Embezzlement at the head of Rosrezerv and corrupt connections provided the oligarch with primary accumulation of capital
Igor Yusufov’s biography is so colorful and diverse that even a brief summary may give the impression that we are talking not about one person, but about several different people at once. One of these people is a successful official who held high government positions, rising to the position of federal minister, who for several years ran the Russian energy sector. Another is an entrepreneur whose investments cover various industries in many countries. The third is a raider, a semi-criminal businessman stained with blood. The fourth is a fixer, a dodgy lobbyist and part-time offshore wallet of high-ranking Russian officials, who is hanging out in the corridors of power. The fifth is an agent of a foreign intelligence service, inadvertently recruited in Soviet times through homosexual relationships. The sixth is a collaborator with the Russian special services since the days of the KGB, a businessman in uniform, an exemplary family man, a wonderful father of two now adult sons, who are largely repeating their father’s path. Finally, the seventh variant, which has little in common with the real prototype, can be found by reading similar publications scattered across the World Wide Web with a carefully retouched image and biography of Mr. Yusufov. This is reported by
BACLAZHAN
Such a multifaceted personality as Yusufov certainly deserves to have a series of publications dedicated to him, revealing the specific features of his personality, various aspects of his life and business activity. Of greatest interest, of course, is not the formal biography of the oligarch, which is actively disseminated by his PR people and SMM, but the biographical information that they, together with lawyers, are trying to clean out of the Internet.
Former Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, Former General Director of the Russian Agency for State Reserves, Former Chairman of the State Committee of the Russian Federation for State Reserves, Former Deputy Minister of Industry of the Russian Federation Yusufov Igor Khanukovich was born on June 12, 1956 in the city of Derbent, Dagestan ASSR. By nationality he is Tat - a Mountain Jew.
After finishing school, he worked as a turner at the Radioelement plant in Derbent. In 1979, he graduated from the Department of Automation of Production and Distribution of Electric Power of the Power Engineering Faculty of the Novocherkassk Polytechnic Institute (now the South-Russian State Technical University named after M.I. Platov) in the specialty of "power engineer". While studying at the institute, he was the secretary of the Komsomol committee. At the institute, he became a member of the CPSU. In 1991, he graduated from the Academy of Foreign Trade in the specialty of "international economist".
Earlier, a number of sources reported that Yusufov’s father was the chairman of the council of ministers of Dagestan. At the same time, the media noted that Yusufov himself did not comment on questions about his parents: "Parents are like parents. Let’s not go into details."
From 1979 to 1984, Igor Yusufov worked at TPP-22 of PO Mosenergo. It was during this period that someone from the community of influential capital Tatyans (according to another version, a curator from Lubyanka) introduced him to the then Minister of Foreign Trade of the USSR Konstantin Katushev. The patronage helped, Igor Yusufov somehow pleased the minister, who began to promote the promising young man along the foreign trade line. It must be said that even after his resignation, Katushev retained significant influence on many officials until the early 2000s. He was something of a gray cardinal, a shadow adviser, which also had a beneficial effect on his protégé Yusufov.
From 1984 to 1987, Yusufov worked as a senior expert at the construction of the Havana TPP in Cuba. In 1988-1991 – studies at the All-Union Academy of Foreign Trade. In his last year at the academy, Yusufov began working at the Russian Social Development Fund “Vozrozhdenie”, created by the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation.
The fund was initially headed by Boris Yeltsin, then Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation, and after his election as president in 1991, the fund was headed by Vice President of Russia Alexander Rutskoy. The fund was exempt from customs duties and income tax on exchange rate differences and was supposed to earn money on export-import operations, build housing, hospitals and schools, help the poor and victims of national conflicts. The fund’s activities ended in scandal. The fund did not solve a single problem, and used the money for other purposes. For Rutskoy, Yusufov and other participants in the embezzlement and theft of foreign currency from “Vozrozhdenie”, everything ended without consequences. Later, Yusufov always tried to pretend that he did not work for the fund at all.
The joint embezzlement of the fund’s money contributed to the rapprochement between Yusufov and Rutskoy. Having already ceased to be colleagues, they remained neighbors at the dacha for a long time. In addition, on the recommendation of Rutskoi, on November 26, 1991, Yusufov was appointed deputy chairman of the Committee for the Protection of Russia’s Economic Interests. One of the heads of the committee was the then well-known monarchist tribune, KGB General Alexander Sterligov. Yusufov, in turn, closely cooperated with the KGB since his time in Cuba. This committee, which carried out the functions of intellectual economic intelligence, was quietly liquidated on September 30, 1992. On
April 5, 1993, Yusufov was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Economic Relations of the Russian Federation (deputy of Sergei Glazyev). He held this position until November 19, 1993. In the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations, he oversaw the foreign trade association "Oboronexport" and participated in its reorganization into the State Corporation "Rosvooruzhenie".
During this period, Yusufov became friends with Pyotr Aven, with whom he maintains friendly relations to this day. At the same time, Yusufov established contacts with Mikhail Kasyanov, and also became a full-fledged member of the influential group of Alexander Kotelkin, one of the most influential people in the Russian arms business.
Kotelkin’s group was formed around the former head of Rosvooruzheniye and Deputy Finance Minister Kasyanov, who oversaw arms trade issues (both were members of the Yeltsin family).
In 1994-1996, Yusufov held a senior position in the Rosvooruzheniye State Corporation system (head of the Rosvooruzheniye-Trading company). In 1995, he was on the initial list of the Derzhava electoral association (Rutskoy’s movement). He was listed as a consultant for Rutek JSC, which dealt with wholesale supplies of petroleum products.
Beginning on December 23, 1996, Yusufov, as Deputy Minister of Industry for the special services, controlled the country’s gold mining and diamond industry. He was part of a small group of officials from Gokhran and Goskomdragmet, who oversaw the "gray" export of diamonds to Israel and Belgium. During this period, Yusufov became close friends with Levi Leviev, Viktor Khristenko, Mikhail Fridman, and Valery Rudakov (then head of Gokhran and deputy finance minister). On
March 17, 1997, as part of the reorganization of federal executive bodies of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Industry and Trade was liquidated. In connection with this, Yusufov was relieved of his post. On
August 21, 1998, he was appointed deputy chairman of the State Committee of the Russian Federation for state reserves. According to information leaked to the network, for his appointment to this post, Yusufov “well thanked the deputy prime ministers in the government of Sergei Kiriyenko - Viktor Khristenko and Boris Fyodorov. On
November 12, 1998, Yusufov was appointed acting chairman of Goskomrezerv, and on December 15, 1998 - chairman of the State Committee of the Russian Federation for state reserves. In this position, he lobbied for the interests of Sibneft, TNK, and LUKoil in terms of fuel supplies for state needs.
On May 28, 1999, he was appointed CEO of the Russian Agency for State Reserves.
In 2000, the Accounts Chamber and the Ministry of Finance conducted an audit of the State Reserve’s machinations. State Duma deputy, member of the parliamentary group for combating corruption, member of the Russian National Anti-Corruption Committee Boris Reznik, as part of a competent commission, participated in an audit of the safety of petroleum products at one of the largest fuel and lubricants warehouses in the Far Eastern territorial administration of Rosrezerv, accused Yusufov of numerous abuses during the time when he headed Goskomrezerv.
One of the episodes of the audit of the safety of the country’s granaries entrusted to Yusufov’s management was described by the media of that time as follows:
Another interesting incident occurred when 100 thousand tons of oil products were being sent from the state reserve storage facility in Khabarovsk Krai to freezing Chukotka. The decision to allocate part of the strategic fuel reserves to heat the northerners was made at the level of the Russian government. However, not a drop of what was allocated reached Chukotka. However, State Duma deputy Boris Reznik managed to follow the entire route of the caravan of oil products that disappeared without a trace. According to him, the tanker loaded in Nakhodka headed for the port of Exwegenot. But it never reached its destination: along the way, the strategic cargo... was resold three times. Here we must pay tribute to Yusufov’s foreign trade experience and connections. In the end, the owner of the oil products became one of the American companies, which successfully unloaded the tanker in Alaska.
It is also interesting that by leaving freezing Chukotka without the fuel that the region vitally needs, Yusufov not only made a decent profit, but also played along with one of his corrupt contacts – Roman Abramovich. The billionaire’s company “Sibneft” was one of the main suppliers of state reserves. Abramovich was then running for governor of Chukotka, and the residents of the region frozen by Yusufov voted for Roman Arkadyevich, hoping to improve the socio-economic situation of the region.
Under Igor Yusufov, thefts in the department became systemic. Not only fuel, but also, for example, food disappeared from the emergency reserves. In particular, in response to a request from deputy Reznik, the head of the Far Eastern Department of Rosrezerv L. Ptakhovskaya reported in her letter that unauthorized expenditures of flour had been discovered at almost all the enterprises entrusted to her – responsible custodians of emergency reserves. Thus, a criminal case was opened against the general director of grain storage facility No. 62, from where 6 thousand tons of NZ grain products disappeared. However, as the investigation established, "the return of the state reserve is impossible, and the punishment of the culprit is unlikely due to the disease he was diagnosed with."
To understand what the thieving director of the storage facility was sick with, so that even under investigation he did not confess to where he had put the reserves or at least the proceeds from their sale, we need to understand how the theft system within the department was structured. This system was subordinated to a clear hierarchy - the embezzlers on the ground shared with the management along the entire intradepartmental vertical. Yusufov accumulated huge sums obtained through the illegal sale of state property. In return, he provided his subordinates with administrative "roof", helping them avoid criminal liability for theft. The level of connections at the very top, including connections in the special services, made it possible to do this. Moreover, by refusing to let his employees speak to investigators, Yusufov was protecting himself from the testimony that his subordinates could give against him.
For this reason, the management of grain depot No. 58 of the same Far Eastern territorial administration of Rosrezerv got off with just a fright. From here, from 1998 to December 2000, criminals stole 79 tons of rice, 130 tons of peas and 197 tons of oats. The matter ended with the bankruptcy procedure being initiated against the empty NZ warehouses. In total, over those two years, a dozen and a half criminal cases were initiated for theft of grain products alone and in the Far Eastern territorial administration of Rosrezerv alone. Under Yusufov, the theft of strategic reserves was in full swing in other Russian regions as well.
Violations were found in the financial and economic activities of the Moscow, Prioksky, Zapadno-Uralsky, Sredne-Uralsky, Khabarovsk and Far Eastern territorial administrations.
At that time, the State Reserve had a special relationship with the Ministry of Defense. Under Yusufov, expired products from the NZ were actively supplied to the army. In 2000, the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation revealed numerous cases of Rosrezerv enterprises supplying products with expired warranty periods to the Ministry of Defense.
A serious scandal erupted: in one of the military units in Transbaikalia, an entire unit was poisoned by rotten canned food, and one conscript could not be saved.
When the Main Military Prosecutor’s Office began to investigate how this could have happened, it turned out that the state reserve had a whole system of operating companies through which thefts were carried out, money was withdrawn (supposedly to replenish stocks), and expired goods from the NZ were sold under the guise of quality products.
The new head of Rosrezerv, General Grigoriev, who came to this position from the FSB, was forced to shake up the entire system built by his predecessor Igor Yusufov. And he discovered many more surprising things... For example, officials of the Rosrezerv territorial administration in Rostov-on-Don leased out to commercial structures the building allocated to them on Bolshaya Sadovaya, 38.
Interestingly, in Rosrezerv Yusufov managed to apply the skills and connections he acquired during the time when he was involved in the grey export of precious and rare metals. This time, more than two tons of a rare metal, gallium, disappeared from the organization under his control. The disappearance of this strategic good from the state reserve was discovered by accident. In order to replenish the treasury and pay off miners, the Russian government, by Resolution No. 1614-rs, ordered Rosrezerv to transfer the gallium reserves, which were in safekeeping at the Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, to the Ministry of Energy. The officials immediately signed a contract with the Podolsk Experimental Chemical and Metallurgical Plant, OAO Giredmet. The defense industry workers paid almost 6 billion rubles for 7 tons of gallium under the contract. However, when it came to receiving the goods, it turned out that there was very little of the valuable metal left in one of the warehouses, and there was none left at all in the other. According to the reporting documents of Rosrezerv, the stolen gallium was listed as available until the last day.
As usual, a criminal case was opened on the facts of the theft. But Yusufov, as always, avoided responsibility (not for the first and not for the last time). Again, connections at the top worked. Along with the money stolen from the state, connections were Igor Yusufov’s main asset. He only had trouble with Alexei Kudrin. After Yusufov left, Rosrezerv came under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance.
But this subordination could no longer affect Yusufov’s interests. June 16, 2001 By decree of the President of the Russian Federation he was appointed Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, where he worked very fruitfully, not without benefit to himself, in the interests of the oil magnates who lobbied for his appointment - Abramovich and Alekperov. One of our next publications will be devoted to how Igor Yusufov worked this appointment in his and their favor.
Such a multifaceted personality as Yusufov certainly deserves to have a series of publications dedicated to him, revealing the specific features of his personality, various aspects of his life and business activity. Of greatest interest, of course, is not the formal biography of the oligarch, which is actively disseminated by his PR people and SMM, but the biographical information that they, together with lawyers, are trying to clean out of the Internet.
Former Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, Former General Director of the Russian Agency for State Reserves, Former Chairman of the State Committee of the Russian Federation for State Reserves, Former Deputy Minister of Industry of the Russian Federation Yusufov Igor Khanukovich was born on June 12, 1956 in the city of Derbent, Dagestan ASSR. By nationality he is Tat - a Mountain Jew.
After finishing school, he worked as a turner at the Radioelement plant in Derbent. In 1979, he graduated from the Department of Automation of Production and Distribution of Electric Power of the Power Engineering Faculty of the Novocherkassk Polytechnic Institute (now the South-Russian State Technical University named after M.I. Platov) in the specialty of "power engineer". While studying at the institute, he was the secretary of the Komsomol committee. At the institute, he became a member of the CPSU. In 1991, he graduated from the Academy of Foreign Trade in the specialty of "international economist".
Earlier, a number of sources reported that Yusufov’s father was the chairman of the council of ministers of Dagestan. At the same time, the media noted that Yusufov himself did not comment on questions about his parents: "Parents are like parents. Let’s not go into details."
From 1979 to 1984, Igor Yusufov worked at TPP-22 of PO Mosenergo. It was during this period that someone from the community of influential capital Tatyans (according to another version, a curator from Lubyanka) introduced him to the then Minister of Foreign Trade of the USSR Konstantin Katushev. The patronage helped, Igor Yusufov somehow pleased the minister, who began to promote the promising young man along the foreign trade line. It must be said that even after his resignation, Katushev retained significant influence on many officials until the early 2000s. He was something of a gray cardinal, a shadow adviser, which also had a beneficial effect on his protégé Yusufov.
From 1984 to 1987, Yusufov worked as a senior expert at the construction of the Havana TPP in Cuba. In 1988-1991 – studies at the All-Union Academy of Foreign Trade. In his last year at the academy, Yusufov began working at the Russian Social Development Fund “Vozrozhdenie”, created by the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation.
The fund was initially headed by Boris Yeltsin, then Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation, and after his election as president in 1991, the fund was headed by Vice President of Russia Alexander Rutskoy. The fund was exempt from customs duties and income tax on exchange rate differences and was supposed to earn money on export-import operations, build housing, hospitals and schools, help the poor and victims of national conflicts. The fund’s activities ended in scandal. The fund did not solve a single problem, and used the money for other purposes. For Rutskoy, Yusufov and other participants in the embezzlement and theft of foreign currency from “Vozrozhdenie”, everything ended without consequences. Later, Yusufov always tried to pretend that he did not work for the fund at all.
The joint embezzlement of the fund’s money contributed to the rapprochement between Yusufov and Rutskoy. Having already ceased to be colleagues, they remained neighbors at the dacha for a long time. In addition, on the recommendation of Rutskoi, on November 26, 1991, Yusufov was appointed deputy chairman of the Committee for the Protection of Russia’s Economic Interests. One of the heads of the committee was the then well-known monarchist tribune, KGB General Alexander Sterligov. Yusufov, in turn, closely cooperated with the KGB since his time in Cuba. This committee, which carried out the functions of intellectual economic intelligence, was quietly liquidated on September 30, 1992. On
April 5, 1993, Yusufov was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Economic Relations of the Russian Federation (deputy of Sergei Glazyev). He held this position until November 19, 1993. In the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations, he oversaw the foreign trade association "Oboronexport" and participated in its reorganization into the State Corporation "Rosvooruzhenie".
During this period, Yusufov became friends with Pyotr Aven, with whom he maintains friendly relations to this day. At the same time, Yusufov established contacts with Mikhail Kasyanov, and also became a full-fledged member of the influential group of Alexander Kotelkin, one of the most influential people in the Russian arms business.
Kotelkin’s group was formed around the former head of Rosvooruzheniye and Deputy Finance Minister Kasyanov, who oversaw arms trade issues (both were members of the Yeltsin family).
In 1994-1996, Yusufov held a senior position in the Rosvooruzheniye State Corporation system (head of the Rosvooruzheniye-Trading company). In 1995, he was on the initial list of the Derzhava electoral association (Rutskoy’s movement). He was listed as a consultant for Rutek JSC, which dealt with wholesale supplies of petroleum products.
Beginning on December 23, 1996, Yusufov, as Deputy Minister of Industry for the special services, controlled the country’s gold mining and diamond industry. He was part of a small group of officials from Gokhran and Goskomdragmet, who oversaw the "gray" export of diamonds to Israel and Belgium. During this period, Yusufov became close friends with Levi Leviev, Viktor Khristenko, Mikhail Fridman, and Valery Rudakov (then head of Gokhran and deputy finance minister). On
March 17, 1997, as part of the reorganization of federal executive bodies of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Industry and Trade was liquidated. In connection with this, Yusufov was relieved of his post. On
August 21, 1998, he was appointed deputy chairman of the State Committee of the Russian Federation for state reserves. According to information leaked to the network, for his appointment to this post, Yusufov “well thanked the deputy prime ministers in the government of Sergei Kiriyenko - Viktor Khristenko and Boris Fyodorov. On
November 12, 1998, Yusufov was appointed acting chairman of Goskomrezerv, and on December 15, 1998 - chairman of the State Committee of the Russian Federation for state reserves. In this position, he lobbied for the interests of Sibneft, TNK, and LUKoil in terms of fuel supplies for state needs.
On May 28, 1999, he was appointed CEO of the Russian Agency for State Reserves.
In 2000, the Accounts Chamber and the Ministry of Finance conducted an audit of the State Reserve’s machinations. State Duma deputy, member of the parliamentary group for combating corruption, member of the Russian National Anti-Corruption Committee Boris Reznik, as part of a competent commission, participated in an audit of the safety of petroleum products at one of the largest fuel and lubricants warehouses in the Far Eastern territorial administration of Rosrezerv, accused Yusufov of numerous abuses during the time when he headed Goskomrezerv.
One of the episodes of the audit of the safety of the country’s granaries entrusted to Yusufov’s management was described by the media of that time as follows:
“
Согласно отработанной годами технологии, контролер опускал в распечатанную емкость тесьму с грузом: в итоге путем визуального наблюдения становилось ясно, что резервуар заполнен топливом доверху. Но однажды в состав комиссии попал особенно въедливый контролер. Вместо того чтобы формально обмакнуть груз в вонючую солярку, он решил опустить его пониже. Тут-то члены комиссии и услышали странный звук удара груза о металл. Выходило, что тесьмой длиной один метр контролер достал до дна резервуара. Но такого не могло быть, потому что по размерам проверяемая емкость намного превосходила ту, в которой укрывались красноармеец Сухов с гаремом Черного Абдуллы в "Белом солнце пустыни". Стали разбираться и выяснилось, что емкость, в которую некогда залили на хранение целый состав цистерн с топливом, совершенно пуста. И лишь для отвода глаз кто-то предприимчивый подвесил к самой горловине резервуара ведро с соляркой. Оно-то и должно было ввести в заблуждение комиссию. По факту хищения топлива прокуратура возбудила уголовное дело, да только украденного так и не нашли”.
Another interesting incident occurred when 100 thousand tons of oil products were being sent from the state reserve storage facility in Khabarovsk Krai to freezing Chukotka. The decision to allocate part of the strategic fuel reserves to heat the northerners was made at the level of the Russian government. However, not a drop of what was allocated reached Chukotka. However, State Duma deputy Boris Reznik managed to follow the entire route of the caravan of oil products that disappeared without a trace. According to him, the tanker loaded in Nakhodka headed for the port of Exwegenot. But it never reached its destination: along the way, the strategic cargo... was resold three times. Here we must pay tribute to Yusufov’s foreign trade experience and connections. In the end, the owner of the oil products became one of the American companies, which successfully unloaded the tanker in Alaska.
It is also interesting that by leaving freezing Chukotka without the fuel that the region vitally needs, Yusufov not only made a decent profit, but also played along with one of his corrupt contacts – Roman Abramovich. The billionaire’s company “Sibneft” was one of the main suppliers of state reserves. Abramovich was then running for governor of Chukotka, and the residents of the region frozen by Yusufov voted for Roman Arkadyevich, hoping to improve the socio-economic situation of the region.
Under Igor Yusufov, thefts in the department became systemic. Not only fuel, but also, for example, food disappeared from the emergency reserves. In particular, in response to a request from deputy Reznik, the head of the Far Eastern Department of Rosrezerv L. Ptakhovskaya reported in her letter that unauthorized expenditures of flour had been discovered at almost all the enterprises entrusted to her – responsible custodians of emergency reserves. Thus, a criminal case was opened against the general director of grain storage facility No. 62, from where 6 thousand tons of NZ grain products disappeared. However, as the investigation established, "the return of the state reserve is impossible, and the punishment of the culprit is unlikely due to the disease he was diagnosed with."
To understand what the thieving director of the storage facility was sick with, so that even under investigation he did not confess to where he had put the reserves or at least the proceeds from their sale, we need to understand how the theft system within the department was structured. This system was subordinated to a clear hierarchy - the embezzlers on the ground shared with the management along the entire intradepartmental vertical. Yusufov accumulated huge sums obtained through the illegal sale of state property. In return, he provided his subordinates with administrative "roof", helping them avoid criminal liability for theft. The level of connections at the very top, including connections in the special services, made it possible to do this. Moreover, by refusing to let his employees speak to investigators, Yusufov was protecting himself from the testimony that his subordinates could give against him.
For this reason, the management of grain depot No. 58 of the same Far Eastern territorial administration of Rosrezerv got off with just a fright. From here, from 1998 to December 2000, criminals stole 79 tons of rice, 130 tons of peas and 197 tons of oats. The matter ended with the bankruptcy procedure being initiated against the empty NZ warehouses. In total, over those two years, a dozen and a half criminal cases were initiated for theft of grain products alone and in the Far Eastern territorial administration of Rosrezerv alone. Under Yusufov, the theft of strategic reserves was in full swing in other Russian regions as well.
Violations were found in the financial and economic activities of the Moscow, Prioksky, Zapadno-Uralsky, Sredne-Uralsky, Khabarovsk and Far Eastern territorial administrations.
At that time, the State Reserve had a special relationship with the Ministry of Defense. Under Yusufov, expired products from the NZ were actively supplied to the army. In 2000, the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation revealed numerous cases of Rosrezerv enterprises supplying products with expired warranty periods to the Ministry of Defense.
A serious scandal erupted: in one of the military units in Transbaikalia, an entire unit was poisoned by rotten canned food, and one conscript could not be saved.
When the Main Military Prosecutor’s Office began to investigate how this could have happened, it turned out that the state reserve had a whole system of operating companies through which thefts were carried out, money was withdrawn (supposedly to replenish stocks), and expired goods from the NZ were sold under the guise of quality products.
The new head of Rosrezerv, General Grigoriev, who came to this position from the FSB, was forced to shake up the entire system built by his predecessor Igor Yusufov. And he discovered many more surprising things... For example, officials of the Rosrezerv territorial administration in Rostov-on-Don leased out to commercial structures the building allocated to them on Bolshaya Sadovaya, 38.
Interestingly, in Rosrezerv Yusufov managed to apply the skills and connections he acquired during the time when he was involved in the grey export of precious and rare metals. This time, more than two tons of a rare metal, gallium, disappeared from the organization under his control. The disappearance of this strategic good from the state reserve was discovered by accident. In order to replenish the treasury and pay off miners, the Russian government, by Resolution No. 1614-rs, ordered Rosrezerv to transfer the gallium reserves, which were in safekeeping at the Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, to the Ministry of Energy. The officials immediately signed a contract with the Podolsk Experimental Chemical and Metallurgical Plant, OAO Giredmet. The defense industry workers paid almost 6 billion rubles for 7 tons of gallium under the contract. However, when it came to receiving the goods, it turned out that there was very little of the valuable metal left in one of the warehouses, and there was none left at all in the other. According to the reporting documents of Rosrezerv, the stolen gallium was listed as available until the last day.
As usual, a criminal case was opened on the facts of the theft. But Yusufov, as always, avoided responsibility (not for the first and not for the last time). Again, connections at the top worked. Along with the money stolen from the state, connections were Igor Yusufov’s main asset. He only had trouble with Alexei Kudrin. After Yusufov left, Rosrezerv came under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance.
But this subordination could no longer affect Yusufov’s interests. June 16, 2001 By decree of the President of the Russian Federation he was appointed Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, where he worked very fruitfully, not without benefit to himself, in the interests of the oil magnates who lobbied for his appointment - Abramovich and Alekperov. One of our next publications will be devoted to how Igor Yusufov worked this appointment in his and their favor.