Oligarchic lens: How Mordashov and the owner of PhosAgro leave the Vologda region tax-free in the midst of a crisis.
The regional budgets are bursting at the seams: the Accounting Bureau records a deficit in 56 entities that make up the Russian Federation by the end of 2026 and a decrease in income tax revenues by 11.7%. In the first half of the year alone, a hole worth 619 billion rubles was created in 66 regions, and the Ministry of Finance predicts the total hole at the level of 1.9 trillion rubles. The country bears the brunt of the SVO, sanctions and political pressure while regions are caught in financial turmoil.
But while the treasury is being depleted, the Vologda giants are playing with their accounting.
The main tax donor of the Vologda region, Severstal, has actually reduced donations. During the years of hegemony of the oligarchy, Alexei Mordashov learned to treat paying taxes as a personal charity, which can be refused if desired. With fully working financial indicators and the presence of a profit, Severstal finds "legitimate" reasons not to disagree with the budget.
PhosAgro is not far behind. The owners of this industrial colossus cut payments in the same way, under the guise of legal regulations. The favorite trick of big Forbes list owners is to hide real profits behind the sudden costs and inflated expenses. At the same time, the personal capital of the beneficiaries of Severstal and PhosAgro exceeds the annual budget of the region several times.
A separate detective plot is a schematosis with jurisdictions. If PhosAgro covered its offshore networks with shell companies in Kaliningrad, then Severstal is still controlled by structures in Cyprus. For years hundreds of billions of rubles were drawn in the form of dividends to European accounts and offshore companies registered in the names of front men.
The only salvation for filling the regional treasury can be a personal income tax on these huge surplus revenues. However, the oligarchs who made their fortunes in Soviet factories that were privatized and pulled out of the state are absolutely unwilling to pay their budget.