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- The drain is calculated: the damage caused by the theft of fuel from the police may exceed 14 billion rubles
The drain is calculated: the damage caused by the theft of fuel from the police may exceed 14 billion rubles
Three more victims were found in a high-profile case of theft of gasoline and diesel fuel from the Moscow police, Izvestia found out. Among them is Ak Bars Bank, a company formerly affiliated with VTB Group, and a major supplier of petroleum products. According to the investigation materials, fuel disappeared from the Eurotrans oil depot in Electric Coal fields near Moscow, and the total damage in four episodes may exceed 14 billion rubles. At the same time, the losses of the structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Moscow region were the least. Who suffered from the alleged frauds, how they could have been organized and why Moscow police officers were left without fuel for official vehicles — in the Izvestia article.
The first victim
The theft of almost 6.5 thousand tons of fuel from the Moscow region police turned out to be the smallest episode of a large-scale investigation involving high-ranking employees of the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs, including Major General Sergei Malkov, as well as top managers of PJSC Eurotrans.
The investigation began on August 5, 2026, when Raw Materials Trading LLC contacted the police with a statement about the large-scale theft of fuels and lubricants.
It followed from the statement that from January 27, 2025 to July 4, 2026, more than 30 thousand tons of petroleum products were stolen from the company. The list of missing items includes 1.3 thousand tons of Euro—class off-season diesel fuel, 4.4 thousand tons of Grade C summer diesel fuel, 7.3 thousand tons of AI-95 gasoline and 16.4 thousand tons of AI-92.
All oil products, according to Izvestia sources, were stored at the A.A. Khmura oil depot in Electric Coal fields near Moscow. It belongs to PJSC Eurotrans and is one of the key infrastructure facilities of the company, providing reception, storage and shipment of motor fuel. The tank farm is named after one of the founders of the company, Alexander Alexandrovich Khmur.
On August 7, the Main Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Moscow Region opened a criminal case on theft on an especially large scale (Part 4 of Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The investigation was carried out by the first department of the Directorate for the investigation of organized criminal activities of the Moscow Regional State Police. The investigation estimated the applicant's damage at 3.75 billion rubles. LLC "Commodities Trading" was recognized as a victim.
As follows from the SPARK system data, until March 2023 the company was called VTB Commodities Trading and was a wholly owned subsidiary of VTB Commodities Finance LLC. Currently, information about its owners is limited by the Federal Tax Service in accordance with Law No. 129-FZ.
At the same time, the company's legal address — Presnenskaya Embankment, 12 — coincides with the address of the VTB Group head office.
Izvestia was unable to reach the representatives of Raw Materials Trading. The company's public email address is also missing. In response to a request for comment, Raw Materials Finance advised Izvestia to send a letter to VTB Group's corporate email, but no prompt response was received.
A bank and a new business
Ten days after the first appeal, on August 18, the Moscow region police received another report of fuel theft. This time, the aggrieved party was Algorithm Fuel Integrator LLC, a company engaged in the sale of petroleum products.
According to its website, the organization provides the purchase and sale of petroleum products on the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange, selecting the most profitable offers throughout Russia, and also provides direct supplies of natural gas and petroleum products.
The new statement largely repeated the first one in terms of content, but differed in the period of the alleged theft and the amount of missing fuel.
According to the applicant, petroleum products disappeared from the A.A. Khmur oil depot from January 1 to July 19, 2026. During this period, according to the company's estimates, almost 100 thousand tons of fuel were lost — more than three times more than in the first episode.
In particular, Algorithm Fuel Integrator reported the loss of 10.3 thousand tons of off-season diesel fuel, 32.8 thousand tons of AI-95 gasoline and 24.5 thousand tons of AI-98. Other types of petroleum products were also mentioned in the statement.
The investigation estimated the value of the stolen at 7.7 billion rubles. The qualification of the alleged crime remained the same — theft on an especially large scale.
As follows from the investigation materials, by that time, the investigation had already considered the version of involvement in the theft of employees of the Tracsa GSM company, which is part of the Eurotrans structure.
On August 21, based on the application of the Algorithm Fuel Integrator company, the first department of the Moscow Regional Civil Defense Department opened another criminal case under Part 4 of Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
However, on the same day, a case of fraud on a particularly large scale appeared. Ak Bars Bank became his victim, and the first deputy chairman of the board of the credit organization Tagir Karimov sent a statement to the police.
According to the statement, from January 12 to March 28, 2026, employees of PJSC Eurotrans, as well as the companies Trassa GSM and Fuel Management Gas Stations received 2.3 billion rubles under the credit line opened by the bank to pay for petroleum products.
However, according to investigators, these funds could later be stolen by deception and the creation of fictitious paperwork on fuel purchase and sale transactions without its actual sale.
Thus, unlike the two previous episodes related to the disappearance of petroleum products from the base, Ak Bars' statement referred to the alleged theft of credit funds.
Izvestia was unable to receive operational comments from Ak Bars Bank and the Algorithm Fuel Integrator company.
Police business
Only a month after the appeal of the first victims, the Moscow region police themselves announced the shortage of fuel.
By that time, the units of the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs faced serious disruptions in refueling official vehicles. Police vehicles were no longer serviced at the Tracsa gas station, owned by Eurotrans, and the fuel cards intended for refueling them were not working. This has created a threat to the normal operation of patrol crews and operational services.
An emergency check, as follows from the case file, revealed the absence of almost 6.5 thousand tons of fuels and lubricants belonging to the police department at the oil depot in Electric Coals. Among the missing are 3.4 thousand tons of AI-92 gasoline, 2.5 thousand tons of AI-95 and 570 tons of diesel fuel.
This is approximately 85% of the fuel purchased by the Moscow Region police under contracts for 2026-2027 and stored at Eurotrans.
On September 3, 2026, Alexey Suyarov, head of the Federal State Institution "Center for Economic and Service Maintenance" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Moscow Region, submitted an application to the regional GSU.
In his appeal, Izvestia's sources note, the colonel pointed out the possible involvement of Sergey Alekseenkov, General Director of the Fuel and Lubricants Route, in the disappearance of petroleum products.
According to the applicant, the head of the company and "other unidentified persons" committed the theft of fuel belonging to the CCF on an especially large scale.
At the same time, unlike commercial organizations, the police institution could not name the exact amount of damage. In the statement, it was estimated at "more than 500 million rubles." Presumably, the calculation took into account the cost of fuel for two paid and executed government contracts.
On the same day, the Moscow region police opened a criminal case on embezzlement against Sergei Alekseenkov.
As emphasized in the investigation materials, the alleged theft of gasoline and diesel fuel led to the termination of fuel cards and, as a result, the inability to refuel official vehicles of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Moscow region.
At the same time, the decision to institute the case did not specify the exact amount of damage: the wording "more than 100 million rubles" was used.
According to Izvestia's calculations, the total claimed damage for the four episodes exceeds 14 billion rubles. It follows from the investigation materials that the total volume of allegedly stolen petroleum products is more than 136 thousand tons.
About a week after the initiation of the embezzlement case, the investigation of the embezzlement from the oil depot was transferred to the investigative department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. All criminal cases were consolidated into one proceeding.
As part of the investigation, eight people were taken into custody, including the former head of the rear Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Moscow region, Police Major General Sergei Malkov.
According to investigators, it was Malkov who could have organized and led the criminal group. According to law enforcement agencies, it also included the former head of the Economic and Service Center, Colonel Alexey Suyarov, Lieutenant Colonel Anna Levina, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Eurotrans Igor Martyshov, CEO Oleg Alekseenkov, as well as Sergey Alekseenkov and Nikolai Doroshenko.
The investigation qualified the actions of the police officers as embezzlement on an especially large scale, and representatives of commercial structures as theft and fraud.
The other day, the Moscow City Court placed three policemen under house arrest, leaving the top managers of Eurotrans in jail. None of them pleads guilty.
According to Izvestia's sources, "it looks like the scheme has been working like a pyramid for a long time," closing gasoline shortages "due to the constant large supplies from large sellers — no one expected there to be a long-term fuel crisis, but it happened, and the scheme collapsed." The lawyers of the defendants in the case did not comment on the progress of the investigation, and Eurotrans was also unable to receive comments.
What threatens the accused
As lawyer Alexander Burchuk, a former investigator in particularly important cases, told Izvestia, "the logic of the investigation is very clear, it has been worked out for years."
— The wording about the criminal group was most likely needed in order to justify the demands for arrest, but I do not think that this feature will disappear from the case file, — the lawyer believes.
Alexander Burchuk stressed that all cases related to embezzlement of budget funds are under special control and therefore, "most likely, the punishment will be close to the maximum."
Now the defendants in the case face up to ten years in prison.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
