Biography of Andrey Turchak. Turchak, son of Turchak: the story of one underrated family Sergey Turchak

A native of St. Petersburg received the highest position in United Russia. The party cash register is at the disposal of 41-year-old Andrei Turchak. His rise was hardly possible without Oleg Kashin.

Dmitry Azarov/Kommersant

The governor of the Pskov region, Andrei Turchak, was dismissed on October 12 and called to Moscow. Dmitry Medvedev, as party chairman, appointed him acting secretary of the General Council of United Russia. From a young age, the son of an influential businessman wisely followed the preferences and interests of Vladimir Putin.

Andrei Turchak has been governor since 2009. In August 2010, he was so offended by the unflattering epithet used by journalist Oleg Kashin that he personally got involved in the controversy and was subjected to even greater obstruction from Internet users. Without waiting for the required apology from Kashin, he left the network. On November 6, 2010, the journalist was severely beaten. According to investigators, it belongs to the Turchak family holding company “Leninets”. The accused confessed, and at least one of them, Danila Veselov, named the probable organizers and those who ordered the attack. This is Alexander Gorbunov from Leninets and Andrey Turchak himself. Both stood at the origins of the “Young Guard of United Russia”.

Refusing Turchak to apologize, Kashin called his appointment to the post of governor “an insult to federalism.” In September 2015, when the futility of criminal prosecution of Turchak became clear to the journalist, he turned to Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev. In it, in particular, he suggested that Turchak would face “a quiet resignation, separated as much as possible in time from any movements in my case.”

Today, after the appointment of the ex-governor, Kashin shared fresh thoughts with Fontanka:

“It really seemed indisputable to me two years ago that the more I shout about Turchak being involved in a crime, the higher his stability in office. The authorities in Russia have a strange complex about the fact that it is impossible to give in to public pressure, and it would be naive to expect that Turchak will be removed because of Veselov’s testimony. I am sure that the accusations strengthened Turchak and allowed him to quietly work as governor for these two years. I haven’t even heard any convincing rumors that it will be filmed soon. Since the “Kashin case” is the loudest and most interesting thing that happened to Turchak during his governorship, no appointment is possible without taking this story into account. That is, his departure to a party position is also in one way or another connected with this scandal - perhaps if it had not happened, then Turchak would have left earlier and “to nowhere.” At the same time, I would not consider his appointment unprecedented due to his age - by Alikhanov’s standards (31-year-old governor of the Kaliningrad region Andrei Alikhanov. – Ed.) or Oreshkina (35-year-old Minister of Economic Development. – Ed.) Turchak is already a rather elderly technocrat, and there is no effect of novelty in him. I would bet that a position in United Russia is an honorary pension.”

The General Council is the governing body of the party. Responsible for the ideology and growth of United Russia's influence in society, oversees elections, and nominates governors. According to the charter, the secretary is elected on an alternative basis (at least two candidates) by secret ballot, and is the head of the General Council. Without a power of attorney, he represents the party in relations with government bodies, has the right to speak on behalf of the party and the right to first sign financial documents, and issues powers of attorney. Certifies the federal list of candidates for the State Duma.

Officially, Dmitry Medvedev made Turchak the head of the General Council of United Russia, as the chairman of the party (it is he who appoints the acting secretary). According to rumors, the prime minister did not like this idea because of the reputational costs associated with the appointee. After all, it was Dmitry Anatolyevich, when he was president, who personally gave the command to take the investigation of the Kashin case under special control to those involved in the attack.

“In accordance with the charter, I am now appointing you as acting secretary of the general council, and subsequently your candidacy will be considered by the party congress,” the prime minister said, without promising anything.

The recent governor responded as if he already knew everything:

“We have a major political event ahead – the election of the President of the Russian Federation. A lot of work. I'm ready".

Andrei Turchak probably knew about his call to Moscow in advance. A week ago, the administration of the Pskov region paid for budget money.

The second person, without whom Turchak’s political resurrection probably would not have taken place, is his father. Anatoly Aleksandrovich Turchak is an old friend of Vladimir Putin, president of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of St. Petersburg, member of the executive committee of the Russian Football Union, founder of the Leninets holding.

The main asset of the Turchaks in St. Petersburg is the JSC Central Research and Production Association Leninets. Revenue since 2014 has exceeded 6 billion. It is the largest manufacturer of electronics systems with its own design bureau and production base. Leninets radar stations are used in ship traffic control systems, airports, at state borders, in military and civil aviation. In particular, the company was entrusted with the creation of radio-electronic equipment for the weapons control systems of the Su-34 front-line bomber.

Another powerful asset is the scientific and technical center “Plant Leninets”, renamed in 2014 to JSC “Zaslon”. It was led by Alexander Gorbunov. Zaslon, according to SPARK, is 40 percent owned by the Leninets Management Company, the wife of ex-governor Kira Turchak, and 60 percent by Sistema CJSC, owned through a chain of legal entities by Rostec and VEB Capital. In 2006, Sistema CEO Anna Ushakova created with Gorbunov the St. Petersburg branch of the Young Guard of United Russia.

"Leninets" is the owner of part of the House of Soviets at 212 Moskovsky Prospekt. The FSUE "Kremlevsky Trading House" is located in the same building. It supplies food to enterprises subordinate to the presidential administration and sells souvenirs. Kremlevsky has been interested in the House of Soviets for a long time, but is here on a bird's license, annually renting offices from Leninets.

Andrei Turchak's working life, judging by official data, began at the age of 16, when he became a judo coach at the Cosmonaut Olympic reserve school. At the age of 21 he entered his father's business. Andrei Anatolyevich's business career was predictable. He served on boards of directors and held top positions exclusively in “family” companies.

At the age of 30, Andrei Turchak became a member of United Russia and received supervision over the party’s youth policy; two years later he was already in the Federation Council, and two years later he became the governor of the Pskov region.

In almost eight years of leading the Pskov region, Turchak cannot boast of any successes. This is a subsidized region with a negative budget. According to the government's interim report, as of July 1, revenues amounted to 11.4 billion rubles, with more than 6 billion rubles coming from the federal budget. By the time Turchak resigned, the public debt of the Pskov region exceeded 15 billion rubles - this is higher than the annual income of the region.

Deputy of the Pskov Assembly Lev Shlosberg, in a conversation with Fontanka, recalled:

“Turchak accepted the region with zero public debt. In my opinion, this is a typical temporary worker. He dreamed of leaving here. Back in 2012, after the election of Vladimir Putin, Turchak hoped to leave the region. It was as if they had promised him something. But I had to suffer for another five years. This is an example of an unsuccessful governor who could not become either a good manager or an economist. A characteristic feature of the period of his governorship is that the main businessmen were the people who won government contracts.”

A meeting of the General Council of United Russia, at which personnel issues will be discussed, is scheduled for seven in the evening on October 12.

Alexander Ermakov, Fontanka.ru

Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.
Representative from the executive body of state power of the Pskov region.
Secretary of the General Council of the All-Russian political party "United Russia".

Andrey Turchak was born on December 20, 1975 in St. Petersburg. His father, Anatoly Turchak, is the general director of one of the largest St. Petersburg enterprises of the Leninets military-industrial complex. Since childhood, the boy was actively involved in sports. He holds the title of master of sports in judo.

In 1998 he graduated from the St. Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation. He was awarded the military rank of senior reserve lieutenant. Later, he graduated with honors from the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

He began his working career during his school years. Until 1995, Andrei Anatolyevich worked as a coach and teacher of the children's judo group at the municipal children's and youth sports school of the Olympic reserve “Cosmonaut.

Since March 1996, he was appointed General Director of the closed joint-stock company “Commercial and Industrial Company “LenNort”. A year later he became the general director of OJSC Electric Household Equipment Plant.

In April 2000, he joined the board of directors of Energomashbank. Further, he held the positions of Director of Restructuring, Director of Corporate Policy at the Leninets holding company. In 2002, he took the position of General Director of North-West Commonwealth LLC. A year later, he was elected vice president and member of the board of directors of HC Leninets. In May 2005, he was re-elected to the board of directors of HC Leninets.

In the same year, Andrei Turchak joined the United Russia political party and was the coordinator of the party’s youth policy. In November 2005, he joined the coordination council of the Young Guard of United Russia.

Next, Turchak was elected as a deputy of the Pskov Regional Assembly of Deputies of the IV convocation from the Pskov regional branch of the political party “United Russia”. In 2007, he was appointed chairman of the Council of the youth movement “Young Guard of United Russia”.

Since July 6, 2007, Andrei Anatolyevich has been a member of the Federation Council - a representative from the executive body of state power of the Pskov region.

Two years later, on February 16, 2009, he was appointed acting governor of the Pskov region, and on February 27, he was approved by the Pskov regional assembly as governor. Andrei Turchak's five-year term as governor expired on February 27, 2014, but on the same day President Vladimir Putin appointed him again as acting governor. In the elections for governor of the Pskov region, held on September 14, 2014, Turchak was initially the favorite and eventually won in the first round.

By decree of the President of Russia dated October 12, 2017, Turchak was released early from the post of governor of the Pskov region at his own request. On the same day, he was appointed acting secretary of the General Council of the United Russia party.

At the beginning of November 2017, Andrei Anatolyevich Turchak was nominated by the regional parliament for the position of senator from the Pskov region. According to the election protocol, 28 deputies voted “for”, five voted “against”, three votes were declared invalid. Date of vesting of powers: November 2, 2017

Also, Andrey Anatolyevich is the vice-president of the Hand-to-Hand Combat Federation of the Dynamo Sports Society of St. Petersburg, and the vice-president of the St. Petersburg Martial Arts Club “Grand”.

5th Governor of the Pskov Region from February 27, 2009 The president Medvedev, Dmitry Anatolyevich,
Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Predecessor Kuznetsov, Mikhail Varfolomeevich

	member of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation - representative from the representative body of state power of the Pskov region
July 6, 2007 - February 16, 2009

Predecessor unknown Successor Borisov, Alexander Alexandrovich Birth 20th of December(1975-12-20 ) (43 years)
Leningrad, Russian SFSR, USSR Father Turchak Anatoly Alexandrovich (1945) Mother Turchak Larisa Pavlovna (1948) Spouse Turchak Kira Evgenievna (1976) Children Anatoly, Olga, Sofia, Philip The consignment United Russia Education Profession economist-manager Awards Website turchak.ru Media files on Wikimedia Commons

Andrey Anatolyevich Turchak(b. December 20, 1975, Leningrad, RSFSR, USSR) - governor of the Pskov region (since February 27, 2009).

Biography

Father - Anatoly Turchak (born 1945), since 1985 - head of the association, then the holding company "Leninets", which specializes in the development of flight navigation, sighting and navigation systems and radars for heavy aircraft (in this structure and its subsidiaries with At the age of 20, Andrei himself worked in leadership positions). In addition, Anatoly Turchak is the president of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of St. Petersburg, the president of the St. Petersburg Football Federation and a member of the executive committee of the Russian Football Union, chairman of the Board of Directors of Energomashbank. In the 1990s, Anatoly Turchak was Vladimir Putin’s deputy on the St. Petersburg regional council of the “Our Home - Russia” movement. Turchak Sr. was also mentioned in the press as Putin’s former partner in combat sports.

In 1998, Andrey Turchak graduated from the St. Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation.

In 2014, he graduated with honors from the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Entrepreneurial activity

From 1991 to 1995 - coach-teacher in judo at the municipal youth sports school of the Olympic reserve "Cosmonaut".

Since March 1996 (at the age of 20) - General Director of JSC "Trade and Industrial Company LenNort" (a subsidiary of HC Leninets).

Since 1997 - General Director of OJSC "Plant of Electrical Household Equipment" (the sole founder of the OJSC is the Committee for the Management of City Property of St. Petersburg).

In April 2000, he joined the board of directors of Energomashbank.

From 2000 to 2002 - Director of Restructuring, then Director of Corporate Policy at HC Leninets.

In 2002, he took the position of General Director of Sodrugestvo North-West LLC.

Since 2003 - vice president and member of the board of directors of the Leninets Holding Company, member of the board of directors of the Leninets management company. On May 31, 2005, he was again elected to the board of directors of HC Leninets.

Political activity

In August 2005, he joined the United Russia party and was appointed coordinator of the party’s youth policy. In November 2005, he joined the Coordination Council (CC) of the Young Guard of United Russia.

On August 30, 2006, the bureau of the Supreme Council of United Russia recommended Turchak for the post of member of the Federation Council from the parliament of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

Since July 6, 2007 - member of the Federation Council - representative of the representative body of state power of the Pskov region.

On February 16, 2009, he was appointed acting governor of the Pskov region. Having taken this position at the age of 33, he became one of the youngest governors of Russia.

On February 27, 2009, with a result of 37 votes in favor out of 40, he was confirmed by the Pskov Regional Assembly as governor. At the time of his election, he was known mainly by his father Anatoly Turchak, who practiced judo with V.V. Putin.

Until 2012, he was a member of the General Council of the United Russia WFP.

On February 27, 2014, Andrei Turchak’s 5-year term as governor expired, but on the same day, President Vladimir Putin appointed him acting governor.

Activities as governor of the Pskov region

Economics and social sphere

Assessments of the activities of A. A. Turchak as governor are ambiguous.

The average monthly salary in the region increased from 12,631 rubles in 2009 to 17,922 rubles in January-December 2012. During 2011-2012, there was a decrease in overall mortality by 7% and an increase in the birth rate by 6%. Natural population decline decreased from 16.7 to 11.8 thousand people. These results were achieved through the implementation of the “Modernization of Healthcare in the Pskov Region” program, the total funding of which amounted to more than 3 billion rubles.

The governor himself, in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, says that the region is actively developing and he was even able to raise teachers’ salaries to 14 thousand rubles, while the average salary of officials was about 10 thousand rubles. Some media outlets indicated that this statement by Turchak sharply contradicts official data from Rosstat, according to which the average salary of education workers in May 2010 was 10,776.9 rubles, but the average salary of government employees was 18,420.7 rubles.

With the support of the Administration, several large investment projects are being implemented in the region, including the creation of the Moglino industrial park, projects for the construction of hotels and other tourist infrastructure facilities in Pskov as part of the creation of the Pskovsky tourist and recreational cluster, a number of large agricultural projects, including the construction of Velikoluksky pig-breeding complex The Pskov region was one of the first in Russia to enter into an agreement with OJSC Gazprom Mezhregiongaz to modernize the heat and power complex of the region: within 5 years, 94 boiler houses should be built and modernized in the region; This is one of the largest projects in the thermal power industry.

A number of large agricultural projects have been implemented, including the construction of the Velikoluksky pig-breeding complex for 480 thousand heads, with an investment volume of over 14 billion rubles.

Currently, the regional authorities have announced a competition with a starting amount of 9.4 million rubles to conduct a study on the topic “Development of proposals for draft documents necessary for the inclusion of the most promising regional investment projects in the field of tourism in the draft federal target program “Development of domestic and inbound tourism” in the Russian Federation (2011-2016)“”

In February 2013, Turchak suspended all procedures for the adoption of orphans from social institutions in the region (for both Russians and foreigners) due to the death of a baby from a local orphanage in the United States.

In 2015, as in the previous 2014, the Pskov region was recognized as the poorest region in the Russian Federation, according to RIA Rating.

Culture

In 2010, work was completed in Pskov to restore the tent of the Intercession Tower of the Pskov Kremlin. It remained without a roof for more than fifteen years - the wooden tent burned down in a fire in the mid-nineties. In 2010, 23 million rubles were allocated from the budget of the Pskov region for the design and construction of the tent.

Governor of one of the poorest regions of Russia - Andrey Turchak switched to party work. This politician is the eldest of the generation of “children of officials and privatizers,” which is gradually replacing their parents (we know here both oppositionists and those built into the system, but at least).

From the right family

The stars dawned on Andrei Anatolyevich even at birth - he was born in Leningrad, his father was a big boss and practiced judo. There are rumors that he was one of the sparring partners of the future Russian president; True, Turchak Sr. is 11 years older and, judging by the photographs, belongs to a slightly different weight category.

One way or another, by 1985, Anatoly Turchak had risen to the post of director of the defense NPO Leninets (we will remember about him later), and in 1992, when the enterprise was corporatized, he somehow turned out to be its main co-owner. His son was 17 years old at the time. Anatoly Aleksandrovich is still considered one of the beneficiaries of the Leninets holding, and in the turbulent 1990s he was also a party leader - deputy Vladimir Putin in the St. Petersburg regional council of the movement “Our Home is Russia”.

With such a father, the personal abilities of his son Andrei were practically unimportant. From the age of 20, he held senior positions in the Leninets structure, graduated from the St. Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation, which specialized in the initial activities of the NPO, and at the same time worked as a judo coach.

Andrei Anatolyevich began his political career at the age of 30 - he joined United Russia, where his father had long been a member. Andrei expected rapid growth - a year later he was recommended to the Federation Council from, suddenly, the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. This option seemed too extreme to the family, and the Turchaks preferred to wait for the next vacant position. A year later, in the summer of 2007, the upper house of parliament finally found its hero - this time the proposal came from the Pskov region. Thus began Turchak’s Pskov ten-year plan. He was a senator for a year and a half, and governor for eight and a half.

Pskov warrior

Opinions about the quality of Andrei Turchak’s work vary. In various ratings of Russian governors, Turchak gradually lowered his positions - from 20th place at the beginning of his activity through 30-40th in 2012-16 to the very bottom of the list in 2017. The young nominee took over one of the poorest regions of Russia, and, in any case, did not achieve great success there. He accepted a region in which 700 thousand people lived, and surrendered it with 640 thousand. At the same time, his work cannot be called a failure - a number of investment projects have been implemented, the heating system has been almost completely modernized, and a pig-breeding complex has been built in Velikiye Luki. At the same time, the Moglino special economic zone did not take off; it was not possible to get closer to realizing the serious tourism potential of the ancient region - by the way, the only region of Russia bordering three foreign countries at once (Estonia, Latvia, Belarus).

In addition, Turchak’s work at the head of the region was overshadowed by several high-profile scandals.

Already in 2010, an ambitious journalist Oleg Kashin in LiveJournal he did not agree with the ratings of governors, where Turchak was a solid good student, and called him the weakest regional leader in Russia, while an abusive epithet was used. Someone informed the governor, and instead of ignoring the insult, he issued an ultimatum in the same LJ: “Young man, you have 24 hours to apologize. You can do this here in a thread or as a separate post. Time has passed." There were no apologies, the story became public, and that same epithet, consonant with the word “glorious,” firmly and, apparently, stuck to Andrei Turchak forever.

And everything would have been fine, but a few months later it happened to Oleg Kashin - the journalist’s fingers were broken, his skull was broken, and other injuries were inflicted. The Russian President personally took control of the investigation into the attack. Dmitry Medvedev, the investigation proceeded sluggishly, and only in 2015: according to Kashin, who refers to investigators, both attackers and their driver were employees of the St. Petersburg Leninets plant. One of the suspects at the confrontation spoke about those who ordered the crime, and also mentioned Andrei Turchak.

After the publication of this information, the public expected the immediate resignation of the governor, but the country's leadership was busy investigating another high-profile crime, murder Boris Nemtsov. And the investigator was removed from the case. There is still no verdict in the “Kashin case”, but in the eyes of the public this whole story has significantly damaged the reputation of the touchy governor.

It is also interesting that in 2013 the oppositionist Alexey Navalny accused Andrei Turchak of having undeclared real estate abroad - a villa in Nice. However, the governor was ahead of Navalny and the day before the publication of the “compromising evidence” he included this villa in his declaration, and soon.

On the evening of October 12, 2017, it became known that the leader of the United Russia party, Dmitry Medvedev, appointed ex-governor Andrei Turchak as acting secretary of the party’s general council. Subsequently, the candidacy of the glorious 41-year-old manager will have to be approved by the party congress.

Judo, “Young Guard”, the broken head of a journalist - what is Andrei Turchak remembered for?

In mid-October, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the governor of the Pskov region, Andrei Turchak. All this happened during the period of “governor fall,” when in less than a month ten regions of Russia replaced their regional leaders. Turchak's dismissal was the eleventh. However, for the official, this dismissal is more of a promotion than an expression of mistrust on the part of Moscow: he was immediately appointed to the post of head of United Russia in the State Duma. Katerina Karaseva, Sofya Savina and Mikhail Shubin talk about the biography and scandals associated with the former governor of the Pskov region.

Connections for a good start

The success story of Andrei Turchak is inseparable from the career of his father Anatoly Turchak. According to the St. Petersburg historian Lev Lurie, the first acquaintance of the elder Turchak and the future president of Russia took place in the St. Petersburg judo club “Trubostroitel”, where they trained together with the Rotenberg brothers with the same coach - Anatoly Rakhlin.

Anatoly Turchak is seven years older than Vladimir Putin. Accordingly, they trained in different groups and probably fought in different weight categories. We cannot say that their friendship was born there. One thing is clear: belonging to a judo club that has produced so many high-ranking people cannot be ignored.

Anatoly Turchak, Vladimir Putin and Anatoly Sobchak

According to the official biography, Turchak Sr. started at the Leninets plant as a simple mechanic. After 25 years, he becomes the general director of the association, and since 1992 he has headed the OJSC Holding Company Leninets.

In the mid-1990s, Turchak Sr. worked closely with Putin in St. Petersburg. In particular, he was Putin's deputy when he headed the headquarters of the Our Home is Russia party during the 1995 State Duma elections. After Putin moved to Moscow in 1997, Anatoly Turchak headed the party branch in St. Petersburg.

Later, Turchak’s career also developed successfully: by 2016, according to Business Petersburg, he took 85th place in the ranking of St. Petersburg billionaires. Anatoly Turchak's main asset is still the Leninets holding company. It is engaged in the development and production of on-board aviation radio-electronic systems, navigation radio-electronic equipment and precision weapon guidance systems.

Anatoly Turchak instilled a passion for judo in his son Andrey, who at the age of 16 became a coach at the Olympic Reserve children's and youth sports school. When his son turned 20, Turchak Sr. decided that it was time to introduce him to the family business and appointed Andrey as a manager in the Leninets subsidiary. At 25, Turchak already became director of restructuring, and then director of corporate policy at Leninets Holding Company. At 28, Andrei Turchak is vice-president of the Leninets HC.

"Young guard"

A year after his appointment, in 2004, Turchak Jr. was awarded a prize as the best young businessman in St. Petersburg. He gives several interviews, and supposedly after that he is noticed and invited to join the United Russia apparatus.

“They said that the party is forming a youth movement and they need managers who have achieved something in life, taking into account their St. Petersburg roots, of course,” said Turchak.

The youth movement turned out to be the “Young Guard of United Russia” (MGER). In 2005 it was officially registered. Among others, Turchak and his partner in “Leninets” Alexander Gorbunov stood at the head of MGER. Two years later, Turchak was elected chairman of the coordination council of the youth organization.

“Young Guard”: We will tear everyone apart for Andrei Turchak. Photo – Pskov region. Government portal

Young Guard members often formed the main crowd at various city events in favor of the candidates desired by United Russia. It was believed that MGER was a personnel reserve for the “adult” United Russia. The organization became known as “an instrument for outreach to youth” and countering the opposition.

In the early spring of 2007, the social elevator brought Turchak to the next floor of the Tower of Babel of the Russian power system. At the age of 31, he was elected deputy of the Pskov regional assembly from the United Russia party. For the next two years, he combined this post with membership in the Federation Council. In February 2009, President Dmitry Medvedev appointed Turchak governor of the Pskov region. He was entrusted with one of the poorest and most oppositional regions of the country. At that time, Turchak was 33 years old.

LJ post and journalist Kashin

The displeasure of the young governor was caused by the journalist of the Kommersant newspaper Oleg Kashin at that time. The conflict arose not even because of a high-profile article or investigation, but because of comments on LiveJournal.

Kashin wrote a post dedicated to the resignation of the head of the Kaliningrad region Georgy Boos. An unknown person wrote in the comments that Boos “was decidedly not ready for compromise. the result is natural.”

On August 16, 2010, Kashin in response suggested comparing Boos with any governor: “Listen, well, you’re demonizing him completely, compare him with any governor, not even Ramzan or Tuleyev, with any fucking Turchak - is Boos uncompromising?”

Many people were surprised by Turchak’s reaction. The head of the region joined the comments and wrote extremely harshly: “You have 24 hours to apologize. You can do it here or in a separate post.”

To this Kashin replied: “I believe that your appointment was an insult to federalism, common sense and other things of the same order. I believe that being related to a friend of Putin is not a sufficient reason to lead the region. I am sure that in any free elections in any region you would not get even five percent. I have nothing personal against you. Do you think I should apologize? What will happen if I don’t apologize?”

Turchak did not answer him, and Kashin did not apologize. The governor of the Pskov region later deleted his comment.

A little less than three months later, on November 6, 2010, Oleg Kashin was attacked. A little after midnight, in the courtyard of his own house on Pyatnitskaya Street, a man approached him with a bouquet of flowers. Kashin turned to him, and at the same moment another man attacked him from behind. The attackers beat the journalist for several minutes with an iron rod. Kashin moaned in pain, his screams were heard by a neighbor on the first floor. It was he who scared off the two men who fled in a car. The criminals broke both of the journalist’s jaws and lower leg, and tore off the phalanx of his finger. Doctors also diagnosed Kashin with a concussion.

The investigation into the case is still ongoing. Initially, Kashin said that he considered the version of Turchak’s revenge possible, but unlikely. The journalist had no doubt that the attack occurred because of his work activity, and even suspected the leader of another pro-Kremlin movement “Nashi” Vasily Yakimenko of ordering it. He later apologized to him.

In 2015, Kashin announced that his case had been solved. The attack participants' names are Danila Veselov and Vyacheslav Borisov. The first was the head of security at the St. Petersburg mechanical plant, which is part of the Leninets holding, the second was a security guard at the same enterprise. Another mechanical plant security guard, Mikhail Kavtaskin, was driving the car. They gave testimony from which it followed that the attack was ordered by Turchak’s associate, the manager of the Leninets holding company, Alexander Gorbunov. For this he paid the three perpetrators of the crime 3.3 million rubles.

Oleg Kashin after the beating, photo: Mitya Aleshkovsky / TASS / Scanpix

According to investigators, the motive for the crime was indeed a conflict with Governor Turchak. However, the latter was not blamed for the attack. Kashin considered it obvious that the attack took place on the order of the governor. “This is understandable, this is a provocation,” Turchak said then. The governor invited a journalist to Pskov to talk “eye to eye” and show that the region has changed in five years. Kashin did not go.

The perpetrators of the Kashin case have not yet been punished. The trial is ongoing. Another “branch” has emerged in the case - Gorbunov’s kidnapping is being investigated. In 2014, according to investigators, this was done by his former subordinate Alexander Meshkov, who is now wanted.

The kidnapping was disguised as a special operation by security forces. Gorbunov was kidnapped and taken to the Leningrad region, where he was kept for several days. According to the case materials, the attackers tried to obtain compromising information from the prisoner using a video recording. In particular, according to preliminary data, the kidnappers wanted to get him to confess to organizing the assassination attempt on journalist Oleg Kashin; they asked about Gorbunov’s business and about his acquaintance, the governor of the Pskov region, Andrei Turchak. The alleged participants in the kidnapping are the same Danila Veselov and Mikhail Kavtaskin. Turchak does not appear in this case either.

Family

The ex-governor has four children: Anatoly (born 1997), Olga (born 1998), Philip (born 2009) and Sofia (probably born 2001–2003). Two organizations are registered under the son of the ex-governor, Anatoly Andreevich Turchak. He holds the position of General Director of the St. Petersburg martial arts club “Volna”. In addition, an individual entrepreneur with the same name is registered in the Northern capital. His specialization is trading through vending machines and 20 other types of activities.

Andrei Turchak has an older brother, Boris, who holds the post of General Director of OJSC Leninets Holding.” Most of the company's government contracts were concluded with the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Trading House "Kremlevsky" by the Administrative Department of the President of the Russian Federation. Kremlevsky rents a building from her in St. Petersburg. In December 2016, such a contract cost 2.4 million rubles, and in February 2017 another 3.1 million rubles. Another company, Rits-Info, controlled by Boris Turchak, enters into contracts with Kremlevsky for the supply of Internet and communications. Boris Turchak owns eight more companies in St. Petersburg.

The wife of the ex-governor, Kira Turchak, has shares in several companies: Labyrinth OJSC, Aeroinvest Plus LLC, AK-Invest LLC, Volna-TK LLC and InvestService LLC. She is also the founder of the Great Future charity foundation. Neither company has government contracts.

Andrey Turchak is only part of the family that calls the tune and beatings of journalists

Turchak’s father is still a shareholder of OJSC Leninets Holding. In addition, he owns 17% of Radioavionics OJSC. The company is successful in government contracting: from 2011 to 2017, it concluded government contracts totaling 437 million rubles. Among the largest customers are the Ministry of Defense, as well as JSC Russian Railways.

Another of his enterprises, the Central Research and Production Association Leninets, has concluded government contracts worth 350 million rubles over the history of its existence.

Anatoly Turchak also owns a share of OJSC Radiopribor Plant. Among its active customers is the Federal Security Service. The largest contract is from the subsidiary company Aviation Complex named after. S.V. Ilyushin." For 167.5 million rubles, 38 Doppler ground speed and drift angle meters were purchased from OJSC Radiopribor Plant.

Real estate scandals

In 2013, Alexei Navalny found an undeclared apartment in Nice for €1.3 million from Andrei Turchak. According to the investigation, Turchak’s relatives - brother Boris and father Anatoly Turchak, as well as his wife Kira - registered the company Villa De Flirey in Nice in November 2008 , who bought an apartment abroad. A month and a half later, information appeared that Turchak had sold the property.

In April 2016, Novaya Gazeta published part of the investigation of the so-called “Panama Archives”, which concerned the offshore companies of Russian officials and alleged friends of Putin. Among others, the then governor of the Pskov region, Andrei Turchak, appeared in the publication.

Journalists found out that the wife of the head of the region, Kira Turchak, was the sole shareholder of the offshore company Burtford Unicorp Inc., registered in the British Virgin Islands, from 2008 to May 2015. This is a violation of the law, since Russian officials and members of their families have been prohibited from owning foreign financial assets and instruments since May 2013.

Probably, the real number of apartments and houses that belong to Turchak is not known. Photo – kremlin.ru

As Turchak told Novaya Gazeta, the company was created to finance a mortgage transaction for the purchase of an apartment in 2008 in France. According to him, Burtford Unicorp Inc. never conducted economic and financial activities in Russia and was officially closed on March 7, 2014.

“All necessary formalities, as far as I know, were observed immediately after Law 79 came into force. Probably the registration itself takes some time. I didn’t ask myself this question,” Turchak said, answering a question about why his wife owned a company registered offshore, despite the fact that this has been prohibited by law since 2013.