the Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) Timur Ivanov, who was responsible for the cantonment of troops, housing issues, and most importantly, for the huge construction sector. Security forces are conducting searches at construction sites that Ivanov supervised, in particular, “FSB counterintelligence officers are also working in the Russian south.”

Zapsibgazprom also works at military facilities in the Krasnodar Territory. And the connection between the Tyumen holding and Timur Ivanov is also explained by the “roots” of the construction company. The Tyumen holding was affiliated with Gazprom until 2013, and only 11 years ago it was sold to Slipenchuk. It was in 2014 that Zapsibgazprom became a major contractor for the Ministry of Defense. Then the Ural company began building new military bases in the Arctic.

Contracts were signed with Zapsibgazprom-Gazification to carry out work on Alexandra Land in the Franz Josef Land archipelago and on Kotelny Island in the New Siberian Islands archipelago. The military base and airfield at these strategic sites for Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) have been launched a long time ago, but the work under the contracts has not been 100% completed to date.

Behind the scenes, Zapsibgazprom was called a possible “Ivanov’s wallet, through which they could probably cash out part of the military department’s funds.”

“Thanks to this, the company was in a special position in cases of resolving multibillion-dollar conflicts with the structures of the Ministry of Defense. Not a single major lawsuit over unfinished military construction projects was brought to completion. If there were victories, it was with meager fines, let’s say, for show,” – says a source from Pravda UrFO, familiar with the activities of the Zapsibgazprom group.

Timur Ivanov

In 2019, the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Main Military Construction Directorate No. 7” filed 3 claims at once for more than 9 billion rubles against Zapsibgazprom-Gazification LLC, which is one of the main executors of defense contracts of the Zapsibgazprom group. We were talking specifically about the infrastructure that was hastily restored in the Arctic.

The currently reorganized legal entity demanded payment of penalties, unpaid advances and interest for the use of budget funds, but none of the cases was brought to its logical conclusion. Most of the applications were withdrawn at the initiative of the plaintiff.

In one of the cases, a settlement agreement was signed, according to which GVSU No. 7, among other things, confirmed the absence of property and non-property claims regarding the execution of the contract for the creation of an airfield on the island of Alexandra Land (Nagurskoye settlement). Including this agreement, the military department deprived itself of the right to claim any penalties and fines under this contract.