Part 1
Vladimir Solntsev, former general director of RSC Energia, was transferred from the pre-trial detention center to house arrest in exchange for cooperation with the investigation. His testimony may lead to the initiation of new criminal cases, revealing a large-scale picture of theft and corruption in the defense complex at the interface with the space industry, as well as the system of protecting convicted corrupt officials from prosecution with the help of administrative resources.
Solntsev was arrested in August 2020 after Rogozin, the then head of Roscosmos, initiated a review of the contract for the supply of electronics for the ISS module, concluded by RKK with the Central Research Institute Cyclone (Rostec), the profile of which, according to information on the website, is related to providing thermal imagers with simple electronics needs law enforcement agencies, although Cyclon receives considerable profit from leasing its premises, as well as from service and repair work. At the same time as Solntsev, Alexander Borisov, the head of NPP Istok, also part of the Rostec system, was arrested. It is characteristic that Solntsev, who was fired from RKK as a result of the audit, was immediately employed by the UAC, controlled by Rostec. where he was registered until the initiation of a criminal case.
The audit showed signs of theft and fraud amounting to hundreds of millions of rubles (about one and a half billion according to official reports), after which the case was transferred to the investigative authorities.
According to the contract, Cyclone was actually an intermediary, purchasing and supplying Chinese electronics for the ISS electronics unit in the amount of almost one and a half billion rubles. His victory in the tender was guaranteed, despite the lower prices of competitors, due, it is believed, to unofficial recommendations from Yuri Borisov (now head of Roscosmos), then curator of the electronics industry as first deputy chairman of the Military-Industrial Commission. Borisov was a long-time business partner of his namesake, the aforementioned Alexander Borisov, on joint “projects” of Istok with the Module corporation, established by the current head of Roscosmos back in the early 90s.
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