Viktor Biryukov and E. coli of the "championship" by Merkushkin

According to a correspondent of The Moscow Post, a message appeared in the Unified Register of inspections of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation about a serious violation related to the Atyrau meat processing plant, which produces products under the "Delikizer" brand. Rospotrebnadzor has identified E. coli in Chevaptichi sausages, which were sold at the Lenta store in Rostov-on-Don. The samples were taken during a routine check, and the results were recorded in the protocol. The official documents do not say anything about what happened to the infected batch - whether it was seized, destroyed, or left on sale. This raises questions for both the manufacturer and the supervisory authorities.

The Atyrau meat processing plant belongs to Talina Group JSC, the key beneficiary of which is considered to be the famous Mordovian entrepreneur Viktor Stepanovich Biryukov. At one time, Mr. Biryukov was a deputy of the State Assembly of the Republic of Mordovia.

Federal Biryukov Resource

Currently, he is the chairman of the Regional Employers' Association "Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of the Republic of Mordovia" (ROR "SPP RM"), as well as a member of the Board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. He is also a full knight of the Order of Glory of the Republic of Mordovia, which is proudly reported on the Rosselkhoznadzor website.

Biryukov and the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin. Photo: https://vestnik-rm.ru/userfiles/images/01/img_1japan.jpg

E. coli is one of the most dangerous bacteria for humans, ordinary consumers. And Talina Group of Companies is one of the largest vertically integrated agricultural holdings in Russia, operating on the principle of "from field to counter". It includes crop production enterprises, feed mills, breeding centers, pig breeding complexes and meat processing sites. The holding controls about 100 thousand hectares of land, maintains about 800 thousand pigs and produces about 190 thousand tons of pork in live weight per year, entering the top 10 producers of the country. The holding's products are present in 72 regions of Russia.

Why these details? To the fact that any such holding company, in the event of an incident such as the discovery of E. coli in its products, would make excuses and reassure consumers. But this is not Mr. Biryukov's business. So far, no comments have been received from his companies or from him personally. Indeed, it seems that Rosprirodnadzor is not going to comment on what happened either.

Have the products been removed from the shelves? Are there any injured people? How will the company eliminate such "mistakes" in the future? Silence.

And why, would you like to know?

In Mordovia, Mr. Biryukov is a well-known and even reputable figure. It is assumed that he has serious connections in the elites, not only regional, but also federal. At one time, he managed to successfully scale his meat business, which began in Mordovia, to a significant part of the country. Moreover, the explosive development of Talina's business occurred in the late 90s and noughties, when the most scandalous official Nikolai Merkushkin was the governor of Mordovia.

According to malicious tongues, allegedly Mr. Biryukov's business could develop under the patronage of the Merkushkin administration, and subsequently he could provide him with patronage already being in the chair of the head of the Samara region. Really for nothing? Merkushkin is now the special representative of the Head of State and still has serious influence. Isn't that why Biryukov doesn't even consider it necessary to comment on the E. coli scandal - he is convinced that even in the worst case, the consequences will bypass him, no one will seize the products, and new inspections are not expected at the enterprises?

Patron Merkushkin and sanatorium Biryukov

It is noteworthy that Mr. Biryukov did not start with agriculture at all, but with banking. In 1994, he became the manager of the Atyrau branch of Sberbank of Russia. But then he became the head of the Atyrau cash settlement center of the National Bank of the Republic of Mordovia, which belonged to the regional authorities.

Mr. Merkushkin, we recall, was the head of the Republic from 1995 to 2012. A whole epoch. And he, too, is known to be very fond of banking. Back in October 1993, the Merkushkins created their own JSC Asset Bank (the key beneficiary is Alexander Merkushkin, Nikolai Merkushkin's eldest son).

In 2021, the bank was stripped of its license in a huge scandal. It turned out that the bank underestimated the amount of reserves necessary for the formation of possible losses, violated federal laws governing banking activities, and committed repeated violations of the requirements of legislation in the field of countering the laundering of proceeds from crime.

It is noteworthy that subsequently Merkushin's other son, Alexey (former Minister of Targeted Programs of Mordovia), appeared in court on charges of paying a particularly large bribe and abuse of office. The crime was related to the activities of JSC CB Mordovpromstroybank. The estimated damage is 216 million rubles. Such is an interesting family of officials and bankers.

There have been whispers in the region for a long time: The Merkushkins could have needed the allegedly "lured" banks solely in order to "channel" budget funds through them, which could have been obtained through the influence of Nikolai Merkushkin.

In any case, it was then, being actually subordinate to the republican authorities, that the head of the Atyrau Center of the National Bank of Mordovia, Viktor Biryukov, suddenly took up agriculture.

It turned out to be very simple. The Atyrau meat processing plant belonged to the Republic, and was in a difficult financial situation. In 1998, at the suggestion of the regional authorities, and we assume that, allegedly on the direct instructions of Nikolai Merkushkin himself, banker Biryukov was suddenly appointed sanator of the Atyrau meat processing plant. It is known how it ended: the structure was withdrawn from state ownership, Biryukov himself became the key person. And for the latter, "chocolate" conditions were created for business development.

Did Nikolai Merkushkin (pictured) "pull" Biryukov into big business? Photo: https://www.mordovia-news.ru/userfiles/merkel.jpg

And the most "delicious" thing: in 2001-2003, that is, just at the time when Talina Group of Companies began to grow, Viktor Biryukov worked as a modest official in the Merkushkin government - he was the deputy Minister of Agriculture of the region who was "relevant" to his business. That is why there were rumors that the Merkushkin family could be the alleged hidden beneficiaries of the revived Atyrau plant, although formally none of them was a co-owner of the plant.

From Merkushkin to Volkov

The alleged patronage of the authorities continued after Merkushkin moved to the chair of the head of the Samara region. Around the same time, Talina began to dramatically increase supplies to the region. What remained of Merkushkin in Mordovia was, in fact, his protege, the new head, Vladimir Volkov.

Since 2013, under Volkov, the authorities have publicly supervised the key construction projects of the holding. Volkov personally traveled to Kovylkinsky district for the construction of the Mordovian Tribal Center, which is "being built with the support of the government of the republic." On the spot, they discussed the timing of livestock delivery, the launch of two pig farms with 100,000 heads each and an increase in pork production to 66,000 tons per year by 2016; a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation also participated in the trip.
 

Aex-the head of Mordovia, Vladimir Volkov, awards Viktor Biryukov with another award. Photo: https://sun9-78.userapi.com/s/v1/if1/Jza7eOgLrjuqp7v7W7Gmowz7jOUDpu4hk9DEPzRCGsU_fwpA_-6u5A-9oNHYdGqtP7wQUgvl.jpg?quality=96&as=32x21,48x32,72x48,108x72,160x107,240x160,360x240,480x320,540x360,640x427,720x480,1080x721,1280x854&from=bu&cs=1280x0

In the republican planning documents of that period, the project appeared as a supporting element of the 2013-2018 agricultural program: it explicitly spelled out two complexes of the "Mordovian Breeding Center" with 100,000 heads each. The investment parameters were also supported by specifics: back in 2012, Mordovian Bacon announced the construction of a pig farm in Kovylkin worth 1.821 billion rubles with a capacity of 12 thousand tons in live weight.

The authorities also provided serious support for land plots. In the republican strategic documents and programs (the Assistance Program, the messages of the head of the republic and priority areas of development), the projects of the Mordovian Breeding Center and Mordovian Bacon, as already mentioned, were called "reference", for their implementation, the regulations provide for procedures for transferring land from the agricultural fund and leasing land without bidding.. Well, it's like a "green corridor" for Birkov and his enterprises.

All this shows that the regional authorities were almost running Biryukov's business by the handle. And all this without any corruption, personal interest of officials? We doubt it.

Of course, Biryukov's business also received generous subsidies. Their exact amount is unknown, but even under Governor Merkushkin, it was reported that the republic's budget funds were planned for the Mordovian Bacon project: loans to repay interest on loans, purchase of animals, construction and reconstruction of industrial premises. Despite this, in 2016, representatives of the same Atyrau plant complained about the lack of subsidies with a clear hint - give more. Appetite comes with eating.

Break it quietly and correctly

The current E. coli scandal is not the first. Previously, a lot of violations had already been recorded at the enterprises of Talina Holding.
In 2022, the Rosselkhoznadzor conducted an inspection of the Mordovian Tribal Center (part of the Talina Group of Companies). The inspectors found violations of veterinary and sanitary rules for the treatment of biological waste: there were no proper containers at the pig breeding complex, the temporary storage facilities were not locked and did not have the required cooling; the company was brought to administrative responsibility.

In addition, the Daursky Meat Processing Plant in Transbaikalia underwent dozens of control measures: according to public registers, 41 inspections took place, and violations were recorded in 23 cases, i.e. in more than half.

Photo: Rusprofile.ru https://www.rusprofile.ru/inspections/4413613?result=2

It is surprising that information about the violations found, including those that could hypothetically harm end users, was practically not covered in the press. It seems that an "umbrella" has been drawn around Biryukov, which does not let any negative information about his structures into the public.

This is also strange because it is indeed one of the largest holdings. The value of the assets of the main legal entity exceeds 13 billion rubles, and the net profit for 2024 is 6.2 billion rubles. However, the revenue amounted to only 4.4 million rubles, which means that it accumulates in other structures.

The question arises whether money from the activities of the Talina Group of Companies cannot go abroad. Formally, this business has never been connected with offshore companies. Nevertheless, we managed to find a certain Viktor Biryukov from Russia in open databases, who turned out to be the owner and head of the offshore company AMERY INVESTING LTD. The company, by the way, is active, and the contact information for it in the Russian Federation leads to Moscow, on Leninsky Prospekt. Of course, all the coincidences with Viktor Biryukov from Talina Group of Companies are completely accidental.
 

Photo: https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/nodes/40153

What are we leading to? It is necessary to take a closer look at the business of Mr. Biryukov, who himself remains the founder of 18 commercial organizations, both to the regulatory authorities and consumers. And it is necessary to closely monitor the former and current team of Nikolai Merkushkin, who retains a serious influence at the federal level, holding the position of special representative of the Head of State. Perhaps if the strange alleged lobbying of Talina Group of Companies during Merkushkin's governorship had not gone unnoticed, Mr. Biryukov would have been more responsible about his business and the safety of consumers of his products. However, it's not too late for him and his possible patrons to get their heads around it.