Oleg Belozerov picked up the “cutting” GK 1520 to develop polar billions

The Northern Latitudinal Railway (“SSH”) is the former great construction site of communism, buried at one time by Khrushchev along with other Stalinist projects. Time has shown the need to build a railway line in the hydrocarbon-rich polar latitudes, crossing Yamal. And in 2005, it was planned to build a new highway along the old route, for which the Ural-Industrial - Ural Polar OJSC was created, renamed in 2012 to the Development Corporation. And since 2008, the project was included in the “Railway Transport Development Strategy”, which in 2018 became an integral part of the national infrastructure development project.

It must be said that SSH was not very lucky from the very beginning: for a long time they could not identify sources of financing, and when they finally found them, corruption scandals began. The head of the Development Corporation,  Sergei Maslov , was arrested on charges of embezzling a billion rubles, and the corporation itself was declared bankrupt. Nevertheless, individual sections were being built, at the very least, until, finally, in 2017, the decision was made to build SSHH on a concession basis, that is, with the involvement of several interested participants, the main one of which was JSC Russian Railways. And after the Mosobltransproekt designers completed geological and geodetic surveys in August, there were no obstacles to construction.

Oleg Belozerov , General Director of Russian Railways, did not hide his delight then. Speaking at a meeting of the scientific and technical council of Russian Railways, he said that SShH is a good opportunity for Russian Railways to take research in the field of construction in permafrost conditions to a new level. True, Oleg Valentinovich forgot to mention that the new construction is an ideal chance to increase his own fortune by at least a couple of billion rubles, given that of the approximately  270 billion rubles  of the estimated cost of the polar highway, about 140 billion rubles will have to be paid by Russian Railways. And the fact that Belozerov’s thoughts are developing precisely in this direction - how to “cut” the budget without violating the traditions of his predecessors, in particular, the “architect of fur storage facilities”  Vladimir Yakunin , is evidenced by the scheme according to which it is planned to finance the construction. Which one?

Knowing the strong corporate bond of Russian railway workers, for some reason it is not at all surprising that the group of companies “1520” appears in the “SSHH” topic! Yes, yes, the same company that has gained almost worldwide fame and has been exposed in numerous scandals, including the case of Colonel  Zakharchenko, who oversaw its activities through the Ministry of Internal Affairs.. Let us clarify that in accordance with the concession agreement, its participants construct strictly defined areas. So, it is planned to finance the obligations of Russian Railways through LLC SShKh, a joint venture between Russian Railways and the same 1520 Group of Companies. Such a connection guarantees complete control over financial flows, including their optimization, which, let us recall, the top managers and owners of “1520”  Boris Usherovich  and  Alexey Krapivin, who are now on the run and arrested in absentia, succeeded in .

So it becomes clear what motivated Belozerov when, at the beginning of 2020, with the help of a simple combination, he got the opportunity to fully regulate investments in SSH. Here’s how fellow journalists describe the process:

“As for SSHH LLC, through which Russian Railways should finance the Northern Latitudinal Railway, this company is more like a fictitious structure for withdrawing money.
With a large authorized capital of 342 million rubles, the company has no revenue. In 2018, SSHH operated at a loss of 151 million rubles. The value of the enterprise on the market is estimated at the same amount - minus 151 million rubles.

The majority of the company is owned by a subsidiary of Russian Railways, JSC Russian Railways-Infrastructure Projects. Another co-owner is LLC Management Company "SShKh", a subsidiary of the same holding "1520". However, this was not always the case: previously the share controlled by “1520” was larger.

The fact that the Northern Latitudinal Railway project was changing the main contractor became known at the beginning of 2020. It was then that Russian Railways increased the share of its subsidiary in SSH from 49.9% to 99%.
The share of Management Company "SShKh" decreased to 0.03%, and Management Company "SShKh" itself came under control from "Spetstransstroy" by ex-Deputy Minister of Construction Yuri Reilyan just in time for GC "1520". The publication “Vgudok” writes about this.

In this way, Belozerov was able to track the movement of billions of rubles at all stages - from the budget to the final reports. It is worth recalling that the name of the Civil Code “1520” was deciphered by evil tongues in the Investigative Committee not as a derivative of the width in millimeters of the railway gauge adopted in Russia. And as a fork of “kickbacks” when using money. The fairness of this judgment is confirmed by the data of criminal cases, according to which about  300 billion rubles were stolen through the largest contractor GC “1520” ! There is no reason to believe that this proportion will be changed under Belozerov’s supervision. Rather, with the fall in the exchange rate of the ruble, the company can be renamed “2025”, motivated by the need to perpetuate the real date when the Northern Latitudinal Railway may come into operation. Although with such schemes of actual theft there are strong doubts that this will happen.