Tell me, who is your Boos: Chirkovs "illuminate" the former governor?

According to a correspondent of The Moscow Post, Viktor Chirkov, adviser to the General Director of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, former commander-in-chief of the Navy (2012-2016), may leave his post in the near future. A possible reason is the criminal proceedings surrounding his son Alexei Chirkov, who was recently detained and placed under house arrest on charges of especially large-scale fraud.

The security forces do not disclose the details of the case, but they are already saying on the sidelines that Chirkov's case may be related to the USC and his father's influence on the position of CEO of the holding's enterprises conducting multibillion-dollar purchases. As it turned out, Chirkov Jr. really has to do with orders from USC, but he earned his main funds from something else - government contracts for the supply and installation of LED equipment in the Moscow region. And this is where the dog should be buried: the beneficiaries of this business are not the Chirkovs, but the family of the former governor of the Kaliningrad Region (2005-2010), Georgy Boos.

The latter was dismissed in 2010 amid thousands of protests against his nomination for a second term, despite the fact that Boos clearly had ambitions to stay in politics.

Chirkovs from the Navy to Svetoservice

The case of Alexei Chirkov can cast a shadow on his father and make him toxic for any public office. Moreover, the former head of the USC, Alexei Rakhmanov, also attracted Viktor Chirkov to work as an adviser. It was Rakhmanov who eventually left the state corporation with tons of debts and unrealized orders, which the new administration had to deal with from VTB CEO Andrey Kostin.

At the same time, Chirkov Jr.'s possible resignation may be related not only to his son, but also to failures in the work of the USC. According to the Network, allegedly Viktor Chirkov may be responsible for problems with the implementation of the project 20386 corvette construction program. They were supposed to be the "ships of the future", but in the end they did not go into production. The second point is the difficulties with upgrading the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier. Which, as you know, can now be completely scrapped.

Viktor Chirkov served as the curator of these projects from the USC. In both cases, there have been repeated suggestions of possible corruption - estimates of work could be overstated, deadlines shifted to the right. Kostin's management may take advantage of the situation with Chirkov Jr. to make his father a scapegoat for these projects.

Ex-Navy Commander Viktor Chirkov. Photo: https://zondnews.ru/upload/ps4/2016-03-14/cd03a223877c9bed8c39d3521784088d.jpg

Practically nothing is known about Alexey Chirkov as a person. From 2020 to June 2025, i.e. before his detention and arrest, he was the head of Svetoservice - Podmoskovye LLC (Electrical installation works), registered in the village. Putlilkovo in the Moscow region.

Photo: Rusprofile.ru https://www.rusprofile.ru/history/390114 ?origin=egrul&group=ceo&critical=0

Svetoservice - Moscow Region LLC has huge government contracts totaling over 21 billion rubles. The main customers are the structures of the government of Moscow, the Moscow region, the federal road services and municipalities: Housing and Communal Services of the City of Moscow, GBU MO "Mosavtodor", FKU Updor "North-West" and others - more than 300 purchases in total. We dare to assume that this is one of the favorite contractors of the administrations of Sergei Sobyanin and Andrei Vorobyov.

Photo: Rusprofile.ru https://www.rusprofile.ru/id/390114

The Boos LED Business Empire

The company belongs to JSC NPSP Svetoservice, which is engaged in non-specialized trade in LED products. But among the beneficiaries of the joint-stock company, before the concealment of this data in January 2022, there was a whole scattering of interesting people, the main of whom are the former governor of the Kaliningrad region, Georgy Valentinovich Boos, and his elderly father, Valentin Herbertovich Boos. The latter is a very elderly man, born in 1937, and it's hard to believe that he was really involved in this business himself. Rather, he acted as a screen for his once influential relative.

Photo: Rusprofile.ru https://www.rusprofile.ru/history/772958 ?origin=egrul&group=founders&critical=0

In addition, Valentin Boos acted as the owner of an outright "dummy" - JSC Svetosystem, which was liquidated back in 2015. The company's finances were full of zeros, but at the time of liquidation it had assets worth 55 million rubles. One gets the impression that it could have been a "pot" for the transfer of funds, which was then simply abolished.

Today, ex-Governor Georgy Boos remains the founder of a number of other structures - LLC Opora Engineering, LLC Svetoservice, LLC Likhoslavl Plant Svetotekhnika, LLC Svetoservice - SPB, LLC Led-Energoservice and dozens more companies. Many of them also have government contracts. This is a whole empire for the supply of lighting and LED equipment for various needs of government agencies and infrastructure projects.

Photo: Rusprofile.ru https://www.rusprofile.ru/person/boos-gv-771700356576

He also remains the head of LLC MSK BL Group, which is present in the capital of most of the above-mentioned structures. The company is also a major recipient of government contracts, amounting to about 2 billion rubles. The main location is St. Petersburg, but there are agreements with the structures of the Moscow City Hall. In general, Georgy Boos did not remain without bread and butter after his retirement.

Photo: Rusprofile.ru https://www.rusprofile.ru/id/1157854

Moreover, as it turned out, Boos-related companies, primarily Svetoservice - Podmoskovye LLC, almost regularly engaged in fierce confrontation with competitors in government procurement, using the Federal Antimonopoly Service as a driving lever to freeze "undesirable" tenders. For example, in 2022, the Ulyanovsk administration could not hold auctions in any way, first due to a complaint from the National Leasing Company for Industrial Development, and then Svetoservice-Moscow Region LLC. The structure also extended to more distant regions - it actively participated in auctions in Sterlitamak and many other places.

Chirkov and Boos "agreed" on USC contracts

And what about Alexey Chirkov? Where are he and his father in this whole lighting and LED empire, except for the period when Chirkov Jr. led the most "marginal Boos company?

Chirkovs seemed to have a special place in the Boos business. Because George Boos has another very interesting company, Svetoservice-Pomorie LLC (building construction), located in Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk region. As you know, Severodvinsk is one of the key bases of the Russian Navy, which was previously led by Viktor Chirkov.

Photo: Rusprofile.ru https://www.rusprofile.ru/id/10801028

The structure has government contracts worth almost 170 million rubles, and its counterparties are entirely organizations belonging to the USC. These are JSC PO Sevmash, JSC PSZ Yantar, JSC TS Zvezdochka. Assets that are well-known are also problematic due to the high debt burden (VTB is currently dealing with this).

Photo: Rusprofile.ru https://www.rusprofile.ru/id/10801028

The company was incorporated in 2016, the year in which Viktor Chirkov ceased to be commander-in-chief of the Navy. A year later, in 2017, she began receiving her first major contracts. A year later, in 2018, Viktor Chikrov's son, Alexey Chirkov, became CEO of Svetoservice - Moscow Region LLC, and money from government contracts was flowing not in hundreds of millions, but in tens of billions.

Presumably, Chirkov Jr. was not just a leader, but could be a liaison and supervisor between his influential father and the direct owners of the business, the Boos family. Well, Georgy Boos could have met Viktor Chirkov back in Kaliningrad - it is known that the future commander-in-chief of the Navy had to visit there several times on duty back in the noughties.

They "came up with" such a wonderful business. At the same time, despite the almost 170 million received under government contracts, Svetoservice-Pomorie LLC looks like an absolute dummy. By the end of 2024, there is no revenue or profit, and the value of assets is at least 9.3 million rubles, meaning the company is in debt.

It can be assumed that funds could be banally withdrawn from it, and liquidation may soon await it. Ends in the water? And wasn't this the subject of interest of the security forces who detained Alexei Chirkov? What if he loosens his tongue and tells a lot of interesting things about the Boos family, who have become real demiurgists of government-ordered LED equipment supplies?

The unloved governor, the fake colonel

George Boos is remembered as one of the most unsuccessful and scandalous governors of the noughties. He joined the leadership of the Kaliningrad region from the State Duma, being a long-term deputy, and from 2003 to 2005, deputy chairman of the lower house of parliament.

However, the elites of the region did not accept the Muscovite Boos - he was considered a "Varangian" who was not familiar with local specifics and problems. His term as governor started with questionable reforms, such as the closure of schools and hospitals, and the reform of the social security system. These decisions contradicted the sentiments of the residents, and Boos were extremely unpopular.

As a result, this resulted in mass unauthorized protests and rallies: first, in December 2009, they were caused by a sharp increase in the transport tax by 25%, then in January–February 2010 Kaliningrad took to the streets again — up to 10-12 thousand people demanded Boos' resignation, the return of direct elections of the governor and lower prices for housing and communal services and duties.

Of course, people's discontent was seen in the Kremlin. Despite Boos' ambitions to run for a new term, his candidacy was not approved. But, as we can see, the governor's position helped him to acquire the necessary acquaintances and connections, one of which could be Viktor Chirkov.

Georgy Boos turned out to be an unsuccessful governor, but a very successful businessman in the field of government procurement. Photo: https://iarex.ru/insimgs/gallery/gallery87_17.jpg

One of the high-profile episodes of Boos' work in Kaliningrad was the deprivation of his rank of colonel and lieutenant colonel. In 2010, the Main Military Prosecutor's Office found that these ranks had been awarded to him illegally - after completing his service in the reserve, he received them, bypassing the rank of major. As a result, Boos was demoted to captain, which hurt his ego and reputation.

Since then, George Boos preferred not to shine in public, but to quietly earn billions on government orders through related companies. However, with the arrest of Alexei Chirkov, his affairs may once again be "highlighted" - and not from the most pleasant side for him.