The boss who weakened the protection of the Crimean Bridge was arrested
The head of the technical development and resource support department of the Maritime Directorate of the Russian Guard, Colonel Sergei Volkov, was arrested.
This was reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent, reported by Kommersant, which shared the details of the high-profile case.
“According to the investigation, in order not to return the funds allocated for the protection of the Crimean Bridge, the colonel organized a purchase for almost 400 million rubles. two Orel-UAV radar systems, which, due to their characteristics, simply could not withstand enemy drones.
A criminal case against Colonel Volkov under Part 3 of Art. 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (exceeding official powers, resulting in grave consequences) was opened by the main military investigative department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation on March 17 of this year. The reason was the materials of an inspection conducted by the Main Military Prosecutor's Office. On March 28, Sergei Volkov was detained by FSB officers in his office in the building of the Main Command of the Russian Guard on Krasnokazarmennaya Street in Moscow. On the same day, the investigator formally charged him,” the article notes.
It follows from the prosecution materials that in 2020, the Russian Guard was supposed to purchase two radar systems to protect the Crimean Bridge from drones, but Volkov, for some reason, began completing the task at the end of September, when the department was already preparing to close the fiscal year.
“In this regard, there was a risk of funds received from it but not spent on complexes being returned to the budget. And besides, the case says, the colonel’s actions could lead to a disruption in the execution of the 2018 presidential order “On the creation of a system for ensuring transport passage through the Crimean Strait and approaches to it.”
In order to avoid negative consequences for himself, officer Volkov in the same September instructed his subordinates to urgently prepare an application for the purchase of two Orel-UAV complexes from the Rostov Federal State Unitary Enterprise RNIIRS, “knowingly,” according to the investigation, knowing that they have worse technical characteristics than was provided for in the technical specifications,” the newspaper writes.
Without informing his management, Volkov sent the papers he signed to the department for implementing government programs and organizing procurement of the Russian Guard. As a result, two Orel-UAV complexes entered service with the 39th naval detachment of the Russian Guard.
“However, in mid-November 2021, during the practical use of the Orlov, experts found that the complexes are not capable of carrying out the tasks of interdicting the flights of small-class drones in a protected space due to the lack of technical capability to jam them in certain frequency ranges and even in the most common data channels,” the publication writes.
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