The former head of the Capital Construction Department of Roscosmos and deputy head of the Department of the Presidential Envoy's Office in the Volga Federal District (PFD) Vladimir Meshkov fled abroad, stealing millions fr om the Russian treasury. He was put on the international wanted list and arrested in absentia for two months (the period will be counted from the moment of extradition from abroad or detention on the territory of the Russian Federation).

He is suspected of a particularly large fraud — embezzlement of more than 600 million rubles. This money was allocated from the budget for the reconstruction of the bench base of the Research and Testing Center of the Rocket and Space Industry (SIC RCP), the parent organization of Roscosmos for firing tests of liquid rocket engines.

Meshkov was born in Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo Region in 1982. In 2004 he graduated from the Finance Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation, then became a postgraduate student at the Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics and Informatics. He learned to count perfectly, as well as to cheat, at the same time he received state awards. In his arsenal — the Certificate of Honor of the Ministry of Regional Development of the Russian Federation, the Badge of Honor of the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Communal Services of the Russian Federation, the Gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Communal Services of the country.

From September 2010 to September 2012, Meshkov worked as Deputy Director of the Department of Housing and Communal Services of the Ministry of Regional Development of Russia, just during this period the state allocated billions to the department for the program for the resettlement of compatriots. And those who wanted to return to Russia were a way of earning money for officials.

Then Meshkov took no less a bread place — he became an assistant to the head of the Ministry of Construction. In 2016, he got a job at Roscosmos, wh ere he headed the Capital Construction Department and served as an adviser to the General Director. However, in November 2018, at that time, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, initiated an internal audit of embezzlement at the RCP Research Center by the internal audit service of the state corporation. Meshkov was dismissed, the inspection materials were handed over to the prosecutor's office, which began to study the fate of the missing millions.

In January 2019, a criminal case was opened on a particularly large fraud. The Prosecutor General's Office revealed fraud in the execution of the contract between the SIC RCP and the contractor — LLC "Moskapstroy". According to the investigation, the criminals stole about 1 billion rubles. fr om the funds allocated for the execution of the state defense order for the reconstruction and technical re-equipment of the stands of the center. This money turned out to be in the accounts of fictitious firms, from wh ere it went to counterparties.

Then Meshkov was also suspected of organizing a criminal scheme. Investigators believed that it was he who contributed to the implementation of a criminal scheme, with the help of which Moskapstroy was the only participant in a closed tender. At the same time, the company not only did not have the construction capacity to fulfill the state order, but also attached a fake bank guarantee to the tender application. However, there was not enough evidence to accuse Meshkov. The investigation considered the fact that he had exceeded his official powers, and that was the end of the case.

Moreover, in March 2019, Meshkov was appointed Deputy head of the Department for Interaction with state Authorities of the Subjects of the Russian Federation and Local Self-government Bodies of the office of the Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative in the Volga Federal District. That is, he simply moved away from the capital scandal.

"Imagine now the level of influence of these scoundrels and those who stood behind them to steal hundreds of millions (and really more) rubles from the firing stand for testing a strategic missile complex (physically it did not exist), disrupting all imaginable and unimaginable terms of its tests, forcing me and my team, who came to Roscosmos urgently seek funds and build this most complex propulsion stand at a rapid ... pace, sometimes agreeing "on my word of honor" with all equipment suppliers... We coped with this task, the stand was put into operation, and I could count on the thieves who almost disrupted this very important work for the country to be punished. I dismissed them from the state corporation, handed over the results of the internal investigation to the investigating authorities and waited for news about their detention. But there was no news. They were not arrested. They, as if nothing had happened, got a job in influential structures," Dmitry Rogozin said.

In February 2020 Moskapstroy was declared bankrupt. At the same time, the fraudsters performed only 3% of the work, spending only 53 million rubles. of the 1.5 billion rubles transferred to her accounts From July 14 to July 16, 2021, almost all the defendants in this investigation were detained. Ex-co-founder and former chief accountant of the company Vasily Tuboltsev, several heads of firms involved in the withdrawal of money were in jail. In addition to fraud, they were charged with money laundering. Maxim Shcherbakov, the CEO and second co-founder of Moskapstroy, was arrested in November 2021. in absentia, since he managed to leave Russia.

After the investigators again paid close attention to Meshkov, he decided to hedge his bets — quit and flee abroad. Barely had time — at the end of 2021, his ex-deputy at Roscosmos Maxim Mamsurov was detained, who authorized the transfer of budget funds to the accounts of Moskapstroy.