The problem of garbage dumps in the Moscow region first entered the federal agenda a little less than a year ago. Then residents of Balashikha, during a direct line with President Putin, complained of a disgusting smell from the Kuchino landfill, located next to the city. The President ordered the landfill to be closed immediately. It is clear that in the “manual control” mode it is impossible to decide the fate of every dump from the Kremlin. And it's not necessary. This area is under the jurisdiction of regional authorities. But the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Moscow Region Alexander Kogan So far it has been successfully coping only with making the problem worse. However, we will not rush to accuse the official of professional incompetence. It is quite possible that this is the result of meaningful actions.
In just the last few years, Moscow region 24 of 39 official landfills were closed. Four more are slated to close this year. Thus, the load on the remaining ones has increased significantly. According to official data, landfills near Moscow receive 11.7 million tons of waste per year. At the same time, Moscow generates 7.9 million tons. The increase in waste flow has led to landfills operating beyond their designed capacity. There is no time to cover the waste with soil and treat it with filtrate. Superimposed on the new force majeure is the problem of outdated technologies - the landfills were designed back in Soviet times, when no one had ever heard of any active degassing, and there were significantly fewer residents and, accordingly, garbage.
True, in addition to the Soviet heritage, the Moscow Region authorities also have at their disposal one completely modern document - the Territorial Scheme for Waste Management in the Moscow Region. For the development of this strategy, valid until 2030, 80 million rubles were paid from the regional budget. It was claimed, among others, by Alexander Kogan. But by a strange coincidence, the document does not take into account at all the approximately 6 million tons of annual waste flow from the capital. How this could happen is a mystery. By the way, there is also no reasonable explanation for such an intensive closure of existing landfills. Many of the legal landfills were still far from reaching their designed capacity at the time of closure. And closing them en masse in the absence of backup infrastructure is also strange, to say the least.
But about the reason for the “strangeness” - below. In the meantime, as a result of a man-made emergency, some areas of the Moscow region turned into environmental disaster zones. In March, residents of Volokolamsk were subjected to a “chemical attack” from the Yadrovo test site. Within a few days, several dozen people, including 76 children, turned to the city’s medical institutions for help. They complained of dizziness, vomiting, diarrhea, nosebleeds, an incomprehensible rash, some fainted and lost consciousness. Local authorities, having resisted for the sake of order, admitted that there had been a release of landfill gas. Townspeople gathered near the city hospital building for a spontaneous rally. Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov came to see them and was greeted with cries of “Shame!” and “Killer!” And the then mayor Yevgeny Gavrilov had his jacket torn and bruised sides. He was soon forced to resign.
The situation is developing no less dramatically in Kolomna, which is adjacent to the Volovichi training ground. After the closure of Kuchino, the flow of capital’s garbage here initially increased not even by several times, but by an order of magnitude. Why there was literally nothing to breathe in the city and its surroundings. Residents went for a “walk” along the pedestrian crossing at the entrance to the landfill. And they continue to “walk” to this day, not allowing garbage trucks with Moscow license plates to pass through. From time to time the police chase them away, some are taken to police stations and administrative cases are opened. But people are taking to the road again because they understand that the conservation of the problem is disastrous for them in the literal sense of the word. Protests against landfills are also taking place in other areas of the region. Residents of the Voskresensky district blocked the road to a waste incineration plant under construction, and in the Ruza urban district a rally was held against dumping waste into a waste quarry.
When it became clear that the problem of storing solid waste in the Moscow region could not be solved by spells and dancing with tambourines, various proposals to save the region appeared in the public space. From civilized ones - the introduction of separate waste collection with the construction of waste processing plants - to exotic ones: transporting waste by rail to endless Siberia. Moscow authorities turned to their colleagues from Tver with a proposal to build new testing grounds in sparsely populated areas of the region. But they were refused. True, even earlier, waste removal companies in the capital made a similar request to the authorities of the Moscow region. But they did not receive a single plot.
In fact, there are suitable lands in the region. Moreover, they are reserved precisely for this purpose, because they are located far from populated areas. And the first proposals from investors for the allocation of land were received by the regional government back in 2016. But Minister Kogan then refused - under the pretext of “preventing the growth of social tension” around future landfills. Much later, when the waste situation in the region became critical, a decree was issued that opened up opportunities for the creation of new landfills. But, according to experts and market participants, the path from scratch to obtaining a license takes at least three and a half years. It is not known how Moscow and the region will complete the garbage quest at this time.
But it is roughly clear what dividends Minister Alexander Kogan himself will be able to extract in the medium term. The increase in the severity of the garbage problem naturally contributed to the emergence of illegal landfills in the Moscow region. The Dmitrovsky district (Iksha, Nikolskoye), Ruzsky (Chastsy), Noginsky (Elektrougli, SNT "Veteran"), Solnechnogorsky (Sokolovo, Alekseevo, Moshnitsy), Odintsovo (Pronskoye, Nikolskoye) and other districts of the region were unlucky. Several hundred cars visited some of the “spontaneous” landfills per day. And the “storages” existed for more than six months. According to local observers, Alexander Kogan has been spotted more than once in places of “spontaneous” waste storage. And after his visits, the traffic of garbage trucks only increased. It is not difficult to guess that the minister is not converting his protectorate of illegal dumps into waste. And thanks to his own quite “sabotage” tactics, he can easily continue to get rich. Because even when one spontaneous landfill is closed through the efforts of local activists, a new one appears nearby through the efforts of the Minister of Ecology of the Moscow Region.
The project for the construction of four waste incineration plants in the region is currently being actively discussed. The factories will start operating in five years at best - Minister Kogan can confidently count this time as an asset. But even after reaching their designed capacity, the enterprises will not be able to cope with the growing flow of waste in the capital. At least 4 million tons of solid waste will remain unattended. That is, at the mercy of an enterprising official.
And the minister also had the prospect of warming his hands on the reclamation of the Kuchino landfill. So far it’s modest - the project worth 50 million rubles went to the company Spetsgeoecology, which is no stranger to Kogan. But the reclamation itself is estimated at 4 billion rubles. There is a high probability that this bold order will not bypass the minister.
However, it is not a fact that Alexander Kogan will be satisfied with the listed bonifications. Because he was also noticed in his interest in legal testing grounds. It is known that even during the operation of the now closed Kulakovsky test site and the operating Timokhovo and Yadrovo, unofficial representatives of the official tried to obtain controlling stakes for symbolic money. Otherwise they will be bombarded with inspections and fines. Which, in fact, happened after the owners refused such proposals. However, there are still operating testing grounds in the region. And there are no guarantees that tomorrow the people of the environmental minister will not appear there. Because Alexander Kogan’s scheme, although simple, is effective: in conditions of man-made collapse, require landfill owners to accept more waste and at the same time punish with rubles for violations. All around, the minister is in the black: either the owners will give up the business, or they will close the landfill. Or they will break it and pay. Or they won’t violate it, and then the “spontaneous” landfills named after Alexander Kogan will accept new tons of waste. In general, either the environmental minister will be stopped by law enforcement agencies, or this “push-pull” will move on.
Alexander Kogan was born on February 26, 1969 in Orsk, Orenburg region. Parents, according to the rector of the Orthodox Gymnasium of the Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt Archpriest George, - pupils of an orphanage.
After graduating from school, he studied at vocational school No. 46 in the city of Orenburg, specializing in “installer of radio-electronic equipment and devices.”
In 1987-1989 he served in the USSR Armed Forces in tank forces.
Alexander Kogan graduated from the Orenburg Polytechnic Institute. He studied at the Faculty of Industrial Electronics, majoring in engineering. He also studied at the Russian Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation with a degree in State and Municipal Administration.
In 1992, he became one of the founders of the ComInCom company and was its general director and chairman of the board from 1994 to 2003.
We bought equipment that, in principle, had been written off from the factory: televisions, double-cassette tape recorders, brought them to perfection and then serviced them,” Alexander Kogan said in an interview.
In 1998, he was elected as a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Orenburg Region of the 2nd convocation, and from 2000 to 2003 he was also a deputy of the Orenburg City Council. In 2002, he was re-elected to the Legislative Assembly.
For the first two or three years, formation took place. They treated me in this way, they say, the guy came, worked and, as he came, he will leave,” said Alexander Kogan, while a State Duma deputy. - I would like to remind you about the 1990s, when regional legislation did not correspond to federal legislation, and municipalities could generally live on their own. Everyone played as hard as they could.
In 2003, Kogan won the State Duma elections in the Orenburg district with 26% of the vote. They lost to him Elena Afanasyeva(LDPR, now a senator from the Orenburg region) with 5%, Vladimir Frolov (now the head of the regional branch of the SR) with 10.6%. Took second place Victor Pyatnitsky(18%), third - Yuri Nikiforenko(Communist Party of the Russian Federation, 14%), who died of heart failure in 2004.
We had such a story in Orenburg between Alexander Borisovich Kogan and Viktor Vasilyevich Pyatnitsky in 2003. “The battle of finances” was definitely higher than in the other two districts, - political strategist Tatiana Denisova.
In the 2011 elections, Alexander Kogan was nominated from United Russia along with Yuri Berg, Viktor Zavarzin, Yuri Mishcheryakov, Viktor Nefedov, Elena Nikolaeva, Olga Saldaeva And Nazim Efendiev. In the State Duma he was deputy chairman of the committee on budget and taxes and chairman of the subcommittee on customs regulation.
In 2008 he was included in the list of the General Council of United Russia and in February 2016.
The 2010 declaration of income and property states that Kogan earned about 2 million rubles, his wife - 17.8 million rubles. A land plot of 901 square meters is registered to him. meter (shared ownership 0.8), apartment 120.9 sq. meters (hiring for the term of office of a deputy). A plot of land for the location of a trade and administrative complex is registered in the name of the spouse - 3472 sq. m. meters (shared ownership 0.55). A residential building of 238 square meters is registered in the name of the children. meters and an apartment of 120.9 sq. meters. A Porsche Cayenne was registered to Alexander Kogan, and a Hyundai Accent and Mercedes-Benz were registered to his wife.
From January to May 2012 he worked as an adviser to the Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation. In June of the same year, he was appointed head of the State Housing Inspectorate of the Moscow Region, where he worked for a little over a year. After that, he continued to serve in the government of the Moscow region, but as the minister for shared housing construction, dilapidated and dilapidated housing. He spent a little more than 1.5 years in this position.
At that time, those dissatisfied with the activities of the ministry appeared. In particular, communities were created in in social networks , demanding the resignation of Alexander Kogan, and on the website "Demokrator.ru" A message about collecting signatures on the same issue was published. In 2013, the ministry was liquidated.
In April 2015, Kogan was appointed Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Management of the Moscow Region.
I nominated Alexander Borisovich Kogan for the post of minister,” said the governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, even before his appointment. - Approvals, which are required by law, take place at the Ministry of Environment. Anzor Blyuevich, who successfully coped with this task, moves to another place of work.
Alexander Kogan and I have been working for a long time, he has always focused on breakthrough topics,” said Andrei Vorobyov after Kogan’s appointment as Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Management of the Moscow Region.
Alexander Kogan himself noted that the ministry entrusted to him has already done a lot of work to account for the subsoil of the Moscow region. According to the new minister, the department needs to develop a waste removal scheme throughout the region by January 1, “starting from the container and ending with a specific landfill where this garbage will be processed.” Separately, Kogan emphasized the importance of maintaining favorable environmental conditions for comfortable living of residents of the Moscow region.
Alexander Kogan is the head of the United Russia project for the development of low-rise housing construction “Your Home”.
In 1996 he became “Person of the Year of the City of Orenburg” by decision of the Orenburg City Council. In 1997, the Ministry of Public Education of the Russian Federation awarded him the title “Excellence in Education of Russia.” In 2002 - the title “Honorary Patron of Orenburg”. Has the insignia “Parliament of Russia”, gratitude from the President, Chairman of the State Duma.
Alexander Kogan has a PhD in Economics.
He is interested in football and hockey. He is a master of sports in freestyle wrestling.
According to data from open sources, in 2012, Alexander’s wife, Marina Ivanovna Kogan (03/14/1972), works at KomInKom. Daughters Ekaterina (November 18, 1990) and Maria (August 18, 2000) were born in Orenburg.
Mother - Kogan Albina Pavlovna. Born in 1940 in the village of Byankino, Nerchinsky district, Chita region.
On the official website of Alexander Kogan and on the page in the government of the Moscow region, family information is not indicated.
Kurakin began his career in St. Petersburg. He graduated from the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg State University and was engaged in legal consulting and real estate transactions. He was one of the founders of the Severnaya Korona law firm and worked at the Nevsky Syndicate company. Kurakin moved to the civil service in 1998, his work was related to the management of state property. First, he worked in the legal department of the city property management committee of the St. Petersburg administration, then from 2002 to 2008 - director of the St. Petersburg State Unitary Enterprise "City Department of Inventory and Real Estate Valuation", and then again in the city property management committee as its chairman. From May to November 2012, Kurakin, as Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Moscow Region, oversaw issues of land and property relations, ecology and environmental management. And in November 2012, he was appointed director of the Department of Property Relations of the Ministry of Defense, replacing the notorious Evgenia Vasilyeva in this post. In April 2017, Kurakin was appointed vice president of Rostelecom and held this position until recently.
Vedomosti was unable to contact Kurakin.
The new Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources will take office at a difficult time for the region: over the past year, numerous “anti-garbage” rallies have been held throughout the Moscow region - in Volokolamsk, Klin, Kolomna, Troitsk, Ruza, Balashikha, Serebryanye Prudy, etc. Residents are protesting not only against existing landfills, but also against the construction of new ones. Several landfills should close, but next to some of the remaining ones it is planned to open new ones, the capacity of which may be even greater. Residents are unhappy with the current situation and are trying to defend their areas from the construction of new landfills and incinerators.
Over the past few years, 24 landfills have been closed in the region; the remaining 15 receive most of the waste. According to the regional Ministry of Ecology, their capacity will be enough for two years. Last year, the Kuchino test site near Balashikha was closed on the personal instructions of Russian President Vladimir Putin. During the direct line, residents of the Kuchino microdistrict complained to Putin about constant fires at the landfill and the inaction of the authorities. However, the actions of the Moscow region authorities to close old landfills give rise to new problems, since all the garbage had to be taken to the remaining 15 landfills. It is the increased flow of garbage trucks and the stench due to the colossal influx of garbage that residents of the Moscow region are complaining about.
The location of landfills in the Moscow region is regulated by the territorial scheme for waste management. This document specifies where landfills, waste sorting and incineration plants should be located. According to this scheme, by the end of 2018, half of the region’s residents should be equipped with containers for separate waste collection. The separate collection system involves the installation of two types of containers - for dry (plastic, glass, paper and metal) and “wet” waste (food).
On September 20, the Moscow Regional Duma approved the leadership of the new government of the region. The main change is that the Ministry of Ecology, instead of Alexander KOGAN, is headed by Dmitry KURAKIN, a native of the Ministry of Defense.
Three vice-governors instead of the old two
Two days earlier, the regional Duma approved the governor’s proposals Andrey VOROBYOV changes in structure. The position of first vice-governor appeared in the regional government.
Now Vorobyov has three vice-governors at once, one of whom will be the head of the governor’s administration. Previously, there were two vice-governors.
He took the new position of first vice-governor Ildar GABDRAHMANOV, who previously served as a “regular” lieutenant governor. Retained her post as vice-governor Natalia VIRTUOSOVA.
Two other lieutenant governors - Dmitry PESTOV(former deputy prime minister) and Mikhail KUZNETSOV, who will also be the head of Andrei Vorobyov’s administration.
The leadership of the new government of the Moscow region
Olga ZABRALOVA became the first deputy chairman of the government and minister of education. Previously, the regional Ministry of Education with the rank of minister was in charge of Marina ZAKHAROVA.
The posts of deputy prime ministers were retained Maxim FOMIN And Alexander CHUPRAKOV. Remained Deputy Prime Minister Denis BUTSAEV, but lost the prefix “Minister of Investment and Innovation”. The former head of the Ministry of Transport became the new Deputy Prime Minister Igor TRESKOV.
“Toxic” Kogan was replaced by a person from the Ministry of Defense
A native of Novosibirsk, Dmitry Kurakin was Deputy Prime Minister from May to November 2012, when he headed the Moscow region Sergei SHOIGU. Afterwards, Kurakin served as director of the property relations department in the Ministry of Defense until May 2017. Since May 2017, he has been vice president of Rostelecom.
Now Kurakin has become Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources. His candidacy, among others, was submitted to the Moscow Regional Duma for consideration by Andrei Vorobyov.
Dmitry KURAKIN, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources
Representatives of the regional government do not specify whether the outgoing Alexander Kogan will continue to work in the leadership of the Moscow region.
Kogan has headed Mineco since April 1, 2015. The activities of the department under his leadership were regularly criticized. The Ministry of Environment ignored environmental problems: landfills, “sand poachers”, destruction of rivers and lakes.
The situation especially worsened in 2017. Calls for Kogan’s resignation were heard at rallies in different areas of the Moscow region. The Yadrovo training ground in Volokolamsk thundered throughout the country, and Governor Vorobyov was pelted with snowballs.
Political scientists called Alexander Kogan “toxic” for the head of the region and assumed that he would be dismissed before the elections on September 9 in order to raise the rating of the current governor and “calm down” the masses a little.
Alexander Kogan - former Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Management of the Moscow Region
But the resignation did not happen. Kogan served as part of the old government until the end. However, it is hardly worth talking about the end of his work in “Vorobiev’s team,” since the governor often appoints high-ranking officials who were left without posts as his advisers.
Vivid examples - former Minister of Health Nina SUSLONOVA, not fulfilled at the Odintsovo Central District Hospital; former Minister of Construction Complex Marina OGLOBLINA, whose son became a defendant; German ELYANYUSHKIN, During his work as Deputy Chairman of the Government, the Ministry of Construction issued many permits for the construction of large residential complexes in the Moscow region, most of which grossly violated regional urban planning standards.
Perhaps Alexander Kogan will soon join the number of advisers to Andrei Yuryevich.
I'm leaving, leaving beautifully (c). What happened was what was supposed to happen, and even on the deadline set by the media and specifically by EcoGrad - the new-old governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, got rid of living incriminating evidence. Today in Kolomna, at a public discussion of the projects for a waste processing plant and landfill in the village of Myachkovo, the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Management of the Moscow Region, Alexander Kogan, uttered a sacramental phrase: “Vote against, protest, but we will build the plant here anyway.” It came out beautiful, but incomplete. The icing on the cake appeared only in the evening, along with the diffusion of rumors about Kogan’s resignation and the complete replacement of environmental management in a particular Moscow region, and then this phrase became a meme. This is how EcoGrad perceived it, in the light of the permanent but sluggish “garbage revolution”, which is preparing a full debriefing of the outgoing minister. In the meantime, the revolution is not over, but a disco break has been announced.
"...Your last day. The bourgeois is coming!"
According to the telegram channel “Green Serpent”, Dmitry Kurakin will be appointed Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Ecology
and environmental management of the Moscow region. This will be a combination of the positions of two retirees - deputy chairman of the regional government for ecology Alexander Chuprakov (whose departure, but only from the environmental sphere, was confirmed before the elections) and the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Alexander Kogan (whose resignation was in question).
Previously, Dmitry worked as director of the property relations department of the Russian Ministry of Defense (under Minister Shoigu), deputy chairman of the government of the Moscow region (under Governor Shoigu), and chairman of the property management committee of St. Petersburg (under Governor Matvienko).
Appointing Kurakin as Minister of Ecology, strengthening his status with the position of deputy chairman of the government, is an unusually correct decision by Governor Andrei Vorobyov.
The long-suffering nature of the Moscow region will have a chance to get rid of the chaos into which Chuprakov and Kogan plunged it, says the Green Serpent telegram channel.
NEW GOVERNMENT OF ANDREY VOROBYOV
