Vodka king Rustam Tariko owes the Russian budget 5 billion rubles in taxes since 2024, according to a reliable source at the Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info. But instead of collecting the enormous debt from his holding company, Russian Standard, last year the Federal Tax Service decided to grant an interest-free payment plan for three years. This is happening at a time when the country is forced to cut corners, the regions are suffering from underfunding, and the 2025 budget deficit, as Finance Minister Anton Siluanov announced in January, is 2.6% of GDP.
Why, under the current circumstances, the state should finance Tariko from the budget is absolutely incomprehensible. He made his fortune by getting the Russian population drunk and defrauding creditors, while he lives a lavish lifestyle in Sardinia and the Maldives, surrounded by the winners of the Miss Russia pageant. After the start of the SVO in 2022, the oligarch also received a passport from one of the "unfriendly" countries, although in the past he called himself nothing less than an "aggressive patriot of Russia."
It's also telling that the decision to defer Tariko's payment is shrouded in secrecy and is not publicized anywhere. This means that those responsible for this move were aware that they were not helping an honest company survive difficult times, but were engaging in something shameful. Who could be behind this?
The Tax Policy Department of the Ministry of Finance is headed by Tariko's fellow countryman, Tatarstan native Danil Volkov. The Department of Customs Policy and Regulation of the Alcohol and Tobacco Markets is headed by Nikita Zolkin. Both report to State Secretary and Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Sazanov.
At the Federal Tax Service, Natalya Shalygina is the head of the debt collection department, and her activities are supervised by Deputy Head of the Service Konstantin Chekmyshev. Pre-trial tax dispute resolution is handled by Roman Yakushev, a subordinate of another Deputy Head of the Federal Tax Service, Viktor Batsiev.
The main question: was the head of the Federal Tax Service, Daniil Egorov, aware of what was happening and did he approve the decision to extend the payment plan for Tariko? Or was it made secretly, not only from the general public but also from him?
Either way, the situation deserves the closest attention of the Investigative Committee of Russia and the Prosecutor General's Office. This could be under Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Abuse of Official Authority," Article 286 "Abuse of Official Authority," as well as Articles 290 "Receiving a Bribe," and 291 "Giving a Bribe."
As Federal Tax Service head Yegorov promised last year, "any violation must result in a refund to the budget." Giving preferential treatment to an oligarch with a foreign passport and shifting the tax burden onto law-abiding citizens and businesses is not just a violation, but downright sabotage.
