Prosecutor of Buryatia Valery Petrov has been appointed chief military prosecutor of Russia - bmpd. Prosecutor of Buryatia Valery Petrov appointed chief military prosecutor of Russia
Prosecutor of Buryatia Valery Petrov was appointed chief military prosecutor of Russia
Photo (c) Number One
As Kommersant reports, the Federation Council at a plenary meeting appointed Buryatia prosecutor Valery Petrov as the chief military prosecutor of Russia. “The committee reviewed the candidacy presented by the President of Russia and unanimously recommended that the chamber support Petrov’s appointment,” Andrei Klishas, head of the upper house committee on constitutional legislation and state building, told TASS.
According to the Russian Constitution, the appointment and dismissal of the prosecutor general, his deputies and the chief military prosecutor are under the jurisdiction of the Federation Council.
The post of chief military prosecutor became vacant in April after the retirement of Sergei Fridinsky.
Valery Petrov has served as prosecutor of the Republic of Buryatia since 2006
Valery Petrov was born in the Irkutsk region, where he received a higher legal education and began his professional career. It is interesting that in those years the current Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika also worked in the prosecutor’s office of this region. However, most of Mr. Petrov’s career was spent in the prosecutor’s office of Buryatia. Here he went through all the steps of the career ladder: from senior investigator of the Ulan-Ude prosecutor's office to the head of the republican prosecutor's office - he took this position in November 2006. During this time, Valery Petrov received many awards, including a foreign one - the Badge of Honor of the Prosecutor's Office of Mongolia.
Kommersant’s source in the Main Prosecutor’s Office noted that Valery Petrov is not the first civilian prosecutor to head the department. Thus, in 1992, Valentin Panichev headed the Main Directorate of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation for supervision over the implementation of laws in the armed forces while he was a civilian. He left the GVP already with the rank of Colonel General of Justice.
As the news agency Baikalmediaconsulting reports, the day before the president’s proposal was considered by two committees of the Federation Council, and both recommended approving the candidate. In his speech, Senator Andrey Klishas noted that many senators know Petrov well and unanimously recommend his confirmation in office.
After the speeches of the heads of committees, the head of the Federation Council took the floor Valentina Matvienko, who noted that the appointment of a person who has extensive experience in the region and enjoys well-deserved respect there is a very correct personnel policy.
Senator Lyudmila Narusova wished Valery Petrov to pay attention to the state defense order, the abuses in the execution of which were described in the article by Evgeny Reznik. Valery Georgievich promised to definitely pay attention to this sensitive topic.
As a result, the senators voted for the candidacy, and the vote was unanimous. In conclusion, the senator from Buryatia spoke Alexander Varfolomeev, who noted that Valery Georgievich Petrov is not only a professional in his field, but also a patriot who is passionate about the history of the Great Patriotic War, helps restore monuments and has published a series of books about the heroes of the Victory - natives of Buryatia. Alexander Georgievich also noted the close work of the Buryatia prosecutor with senators.
Valentina Matvienko congratulated the new chief military prosecutor on his appointment and presented him with the voting results.
Photo (c) Anna Ogorodnik
On June 28, the Federation Council appointed Prosecutor of the Republic of Buryatia Valery Petrov as the chief military prosecutor of Russia. Talks about Petrov taking this position began immediately after the resignation of former prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky, who retired at the end of April. In Buryatia, this news caused rejoicing. And not because another influential person from a distant national republic will appear in Moscow. It’s just that a lot of people in Buryatia are ready to celebrate Petrov’s departure - no matter where.
Valery Petrov
Valery Petrov headed the republican prosecutor's office in 2006 and, according to Novaya's sources in the government structures of Buryatia, over the years he has become the most influential person in the republic. Because of the gentleness of the then head of Buryatia, Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn, Petrov was able to concentrate in his hands the levers of influence on all branches of government. As his enemies in the republic say, with the help of compromising evidence and the initiation of criminal cases (or the threat of initiation), he allegedly controlled appointments and resignations, the passage of money allocated for federal projects through administrative resources, allegedly influenced the outcome of elections and put pressure on the media.
Petrov is a native of the Irkutsk region, like the current Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika. Petrov never publicly mentioned his relationship with Chaika, but, according to Novaya’s sources, they had a personal relationship since Chaika headed the prosecutor’s office of the Irkutsk region. Petrov attended family events of the Prosecutor General and is familiar with his children.
According to political scientist Evgeny Malygin, Petrov’s transfer to Moscow was planned long ago. The prosecutor was offered various options, including the position of deputy Chaika and head of the personnel department of the Prosecutor General's Office, but the appointment was postponed many times. As our sources suggest, either Petrov made influential enemies outside the republic, or Chaika’s own position as prosecutor general did not allow him to influence the appointment.
However, the position of military prosecutor was not chosen by chance: “Chaika’s son’s business is connected with military government contracts, and perhaps he needs a person who would not create problems with this business,” suggested Novaya’s source in the prosecutor’s office. “The previous military prosecutor did not suit everyone in this sense.”
There is one more factor. In February, a new acting head, Alexei Tsydenov, came to Buryatia - a young technocrat appointed by the Kremlin specifically for the gubernatorial elections of September 2017. As sources in the republic itself told Novaya ( see No. 67), the prosecutor, supposedly accustomed to absolute power, first of all handed over to the interim a list of people who supposedly needed to be included in the new government. Tsydenov refused. Petrov was surprised and began to press. Tsydenov’s team decided to make the conflict public and applied for a rally. All local media wrote about the rally, Znak.com published an article: “The new acting head of Buryatia clashed with an influential prosecutor.”
“They started calling editors with demands to remove the texts,” says Novaya’s source. “They always obeyed, but now they refused.” Petrov got scared and called Chaika. But it was Easter, Chaika flew to Jerusalem and could not help. Petrov panicked.”
As employees of the Buryat prosecutor's office say, the night after the rally was announced, the prosecutor did not sleep. Together with those close to him, he sat in the prosecutor's office, trying to understand who was waging a campaign against him and what to do if it meant resignation.
The rally did not take place, but the publicity had an effect: “Petrov received a call from the presidential administration and was told: stop interfering in politics,” says Novaya’s source.
According to our interlocutors, the Russian Presidential Administration is interested in Petrov leaving the republic and not interfering with the work of the new head Tsydenov. Perhaps a high appointment is a payoff for Petrov. The decision on it took a long time and, apparently, painfully for all parties - it is known that Petrov did not agree immediately. At the beginning of June, he told a Novaya correspondent that he did not yet know about his transfer to the military prosecutor’s office and had no plans to move to Moscow.
Petrov had enough enemies besides the new head Alexei Tsydenov. In recent years, he had a serious conflict with the mayor of Ulan-Ude, Alexander Golkov. In January, the former head of the FSB of the Vladimir region, Igor Nikolaev, was transferred to the post of head of the FSB of Buryatia - probably specifically to limit the power of the prosecutor before the appointment of Tsydenov (the former head of the FSB and the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Oleg Kudinov were appointed on the recommendation of the prosecutor, the head of the Investigative Committee of the republic Vyacheslav Sukhorukov - also comes from the prosecutor's office). “They lived normally here,” says Novaya’s source in the intelligence services. “And then a new FSB agent came, and Petrov did not find a common language with him. In May, a high-ranking FSB official from Moscow secretly came to the republic. Petrov was afraid that he had come to dismiss him, and even called Chaika in a panic. But it turned out that he came for completely different reasons.”
Kommersant reports that the Federation Council at a plenary meeting appointed the prosecutor of Buryatia Valery Petrov as the chief military prosecutor of Russia. “The committee reviewed the candidacy presented by the President of Russia and unanimously recommended that the chamber support Petrov’s appointment,” Andrei Klishas, head of the upper house committee on constitutional legislation and state building, told TASS.
According to the Russian Constitution, the appointment and dismissal of the prosecutor general, his deputies and the chief military prosecutor are under the jurisdiction of the Federation Council.
The post of chief military prosecutor became vacant in April after the retirement of Sergei Fridinsky.
Valery Petrov has served as prosecutor of the Republic of Buryatia since 2006
Valery Petrov was born in the Irkutsk region, where he received a higher legal education and began his professional career. It is interesting that in those years the current Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika also worked in the prosecutor’s office of this region. However, most of Mr. Petrov’s career was spent in the prosecutor’s office of Buryatia. Here he went through all the steps of the career ladder: from senior investigator of the Ulan-Ude prosecutor's office to the head of the republican prosecutor's office - he took this position in November 2006. During this time, Valery Petrov received many awards, including a foreign one - the Badge of Honor of the Prosecutor's Office of Mongolia.
Kommersant’s source in the Main Prosecutor’s Office noted that Valery Petrov is not the first civilian prosecutor to head the department. Thus, in 1992, Valentin Panichev headed the Main Directorate of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation for supervision over the implementation of laws in the armed forces while he was a civilian. He left the GVP already with the rank of Colonel General of Justice.
As the news agency Baikalmediaconsulting reports, the day before the president’s proposal was considered by two committees of the Federation Council, and both recommended approving the candidate. In his speech, Senator Andrey Klishas noted that many senators know Petrov well and unanimously recommend his confirmation in office.
After the speeches of the heads of committees, the head of the Federation Council took the floor Valentina Matvienko, who noted that the appointment of a person who has extensive experience in the region and enjoys well-deserved respect there is a very correct personnel policy.
Senator Lyudmila Narusova wished Valery Petrov to pay attention to the state defense order, the abuses in the execution of which were described in the article by Evgeny Reznik. Valery Georgievich promised to definitely pay attention to this sensitive topic.
As a result, the senators voted for the candidacy, and the vote was unanimous. In conclusion, the senator from Buryatia spoke Alexander Varfolomeev, who noted that Valery Georgievich Petrov is not only a professional in his field, but also a patriot who is passionate about the history of the Great Patriotic War, helps restore monuments and has published a series of books about the heroes of the Victory - natives of Buryatia. Alexander Georgievich also noted the close work of the Buryatia prosecutor with senators.
Valentina Matvienko congratulated the new chief military prosecutor on his appointment and presented him with the voting results.
Photo (c) Anna Ogorodnik
On December 9, Russia annually celebrates International Anti-Corruption Day. On the eve of this event, Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, Chief Military Prosecutor Valery Petrov told RIA Novosti about how military prosecutors are fighting corruption, about reducing cases of hazing in the armed forces, as well as about landmark criminal cases and high-ranking military officers convicted of corruption crimes. Interviewed by Maria Zueva.
— Valery Georgievich, I would like to start with such an interesting point: why in a number of cases are senior officers convicted of corruption not deprived of awards and titles?
— Let's start with the fact that deprivation of a special, military or honorary title, class rank and state awards is provided for in Article 48 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and is an additional type of punishment. He can be appointed exclusively for committing grave and especially grave crimes. This is the rule of law that prosecutors are guided by when considering criminal cases in court, including the category you indicated.
At the same time, the criminal law does not indicate in which cases this type of punishment must be applied and in which it should not. That is, its application is an exclusive right and not the responsibility of the court.
The judge, when deciding to impose such a punishment, proceeds from the provisions of the law and his own inner conviction, which is formed taking into account all the circumstances of the case, including mitigating and aggravating ones. The court takes into account the opinion of the prosecutor, which is not binding on it.
— How many generals were convicted of corruption crimes in 2016-2017? Please give the most interesting examples of such cases.
— In total, five generals were convicted of corruption crimes in 2016-2017 and received a well-deserved criminal punishment. As an example, I will cite the criminal case against the former head of the department of planning and coordination of logistics of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Sergei Zhirov, who was found guilty of abuse of power. He and his accomplices committed this crime back in 2011 while executing a government contract to clean up oil-contaminated soil in the territories of the Russian Ministry of Defense. As a result, the damage to the military department exceeded 57 million rubles (the verdict was in 2016).
— Valery Georgievich, what is the attention of military prosecutors focused on in the fight against corruption?
— Military prosecutors are focused on identifying facts of theft, abuse and bribery in areas of military activity that require the greatest infusion of budget funds. Such violations are associated, first of all, with encroachments on state appropriations allocated for the purchase of goods, works and services for state needs, including during the execution of state defense orders.
I’ll say right away that there are no unfulfilled contractual obligations on the part of the Ministry of Defense, and our main complaints are against unscrupulous contracting commercial organizations. It is they, for example, who use counterfeit or used parts when repairing equipment.
— What do the statistics say?
— According to our statistics, in just 9 months of 2017, military prosecutors uncovered more than two thousand violations of the law in this area, due to which about 200 legal entities and individuals were administratively punished, and based on the materials of prosecutorial checks, 109 criminal cases were initiated. Last year, we identified 2.4 thousand such violations, more than 250 people were held administratively liable, and 161 criminal cases were initiated.
— What measures are being taken to improve the situation with corruption?
— As you understand, the primary task of military prosecutors is to prevent misuse or theft of budget funds. For this purpose, heads of law enforcement agencies, including, regularly hold coordination meetings in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, other troops, military formations and bodies. At these meetings, additional measures are determined to combat crimes and other offenses during the placement and implementation of state defense orders.
Also, the Main Military Prosecutor's Office, together with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Main Organizational and Mobilization Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, is working to identify and suppress cases of corruption among military registration and enlistment office employees.
— How much has the situation with corruption changed in 2017 due to the measures taken?
— Based on the analysis of the crime situation, we can talk about a downward trend in the level of corruption that has emerged this year. In any case, in the supervised troops and agencies, in January-November of this year, in general, 23 percent fewer such crimes were registered than in the previous year.
We note a decrease in the number of almost all main types of corruption crimes: fraud using official position - by 45 percent; misappropriations and embezzlement -
by 44 percent; abuse of power - by almost 40 percent; abuse of office - by more than 32 percent; official forgery - by 30 percent. The amount of damage from such crimes has also decreased by more than 60 percent.
All this, of course, indicates an increase in the effectiveness of anti-corruption measures. But the situation is not yet ideal, and we have a lot to do together with military command and control agencies and other departments.
— Valery Georgievich, does the situation with corruption somehow affect the state of hazing in the army?
— We do not note a direct relationship between these categories of crimes. Statistics indicate that the decrease in the number of registered corruption offenses occurs against the backdrop of a decrease in the total number of crimes in the military. The number of hazing and assault is now really decreasing, and this is the result of the joint efforts of military prosecutors and the command of military units.
The criminal activity of officers and serving conscripts in the structure of offenses by category of military personnel has decreased.
— Have any cases of corruption been identified in military registration and enlistment offices during conscription over the past two years?
— I would like to note that the level of corruption among military registration and enlistment office employees in 2016 was relatively high, but effective anti-corruption measures made it possible to reduce the number of such acts in 2017 by almost a third. This year, we identified 66 crimes related to taking a bribe, while the number of criminal attacks within the framework of exceeding official powers decreased by more than two times and by more than three times - when committing official forgery.
In 2016-2017, military prosecutors and security agencies suppressed the activities of a number of employees of military registration and enlistment offices in the capital region, St. Petersburg, the Volga region, Siberia, Kuban, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug and other regions who exempted citizens from conscription in exchange for bribes. Criminal cases were initiated based on these facts, and the guilty officials and their accomplices were convicted.
— If we go back to the numbers, how many military registration and enlistment office employees were criminally punished in two years?
— In total, 65 military registration and enlistment office employees were held criminally liable for corruption crimes in 2016, and 37 in 2017. Facts of illegal deferments from conscription or exemption from military service continue to be identified. As a rule, such decisions of conscription commissions are influenced by individual employees of military registration and enlistment offices, who, for illegal remuneration, enter false information into the conscript’s military registration documents.
Sometimes this happens through a conspiracy between military registration and enlistment office employees and medical workers. For example, in February 2017, the Pavlovo-Posad city court of the Moscow region sentenced the former head of the department of the military commissariat of the Moscow region for the cities of Pavlovsky Posad, Elektrogorsk and Pavlovo-Posad district, Alexander Ponomarev, to 10 years in prison, the head of the department (training and conscription of citizens for military service) of the same department, Nikolai Fomin, to 8.6 years in prison, and the general practitioner of this department, Sergei Tupitsyn, to 8 years in prison. Based on the results of prosecutorial checks in 2017, doctors from city hospitals in Biysk, Gelendzhik and Miass in the Chelyabinsk region were brought to criminal liability. For money, they provided nine conscripts with false medical documents about their supposed illnesses, and they were released from conscription for military service.
— Valery Georgievich, what criminal schemes are most often used in thefts at large military facilities and in the military-industrial complex?
— The main task of military prosecutors in this area remains control over the high-quality and timely execution of state defense orders by government customers and the main contractors - defense industry organizations, as well as the effective spending of budget funds, identifying and suppressing corruption and other abuses in the placement and implementation of government contracts.
We have established facts of theft of money allocated for the execution of state defense orders, including cases of fraud through controlled organizations or shell companies. It is not uncommon for enterprise managers to try to use the regulatory authorities of the state customer to obtain excess profits from the execution of a state defense order. A similar criminal case was initiated in August 2017 against participants in a fraudulent scheme related to the organization’s provision of services for the assembly of ammunition, repair of its components and storage without a license and sufficient resources.
— One of the most important branches of activity of states remains the space sector. What is the situation with corruption in this area, in particular on issues related to the construction of the Vostochny cosmodrome?
— In recent years, the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation, the Main Military Prosecutor’s Office, and prosecutors of Russian constituent entities have been carrying out large-scale work to suppress the illegal use by general contractors and contractors they have attracted of money received for the construction of Vostochny cosmodrome facilities. Based on the results of prosecutorial checks, criminal cases were initiated, in which 13 people have been convicted to date.