Press Release, 25.07.2024

Photo: Centre for Cultural Development in Lyady, April 2024/ Photo from the community “Citizens of the Plussky District”

The Pskov Interdistrict Investigative Department of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee for the Pskov region, after an appeal from Yabloko deputy Artur Gaiduk to the Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin, carried out an inspection, and, on 5 July, opened a criminal case on the grounds of a crime under of Article 159 Part 4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud committed by an organised group or on a particularly large scale). Artur Gaiduk was informed about this by the head of the Pskov Interdistrict Investigative Department, Ivan Vasiliyev.

The federal project “Modern Look of Rural Territories” of the state programme “Comprehensive Development of Rural Territories” in the Plyussky District envisaged that, within two years, wastewater treatment plants will be built in Plyuss and Zaplusye, capital repairs of the buildings of a kindergarten in Plyuss and the Plyussky central regional library will be carries out, as well as a Centre for Cultural Development in the village of Lyady will be constructed. The total amount of additional funding from the federal budget amounted to over 367 million roubles.

All facilities were supposed to be put into operation in 2023, but none of them were completed on time; inspections by regulatory authorities revealed numerous violations not only of deadlines, but also of work technology. At the same time, the customer, the administration of the Plyussky District, fully paid the contractors for the work, which was confirmed by a pre-investigation check.

Vitaly Arshinov, the head of the municipality from Yabloko, who headed the municipality from 2017 to 2022, achieved the inclusion of Plyussky District facilities in the state programme. Under his leadership, design and estimate documentation was developed for all the five projects at the expense of the district budget without any co-financing.

Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and State Technical Supervision of the Pskov Region, Yulia Kim, noted at the meeting: “Plyussky District has done the almost impossible. This is the only district that in one year, 2021, came up with a project and passed the selection in the same year – a positive decision from the Ministry of Agriculture was made. We have municipalities that have been participating since 2019, tried unsuccessfully in four selections and will go to the fifth – already for a subsidy in 2024. Here, the result of the work of the Plyussky District Administration is simply excellent. After this victory, our municipalities were inspired”.

But Natalya Ivanova, the protege of the pro-government United Russia party, who replaced Vitaly Arshinov, being the immediate supervisor of the customer of all the works, was unable to organise and complete it on time. The legality of spending federal funds is now being checked by investigative authorities as part of a criminal case.