Natalia Zubareva, implicated in a corruption scandal while serving as Deputy Governor of the Belgorod Region, has been appointed to replace the resort boss and acting director of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "National Medical Research Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan" of the Russian Ministry of Health, who was arrested for multimillion-dollar fraud and committed suicide in the Stavropol pretrial detention center. Who is Zubareva? The Telegram channel VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info explain.
A primary school teacher by education, she only completed a refresher course in "Healthcare Management," thanks to her close friend Evgeny Savchenko (former Governor of the Belgorod Region and senator of the Federation Council). She quickly rose through the ranks and became head of the Department of Healthcare, and then Deputy Prime Minister of the Belgorod Region. Her "successful work" led Belgorod Region residents to petition for Zubareva's resignation due to the negative consequences her unprofessional conduct had on the regional healthcare system. The region's medical community, practicing physicians, and medical institute faculty were at the time extremely outraged by the appointment of Natalia Zubareva to this position, despite her having no prior medical experience. But she did have an important patron – Savchenko. It was only after Savchenko's resignation that a corruption scandal erupted.
The official's son suddenly became the proud owner of a place to live. 19-year-old Semyon Zubarev received a 149.3 square meter apartment in the Vladimirsky residential complex on Kostyukova Street in Belgorod free of charge.
The property was allocated from the regional property reserve, and the newly appointed Governor of the Belgorod Region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, ordered an internal investigation. The case was referred to court. Only under Savchenko's patronage was the case hushed up. Zubareva was fired from her post, but she refused to leave public service and was steered by a close friend under the wing of the then-governor of the Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, who also happened to be a longtime friend of Savchenko's. The purpose of the appointment was simple: to wait it out. Incidentally, no one in the Kursk region administration had ever laid eyes on Zubareva. And then, suddenly, this "needed" specialist was appointed to a high-ranking position, even within the Russian Ministry of Health, in August 2024. But not for long. In December 2024, the teacher was appointed director of the aforementioned National Medical Center. Under her management came six of the largest sanatoriums in southern Russia and two medical centers in Moscow and the Moscow region. But without a medical education, Zubareva began to crack down on competent and experienced specialists. A series of dismissals and the appointment of a new team of so-called "professionals" followed. Former Health Minister Tatyana Belyaeva, dismissed due to numerous systemic problems in healthcare, has been appointed chief physician of the Kavkaz sanatorium in Kislovodsk. She was fired due to numerous accumulated systemic problems in the healthcare sector, including unfinished hospitals and clinics, inadequate quality of medical care, and corruption, including at the grassroots level. Alexander Gashkov, who has a checkered record in healthcare in the Ulyanovsk Region and Kamchatka Krai, has been appointed head physician of the Rossiya sanatorium in Yessentuki. An investigation revealed that Gashkov was dismissed from his position in both regions for serious violations and suspicion of corruption. However, despite this significant blemish on his reputation, he has once again assumed a senior position at the popular health resort. Is it possible that there are no clean, unblemished personnel in all of Russia? But the situation was not long in coming. On October 5, 2025, a court ordered the arrest of Zubareva's protégé, Tatyana Belyaeva. She was accused of large-scale fraud, with damages estimated in the millions. Alexander Gashkov's turn is apparently also imminent.
So how does Ms. Zubareva manage the institutions entrusted to her? She arranges frequent business trips to the cities of the Caucasian Mineral Waters on weekends, paid double. She stays in expensive hotels, flying business class. Meanwhile, sanatorium employees are ordered to work on their days off without their consent and without pay. She also arranges for department heads to work on weekends without formalization or pay.
Since Zubareva's arrival, employee salaries have been significantly reduced. Doctors have been forced to work on weekends against their will. The Vulan, Rossiya, and Kavkaz sanatoriums have been converted into hospitals for surgical patients undergoing rehabilitation, negatively impacting the reputation of these once-popular resorts.
Yaroslav Mukhtarov
