Bastrykin opened a case against the guards of the billionaire Molchanov, who could not get to the construction site in St. Petersburg

The head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, ordered the initiation of criminal proceedings against the guards of the facility of one of the largest developers in Russia from the LSR group. The head of the department was not allowed to enter the construction site, after which he returned there with the police, writes Fontanka.

On the morning of May 14, Bastrykin tried to enter the construction site of the LSR Group on the northern alluvium on Vasilevskaya Island. However, according to Fontanka, the guards did not let him into the facility. Bastrykin showed his ID, but that didn’t convince the guards to let him through. The head of the Investigative Committee then left and returned a few hours later with the riot police and initiated criminal proceedings against the guards.

Bastrykin ordered the initiation of proceedings under Art. 246 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“violation of environmental rules in the course of work”). According to the press release of the Investigative Committee, the head of the department was approached by local residents with a request to stop the construction. Work on the site allegedly entails “threat of serious environmental consequences”.

The case was reopened, a week ago the prosecutor’s office discontinued it. Now under it, “an environmental forensic examination is appointed, during which all construction work must be stopped.”

In addition, Bastrykin ordered three agendas to be carried out: in relation to the developer, security guards who, according to his version, may have exceeded their powers, and in relation to Smolny officials who coordinated the work on the alluvium.

At the same time, the press service of the LSR group informed that the facility had already been checked, e.g. by the Commission of Inquiry. According to company representatives, the developer provided all the necessary documents.

LSR Group entered the top ten largest developers according to Forbes in 2022. The main shareholder of the company is billionaire Andrey Molchanov, who owns 69%. Last year, the LSR Group sold apartments worth 93 billion rubles.