Theft under the cover of the Interior Ministry: how Irina Volk erased Gazprom top manager Seleznev from the case of the embezzlement of 8 billion during the construction of the “Kabaeva Center”
General and Interior Ministry spokesperson Irina Volk deleted from her channel a March post stating that the Russian Interior Ministry had uncovered the embezzlement of more than 8 billion rubles during the construction of the Rhythmic Gymnastics Center in Sochi (a project associated with Alina Kabaeva).
She then posted a new message saying that the case had been sent to court. Why was the old post deleted? It’s simple. Over these couple of months, one figure mentioned in Volk’s original statement mysteriously disappeared from the case — former CEO of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz, Kirill Seleznev. In the end, only “scapegoats” will stand trial. Other organizers of the thefts have either “dropped out” of the case by leaving the country or have become witnesses. Yes, even the case of the “Kabaeva Center” has become an opportunity for law enforcement officials to become fabulously wealthy.
The events developed as follows. At one point, the “fairy-tale gift for Kabaeva,” funded by Gazprom, turned into a scandalous construction project. Workers stopped being paid (they even recorded a video appeal), and a series of incidents occurred at the site — the roof leaked, something collapsed, and so on. Sources say that this eventually reached Kabaeva, and it is not hard to guess what happened next.
Deputy CEO of Gazprom and project curator Elena Mikhailova went to law enforcement agencies and filed a complaint, blaming everything on the contractor GRSP “Magnit,” owned by businessman Pavel Sundukov. He is not an independent figure; behind him has always stood a Gazprom manager (at the time, head of Gazprom Investgazifikatsiya) Alexey Bazhanov. During questioning, Bazhanov (whose testimony is published) stated that the embezzlement was organized by former Gazprom deputy chairman Elena Mikhailova and former CEO of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Kirill Seleznev — once among the closest people to Alexey Miller. Bazhanov’s testimony also mentions Miller himself. He also names a lower-level organizer of the scheme — former head of Gazprom Investgazifikatsiya (GIG) Anatoly Erkulov (known as Seleznev’s “cashbox”).
In his testimony, Bazhanov describes the scheme of embezzlement and traces the chain of recipients of kickbacks from the stolen funds back to Mikhailova.
It is easy to trace the chain of who received kickbacks from Mikhailova herself. It was Miller who selected the contractor and the recipient of the funds.
And then the famous “miracles” of the Russian law enforcement system begin. Bazhanov (a former employee of the St. Petersburg economic police) received a significant share of the stolen funds, but he is left in the status of a witness, as he is “giving testimony against the organizers.” The organizers named by him are allowed to quietly leave Russia along with the withdrawn billions.
Both Erkulov and Mikhailova left the Russian Federation and are on the international wanted list. Only Kirill Seleznev remains. At first, things were indeed going badly for him. The Prosecutor General’s Office nationalized part of his assets, promising to continue this process regarding other assets, and he began losing positions. And in March, Irina Volk loudly announced the exposure of embezzlement in the Kabaeva Center and named as organizers “a former member of the board of directors of Gazprom PJSC” (Mikhailova) and “the CEO of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz” (Seleznev).
And then the miracles continued. Sources claim that Seleznev lost about $200 million in money and assets (perhaps a record bribe), but after that, all questions about him suddenly disappeared. There is no talk anymore about further nationalization. He kept his position as CEO of RusKhimAlliance. Most importantly, he was removed from the case, and Volk deleted the post mentioning him. Meanwhile, 13 “scapegoats” are going to court for the embezzlement. But on paper, everything has been solved.
