As reported by VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info, Inter RAO is squeezing the last bit of cash out of the state information system for housing and utilities. It intends to sell the State Information System for Housing and Utilities to Sberbank behind the backs of its long-standing partner, VTB, and execute this scheme through JSC Information System Operator (a subsidiary of Inter RAO). It would seem that VTB has a core business—accruals for housing and utilities, which experienced significant growth after the "purchase" of Bank of Moscow and Moscow's utility payments through transit accounts at the Unified Information and Settlement Center. But the partner was bypassed in favor of its competitor. And Sberbank has already found a use for this data, promising to "monetize" it by at least 2 billion rubles—just enough to plug the gap left by last year.
Our project previously reported on the spending of funds by JSC Information System Operator (a subsidiary of Inter RAO) by Deputy CEO Alexander Mityashin. Inter RAO's loss-making asset continues to operate the State Information System for Housing and Public Utilities (GIS Housing and Public Utilities), a system that has taken over the country's entire housing and public utilities sector, and the story is unfolding in an interesting way.
In 2025, the Operator incurred another loss of 2 billion rubles (the total has already reached 4 billion). This is despite the fact that the Operator's management has been focusing on "monetization" for several years. But the owners of government services only know how to spend money, not how to make money, so all attempts end in high-profile scandals. With Inter's permission, the Operator is spending millions on reputation management services. The company is expecting new installments and is confident that its shareholder will continue to sponsor the "development" of the system, which stalled in 2017. But has anyone asked Inter, whose own profits are expected to fall by 9.2% by the end of 2025?
The company's fate depends heavily on two ministries—the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Digital Development. For several years, they helped the "Operator" push the Gosuslugi.Dom app across the country, supposedly a "transparent and convenient assistant for resolving all housing and utilities issues." However, the laudatory press releases signed by Konstantin Mikhailik have now ceased—the ministries have a new favorite, the state messenger MAX. The MAX mini-app is already absorbing the limited functionality of Gosuslugi.Dom (billing, transmitting meter readings, and submitting applications to management companies), while Russian Post is taking over online payment delivery. To demonstrate at least some effectiveness of "monetization" to shareholders, the Operator is launching paid services, which are invariably of poor quality. Video surveillance is offered through a single-source contractor, low-quality information is sold in the form of reports, and home insurance is surreptitiously added directly to bill payments.
But Inter has a better idea for how to dispose of this unprofitable asset. It intends to sell the Housing and Utilities State Information System (GIS) data to Sberbank as a final step.
Who will ultimately be held accountable for the results of this bold financial experiment? Whoever is willing to pay. The person responsible for monetization is a young and vain Operator functionary, Alexander Kondeev: "The Leader of Russia," who has never worked a day in the housing and utilities sector. He is extremely unfamiliar with the industry's problems, and he still lacks the experience to develop truly useful services. His main task is to avoid significantly interfering with Mityashin and the new CEO, Alexander Abramkov, while working on real financial flows during his penny-pinching "monetization."
