How to sell your homeland for three hundred pieces of silver?
Necessary foreword
Tatyana Timofeeva, the wife of that Colonel Ilya Timofeev, about whom some of our media wrote not so long ago, contacted our editorial office. Since she, as a citizen of the Russian Federation, has all the rights, including the right to express her position, we gave her the opportunity to express her opinion on this issue, especially since it runs counter to the article in Kommersant. In turn, having studied the available materials and listened to the opinions of people who came into contact with GABTU, we made our own conclusions, which confirm some of the erroneousness of the material of Kommersant and others that followed it.
Tatyana Timofeeva:
It all started not even with the arrest of Colonel Timofeev in August 2023, but with the publication of an article in Kommersant and a number of other media. All this is simply funny if you forget for a second that behind this lies the trampled life of not just one person, but an entire family. Moreover, it was trampled because somewhere someone decided to do so for money.
I know who decided and why, it’s just too early to throw around names, everything has its time. The situation is not entirely normal even for our country, and here I, as a citizen of this country, have the right to tell everything that I consider necessary for today. And laugh with you, because, despite the fact that my husband was actually found guilty, accusing him of receiving money that he not only did not receive, but even theoretically could not receive, this is really funny.
So that there is no doubt about what I am saying, I will say that I myself am an employee of the GABTU, although I work in a different department and was recently checked by the military prosecutor’s office for a conflict of interest. There are no complaints against me, I continue to work. And I understand what we are talking about.
We moved to Moscow in 2001, and until recently lived in a service apartment. Of course, one could say that the desperate situation with living space pushed my husband to commit a crime, but alas, the Ministry of Defense allocated us an apartment, and the theoretical need to break the law disappeared last year.
Ilya Timofeev devoted more than 30 years to repairing armored vehicles. That is, the person was a real specialist in his field, knowledgeable and understanding. He dealt with issues of repair, equipment, and, among other things, demilitarization of military equipment.
The articles contained investigators' VERSIONS, which, by the way, were not subject to anything other than speculation. In general, what do you think, to what extent are specialists, even military investigators, experts in the demilitarization of equipment? And how close to reality can their guesses be, even if they were made on the basis of some expert opinions?
(Note: in general, in the public domain you can find such a document as the Instructions for the Demilitarization of Military Equipment dated 2009. This is generally an interesting document that answers many questions, but to one question - have military investigators studied it - the answer is negative. Author's note .)
The instructions perfectly explain what operations need to be carried out with armored vehicles so that they cease to be combat vehicles and become demilitarized. And the main thing is who should carry out these operations. Moreover, the provisions of the Instruction were not taken out of thin air, but from the CFE Treaty, the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, signed in October 1990 by the Soviet Union and denounced by Russia in 2007.
And what happened was not exactly incredible, but: the investigator confused the concepts of transferring equipment demilitarized at the expense of the Ministry of Defense to the constituent entities of the Federation with recycling, again, demilitarized armored vehicles.
Colonel Timofeev was accused of (attention!) misleading his superiors and issuing invoices for work on the demilitarization of armored vehicles to a private company at a time when everything should have been done completely free of charge!
In fact, there are many regulations from the Government, signed by such persons as Putin, Medvedev, Fradkov, Mishustin, a number of orders from the Deputy Minister of Defense, which say one thing: yes, the demilitarization of armored vehicles should be carried out by the Ministry of Defense, but this is paid for by the entities that receive this equipment for their use. That is, the city of Ensk wanted to install, say, a T-72 on a pedestal. No problem. The Ministry of Defense selects a tank from its reserves, selects a licensed company that carries out demilitarization, delivers the tank to the site, and then the entity compensates for the costs associated with these actions. But the subject gets the tank itself for free. That's the whole difference.
Realizing his stupidity, the investigation did not bring charges against Timofeev under Part 4 of Art. 159, although the media hastened to trumpet this. And until now, the investigation is keeping Timofeev in custody, the article is indicated in the documents, but... charges have never been brought. Investigating...
The wildness is next (there will be many of them). In January 2023, investigator Dneprovsky opened a new case, under Art. 260 part 6 and determined the amount of the bribe to be 2 rubles.
(Note: we have seen a lot of cases of bribes, but this is the first time that there was such a strange figure. One is tempted to ask - is this a bribe with VAT? And yes, if you use a calculator, then everything is even stranger - the indicated amount is 2 510 with VAT! All that remains is to get an understanding somewhere of why the bribe is not 000, but 2 rubles. And why bribes began to be subject to VAT in our country.)
Okay, I won’t create any fog, this figure is taken from... the contract! This is exactly how much the co-executor of the state contract, LLC NPP Samaravzyvtekhnologiya (hereinafter referred to as SVT), paid to the organization LLC Spetstekhnika for the services provided by this company.
Spetstekhnika LLC completed the work, paid taxes, paid salaries to employees, and presented all documents to the investigation. And Spetstekhnika LLC earned less than 300 thousand rubles from this. It would seem that’s it?
No. If the doctor said to the morgue, then to the morgue. (If Comrade General said that crocodiles fly, then that means they fly. Low, at night, but nevertheless - approx.). And as investigator Dneprovsky believed that this agreement was a bribe, it remained so. Investigator Dneprovsky was not convinced otherwise.
It's funny to you? One company paid another for, say, transportation of equipment, but this is a bribe that the company gave to Colonel Timofeev “for general patronage and connivance in the service” (Quote from Kommersant).
How the amount under the agreement suddenly became a bribe in the head of investigator Dneprovsky is a mystery worthy of the brightest minds in the game “What? Where? When?" of all times.
In general, it is clear what color the threads were used to sew this amount onto Colonel Timofeev.
The work done by investigator Dneprovsky apparently tired him so much that they decided to give him a rest and transferred the case to investigator Kolesnikov, who at that time was in the process of dismissal. Kolesnikov combined the cases under articles 159 and 290, using threads of approximately the right color, and safely resigned.
The case then passed to investigator Kokoev. He went even further, explaining that Spetstekhnika LLC performed UNNECESSARY work. He was not embarrassed by the fact that the list of these works was stipulated in the Instructions and a bunch of agreements, including international ones. In one fell swoop, Kokoev declared unnecessary the actions prescribed and approved, including by Putin. Well, applause...
According to the Instructions, during demilitarization, cuts are made in certain places of armored vehicles, which will subsequently prevent the use of the equipment as combat. But investigator Kokoev considered this work unnecessary. To what extent can we talk about competence here?
To be honest, until August 2023, until Timofeev’s arrest, the investigators did not even know about the existence of this Instruction at all. And, if not for Timofeev himself, they would not have known.
About the arrest. To be kept in custody, and even under such a far-fetched explanation as “the opportunity to go to the West through Belarus,” is just a joke. The man who gave this idea to investigator Kolesnikov had a very remarkable sense of humor.
Situation: a GABTU colonel is caught taking a “bribe.” More precisely, not on a bribe, but in general it is not clear on what, rather, on the absence of a bribe, which he did not take. And therefore he is urgently planning to flee through Belarus. With a naked, excuse me, butt, since he did not withdraw the bribe from the account of the same Spetstekhnika LLC, the LLC spent this money at its own discretion. Without a foreign passport, which he, as a member of the Russian army, does not have. And the presence of a foreign passport also does not play a special role here, since the border for Russians is, as it were, closed on that side.
Of course, let's imagine how Timofeev sneaks lightly through the Pinsk swamps, the paths known to him alone to Poland... Laughter in the hall again? Thank you. It's almost funny to me too. Especially from the understanding of how my four children and I instantly fall under the pressure of the “family of a traitor to the Motherland.” Although we almost got there anyway.
So why was Colonel Timofeev arrested and kept in custody?
Answers to this and other questions must be sought in Samara and Moscow. In Moscow there is one very powerful concern, Translom, which is generally engaged in the processing of ALL equipment of the Ministry of Defense, and Translom has a daughter, exactly the same SVT LLC, Samaravzryvtekhnologiya.
If you look at SVT LLC on the Internet, the company is old, since 1996, but its business is not going well. This is how it happens: hundreds of millions of money are turned over, but there is no profit. A complete loss, don't worry about it.
Please note that when the turnover was small, a profit of 200-300 thousand rubles was still somehow shown. As soon as hundreds of millions began to be pumped, terrible losses immediately began. Why would this be, gentlemen, entrepreneurs?
And, naturally, we are not talking about any taxes. What kind of taxes are there when there is complete lack of money and losses?
It was the same with armored vehicles. It was on the basis of incorrect work during demilitarization and unclear paperwork that the management of SVT LLC had a conflict with the GABTU in the person of Timofeev. What could he do if the cutouts are not made where the Instructions stipulate, the documents are not properly drawn up, and so on? And yes, a conflict arose, which SVT LLC began to resolve by filing complaints against Timofeev.
But the complaints were not made about his work, no. And the fact that at GABTU, in another department, his wife works as a specialist. Well, really, how can you work honestly if your wife is here? Only dishonest, yes! But the problem is that the prosecutor’s office did not find a conflict and slapped the businessmen on the hands with a refusal. The prosecutors searched for a month and didn’t find him.
Nothing, the gentlemen from SVT moved on. And again they wrote a complaint, this time against me, Tatyana Timofeeva, because I... write books!
And don’t talk about logic now, it’s not here. In general, who said that writing books is a crime? Presidents, prime ministers, ministers – everyone who has something to say writes. And for this you don’t need millions, for this you need working neurons in your head! But this is not obvious to everyone.
Yes, I have written and published two books on genealogy. Tatyana Timofeeva “Family story" - It's me. And I was forced to justify myself and prove that the books were written by me and published at my expense. Without attracting sponsors and donors, everything was paid from the account into which my salary comes. Proved it. "SVT" flew by again.
And so the former director of SVT LLC Terentyev filed a confession and stated that he transferred money through the bank to the account of Spetstehnika LLC for a bribe to Timofeev. VAT INCLUDED.
True, it was not without reason that a criminal case was opened against the former director of a strange unprofitable company... And, if we apply that very missing logic, it could easily have happened that someone very kind advised such a move to Terentyev. Terentyev is drowning Timofeev, and he (Terentyev) will not be looked at so closely for this matter. And they won’t see something that was wasted, for example.
But this is speculation, of course. Not serious. We have a serious issue: a man decided to bribe Colonel Timofeev. And giving a bribe very seriously, not slipping an envelope in dollars or euros or passing it through mutual friends, not lending money against a receipt, but like this, openly and boldly: from account to account! True, through the account of an enterprise to which Timofeev also had no connection, but with VAT! A bribe is a bribe, but the interests of the state cannot be infringed! Good civics, isn't it?
With your tacit approval, I will finally take over the narrative
Digression: we understand perfectly well that almost everyone participating in this strange show undergoes medical commissions every year (except for Terentyev, for whom there are no questions), so we allow ourselves a bit of sarcasm precisely because we do not question the competence of all participants.
In general, the result was a picture in which SVT LLC failed miserably in the government contract, since, to put it mildly, they were not strong in the demilitarization of armored vehicles. It was necessary to somehow get out of this situation, but there was only one way out - to persuade Timofeev to formalize everything as it should be. But the colonel resisted, because he would have to answer for the cuts made not where ordered by the Instructions, but where it was convenient for SVT employees.
Therefore, the contract was filled up, and since it is a state contract, a case was opened against Terentyev, just in case, as they say, the process began. But to date, the government contract concluded with SVT has not been fulfilled. And how and when it will be fulfilled (and whether it will be fulfilled at all) is not yet clear. Shifts to the right, as we say in our country today.
But, as you understand, the essence of the matter is not the timing. If we really talk about what they want to imprison Colonel Timofeev for, they want to imprison him for lost profits.
In general, this topic, and even with the names of the versions “Who Benefits”, is a topic for an entire investigation, but everything has its time. As they say, the papers need to rest, and they will stay for now.
Speaking about lost profits, to begin with, we must generally give an understanding of how demilitarization occurs. And it happens very simply and complexly at the same time.
We take the tank. This is if the city of Ensk wants to install a tank on a pedestal. Naturally, a decommissioned tank. Decommissioning armored vehicles is a completely different story; you can’t just write off a tank, you need good reasons for this. It’s one thing if the tank took part in hostilities, another thing is its service life. There are different orders of the Minister of Defense from different years, but they all clearly regulate the timing and condition of decommissioned equipment.
Or, as an option, if the repair plant does not guarantee the combat effectiveness of the vehicle and refuses to repair it. This is, say, if there is damage to the frontal part and there is a threat that everything there will fall apart if hit by a 30-mm shell.
And only these samples come for monuments or scrap metal. According to Government Decree 778, such equipment can be transferred to a subject of the Federation. But - after the demilitarization procedure.
But even a tank that is not fit for battle is a tank. And he can move and fire. How is the third question, the main thing is can. Such a tank cannot leave the military unit under any pretext.
Therefore, in a specially designated place we turn the tank into a model. This means it looks like a tank, but a tank is not and will not appear under any circumstances. Cutouts in the right places will not allow you to shoot, and in the best case, the barrel will break, in the worst case, the turret will fly off the shoulder strap. Let me emphasize the model of the tank will never become a tank again. Brewing it back is not about this case; the instructions were not written by fools in Soviet times.
And yes, such equipment is transferred to constituent entities and municipalities FREE OF CHARGE! But the municipality is obliged to pay the company that will demilitarize the tank on the territory of the military unit. A company, for example, like SVT, which, however, as practice has shown, does not know how to do demilitarization.
And before drawing a very unpleasant conclusion and asking a very unpleasant question, it is worth noting one more point.
Okay, the cutouts are done, the tank is a mockup. But what does the layout have? That's right, the guts that will no longer be useful to him: engine, transmission, hydraulic system, electrical... Pumps, motors, sensors, instruments. Everything that ensured the life and combat performance of the machine, naturally, can be sold. For those who need engines, gearboxes, pumps and other components and spare parts.
Do you understand that this is practically a margin for demilitarizers? Well, really, why does the monument need an engine? And someone is ready to pay very real sums for it...
But that's not what's dangerous.
Let's look at the crooked ones from SVT, who do not know how to demilitarize equipment, but know how to write denunciations from a different angle.
Well, SVT doesn’t know how to make cutouts correctly. They don’t know how to properly demilitarize tanks. But as they say, proven comrades.
But here's a question for you: a where can a tank go, which according to documents is not a tank, but a mock-up, but in fact is still a tank? For a monument? Yes, but the country does not need so many monuments. Then – for scrap metal? Right. Logical. Where to go for scrap metal? It is clear that those who pay for it.
And it turns out to be an oil painting: the not very good person Terentyev transfers (I don’t know why) money to the not very good people from Spetstekhnika LLC for Colonel Timofeev, and in return he issues a certificate stating that the demilitarization was carried out in accordance with the Instructions. Signs the act. The bosses don’t check, the bosses know that Timofeev is a proven and reliable person. Years of impeccable work.
Where can you sell scrap metal according to documents, but in reality a tank?
Who might be interested in such a deal? And there are many options... China, through intermediaries, is buying Soviet and Russian aircraft engines, for example, all over the world. In general - your versions. And it’s real, like in the cartoon, “The elephant is bad, the help is good!”
That is, everything is clear, isn’t it? Tanks that, according to documents, are not tanks under the guise of scrap metal for everyone, tank spare parts (for the same tanks) under the guise of scrap metal for them - why not business? SVT LLC could easily get out of its losses and improve its financial affairs.
Do you need historical examples? So the Chinese bought their first aircraft carrier from the Ukrainians. And in the hold lay two intact ship-built Su-33s. They were forgotten there “completely by accident”, remember this story? And so the Chinese got their own carrier-based fighters.
But here’s the problem - Ilya Timofeev...
Therefore, Timofeev must be convicted and sent to prison as quickly as possible. Fire him and appoint a more accommodating comrade to the vacant position. The plan is simple and effective.
The only drawback of the plan is that Colonel Timofeev is still one of those comrade colonels, not gentlemen. And he will not take upon himself anything that he has not done. And the case of Colonel Timofeev will be sewn with dazzling orange threads, but it has already been sewn from the very beginning. From the moment gentlemen investigators began to suck out of the vacuum the reasons for Timofeev to be in a pre-trial detention center.
Let's remind.
Reason one: Ilya Timofeev, according to investigators, “while remaining at large, the officer can destroy documents that have not yet been seized by the investigation, or make changes to them that will help him avoid responsibility.”
True, the investigation is bashfully silent about the fact that back in February it seized ALL documents related to Timofeev’s work. EVERYTHING is a piece of paper and does not give it away under any circumstances. Department employees go around and make copies of the documents they need for work.
To incriminate Timofeev that, while remaining at large, he will storm or at night, bypassing all security systems, enter the premises of the military investigative department...
Is it just us, or is Tom Cruise from Mission Impossible crying?
Well, we won’t comment at all on the investigators’ statement that “having “stable connections” in Belarus, he will try to use them to travel through this country to Europe.” An officer of this level must even approve a business trip to Belarus at the level of the Deputy Minister of Defense. Otherwise, they won’t release him, especially since Timofeev never had a foreign passport.
It’s amazing why all our Petrovs and Boshirovs passed by such a frame? This is their man! A ready-made superman, capable of doing such things alone...
Of course, everything is actually transparent. Timofeev is sitting in a pre-trial detention center because otherwise he can easily and naturally prove his innocence. But this option is not for him: an open trial, the press... Naturally, under the guise of secrecy (this is about serious things), they will try to provide him with a trial without the slightest publicity. The wife is not allowed to attend the trial.
How at one time Gennady Basov from Sevastopol, one of the real organizers of the “Russian Spring,” was imprisoned for six years. Six years for not taking a bribe. This also happens here, we wrote in defense of Basov, who was eventually released three years later as innocent, officially apologizing with a resolution that the case was completely fabricated.
Exactly the same thing happens to Ilya Timofeev. The man did not violate his official duties, thereby causing significant material damage to a certain group of people.
It was Timofeev who seized the spare parts that SVT LLC bought as scrap metal. Suitable spare parts removed from old equipment, but which can well be used to repair armored vehicles from the SVO. Rollers, tracks, engines. Yes, the confiscation occurred in favor of the state, that is, the Ministry of Defense, which, naturally, undertook to compensate the confiscated money in monetary terms.
It must be clarified that what passed through the documents as scrap would have been compensated for at the price of scrap. This did not suit the SVT businessmen at all, who planned to sell all this wealth as useful products.
As a result, the man who prevented Samara businessmen from doing business was not only sent to jail in a pre-trial detention center, but also a very funny prospect hung over him. New investigator for particularly important cases of the Main Military Investigation Department A.V. Kokoev on the basis of Part 6 of Art. 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation considered it necessary to provide a fine that perhaps will be imposed on Timofeev. And according to this article, a fine can be imposed in the amount of eighty to one hundred times the amount of the bribe.
And since Timofeev did not take it (until proven otherwise), as was elegantly outlined by investigator Kolesnikov, “a bribe from D.I. Terentyev in favor of the legal entity Spetstekhnika LLC through the intermediary E.V. Kanitelshchikov. in the amount of 2 rubles.”, then he definitely needs to be fined a hundredfold.
That is, 296 rubles 186 kopecks.
I would like to ask: why waste time on trifles? Why not a billion right away? Timofeev won’t give you practically anything anyway, why a comedy?
In general, it becomes simply disgusting to understand what our investigation and justice are turning into. Some kind of multi-part farce: a fine of 300 million, to secure which they are trying to arrest something from Timofeev. Who? From a colonel who served his Motherland all his life? And what can be taken away from him? A car? Investigator Danilov first of all confiscated all the documents on her; apparently, it was with the help of his Toyota that Timofeev was supposed to escape to Belarus and further to Poland through the swamps. An apartment? So the Ministry of Defense just allocated her, she is not his yet. Timofeev lived in a service cell for 20 years and raised four children there; the older ones left to rent and improve their lives.
But it would not have been our heroic investigation if they had not found it. Two sites in the Kaliningrad region. Six hundred each. The cadastral value together is about 170 thousand rubles. And the box of a house on one of these plots.
In general, you won’t get fat, no matter how you look at it. But nevertheless, they are preparing to take away this too. Just in case, what if?
Farce. As in many other cases we have covered. The work of certain groups of people (in no case do we touch the SU as a whole, because we know that there are more than enough honest professionals there) in the interests of other groups of people.
With pleasure, an example: the Basmanny Court of Moscow arrested for two months the deputy head of the military property department of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Vladimir Shishov, suspected of embezzling 27 million rubles. The detainee is accused under the same part 4 of Article 159 (“Fraud on an especially large scale”) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
As follows from the case materials, Shishov is suspected of stealing 27 million rubles allocated for the purchase of wood in 2022. According to investigators, the second person involved in the case, businessman Dmitry Levchenko, must use these funds to perform work on sorting and stacking wood. As a result, these works were not completed, and funds allocated from the budget of the Ministry of Defense were stolen.
And, I must say, Shishov “lit up” not only in terms of wood. But not about that now.
Now we will say that Colonel Ilya Timofeev did not take the bribes that are attributed to him. And we believe in this until the contrary is proven, and it will not be proven. But, judging by how clumsily the gentlemen military investigators Dneprovsky, Kolesnikov and Kokoev are working, we are on the verge of another trial, similar to the one inflicted on Basov. There are more than enough violations in the conduct of the case and even threats towards Timofeev’s relatives to consider this.
You know, it's somehow strange. Another Russian person is openly trampled by those whom he prevented from doing their gesheft. It is clear that the swindlers from the unprofitable company NPP SVT LLC are a front. And their losses came from the fact that, while dealing with government contracts, they laundered money for completely different people. This is clear and understandable. But in order for gentlemen businessmen to snatch their 300 million, it is necessary to trample on both Ilya Timofeev and his family.
It is clear that business interests are higher. Three hundred pieces of silver are more important than some colonel from GABTU, who faithfully served his country for thirty years, repairing military equipment. Of course, he needs to be imprisoned, 12 acres of land should be confiscated from him, his wife and two children (the elders, thank God, live separately) should be thrown out onto the street; they should not bathe in largesse from the Ministry of Defense, humiliate, trample and put someone else in his place. More accommodating.
What do you think, how is it now at GABTU? And there, fortunately, there are more fellow officers than gentlemen. This, by the way, is very pleasing, because since colleagues who are aware of the work believe in Timofeev’s innocence, this is very encouraging. And there they hope, by the way, that the truth will prevail, because, as always with us, there are problems with competent specialists.
In general, of course, somehow the country is not becoming very beautiful. Then Zhuravel will be completely smeared in terms of respecting his rights and the law, but now Timofeev has screwed up. And somehow everything was so quiet and without disturbances. Are the poor Palestinians in Gaza more important?
Сonclusion
I haven’t encouraged anyone to do anything for a long time, but what I’m seeing makes me feel uncomfortable. Well, why is it that some of us can do everything, while others should be deprived of everything, including freedom, in the name of this?
Dear concerned readers, let's support Colonel Timofeev? Everyone has the right to ask a question to the Prosecutor General's Office, they will forward it to the military. We do not believe in Timofeev’s guilt; we (the author, relatives, colleagues) believe that the case was fabricated for someone’s selfish interests. In principle, we know whose, but we need to work a little on the evidence base. Then, of course, we’ll write.
It’s a trifle, but the Volga begins with streams. Timofeev is needed by his own people. Relatives, colleagues, bosses. By the way, Lieutenant General Shestakov, head of the GABTU, is a worthy general. Although we were dissatisfied with each other in the matter about the plant in Engels, we could have behaved as others behaved. But no, that’s why I respect you.
Therefore, I ask you to support the GABTU, which has come under attack from businessmen. At least with questions to the voiced authorities. The more attention, the better. You see, the investigators will begin to focus on the case, and not look for a reason to pin everything they can on Timofeev.
But the main question is: where would the tanks incorrectly demilitarized by Samara businessmen go in the end? Really in the oven, or somewhere further away?
And who should ultimately sit in the dock? Whose hands are stained with silver? Interesting questions, right?
Afterword. On October 31, Colonel Timofeev was brought to the Investigative Committee and it was announced that the investigation was over. They presented him with Art. 260 hours (bribe) and new Art. 285 part 1 (exceeding official powers). A stuffed animal, a carcass, but someone really wants to imprison Colonel Timofeev, and imprison him for a long time.
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