After the annexation of Crimea, sanctions, the fall of the ruble and the economic crisis, generous subsidies for the peninsula became the envy of most Russian regions. But in the weakening Russian economy and with decreasing growth in budget revenues, there is less and less money for beautiful gestures.
“Fat will remain, but not on the same scale”
At the end of December last year, the head of Crimea, Sergei Aksenov, announced that the FTP could be extended from 2025 to 2030, and the president decided to add funding if there are ready-made projects. Aksenov himself named the amount — 200 billion rubles. On December 28, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin added that he had asked the Russian President to extend the federal target program.
On January 3, the Russian media spread the news that by the decision of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, the implementation of the Federal Target Program ( FTP) social and economic development of Crimea and Sevastopol until 2025.
The decree of the Russian government No. 2519 of December 28, 2021 states that now the development of the peninsula will be carried out within the framework of the state program with the same name. Translated from the bureaucratic language into Russian, the essence of the changes boils down to the following:
- FTP facilities, for which contracts with contractors have already been concluded, will be financed and completed without changes;
- the state program will be supervised by a specialized deputy prime minister and a specially created body under the Ministry of Economic Development;
- control over the selection of contractors will be tightened;
- those responsible for specific projects will be appointed;
- the result will be not the percentage of funds used, but the number of facilities put into operation;
- the program can be adjusted for reasons of the feasibility of implementing projects (in other words, already approved projects may be canceled).
In addition, not all facilities already have a construction contract. On December 28, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade Sergei Nazarov said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta that about 900 objects were planned under the FTP. About 500 of them are under construction, and a little less than 50 have not started building yet.
Head of the Republic of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov at a press conference dedicated to the results of 2021. Photo: RIA Novosti
While Aksenov and Khusnullin demanded an extension of the federal target program, Sergei Nazarov said that it was too early to talk about it, since more than half of the 500 contracted objects are still under construction. “At the end of 2022, we will assess the implementation of the FTP, assess the need to include new facilities in it, then it will be clear whether it needs to be extended,” the Deputy Minister said.
Meanwhile, the press service of the Ministry of Economics «Said that» all the measures envisaged for the development of the region are preserved and will be implemented within the framework of the state program. «
The decree on the transformation of the federal target program into the state program does not contain a list of objects that are planned for the development of the region, but only general directions are indicated: education, investments, infrastructure and indicators that need to be achieved.
Professor of the Department of Social and Economic Geography, Moscow State University < strong> Natalia Zubarevich in a conversation with Novaya, she noted that the state program is only one of the forms of financing. As regards the FTP, it will stop, but these two regions have personal subsidies: Sevastopol has more than 10 billion rubles, Crimea has more than 20 billion rubles. in year. Plus, various subsidies will remain, but within the framework of the federal target program they will be reduced, the expert is sure.
“Now Crimea and Sevastopol receive 60% more from the federal budget than the national average, now there will be less money, but they will still be financed better than most other regions,” Zubarevich says. According to her, the main infrastructure projects in Crimea have been completed as a whole, but not yet in Sevastopol. That is why, according to data for the first 10 months of 2021, the republic has already cut the volume of transfers by 20%, while Sevastopol, on the contrary, has increased it, while maintaining funding in the same volume.
— There is no endless holiday, — says Natalia Zubarevich. —
Yes, they will still be better fed than other subjects, but not as smart. Fat will remain, but not on the same scale.
Former head of the Sevastopol Development Corporation Oleg Nikolaev in a conversation with Novaya Gazeta noted that he considers the termination of the federal target program and the emergence of a separate state program to increase the priority of the development of Crimea and Sevastopol.
— Apparently, regional oversights and the lack of tangible results from the implementation of federal target programs in Crimea and Sevastopol forced Moscow to completely change the approach and mechanisms for bringing budget funds. Most likely, the management structure of the state program should also change, — says Oleg Nikolaev. — It is possible that the FTP directorate, created on the peninsula, under an already irrelevant form of administration, is living out its last days.
Generous advances and no fraud
While the rest of the regions were tightening their belts, starting in 2014, money from the federal budget poured into the peninsula as if from a cornucopia. And these injections have increased by hundreds of billions annually.
Infographics: Alexey Komarov /» New «
Disbursement rates in Crimea and Sevastopol were almost always in the region of 80–99%. Beautiful figures for reporting from the authorities of Crimea and Sevastopol were obtained thanks to the following scheme. In the middle of each year, the FTP was adjusted. The peninsula was not only generously added another several hundred billions for development, but also postponed the completion and start of construction of dozens of facilities to another year. For example, the authorities of Sevastopol in 2020 postponed the construction of facilities in the amount of 3.6 billion rubles, and in the Republic of Crimea — 12.8 billion rubles.
As a result, the amount that initially had to be spent on construction decreased, and the percentage of funds disbursed increased significantly.
The second trick of officials is generous advances at the end of the year.
For example, at the end of 2021, the authorities of Sevastopol signed large contracts for amounts ranging from 100 million to 5 billion rubles with an advance payment of 50 to 90%. Practically nothing has been done yet, and the cash (that is, paid) execution of the FTP already exceeds 10 billion rubles. And this is if you do not take into account more modest contracts in the amount of 1 million to 100 million rubles. Thus, if in the middle of autumn the percentage of disbursement of FTP funds sometimes ranged from 5–20%, then by the end of December there was a quantum leap and quite successful 80–90% appeared. delivery dates, contractors changed.
Crimean social activist Alexander Talipov, in a conversation with Novaya Gazeta, noted that the change of the federal target program to the state program is a kind of assessment of the effectiveness of the peninsula's leadership, and it is negative. This is an additional tool for controlling Moscow — from design to commissioning, he is sure. And also a filter when selecting objects of greatest social importance.
Alexander Talipov. Photos from social networks
— So that there are no such moments when they report that the development of the federal target program for the year is 99.3%, although there are objects that have not even begun to be built, or they have not been commissioned, or will never be completed, Talipov explains. — In 2016, a water pipeline was reconstructed in Old Crimea, it has not yet been commissioned and is unlikely to ever be commissioned.
Bribe, arrest — romance
Large federal subsidies have led to regular embezzlement of budget funds. The contractors chosen in a hurry could not cope, and sometimes, together with the officials, they sat down on the dock. Novaya Gazeta has already written about the biggest corruption scandals.
All the curators of the FTP in the Republic of Crimea fell under criminal cases, taking several ministers with them:
- In February 2017, FSB and TFR officers detained Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic Oleg Kazurin. He was accused of accepting a bribe of 27 million rubles and sentenced to 11 years and 6 months in prison;
- in October 2018, Kazurin's successor, Vitaly Nakhlupin, was detained. He is accused of taking bribes worth 16 million rubles;
- On September 24, 2021, the security forces detained the third Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the FTP — Yevgeny Kabanov. He is suspected of fraud worth 57.5 million rubles during the construction of a water pipeline.
Dozens of officials in Crimea have fallen under the skating rink of criminal cases related to the federal target program over 8 years: ministers, their deputies, mayors … Bribes controlled by high-ranking officials of the company, fraud, overstatement of the budget result in missed deadlines and poor-quality execution of multibillion-dollar contracts.
In Sevastopol, there are fewer arrests of officials than in Crimea, but they are thundering all over the country. The top 5 most scandalous stories can be singled out.
Construction of a ring gas pipeline in Sevastopol for 460 million rubles. started in 2017, but never finished, although they managed to build a fifth of the pipeline. The next year, problems began with the contractor, workers went on strike over non-payment of wages. As a result, construction stopped, and in 2019 the authorities canceled the contract. Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev said that the project was of poor quality, ordered a new project and promised that construction would begin at the end of 2020. Then the project was postponed until 2023.
Contract for 6.7 billion rubles. for the construction of treatment facilities «Yuzhnye» were signed at the end of December 2017 without treasury support and gave an advance payment of 2 billion rubles. Two weeks later, the money disappeared in the bursting bank, and the contractor managed to spend more than 700 million rubles. for purposes, as suggested by investigators, not related to construction. The contract was also terminated, and the head of the department, Mikhail Tarasov, and the general director of the contractor company Biotechprogress, Denis Petrov, received seven years in prison. In the summer of 2019, the remaining 2 billion rubles were allocated from the reserve fund of the Russian government. In September 2020, the head of Sevastopol, Razvozhaev, announced that a new contract for 8.5 billion rubles had been signed. with LLC Regional Construction Company. She was given an advance payment of 4.25 billion rubles.
True, in a year and a half, the only achievement of the new contractor is the foundation of the administrative building. In the meantime, the «patriotic capital of Russia» is still pouring sewage into the sea.
on the main gas pipeline Simferopol-Sevastopol. Photo: RIA Novosti
Reconstruction of the embankment them. Valentina Tereshkova in Evpatoria for 700 million rubles. started in 2018. The Kashtak company won the tender and received a tranche of 500 million. The contractor started work, but did not complete it. Some of the facilities were built with violations, and the amount of unreasonable costs, according to the Crimean treasury, amounted to 240 million rubles.
A criminal case was opened, and the contractor left for Ukraine. The Crimean authorities decided to «redesign» the embankment. The cost of the reconstruction increased to 1.7 billion rubles. Once again, the reconstruction is promised to be resumed already in 2022.
Construction of a puppet theater in the center of Simferopol for 930 million rubles. started in 2018 and was supposed to end in December 2019. But in March 2020, Sergei Aksenov said that «the contractor has problems with money.» The contract with Meander LLC was terminated, and the company's management soon became involved in a criminal case. In place of the theater — unfinished. It was he who became the reason for the arrest of the Minister of Culture of Crimea Arina Novoselskaya. The ex-official is suspected of taking a bribe of 25 million rubles. from «Meander».
In 2017, a contract was signed for the reconstruction of Historical Boulevard in Sevastopol worth more than RUB 433 million. This is one of the most iconic historical sites in the city, where part of the fortifications from the Crimean War of 1853-1856 is located. The contractor LLC «Meander» was paid 60% of the advance in the amount of 307 million rubles. The contractor hired a subcontractor who did some of the work and then refused to pay the money. The reconstruction stopped in 2018. In the fall of 2020, the Moscow company Ravelin LLC undertook to complete the construction for 125 million rubles. Six months later, the contract was terminated, and the contractor admitted that it was impossible to implement the project: the technical conditions were irrelevant.
In October 2021, a third contractor was found — the Moscow company Promstroyservis with an authorized capital of 10 thousand rubles, which costs 110 million has to reconstruct only part of the objects located on the boulevard.
And this is only a small part. If you do not speak in the dry language of numbers and economic indicators, then this is the loss of water from 50 to 80% in leaky pipes that have not yet been replaced, a shortage of places in schools, kindergartens and hospitals, sewage that flows into the sea, because until now there are no sewage treatment plants, broken roads that the officials did not reach, the unfinished eighth stage of the Tavrida highway near Sevastopol, where huge traffic jams are formed on the way to the airport … And dozens of other facilities that have not been built within the FTP for 8 years .
“Unlike the FTP, the State Program does not have a deadline for implementation,” said the economic observer Viktor Yadukha in a conversation with Novaya…. In addition, before the program parameters had to be changed at the very top. Now, to save time and money, this level has been lowered to Deputy Prime Minister Khusnullin and Deputy Head of the Ministry of Economics Nazarov. If 50 objects have not yet begun to be built, but 150 have begun, but crookedly and on paper, it will be easier to cancel. Or combine it with commercial buildings — it is no coincidence that their lobbyist Khusnullin has been appointed to oversee Crimea, «the expert said.
Victor Yadukha. Photo: forpostsevastopol.ru
This fits into the logic of optimizing government spending, explains Viktor Yadukha. “Since 2014, money has been poured into Crimea with a view to public-private partnership, and a free economic zone has been created. But before the new year, the Ministry of Economics tweaked the results and lowered the forecast for private investment by 25%: well, business is not going to Crimea. And not only because of the sanctions — how many startups have already burst out there because of greed and raiding. ”
— Starting this year, the state has been cutting spending on social services, transferring it to developers. But to put it formally: how much they will invest in kindergartens and schools is not spelled out anywhere — let the governor bargain with them, if he can, — explains Viktor Yadukha. — In Sevastopol I could not: the renovation was pushed through there and a lot of land for building was given for 127 thousand new residents — and the city will build social services and communications. As in all Putin's reforms — this is such a game of thimbles, when you do not understand what kind of glass the ball is under.