Tent site and mobilised men’s base in Kazan cost 45,6 million rubles
Tatarstan’s budget provided the financing
As Realnoe Vremya found out, the equipment of areas where Tatarstan residents who have been conscripted within partial mobilisation cost the republic’s budget 45,6 million rubles. Such a sum was spent to organise a post at Kazan Expo International Exhibition Centre and equip a tent site on the territory of the Red Banner Zhukov Supreme Command College of the Russian Defence Ministry.
The allocated sum included costs on the delivery, insurance, engineering networks, purchase of equipment, furniture and equipment as well as mandatory payments. The final term of all works is 20 December 2022.
Putting up a tent site on the territory of the tank college was the costliest — 38,9 million rubles. This sum includes land works including earthworks, placement of wooden floor in the tents and at the entrances, wooden stairs, coating walls with particle board as well as electrical works. The contract envisages the equipment of wells, interior and exterior drainage, sinks in 14 tents, one open-air shower.
Almost six times less was spent on the organisation of the site at Kazan Expo than the tent site — 6,67 million rubles.
Company of Kazan City Duma’s deputy
Portal Construction and Assembly Enterprise was registered in Kazan in 2014. Its authorised capital as of August 2016 is 150,000 rubles. Bulat Akhmetgarayev’s revenue last year totalled nearly 283,7 million rubles after 303,2 million in 2020. Portal’s net profit in 2021 is assessed at 23,247 million, net assets amount to 43,78 million.
This year, the company signed six contracts for a total of 1,38 billion rubles — three with the Tatarstan’s Main Construction Office and three with the Tatarstan State Information System. Portal signed the biggest of them — for 456,7 million rubles — signed in June. According to the contract, the company must completely repair the southern part of Ak Bars Arena stadium, the building of Tulpar sports venue, the Republican Stand and Pistol Shooting Olympic Reserve Sports School and some other facilities. So in its contracts in 2022, the company has dealt with the major repair of the tent site in the Bolgar State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve, rural culture centres, sports schools, Volga children’s camp, Selet Youth Centre and others.
Last year, Portal won the bid to complete the construction of a pre-school educational organisation for 350 seats in Stary Krym city. A contract with Crimea’s Investment and Construction Office for 314 million rubles.
Partial mobilisation lasted for more than a month
It should be reminded that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin announced the partial mobilisation on 21 September morning. The country’s Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu reported on its completion on 28 October.
The day the partial mobilisation started, the Russian defence minister said that 300,000 reservists were eligible for the mobilisation. However, on 4 November, the head of the country claimed that 318,000 Russians were mobilised — volunteers who decided to participate in the special military operation that started on 24 February provided such an amount. According to the latest data, about 80,000 mobilised men are already in the zone of the special military operation.
Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov announced that the Russian Defence Ministry’s tasks of partial mobilisation were done on 31 October. It is unknown how many reservists have been mobilised. The authorities haven’t made the accurate figure public. The only thing that is known is that 816 people have been conscripted from Naberezhnye Chelny within partial mobilisation. Now they are at the bases in Kazan — their relatives regularly visit them.
Earlier this month, the mobilised men who are located at the Kazan Tank College demanded an officer to provide dry logs the tents are heated with and equip a smartphone charging stations. The Russian Defence Ministry claimed the problem was solved quickly.
“The command of the military unit provided an additional batch of dry logs. Also, fuel briquettes provided at the expense of the Tatarstan government has been organised since today. The possibility of charging personal mobile phones is provided both in a separate tent in the tents where mobilised militaries are accommodated. For this purpose, a special installation brigade of the urban electrical network installed additional sockets at the tent site. All supply agencies have assured all types of provisions,” said the National Defence Management Centre of Russia.
Rustam Minnikhanov paid attention to the situation on 7 November at a meeting of the republican taskforce and the conscription commission. He singled out that order must be everywhere, whereas “normal everyday conditions” needed to be created at the bases and military coordination offices.
“This doesn’t flatter us. In any case, we shouldn’t permit such things. Of course, some explanation needs to be provided to the people. You have a question and we resolve any issue as a priority. If people have some questions, everyday, organisational, legal — we resolve these issues. You should also work in a well coordinated way. This is not only your disadvantage — this is our common disadvantage. Look, a tent site was created, the whole infrastructure was created. In general the work was organised, people eat, train, learn. But such moments did exist and we cannot keep silent about it. We are all one family here. We all are responsible. This is, first of all, addressed to me as the governor of the republic. We have overlooked something somewhere,” the Tatarstan president said.
On the same day, Rustam Minnikhanov visited the sites where mobilised Tatarstan residents are accommodated, including the tank training site of the Kazan Tank College. He looked how the mobilised men live, where they eat, saw a tent site for militaries and observed training within coordination work.