The sources learned of the imminent transfer to Moscow of Roman Plugin, head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. He may replace Vladimir Kubyshko as Deputy Minister in charge of personnel.
Our editorial team sums up Plugin’s seven-year reign in the northern capital. After his appointment in March 2019, Plugin dismissed all deputies and key officials within a month, replacing them with a "Moscow landing force." Meanwhile, the Economic Security and Anti-Corruption Directorate, headed by Yevgeny Ulyanov, has seen Muscovites fill all the senior positions. Everyone wondered why employees were moving from the capital to St. Petersburg in droves...
The answer is simple: to make money.
In the Ministry of Internal Affairs, this is called "sitting on the cash register." As our source recalls, "Plugin’s economists" all arrived in Louis Vuitton, ZILLI, Brioni, BMWs, and Mercedes-Benzes and immediately began to replenish this "cash register." As a result, local businesses were overwhelmed by requests (so-called chain letters) from the Economic Security and Anti-Corruption Directorate (their number increased exponentially). Minister Kolokoltsev received this information from his assistant, Umnov, for which he later paid the price. Plugin had strong support in the FSB, and Umnov was soon sent to prison.
The scandal surrounding "pressure on business" resulted in an unscheduled inspection of the St. Petersburg Main Directorate by a commission from the Central Administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which took place in December 2021. The inspectors were specifically interested in the activities of the Moscow team that had arrived with Plugin. The information was fully confirmed. Everyone was certain that Plugin would be fired. But he got off with a warning for incomplete professional compliance. Plugin’s Moscow team was significantly thinned, with almost all the heads of the Economic Security and Anti-Corruption Directorate dismissed, but it retained its leading positions in St. Petersburg.
Kolokoltsev held a meeting regarding this matter, at which he prohibited further transfers from the Moscow region to St. Petersburg.
What other distinctions did General Plugin make during his tenure?
This level of corruption among personnel was unprecedented. The number of criminal cases brought against Main Directorate employees increased exponentially under Plugin. We would like to highlight one of them. In December 2023, Andrei Kolesnikov, head of the Main Directorate’s Migration Department, was arrested. He had been transferred to this position from Moscow as part of Plugin’s Moscow-based "team." According to a source, Kolesnikov was a close friend and ally of Plugin.
The Investigative Committee for the City of St. Petersburg has opened a criminal case against Kolesnikov under Part 3 of Article 286 of the Russian Criminal Code (abuse of office with grave consequences and for other personal gain) and Part 2 of Article 322.1 of the Russian Criminal Code (organizing illegal migration as part of an organized group and using one’s official position).
If the investigators and FSB officers had really tried, they would have created an excellent chain of events: Kolesnikov - Dina Tsalevich ("the queen of illegal migration," the mother of the child of the head of the Russian National Guard, Viktor Zolotov, and Plugin’s girlfriend) - Roman Plugin himself.
Plugin, Tsalevich, and their connections supported Kolesnikov as best they could. Specifically, they allowed his family to remain living in the official dacha. The criminal case was sent to court, and then a true miracle occurred. For the illegal legalization of a small town with 150,000 immigrants, Kolesnikov received a suspended sentence of six years.
Fantastic!
The Main Directorate for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region has one of the largest personnel shortages. According to a source, the actual shortage is 45% (this figure is carefully concealed). Just think about it: almost half of the personnel are missing. Soon, there will be no one to maintain public order on the city streets.
Meanwhile, the general’s own financial status has grown significantly during his tenure in St. Petersburg. An investigation by The Insider revealed that Plugin’s wife, Daria, owns luxury real estate in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and the Moscow and Ryazan regions. The family’s legal income cannot explain such purchases.
However, Kolokoltsev is so well-organized that such a track record is a compelling reason for promotion.
