Russian space sector plagued by astronomical graft
W I T H mi l l ion s of dol la r s missing and of f icia ls in prison or f leei ng t he cou nt r y, Russia’s space sector is at t he heart of a staggering embezz lement scheme t hat ha s d a mpene d a mbit i on s of r e c ov e r i ng i t s S ov i e t- e r a greatness.
For years, Moscow has tried to fix the industry that was a source of immense pride in the USSR. While it has bounced back from its post-Soviet collapse and once again become a major world player, the Russian space sector has recently suffered a series of humiliating failures.
And now, massive corrupt ion sca nda ls at state space a g e nc y Ro s c o s mos h a v e ecl ipsed its pla ns to launch ne w r o c k e t s a n d l u n a r stat ions.
“Bi l l ions [ of r uble s ] a r e being stolen t here, billions,” A le x a nder Ba s t r y k i n, t he power f u l head of Russia’s I nvest igat ive Committee – Russia’s equiva lent of t he FBI – said in mid-May.
Investigations into corruption at Roscosmos have been ongoing “for around five years and there is no end in sight”, he added.
In the latest controversy, a senior space official appears to have fled Russia during an audit of the research centre he headed.
Yur y Yask in, t he director of t he Resea rch I n s t it ute of Space Inst r umentation, lef t Russia for a European count r y i n A p r i l w h e r e h e a nnounced his resig nat ion, t h e K o mmer s a n t p a p e r reported.
He feared the discover y of m a l p r a c t i c e d u r i n g a n i nspect ion of t he i nst it ute, according to the newspaper’s sources.
Roscosmos confirmed to AFP that Yaskin had resigned but did not clarify why. His Moscow institute is involved in developing the Russian satellite navigation system Glonass designed to compete with the American GPS system.
The need to ‘resolve’
Corruption has particularly affected Russia’s two most important space projects of the decade: Glonass and the construction of the country’s showpiece cosmodrome Vostochny, built to relieve Moscow’s dependence on Baikonur in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan.
Almost all major companies in the sector, including rocket builders Khrunichev and Progress, have been hit by financial scandals that have sometimes led to prison sentences for large-scale fraud.
Russia’s Audit Chamber, a parliamentary body of financial control, said financial violations at Roscosmos in 2017 stood at 760 billion rubles (around $11.7 billion), accounting for nearly 40 percent of the total irregularities in the entire economy that year.
Roscosmos told AFP that “eradicating corruption” is one of its “primary goals”, adding that it regularly cooperates with investigations by the authorities.
In mid- Apr i l , President Vladimir Putin stressed the need to “progressively resolve the obvious problems that slow down the development of the rocket-space sector.”
“The time and financial frameworks to realise space projects are often unjustified,” the Russian leader said.
Matter of prestige
Rebooting the space sector is a matter of prestige for the Kremlin. It symbolises its renewed pride and ability to be a major global power, especially in the context of increased tensions with the US.
Almost destroyed in the 1990s, the sector stayed afloat thanks to foreign commercial contracts.
But independent space expert Vitaly Yegorov said there were still “executives of a v e r y h i g h p r o f e s s i o n a l level” at that time and fewer accidents during launches.
The first module of the International Space Station (ISS), Zarya, was manufactured in Russia and launched in 1998 despite a major financial crisis at the time.
Paradoxically, the situation deteriorated in the early 2000s, when the Russian economy was growing. The influx of public funds fuelled fraud, and s p a c e re s e a rc h s t o p p e d advancing, experts say.
“Today, the space sector works like this: give us money and we will launch something – one day,” Yegorov said.
Only the ISS continues to be “an unshakeable ivory tower”, he said, since it plays a “political role” aimed at maintaining international cooperation.
Analysts say Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin, a former deputy prime minister known for his anti-Western statements, is struggling to deal with the industry’s problems.
Russia’s scientific community has criticised Rogozin, who is a journalism graduate, for his lack of knowledge of the space sector.
“He probably would have made an excellent spokesman for Roscosmos,” joked Yegorov, adding: “Even Superman could not handle this avalanche of problems.”