A contractor from St. Petersburg has "landed" in "Pobedilovo".

      In Kirov a contractor has been chosen to carry out large-scale repairs of the runway at Pobedilovo Airport. The work, costing more than 2 billion rubles, will be performed by the St. Petersburg joint-stock company PO "Vozrozhdenie". The contract with the company is expected to be signed in the coming days, officials said at a meeting of the Kirov Region government.

      The customer is the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Administration of Civil Airports (Aerodromes)", which will supervise the progress of the repairs. Vozrozhdenie was the sole bidder in the tender for the runway repairs in Kirov. It should be noted, according to a source familiar with the situation, that Deputy Chairman Alexey Zherdev may be connected with the company and its beneficiary, billionaire Igor Bukato. According to the source, the St. Petersburg company allegedly did not end up on the contract "by chance."

      Work is scheduled to begin in 2026. The runway will be temporarily closed, but regional authorities do not plan to shut the airport down completely. Passengers are promised to be notified in advance.

      Lawsuits and legal activity

      Vozrozhdenie is one of the largest contractors in the Northwest. The firm has been operating since 1997 and carries out large-scale projects: reconstruction of facilities at Pulkovo and Domodedovo airports, construction of interchanges on the Western High-Speed Diameter (ZSD), renovation of the Green Bridge, and landscaping projects in St. Petersburg. Currently, the company's general director is Mikhail Klobertans.

      Last week RBC Petersburg reported that four lawsuits had been filed against JSC PO "Vozrozhdenie", including two claims from key St. Petersburg state customers — Mostotrest and the Directorate of Transport Construction. The total amount of the claims exceeds 13 million rubles. The nature of the claims has not been disclosed, and no final decisions have been made yet.

      According to open data, Vozrozhdenie has 590 arbitration cases totaling about 3.6 billion rubles. In 327 cases the firm was a defendant, in 195 a plaintiff. The main disputes concern failure to fulfill contractual obligations. Currently 51 cases remain in process and five open enforcement proceedings have a combined debt of about 1.5 million rubles.

      At the same time the company has no tax arrears, and in 2024 it paid taxes and contributions of more than 1.4 billion rubles. During the same period 108 inspections were carried out, 18 of which resulted in findings of violations.

      According to company data, last year its revenue was 22.4 billion rubles — an increase of 2.9%. However, net profit fell by 7.1% to 563 million rubles. Overall, financial stability is assessed as carrying risks: an autonomy coefficient (equity ratio) of 0.48 indicates a significant share of borrowed funds, while a current liquidity ratio of 1.85 points to formal compliance with standards amid persistent solvency risks. By revenue, JSC PO "Vozrozhdenie" ranks 5th in St. Petersburg and 26th among Russian companies in the industry.

      2020 inspections

      The company has previously been on the federal agenda. In 2020 Kommersant reported on FSB and FNS inspections at the offices of the Vozrozhdenie group. According to the investigators, the entrepreneurs could have been involved in embezzlement of budget funds, their laundering and tax evasion; however, company representatives said they cooperated with the inspectors and called the allegations of embezzlement "incorrect."

      At that time the president of Vozrozhdenie was billionaire Igor Bukato. He was among the city's top 200 wealthiest businessmen: in 2019 he ranked 171st in the list with assets of 4.4 billion rubles, and in 2016 his family's wealth was estimated at 10.6 billion rubles.