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, received a higher legal education there and began his professional activity. 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. So, in 1992, the Main Directorate General Prosecutor's Office Valentin Panichev headed the Russian Federation for the supervision of 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 reported by information Agency Baikalmediaconsulting 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 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, who helps restore monuments and 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

The RG correspondent immediately after his appointment called Valery Petrov and asked him about his plans in his new position. For obvious reasons, the new chief military prosecutor (Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia - ARD) was taciturn. The conversation turned out to be short and, nevertheless, the general said:

It is premature to make any comments now. But given the long-standing ties with " Russian newspaper", how the newspaper actively covered law enforcement issues in Buryatia, how much it wrote about the activities of the republican prosecutor's office during fire periods, I cannot simply tell you "No Comment". But I also think that I will not reveal big secrets if I say that I see my task in continuing the activities of the military prosecutor's office to further strengthen law and order in the country's Armed Forces. It is necessary to contribute through measures of prosecutorial supervision to strengthening the country's security, the combat capability and combat readiness of the Armed Forces, the rights and freedoms of military personnel.

Valery Petrov was born in 1957 in the Irkutsk region. In 1979 he graduated from the Faculty of Law of Irkutsk State University. He has been working in the prosecutor's office since December 1983. Moreover, all these years only in Ulan-Ude. It is clear that he is known very well in the republic. And Petrov did not have friendly relations with everyone, since the prosecutors under his leadership, together with the new leadership of the republican Ministry of Internal Affairs, had to do a lot to resist black lumberjacks, organized crime groups, the fishing mafia, and especially corrupt groups in power.

Of course, as befits a prosecutor, he had and still has ill-wishers in the republic,” noted Timur Dugarzhapov, a political scientist from Ulan-Ude. - In this regard, various “compromising materials” were periodically spread against him, but not a single “fact” of abuse of official position was confirmed.

But most people know Valery Petrov as an extremely principled, very thoughtful and, importantly, extremely decent person. And as a specialist, his colleagues with whom we managed to talk say this: a professional with a capital P.

In the region, Valery Petrov is remembered for his high-profile and successful corruption processes in the government of Buryatia. With his support, criminal cases were initiated against the minister Agriculture RB Alexander Manzanov, head of the Economic and Transport Complex of the RB Alexander Suchkov, etc., writes Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

The video recording of the 415th meeting of the Federation Council will be available after the end of the meeting.

Thus, the Prosecutor General of Russia Yuri Chaika now has a second deputy - a native of Buryatia. Let us recall that since 2006, this position of Deputy Prosecutor General has been occupied by Ivan Semchishin, who was previously the prosecutor of Buryatia.

On June 28, the Federation Council appointed Prosecutor of the Republic of Buryatia Valery Petrov as the chief military prosecutor of Russia. Conversations about Petrov taking this position began immediately after the resignation of the 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 different variants, 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: “ New acting the head of Buryatia collided 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 his associates, 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 last years he had a serious conflict with the mayor of Ulan-Ude, Alexander Golkov. In January he was transferred to the post of head of the FSB of Buryatia former head FSB Vladimir region Igor Nikolaev - 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, head Investigative Committee Republic Vyacheslav Sukhorukov - also a native of 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.”

Prosecutor of Buryatia Valery Petrov has held his position since 2006. During this time, the public of the republic became tired of demanding his resignation, scandal followed scandal, and the high-ranking security official himself received the nickname “business prosecutor.” He is credited with hostile takeovers, fabricated criminal cases and criminal prosecution of unwanted entrepreneurs.

One of the effective mechanisms for combating the growing corruption of regional elites is personnel rotation. This supposedly does not allow the heads of law enforcement agencies to make strong “friends” with local officials and businessmen on a mutually beneficial basis. The federal center is changing the heads of departments of the FSB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the prosecutor's office in different regions every 3−5 years. But this doesn't happen to everyone. In some regions of Russia, leaders law enforcement have not changed for more than 10 years.

Scandalous anti-corruption fighter

The prosecutor of Buryatia is one of those security officials whose activities can seriously undermine public confidence in supervisory authorities. Back in 2012, more than 3 thousand signatures were collected in the republic under an appeal to the President of Russia demanding the removal of Valery Petrov from his position. Residents of the region also asked for an independent investigation into his activities. The reason for mass outrage then was the brutal beating of human rights activist Vladimir Migunov.

In recent years, the Buryatia prosecutor's office has been rocked by many high-profile scandals. These include raider takeovers of enterprises, in which the media called Valery Petrov’s friends involved, and criminal cases fabricated against unwanted police officers, and protests related to the criminal prosecution of local entrepreneurs. But all this did not prevent the business prosecutor from retaining his post.

According to official biography A high-ranking security official, he was born and raised in the Irkutsk region, but his entire career in law enforcement is connected with the prosecutor's office of Buryatia. In 1983, he began working in the investigative department of the republic's supervisory agency, confidently climbing the career ladder until he took his current position.

Prosecutor of Buryatia Valery Petrov

Despite numerous accusations of corruption that have been heard against Valery Petrov from entrepreneurs, human rights activists and former employees law enforcement agencies, the “business prosecutor” himself positions himself as an active fighter against dishonest officials. Thus, in his recent interview with the weekly “MK in Buryatia,” he told how the department he heads identifies certain violations of anti-corruption legislation among municipal officials and deputies.

- We have placed emphasis on prevention and increasing the personal responsibility of perpetrators, on holding seminars to explain the norms and requirements of the developing Russian legislation. The Prosecutor's Office of Buryatia is taking all measures aimed at combating corruption in government bodies and local self-government, said Valery Petrov in his interview.

Apparently, the prosecutor of the republic clearly understands who can be touched and who cannot. Having told many stories about various offenses committed by officials at the municipal level, the high-ranking security officer did not say a word about higher-ranking figures in the district leadership.

Friendship for mutual benefit

Many entrepreneurs and human rights activists accuse Valery Petrov of lobbying the interests of Irkutsk businessman Vladimir Dmitriev, whose activities are strongly associated with such a concept as raiding.

Irkutsk businessman Vladimir Dmitriev

According to the information and analytical publication “People's Control of Siberia”, the prosecutor and the businessman are members of the same nomenklatura clan, since their fathers are connected by party and economic cooperation that began in the 70s of the last century. Continuing the friendship of their parents, Petrov and Dmitriev were able to extract a lot of benefit from it.

For example, the prosecutor of Buryatia is accused of deliberately sabotaging the proceedings on the issue of the deliberate bankruptcy of Ulan-Ude Shipbuilding Company LLC. And local police officers who tried to conduct an investigation were subjected to biased prosecutorial scrutiny, some were demoted, and the materials they collected were shelved. And all because the territory of the industrial zone of the shipbuilding enterprise attracted Vladimir Dmitriev, and now there are shopping and entertainment establishments there, and the entire complex owned by the entrepreneur was called “New City”.

The most striking example of the joint activity of a businessman and a prosecutor was a raider seizure shopping center"Yubileiny", located in the capital of Buryatia. Vladimir Dmitriev liked the department store. First, a group of partners and relatives of this businessman bought a small stake, and then they demanded that the owners sell them everything for next to nothing. trading enterprise. Having received a refusal, they opened a criminal case, since they have “their own” prosecutor.

TD "Yubileiny" in the city of Ulan-Ude

The security forces carried out an operation, the result of which was the transfer of the building of the Yubileiny trading house for safekeeping to the Danak company, controlled by Dmitriev’s people.

The businessman used his connections in the prosecutor’s office to seize Avto OJSC, whose management was also under criminal investigation. The persecution stopped only after the enterprise came under full control of the raiders. On its territory, Dmitriev opened a commercial vehicle registration point “Agat”, which is associated with another scandalous criminal case.

The head of the republican traffic police, holder of two Orders of Courage, Alamzhi Syrenov, was accused of legalizing illegal vehicles through a division of the department located in the village of Onokhoy. The irony of fate is that a high-ranking police officer, who was respected in Buryatia, himself helped bring corrupt traffic police officers to justice. And one of the defendants willingly agreed to testify against the colonel.

Former head of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate of Buryatia Alamzhi Syrenov

Veterans and employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who spoke in defense of Alamzhi Syrenov, cited the reason for his criminal prosecution as the refusal to fulfill the request of businessman Vladimir Dmitriev. A friend of the prosecutor wished that the head of the republican traffic police increase the number of department employees employed at the Agat commercial registration point, which would contribute to the growth of turnover and profit of this private enterprise. The colonel refused the businessman's request and paid for his intractability.

The investigation and trial in this criminal case lasted two years. As a result, Alamzhi Syrenov was completely acquitted, and the court recognized his right to rehabilitation. But the colonel never returned to serve in the internal affairs bodies.

The prosecutor of Buryatia is responsible for a number of criminal cases that fell apart in the courts, but ruined the lives and businesses of people. At the same time, Valery Petrov is literally putting the brakes on all attempts to call Vladimir Dmitriev and his subordinates to account. Thus, the criminal case initiated on the basis of the illegal withdrawal of property and the subsequent bankruptcy of one of the Ulan-Ude bakeries, owned by OJSC Taryaan, was discontinued.

It is worth noting that the Buryatia prosecutor’s office shows strange complacency not only towards Dmitriev and his people. They say that it was not without the participation of the leadership of the supervisory agency that the criminal case against the director of Kyakhtinskoye LLC Sergei Chursov, initiated under Part 2 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud), was terminated, although the damage caused to the state amounted to 31 million rubles. Moreover, we're talking about on federal funds aimed at modernizing the pig farm of Kyakhtinskoye LLC within the framework of the priority national project “Development of the agro-industrial complex.”

"Evil genius of Buryatia"

Another scandalous criminal case initiated by Valery Petrov was the prosecution of Buryat businessman Marat Kharisov, in whose defense human rights activists organized rallies and collected signatures for a corresponding petition on the change.org portal. It published a speech that the disgraced businessman gave in court.

Rally in support of entrepreneur Marat Kharisov

In his speech, Marat Kharisov called Valery Petrov “the evil genius of Buryatia,” accusing him of “protection protection” for various business structures.

- No matter what sphere of life of the republic we touch upon, if not the prosecutor himself, then his shadow is present everywhere. People have long called him nothing more than a “business prosecutor.” Using his position, he actively invades all spheres of economic and political life Buryatia. With whatever entrepreneurs and public figures I did not communicate, in the end all the threads of control of the business sphere and economic life lead to Valery Petrov,” Marat Kharisov said in court.

According to the entrepreneur, over the years of work in his post, the prosecutor of the republic helped people close to him create a powerful business empire. And now they not only skillfully protect personal interests, using the full power of the supervisory agency, but also engage in raider takeovers of promising and profitable enterprises. An example is the transfer into the ownership of people close to Valery Petrov of the largest brick factory in Buryatia with large reserves of natural raw materials, which was built and launched with funds from foreign investors. Now this enterprise belongs to friends of the prosecutor - co-owners of Best Plus LLC.

Marat Kharisov also mentioned Irina Petrova, the wife of a high-ranking security official. In the fall of this year, she headed the Committee for State Protection of Cultural Heritage Objects of the Administration of the Head of the Republic, switching to new position from the post of Deputy Minister of Culture of Buryatia.

Chairman of the Committee for State Protection of Cultural Heritage Objects of Buryatia Irina Petrova

Businessman Kharisov claims that it was thanks to Irina Petrova that the aforementioned Best Plus LLC received permission to build its facilities in the historical part of Ulan-Ude. The office of the prosecutor’s wife distributes government contracts for the reconstruction of architectural monuments, and those controlled by Valery Petrov construction companies use federal budget funds. Such " family contract“also brings considerable income to a high-ranking security official.

One beaten human rights activist

The indignation of the Buryat public over the activities of the prosecutor captured many after the beating of the head of the republican Center for Business Protection and Anti-Corruption, Vladimir Migunov. The victim himself suspected Valery Petrov of organizing this crime.

As the Kommersant newspaper wrote, early in the morning of February 13, 2012, the human rights activist was attacked by unknown persons.

I took my son to kindergarten and returned home. I can’t say exactly how many attackers there were, it seemed to me that there were two. First they hit me hard on the head, knocked me to the ground and started kicking me. While beating me, they told me something, but I couldn’t say what exactly, because I was stunned, everything happened as if in a fog. After that they disappeared,” said Vladimir Migunov.

Based on the incident, he filed a statement with the police and the medical institution where the bruises he received were recorded.

The victim collected extensive data on criminal prosecutions of Buryat entrepreneurs with the aim of taking over their business and, conversely, on “hushed up” cases related to raider operations, seizures of federal property, and harassment of conscientious law enforcement officers. Shortly before the attack, Vladimir Migunov was summoned to the Buryatia prosecutor's office. According to the human rights activist, they talked to him there in a threatening tone, demanding that he stop his public activities.

Then Buryat activists for the first time demanded federal center conducting an independent investigation and removing from office the prosecutor of the republic Valery Petrov. But he, as it turned out, is irreplaceable.

A beaten human rights activist, raider takeovers of enterprises, a ostentatious fight against corruption and lobbying for the interests of specific businessmen - all this is an unsightly picture of the activities of the prosecutor of Buryatia. Neither the notorious rotation of personnel, nor the opinion of the residents of the republic, nor numerous publications in the media, nor protests - nothing can shake Valery Petrov’s position in the region.

Let us note that Vladimir Putin signed the next order to extend Petrov’s powers as regional prosecutor on June 8, 2015 for a period of 5 years.