"Motovilikha Plants": defense in anticipation of a counteroffensive
In personal (and non-personal) communication, a certain group of readers usually complain that we do not publish reports on the results of our activities. They, the results, are far from always available, it is worth noting that sometimes articles are even deleted for reasons beyond our control, but when there are results, this is also far from a reason to write materials. It just doesn't fit. However, sometimes it happens that there is a point in such articles, and we talk about what happened after. This case is one of those.
Released in October last year "Motovilikha Plants": save or still finish off?, where we talked about uniform lawlessness in relation to the oldest artillery enterprise in Russia.
The situation today has changed, and changed for the better. Not so much that you could relax, but still.
But I would like to start from something else. I would like to start with a question addressed to RT-Capital, that is, the "daughter" of Rostec, which is engaged in the liquidation and sale of property: dear, are you sure that everything is being done correctly? We have some doubts that what is happening in general can be interpreted in any other way than a conspiracy is not clear in whose favor. And that the FSB should deal with the situation.
a little bit stories, literally just a little, just to show the situation.
August 2017. An observation procedure has been opened in relation to PJSC MZ (“Motovilikhinskiye Zavody”), according to the statement of the All-Russian Research Institute “Signal”. This enterprise is the largest research organization in Russia for the development and manufacture of adjustable drives and power supply systems. Located in the city of Kovrov, Vladimir region. Naturally, it is part of Rostec.
January 2018. Rostec State Corporation, represented by RT-Capital, being a creditor of PJSC MZ from NPO Splav and JSC Rosoboronexport, acquires a debt from Rossiya Bank. The amount of the transaction is not announced, according to sources in Perm - 7,5 billion rubles.
March 2018. RT-Capital puts to a vote the issue of introducing bankruptcy proceedings at PJSC MZ, bypassing the stage of external management, which is logical in this case, and approves it in court.
October 2022. The auction of the property of the operating strategic enterprise, first class access is announced. Moreover, with the publication of secret information, which is a state secret, about a complete list of the enterprise's property in open sources.
We are talking about the property of Special Design Bureau LLC (SKB LLC), which is a structural subdivision of PJSC MZ and is engaged in the implementation of the State Defense Order. Wildness? Yes. But here it turns out that the law is harsh, but it is the law: you want to sell a plant that produces weapon? No problem. Just make it human!
Here in RT-Capital they issued it.
Data of the auction for the sale of property of a bankrupt enterprise
At the very end of the electronic page there are links to several documents, including a list of realizable property. And here the question arises: is it normal that the data on the executor of the State Defense Order (GOZ), whose share is sold as part of the lot of PJSC MZ, along with the property of another LLC, Motovilikha - Civil Engineering (MGM LLC), which is engaged in procurement for "SKB", announced in the open?
The situation, frankly, is on the verge of absurdity. Get into a business? Without a dozen approvals, permits and other documents - it is unrealistic. A military plant that fulfills a defense order. Need to understand!
Why, then, all this secrecy, if a competent engineer, who is not at all ours, can simply, for example, determine the accuracy of manufacturing certain components based on machine models. For example, turntables MLRS. And already on this basis, draw conclusions about the speed and accuracy of aiming systems. And by marking the cutters for lathes, one can draw conclusions about which grades of steel are used. And that's it, and you don't need any security guards. Everything is out in the open. Look, enemy, use ...
And how to call it? You can pick up a lot of epithets, however, each of the readers will be able to do it himself.
As it seems to a single group of comrades, the actions of the arbitration manager, members of the creditors' committee, so striving to "return theirs", fall under a number of articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, including Art. 283.
It makes sense to seriously think and see if there are similar violations of the law in other cases of sales of the property of military factories throughout the country. Surely there is.
What about "Motovilikha"
The situation is very strange from the beginning. Rostec, represented by RT-Capital, performs actions that are difficult to understand. In general, it would be nice if, after the release of the material from Rostec, an explanation / explanation comes in terms of what and where. In general, corporate representatives often do such things, and we, as you remember, published them. We will publish now, because the situation is worth it.
Regarding the numbers, we will talk a little lower, but as for the facts, then there is something to think about.
LLC "SKS" operates and fulfills the State Defense Order. And I note that only this organization has a license for the production of MLRS. But it is being sold, since it is generally unrealistic to separate LLC SKS and LLC MGM from PJSC MZ. All the signs of a holding are present there, the legal entities are located on the same area, have one legal address, and what's there, PJSC MZ and MGM LLC have the same director - Dyadkin Sergey Vyacheslavovich.
That is, in fact (with the exception of some very subtleties) LLC SKS and LLC MGM are parts of PJSC MZ.
And here the question arises: it turns out that Rostec, together with the bankrupt PJSC MZ, is selling into private hands an enterprise that produces military equipment under the State Defense Order?
Understanding goes underground, the mind tries to realize it, but ... It seems to me, or are they hitting the bottom with a sledgehammer? And is it bursting at the seams? And we come to the edge beyond which madness begins?
I'll try to explain why I thought so.
With regards to PJSC MZ, there are unconfirmed rumors that the only real buyer of the plant is a certain Remdizel LLC. Daughter of KamAZ. That is, the enterprise will legally go to Tatarstan.
Legally, but not actually. But the legal part is sometimes more than enough to do great things.
Let me illustrate the situation with a historical example.
In my Voronezh there was such a plant as EVP - electrovacuum devices. Then it was renamed to VELT - "Voronezh cathode ray tube". He made color kinescopes with a diagonal of 51 cm, and he did them well. "Record VTS-311" remember? Here, he is ours.
And the plant was so large that kinescopes, in addition to their "Electrosignal", were supplied to the Baku, Moscow, Novgorod and Alexander TV factories. VELT tubes were in addition to "Records" in "Sadko", "Ruby", "Aelites", "Dawns". In general, we can assume that all Soviet TVs with a 51 cm tube are on the conscience of VELT. And there were normal TVs, right? The tubes were licensed, American, from RCA. Today she was torn apart by General Electric and Sony, but then she was very popular as a manufacturer.
And in 1995, VELT bought the Dutch Philips. For quite sane money, promising more than a lot. In 1998, a scandal broke out, because all Philips did was close the plant for reconstruction and dismantle some of the equipment. And this is where the history of the Voronezh kinescopes ended, and with them the Soviet televisions ended. In 2001, Philips sold the plant back to the administration of Voronezh for 1 euro.
But since then, the history of Russian televisions has ended, as well as the history of factories that worked on kinescopes from Voronezh.
That is, do you understand what the prospect suggests? Yes, of course, you can hear at least a hundred assurances from representatives of Rostec that no, no, no, the new owner will be obliged to produce MLRS, this will be indicated / spelled out in the documents ...
Well, yes. “Blessed are the believers, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” as one ancient but relevant book says.
In our country, the owner is the one who does what the business requires of him. It will be profitable to continue - Remdizel will assemble MLRS. It won’t – and our Ministry of Defense is doing a lot to make it difficult to fulfill the State Defense Order – it will start collecting something else.
This is HIS, the owner, the plant. And the owner, and only he, decides how the plant will work, what wages will be paid, what the enterprise will produce and at what price.
In general, of course, the prospect is fire! To give into private hands a unique enterprise that produces artillery systems - well, yes, and then we will be surprised that the MLRS instead of, say, a million rubles, will cost two. And nothing, it's a market! If you don't like it - well, go ahead and bargain! Take a ride to Tula, for example... Or to Iran.
But this is not the worst, in my opinion. When you need MLRS - and two million, and three can be paid. But when they are not...
And everything is simple. Polite businessmen can approach the owner and calmly offer ... no, not money. Immunity and forgiveness for all sins plus a passport in a calm country like the USA. And no, you don’t have to sell and betray so openly, it’s enough just to stop the plant for reconstruction.
Or simply termination of the lease agreement with SKB LLC. Whose last grinding machine was rented from PJSC "MZ".
The plant is stopped because without the necessary repairs it is simply impossible to carry out the state defense order, well, it’s just that the enterprise is in such a state that either repairs or the owner can’t vouch for anything. And no one in our country can do anything. Because we have such laws. Such a market.
Why Remdiesel? Yes, everything is simple. Because representatives of this particular enterprise came to Motovilikha in January 2023. To inspect equipment and inspect workshops. Agree, worthy proof.
So the owners of the Tatarstan enterprise from Naberezhnye Chelny hardly came just to hang out, to see the plant and show themselves off. Not that flight of a bird.
Now a little about the numbers.
If you look at the figures of the announced tenders, then the final minimum amount is simply miserable - only some 830 million. And this despite the fact that the total debt of PJSC "MZ" is 10,5 billion rubles.
Let's look at it through the lens of the tender documents.
MZ owes 7,5 billion rubles to RT-Capital. Tula NPO "Splav" - 2 billion rubles. Rosoboronexport - 1 billion rubles. Here is such a controlling stake of creditors, there are more, but they are really smaller than this trio, in which RT-Capital can block ANY decision of the Board of Creditors. There is also such a form of observation.
So what do we get? And two options, both so-so.
Option one: the leadership of Rostec, the company's specialists turned out to be worthless leaders. It turns out that they fully signed their own impotence in terms of managing the plant, which is alive and works for the good of the country. And they see no other way out, how to sell it on the cheap in order to return at least something.
Is everything so sad in the state corporation Rostec? Are there entirely children of officials and managers recruited from ads?
Here even I doubt it. It shouldn't be like that. And in other areas, other Rostec enterprises are far from being as sad as Motovilikha. They work, in some places even in three shifts. It is not easy in our time, the work of the plant in three shifts, it is insanely difficult for many reasons.
So here it’s even inconvenient to take and blame the entire Rostec. Everything is clear with RT-Capital, these are the liquidators. They don't have any questions at all.
Option two: all this is started for a reason and RT-Capital really acts in the interests of third parties. The main "suspect" is "Remdizel", but it is possible that there are still those who wish.
The fall of a defense plant into private hands is fraught with many negative aspects. Where the MZ machines will go, where the SKB machines will go, it will be practically impossible to check this, and we don’t have bodies capable of doing this. A competently drawn up balance sheet - yes, the cruiser "Peter the Great" can be sunk in it, and no one will find where it drowned.
The sale by a state corporation of an enterprise operating under the State Defense Order into private hands, and even with a violation of secrecy, is, excuse me, too much even for our country. And the relevant authorities are simply obliged to become interested in this case, because clearly Rostec's actions require some correction.
I really would not want the defense plant to go into private hands, and then somewhere to new owners, say, in Cyprus. Or offshore. And the new owners would have stopped it "for reconstruction" according to a well-known scenario. Where, excuse me, will we take the MLRS? Again in Iran and North Korea?
And of course, the disclosure of state secrets.
It just seems to me that Rostec has played some games with the liquidation and sale of "unnecessary" property. And due to their certain incompetence, they allowed themselves too much. It is clear that anyone who was interested - he already copied and studied all the materials on Motovilikha.
I did a little experiment. He gave the list to his neighbor, a milling turner from KBHA, to look at. He looked, chuckled, and said that if he had been given more information on the cutters that work on these machines, he could easily estimate the life of the barrels. Well, he just sharpens nozzles for rocket engines, and the essence of the work at the RSZA barrel is about the same.
And who really needed it, most likely, the necessary information has already been ordered and received for their use.
Regarding the economic feasibility of the sale of PJSC "MZ". It is zero, and even negative. Similar enterprises in the industry, of which there are not many, are subsidized or at a profitability of no more than 5-10 percent, the most striking example is Uralvagonzavod, Perm Powder, state-owned enterprises that are owned by the state, which has the ability to support manufacturers during a period of losses .
But: the task of these enterprises is not to make a profit, but to ensure the security of the state with their products.
As a result of bankruptcy and the sale of property, a new, more efficient owner should appear (by selling the property, Rostec recognizes that the corporation is an inefficient owner). But this goal, in view of objective reasons, cannot be achieved; rather, on the contrary, we will soon see a new sales procedure in repetition.
The way out of the procedure is the only one, arising from the analysis, logic, interests of the state and the defensive doctrine of the Russian Federation: an amicable agreement between MZ PJSC and creditors, replacing debt with shares of MZ PJSC, and not selling, but vice versa, increase in the share of Rostec to the maximum possible level and support from the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
By the way, in the fall of 2022, visiting Motovilikha, Medvedev and Manturov talked about allocating 14 billion rubles for the development of the enterprise. This money would be more than enough to solve all, absolutely all the problems of Motovilikha. Unless, of course, these were the promises of senior government officials, and not empty chatter for a telegram channel.
So far, the sale of Motovilikha has been suspended. But for now. On May 15, another trial will take place, in which a group of opponents of the sale of enterprises in a bunch will try to prove their case and defend the interests of Motovilikha.
Let's hope that the court will show not only attentiveness and adherence to the letter of the law, but also patriotism and understanding of the spirit of the law, which guards the interests of Russia.
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