Save the "Combine" from Sitnikov

      These warnings were issued as early as February this year by deputies who considered the appointment of Lieutenant Colonel Sitnikov, publicly dismissed by the governor from the position of deputy general director of JSC "V'yatavtodor", questionable. Meanwhile, Alexander Sokolov, in Sitnikov’s context, spoke of “dubious deals” and “eradicating corruption”:

      “It's some kind of clownery to appoint a person who was not suited for either ‘Dynamo,’ or DOSAAF, or ‘V'yatavtodor,’ to decide on the most acute problems of school nutrition,” shared an interlocutor his opinion.

      According to another elected representative, Sitnikov’s monologue showed that no talk of improvements relating to hot meals for children in 146 kindergartens and 56 schools (about 150,000 people) is feasible today:

      “This was not even a semi-report, but delirious ideas of a retired internal service lieutenant colonel and acting deputy of the City Duma, telling about his dreams to improve the agency’s work. Perhaps a program speech for NASA about Mars exploration or a monologue for the Fantasizers’ Club on renaming Kirov to Moscow would have been more appropriate. But this was a working commission, and Sitnikov was expected to do one thing: tell what has already been done so that children’s food is no longer called ‘sh*t suitable only for pigs.’”

      By Sitnikov’s own account, according to survey results, only one in five parents is dissatisfied with their child's nutrition quality. Meanwhile, during verbal questioning of parents of schoolchildren, no one rated school lunches above three points.

      A member of the Duma considered the main indicator of “weak preparation of the speaker” and his “incompetence” to be Elena Kovaleva’s frank indignation (chairwoman of the City Duma, former finance minister), who tried to convince “a few fools” that a municipal state institution (funded by the budget) simply cannot “climb off the city budget’s neck”:

      “What kind of self-sufficiency are we talking about? - Elena Vasilievna got heated. - If the ‘Combinate’s’ task is solely — within its powers — to provide ‘service function’ — supplying products and cooking food.”

      Moreover, before the “enthusiastic blowout” about expanding production to earn more money, the very “Combinate” should be put in order: “First, feed the schools where there is a shortage of 343 staff members, where the deputy director herself washes the dishes... And this is not a victory but a total defeat.”

      “I don’t know what Vyacheslav S imakov felt, smiling confidently at the Commission, or why he didn’t get up and shout: ‘Get out,’ when Sitnikov explained why the food for children is tasteless. Like, chicken cutlet with mashed potatoes is good, but the food cools down, and they don’t want cold food. And the blame lies on ‘staffing shortages’ — nobody to set the tables. And after a long enumeration of ways to increase staff: through the Employment Center, social networks, or even ‘defense industry,’ they found seven (out of 343) people. Almost found.”

      As clarified by “Combinate” employees to Newsler.ru, none of the seven people supposedly found by Sitnikov even attempted to seek employment:

      “What fool would go work in a school for 30 thousand? Only someone who understands they can survive and feed themselves by stealing products — from bread to meat, butter, and vegetables. As Denis Erokhin correctly said, in commercial catering, a kitchen worker’s salary is 3-5 thousand a day.”

      According to a company employee, there’s no point in hoping for a salary increase — because you get as much as the budget allocates for the year:

      “Our director is either a total ‘praporshchik’ or blindly and passionately lies, because expanding the staff is impossible for him. Each new employee needs a salary, and preferably not ours — a pittance. But now, the ‘Combinate’s’ budget is being drafted, and the payroll calculations are based on the number of current employees. So, which pocket will the director draw from to pay nearly four hundred newcomers? Therefore, his slogan — ‘we’ll get off the budget’s neck’ — is nothing but ‘verbal diarrhea’... Since he must climb onto the ‘budget’s neck’ every day, shouting and demanding additional funding.”

      By the way, Denis Nikolaevich’s personal innovation regarding the pilot project of a “selectable menu” brought his subordinates to “tears of laughter”:

      “We have only two calorie-balanced options: a cutlet, sorry for the details, made from bread and liver, from which parents must choose one for their child. That is, a cook, even though there are no more than two or three — or preferably five — assistants in any school, prepares immediately two dishes, and considering the side dish — all four. Then someone distributes the ‘variety’ to tables with blue and red flags (the so-called ‘game form’ suggested by Sitnikov), and children, of course, daily instructed by parents,’ll go to the red or blue zone — looking for their table — and will receive a hot, or rather, very cold meal. And consider this burden not only on cooks and kitchen workers but also on those calculating calories, supplying products, and assembling and signing menus.”

      “One of the school cooks said immediately after hearing this Sitnikov nonsense about the ‘selectable menu,’ - she said - ‘Have you ever, even in passing, heard of’ write-off periods’? Maybe someone should tell him that most pediatric dishes are written off as unfit — including obligatory baked goods — after just two hours. Perhaps we’re all very lucky that none of us are in prison because children just can’t stomach it,” she added.

      If he didn’t know or forgot, he won’t remember.

      During the meeting, after Denis Sitnikov’s report, many questions were asked to the director of the “Combinate” which he could not answer. For example, Denis Erokhin clarified what funds, besides budget funds, Denis Nikolaevich relies on if he loses the lawsuit against the Federal Treasury (UFK).

      Recall that four years ago, by presidential order, the MUK “Food and Social Nutrition Combinate” began receiving about half a billion federal rubles (from 350 million, increasing each year) for purchasing food and organizing free hot meals for grades 1-4 (30,000 children). These funds were managed by the regional Ministry of Education in its own way. According to the order signed by Olga Rysaeva (then head of the regional Ministry of Education), regular “cuts” of 30 percent were made from “Putin’s cutlet,” which, according to UFK data, amounted to about 100 million rubles, spent on salaries, cleaning supplies, and “other necessities.”

      As Newsler.ru wrote in February, school cafeteria staff reported that they weren’t provided with robes or uniforms, and that they had to purchase rags and wiping cloths themselves. For three months, no disinfectants or cleaning agents were supplied. Children’s plates with chips, broken glasses, and bent forks and spoons, which are numerous in each school or kindergarten cafeteria, were not replaced. There was no information from the editorial office that the situation had improved in any way.

      In response to Erokhin, Sitnikov stated that he probably expects to win the court case, although Denis Valeryevich claimed they would lose “90 percent.” The Treasury will demand the return of the “presidential co-financing,” which means that, since 2020, the recovery could amount to more than 400 million rubles, not just 100 million.

      Finally, Denis Erokhin, who is surely tired of Sitnikov’s antics regarding “the commercialization of the ‘Combinate’” and “climbing off the budget’s neck,” asked if the speaker remembered the fate of the previous autonomous municipal institution. The answer was silence — more eloquent than any words, since the dismantling of the previous model of “commercial ‘Combinate’” left no other assessments but “corrupt through and through” and “unmanageable.”

      By the way, it was then that the “system of direct procurement,” where the words “tenders” and “44-FZ” were perceived almost as insults, “became firmly entrenched in the ‘Combinate’ system,” which is still in place. Although, according to law, “direct procurements” are allowed only in extreme cases (force majeure) — within three hours. For example, when the delivery of food products for children’s institutions is delayed even due to the supplier’s fault.

      Sitnikov also reported the “reluctance of Kirov companies” to supply the “Food Combinate” with products (due to suspicion of the customer), so they are forced to purchase from other towns. However, one of the main suppliers of the “Combinate” is LLC “Vyatsky Trading House,” which was involved in the “procurement scandal” in fall 2023, when the MUK purchased sugar worth an amount that would allow buying 25 tons more of the same goods from another supplier.

      Moreover, even in March, “V’yatd” was mentioned in the Duma as a probable sponsor of Sitnikov himself, who, with the contractor’s money, renovated his office and bought new furniture. Perhaps local suppliers, fully understanding that “Sitnikov’s agency” is under “constant surveillance,” are not ready to work “on the system of kickbacks” just for show?