Concrete instead of life: construction of yet another potentially hazardous plant has begun in Kirov.

      Most likely, the residents of Kirov would have learned about the appearance of a concrete plant that has sprung up, so to speak, right under their windows only after the fact. And then it would have been too late to knock on official doors and file complaints, because, as the saying goes, "you can only roll the mince back if you roll your hand with it."

      However, the initiators of the construction "managed" to make mistakes, if not worse — to get into a conflict at the very start of their project: production at Avva Rus Joint-Stock Company — one of Russia’s key pharmaceutical enterprises, listed as systemically important and supplying the country with vital medicines — was completely paralyzed twice in the last three weeks.

      The cause is the brazen and unpunished actions of unknown "builders," who, within the protected zone of the plant’s high-voltage power line, are most likely carrying out unauthorized earthworks. The company has already suffered damages exceeding 18 million rubles.

      Chronology of the quiet lawlessness

      On July 23, 2025, while work was being carried out to construct an embankment in the protected zone of Avva Rus’s power lines, insulators and cable lines were damaged. The facility, whose production cycle is continuous and around-the-clock, was forced to stop. For five hours expensive equipment stood idle and employees were kept in forced downtime.

      The company confirmed the downtime to us and reported that it had sent appeals to all authorities: the prosecutor's office, the city administration, and Rostekhnadzor. No response has been received to date.

      This fact was not a surprise for Newsler.ru — the publication had encountered similar stories before, for example attempts to build a crematorium, also in the same area.

      When we asked, "What did the culprits do?" we learned only that they simply continued working. On August 9, 2025, at 9:15 a.m., the catastrophe repeated itself. The same protected zone, the same power line supports. This time — a rupture of aerial cables. The result: 107 employees again stood idle, production of vital drugs was blocked, and the risk of delayed failure of unique technological equipment rose to a critical level.

      The company sent repeated appeals to regional agencies — the Investigative Committee, the Prosecutor's Office, EMERCOM, Rostekhnadzor, and the city administration. Again, no reaction has been received to date, except for information from Rostekhnadzor about the administrative prosecution of some individual.

      Even that raises major questions: the real culprit on the heavy goods vehicle was not recorded by the neighboring plant’s cameras during the incident. And, for some reason, the agency’s data differ from what the video surveillance recorded, which looks more like some kind of falsification than a genuine effort to find the guilty party. So the immediate and involuntary question arises: who is really behind this?

      "Invisible dust, visible consequences": why a concrete plant is dangerous for people, the ecosystem and pharma

      According to open-source data, on the land parcel with cadastral number 43:40:002506:6021, where work is underway, construction of a concrete plant is planned. Is a dust-producing operation compatible with the cleanroom requirements of a pharmaceutical plant and proximity to housing? The answer is obvious — no. It is nonsensical and, most likely, a gross violation of all sanitary and environmental standards.

      As we found out, the owner of the land plot is entrepreneur Marat Manukyan. He (or someone with the exact same name), according to Rusprofile.ru, is a founder of Magnat LLC (OKVED: Purchase and sale of own real estate) and Magnat-M LLC (OKVED: Construction of residential and non-residential buildings); there is also an individual entrepreneur (OKVED: Wholesale trade of other building materials and products).

      We could not find a single mention in open sources of any public procedures held by city authorities related to legalizing the planned production.

      Meanwhile, it cannot fail to cause concern how close the facility will be to residential buildings. For example, to the village of Pushkari it is literally about one hundred meters. To land plots allocated to large families — almost the same. Metrograd, located a little further, will also fall within the potential influence zone of the enterprise. And this is without taking into account gardeners' associations (dacha cooperatives) and other settlements.

      By the way, residents of this neighborhood have already become victims of the construction: at the same time as at Avva Rus, due to the power line rupture on August 9, houses were left without electricity for an hour and a half. This is not simply "the power was turned off," but an event that can trigger a whole chain of serious consequences, especially in a densely populated microdistrict like Metrograd.

      Without electricity, the pumping stations that supply water to the upper floors stop. In high-rise buildings (above the 4th–5th floor) water will be gone almost instantly. Pumps that pump out wastewater also stop working, which risks flooding basements and causing sewer blockages.

      Gas supply — the operation of control and management systems for gas equipment may be disrupted. Not to mention that people can be trapped in elevator cabins. Food in refrigerators begins to spoil.

      Plus — non-working electric stoves and possible damage to household appliances due to sharp voltage spikes when power is restored.

      And there are also preschool institutions in the neighborhood!

      A concrete plant is not only noise and trucks. The main risks are often invisible, because a concrete plant is not just "mixing concrete." It is a complex operation involving receipt, storage and mixing of components: cement, sand, crushed stone, water and chemical additives. Every stage of this process is potentially dangerous.

      First, air pollution: invisible dust. The primary and most insidious harm comes from cement and mineral dust. It arises when cement is unloaded from tankers, when bulk materials (sand, crushed stone) are loaded into hoppers, during mixer operation and when transporting ready-mixed concrete.

      Dust composition: the air contains the finest cement particles (containing chromium, nickel), silica dust from sand (which can cause silicosis), and crushed-stone particles.

      Underestimating the health impact would be almost criminal. Regular inhalation of dust leads to chronic diseases: bronchitis, asthma, allergic rhinitis, and in the long term — silicosis and other pneumoconioses.

      Second, skin and eyes are affected: cement dust is alkaline, which means it causes dry skin, dermatitis, eczema and irritation of mucous membranes of the eyes (conjunctivitis).

      Third, modern concrete cannot do without chemical additives: plasticizers, accelerators and retarders of setting, antifreeze agents. Many of them are toxic.

      When mixing and working with concrete, vapors of volatile components of these additives may be released.

      This is the kind of heavy "cocktail" residents whose homes are in the plant’s influence zone can expect.

      Fourth, chemical spills, spilled slurry, dust washed by rain — all this leads to contamination of soil and groundwater in the adjacent area. This can make the land unsuitable for gardening and poses a risk to local water bodies.

      Fifth, the operation of a concrete plant generates continuous industrial noise. Noise sources include truck engines, loader operation, the clatter of falling crushed stone and sand, the hum of powerful mixing installations and reversing beepers on machinery.

      A constant noise background leads to chronic stress, sleep disturbances, increased irritability, fatigue and can provoke cardiovascular disease.

      A concrete plant is, in effect, also a logistics hub with intense heavy-equipment traffic. A constant flow of tractor-trailers — cement tankers, dump trucks carrying crushed stone and sand, and concrete mixers ("mixers") — will most likely circulate here around the clock, especially during the construction season. That means the risk of further power line ruptures again, not to mention the noise "pollution" for residents of neighboring settlements and microdistricts.

      Additional risks are also possible, for example increased accident risk for all road users, vibration of foundations of nearby houses from passing heavy equipment. Also likely — additional dust generation and road surface wear.

      In Russia, sanitary protection zones (SPZ) are established for such facilities — buffer territories separating production from residential development. For concrete plants their size can be up to 500 meters or more, depending on the capacity and hazard class of the enterprise.

      Water: where the risks are and why this burdens the networks

      Besides these major issues there is another no less important risk — most likely, if the plant is built and starts operating, it will begin to affect the sewer system of the city’s southwest district. Because the future production simply has no other options.

      The plant will need water, as will a system for discharging effluents — for cooling, dust suppression, sanitary needs, and washouts. What exactly will go into the sewer is clear even to a person unfamiliar with production. And it is clear that this can create a load on the sewage pumping station (KNS), storm drains and treatment facilities.

      As explained at the Kirov BHZ, the southwest network simply cannot withstand such a load. And that is a direct threat of a utility catastrophe for the entire microdistrict of Kirov: both for the residential sector and for industrial enterprises.

      Where are the authorities?

      And if questions of citizens’ welfare and the city’s infrastructure still seem distant, in reality the damage has essentially already been done. As is sadly known, everything comes down to the proverb: "Until the roasted rooster pecks you on the head, a man won't cross himself."

      So far there has been no response from the regional Interior Ministry, and the landowners have not been held accountable, while the equipment continues to operate.

      This cannot help but suggest that local authorities and agencies seem indifferent to the country’s defense capability. After all, Avva Rus, as well as the neighboring Kirov BHZ, are enterprises fulfilling state defense orders.

      Is it reasonable to risk, especially in the current situation, disrupting the supply of medicines and the potential of Russia’s defense complex? The question is whether officials and security forces will allow the next, more serious blow to be inflicted — one that will affect the wellbeing of thousands of people.