Scientists did not find any traces of theft
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In Kamchatka, consideration of an appeal in a high-profile case began, in which several employees of the Kronotsky Reserve were sentenced to imprisonment for terms of three to five years. In the summer, they were found guilty of embezzling more than 450 million rubles allocated for cleaning up the protected area from Soviet man-made waste. The defense demands the annulment of the verdict, based on data conducted by specialists from Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov, Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Volgograd University for Expertise. Scientists did not find traces of the burial of harmful substances in the protected area, which were announced by the investigation.
On Monday, the Kamchatka Regional Court began considering an appeal against a guilty verdict against a group of employees of the Kronotsky Reserve. We are talking about the theft of state funds allocated in 2015 under the federal target program for the elimination of environmental damage to the protected area. The tender was won by Ecology. A year later, the management of the reserve reported that more than 1,000 tons of garbage and barrels with fuel residues, as well as soil contaminated with oil products, were removed from the territory. In 2018, Ecology director Vitaliy Drozd was detained on suspicion of extortion and fraud, and this situation had nothing to do with the reserve. Having made a deal with the investigation, the businessman stated that he allegedly participated in the theft of budget money intended for cleaning up the Kronotsky nature reserve. The investigation concluded that Ecology won the tender illegally, and the cost of waste removal was overstated several times. Moreover, according to the investigation, a significant part of the garbage was buried on the territory of the reserve. The deputy director of the reserve, Alexander Ilyin, also made a deal and testified against his colleagues. Vitaly Drozd and Alexander Ilyin pleaded guilty to embezzlement and were convicted in a special order in 2020 under Part 4 of Art. 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, having received suspended sentences.
After some time, the defendants in the case were the employees of the reserve – Deputy Director for Science and Tourism Roman Korchigin, Head of the Scientific Department, Candidate of Sciences Daria Panicheva, Deputy Director for Finance Oksana Terekhova and Deputy Director for General Affairs Nikolai Pozdnyakov. The former director of the reserve, Tikhon Shpilenok, who had died by that time, was declared the leader of the organized criminal group. Other employees were charged with embezzlement in the amount of 454.6 million rubles, which the contractor admitted to stealing. In July of this year, the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky City Court found the aforementioned employees of the Kronotsky Reserve guilty of embezzlement using their official position, organized by a group, on an especially large scale. They were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to five and a half years. The court also satisfied the prosecutor’s claim in the amount of 454.6 million rubles. and the claim of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation in the amount of 16.8 million rubles. on the recovery of the damage caused from the defendants in the criminal case.
Kronotsky Reserve of Russia covers an area of more than 1.1 million hectares. There are eight active volcanoes, thermal lakes, the famous Valley of Geysers, waterfalls and other natural objects. The reserve is a UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage Site. Until the middle of the 20th century, exploration work was carried out on part of the protected areas and military units were located. The sites received a protected status in the late 1960s. By that time, the land was contaminated with tons of oil and oil products, abandoned equipment and machinery.
The appeals, as was announced on Monday at the court session, took up almost ten volumes. The parties began by discussing mainly organizational and technical issues, explained one of the lawyers representing the interests of the convicts, Denis Saushkin. Thus, the powers of the defenders were determined and a schedule of court hearings for the next two months was drawn up. In addition, the court granted the petition to involve the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation to participate in the case. Earlier, the department was recognized as the injured party, but the representative was not allowed to participate in court hearings.
According to Kommersant’s information, the results of a study of the territory of the Kronotsky Reserve, which, by order of the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources Alexander Kozlov and the order of the reserve, were carried out by specialists from the Lomonosov Moscow State University in the autumn, were attached to the appeal of the convicted scientists. M. V. Lomonosov, Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Volgograd University. The group of experts included experienced ecologists, cartographers, geomorphologists under the leadership of Doctor of Geographical Sciences Sergey Chalov. They investigated the places where, according to the investigation or according to the testimony of witnesses, objects of accumulated environmental damage were left or buried in the ground.
“The conducted comprehensive study showed the absence of mass graves of any objects (remains of foundations, metal radars and other air defense equipment, metal containers for storing fuel and lubricants, spare parts for equipment, etc.) within the surveyed areas of the Kronotsky Reserve,” the conclusion says ( “Kommersant” has it).— Single objects were found: 2 barrels buried to a depth of less than 1 m, 1 iron can and a fragment of a concrete slab about 1 m in size.” Experts note that there are no “traces of earthworks” in these areas – this is confirmed by satellite images taken after the work was carried out, as well as georadar survey data.
“The department of geography has been developing a direction related to the study of the nature and ecology of the Kamchatka Territory for many years,” Moscow State University reported at Kommersant’s request to comment on the participation of representatives of the university in the examination. “In particular, Sergey Chalov directs work on hydroecological and water management topics in Kamchatka Territory, carried out jointly with the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Territory, VNIRO and its Kamchatka branch. In total, more than 20 articles have been published in peer-reviewed journals on Kamchatka during this time.” According to Mr. Chalov himself, specialists from the Faculty of Geography are regularly involved in various environmental reviews. “Activities in the field of environmental expertise are one of the most important activities of the faculty,” he specified.
At the request of the defense, a construction and technical examination was also carried out, which confirmed that the cost of most of the work corresponds to that indicated in the documents, lawyer Denis Saushkin said. Based on the documents submitted, the defense is seeking the annulment of the guilty verdict.
The next meeting is scheduled for January 16, 2023.
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