How Alexander Malakhov drowned the Chemezov missiles

The operator of an emergency transportation of the S-400 to China was a company from Petersburg that was connected with Rostec. Claims against 11 billion rubles are brought against her.
21.02.2019
Fontanka
Origin source
The head of the corporation "Rostec" Sergey Chemezov said that the anti-aircraft missiles designed for China had to be destroyed after a storm in the Atlantic and it was necessary to make new ones. The shipping agency was found to be the culprit of the losses, the co-owner of which until February 14 received a salary in a company associated with Rostec.

The head of Rostec reported at the IDEX-2019 arms exhibition in Abu Dhabi when he was asked to destroy missiles when he was asked to supply Triumph S-400 to foreign countries. The first customer was China, he acquired two regiments of C-400. According to Chemezov, the delivery should be completed in 2020. And, judging by his remark, the first regiment is still under-supplied.

“We should have already put everything. Unfortunately, an accident occurred. The ship that was carrying these [anti-aircraft missiles] fell into a storm, and all these missiles were forced to be destroyed, ”he said (quoted by RBC) and added that currently new missiles are being made in Russia. They will be sent to China by the end of 2019.

Chemezov’s statement caused mixed reactions. Obviously, he meant an episode a year ago. Delivery of the C-400 to China was shrouded in mystery, news was issued with a significant delay through TASS. On the morning of January 18, 2018, the news agency announced the start of Moscow’s execution of the S-400 supply under the 2014 contract.

"The execution of the contract began, the first ship went to China," the source quoted the media.

The next day, January 19, 2018, the official representative of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC), Maria Vorobyova, acknowledged that the execution of the contract did not start exactly according to plan. Part of the C-400 components received damage during a storm.

“As part of the execution of the contract for the supply of anti-aircraft missile systems S-400 to China at the end of December, a ship with auxiliary equipment left the port of Ust-Luga, which along the way fell into a storm in the English Channel region. The vessel has returned to Ust-Luga, the assessment of the damaged property is currently being conducted, after the completion of all procedures, the intact property will be sent to the customer on the same vessel, Vorobyova specified.

The first regimental set of S-400 was supplied to China by at least three dry cargo ships. Freakish manipulations were carried out with two of them.

The flag ship Liberia under the flag of Liberia departed from Ust-Luga, according to Marinetraffic, on December 19, 2017. It reached the South China Sea, where on February 5, 2018, changes were made to the Automatic Identification System (AIS) installed on board. Ocean Lord disguised as a tanker and under this designation on February 9 came to the Chinese port of Tianjin, called the Beijing Sea Gate. Stevean Watkins, a private investigator from Canada, noticed a disguise in his Twitter.

The next in line was the Russian cargo ship Nikifor Begichev. His short way is reflected in the Vessel Casualty Report published on several resources, including on the website of the Indian insurance company Beacon Insurance Brokers Pvt. Ltd:

“December 30, 2017“ Nikifor Begichev ”left Ust-Luga to China. On the night of January 3, 2018, I fell into a storm [west of Guernsey] and experienced problems with bulk cargo on deck. The ship drifted for a while, turned back on January 3, and returned to the Ust-Luga parking lot by January 9.

Apparently, it was “Nikifor Begichev” who had in mind Chemezov and the representative of the FSMTC Vorobyov.

The third ship, Ocean Power flying the flag of Liberia, left Ust-Luga on January 5, but almost immediately returned. Perhaps this was due to the Begichev accident and the unfinished storm in the English Channel.

On January 26, the dry-cargo ship changed registration from Liberian to Russian, was renamed “Adler”, and four days later it was launched on a flight. He turned out to be intricate. The end point of the route to the onboard computer "Adler" was originally introduced Greece. But on February 12, the cargo ship passed by, headed for the Suez Canal, and safely reached Tianjin.

In a new campaign, probably with equipment that had not been delivered to China, Nikifor Begichev set off in March. April 20, he reached the Suez Canal, and on May 16 he came to Tianjin. Around the same numbers on news feeds appeared messages that China received the first regimental set of C-400, by July 2018 completed the acceptance, and in December conducted successful tests to destroy the ballistic and aerodynamic targets.

The range of goods transported by Nikifor Begichev was significantly different in information messages. RBC wrote about the presence of anti-aircraft guided missiles on board, citing its own sources in the Ministry of Defense, Rosoboronexport and FSMTC: “The ship had a radar station, several dozen anti-aircraft guided missiles and spare parts: boards, cells, blocks”.

According to one source, the total value of the transported cargo was about 1.3 billion rubles.

Other media rocket not mentioned. According to TASS, Nikifor Begichev was transporting a command post, a radar station, power and auxiliary equipment, spare parts and "other elements of the system."

The website of the crewing agency Baltic shipping has published about ten resumes of seafarers who at various times were crewed by Ocean Lord, Nikifor Begichev and Adler. All of them, regardless of the flags under which the vessels went, belong to the citizens of Russia and Ukraine.

The operator of at least two ships, Ocean Lord (since December 2018 - World Carrier) and Adler, has acted and is the company Baltic Trans-Port. Founded in 2014, registered in Kingisepp, has an office in St. Petersburg. Engaged in agency services for ships in the North-West of Russia, freight forwarding, chartering vessels for international transport. Annual revenue for 2017 exceeds billion rubles, but it is eaten up by the cost of sales. Net profit is just over 20 million, the company’s assets are valued at the same rate. The site is registered in 2015 on a resident of Odessa Igor Vladimirovich Vytnova, according to the data of Who.is.
Since December 2017, that is, the start time for deliveries of C-400 to China, co-owners of Baltic Trans-Port in equal shares are St. Petersburg entrepreneurs Yevgeny Rogozin and Alexander Malakhov, he also holds the post of general director.

At that time, Malakhov had another significant position - the head of the Eladi company, owned by the Cyprus offshore Holisbridge Holdings. This company is part of Rostec. In particular, it is listed in the list of affiliates of the Kalashnikov Concern and other subsidiaries of the state corporation. From the post of general director of "Eladi" Malakhov was removed the other day, February 14.

Dry-cargo ship “Nikifor Begichev” is assigned to Murmansk. It is owned by the leasing company "Vega". The operator of the vessel is the Khatanga Commercial Sea Port. At the request of “Fontanka” in the port they answered that they have no relation to the C-400 transportation, since the ship was chartered by a third party during the period of the end of 2017 - the beginning of 2018.

Probably, Baltic Trans-Port chartered the vessels for Rosoboronexport. It is the only state mediator in Russia for the export of military products. He is a member of Rostec, Sergey Chemezov is a member of the board of directors.

The C-400 carriage was insured by the Independent Insurance Group (NSG). Its largest customers are the manufacturer of the anti-aircraft missile system, the Almaz-Antey concern and the Rostec enterprise. On February 20, federal media, citing the director of international cooperation at Rostec, Viktor Kladov, reported that Almaz-Antey had begun to receive insurance indemnity for cargo damaged due to the carrier company.

The Moscow Arbitration Court on January 10 and 11, 2019 registered two claims of Rosoboronexport to Baltic Trans-Port for a total of about 11 billion rubles. Fontanka.ru/2019/02/20/072/. According to the first state-owned company billed for damages in the amount of 161 million 482 thousand dollars and 1 million 790 thousand euros of freight. The third person, no independent claims, is the NSG. According to the second lawsuit, Rosoboronexport requires $ 3,135 thousand, the third parties in the case are the NSG and Almaz-Antey. Claims will be considered by the Moscow Arbitration Court in closed session. This was requested by the parties.
 
In turn, the Independent Insurance Group appealed to the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the region with a lawsuit against Baltic Trans-Port for the recovery of RUB 31 million 714 thousand for non-performance or improper performance of obligations under commission agreements. An identical amount is presented by the insurer to another maritime agency from St. Petersburg - Neva-Transport-Trading (NTT).

NTT was created in 1998 by a professional broker Sergei Morozov, who should be well known to George Poltavchenko. Their fathers, Viktor Morozov and Sergei Poltavchenko, worked together in the North-West River Shipping Company in senior positions of the party committee.

Rosoboronexport also breathes unevenly to NTT. He wants to recover 5.7 billion rubles (86 million dollars) of losses, according to the website of the Moscow Arbitration Court. The lawsuit has not yet been accepted.

It was not possible to get comments from the managers of Baltic Trans-port and Neva-transport-trading. Office phones of Alexander Malakhov do not work, he did not answer an e-mail. Sergey Morozov didn’t call back the number of the Fontanka correspondent dictated to his secretary.

The amount of the contract for the supply of two regiments of C-400 to China by 2020 exceeds $ 3 billion. The US in September 2018 brought the Celestial Empire to the sanctions list for purchasing anti-aircraft systems from Russia.

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