Without danger: The Ministry of Transport refused claims in the case of embezzlement of budget funds

An unexpected turn occurred in the case of embezzlement of almost 74 million rubles from the budget during maintenance of the SS TMK transport security system. In court, representatives of the Ministry of Transport were unable to confirm exactly what damage was caused to the department and how it is related to the actions of Vyacheslav Smirnov, the former head of FSUE Zashchitainfotrans. Whether such a position of the injured party can influence the outcome of the trial is in the Izvestia article.

What happened

The Basmanny Court is considering a criminal case on the alleged embezzlement of 73.7 million rubles from the Russian Ministry of Transport. According to investigators, the money was stolen during the execution of a contract for the maintenance of the transport infrastructure control system (SS TMK).. The person involved in the trial was Vyacheslav Smirnov, former General director of FSUE Zashchitainfotrans. Another participant in the investigation is former Deputy Minister of Transport Alexei Semenov, whose materials have been separated into a separate proceeding.

The Ministry of Transport was recognized as the injured party, but its representative said that he could not say exactly what the damage to the department was, who exactly caused it, and what role Smirnov could play in this.

In addition, the official pointed out that some of the information in his testimony was based not on his personal perception of events, but on information received from the investigator. This raised questions about the reliability of one of the prosecution's evidence.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Anna Selina

After questioning the investigator, the representative of the Ministry of Transport clarified certain points of his testimony, but the general meaning did not change: the agency could not explain in detail the nature of the harm caused and the connection of the defendant's actions with the stated claims.

Considering that. that the Ministry has not filed a civil claim as part of the investigation, its position can be regarded as a waiver of claims against the defendant.

Such a turn in court hearings, especially in the case of alleged embezzlement of budget funds, is an extremely rare, if not unique case. As Vyacheslav Smirnov's lawyer Egor Zolkin noted, it was the first time in his practice that he had encountered such a situation. According to the lawyer, both the position of the injured party and the content of the testimony given in court became unexpected. The Ministry of Transport did not provide an operational comment.

What is the essence of the accusation

Vyacheslav Smirnov's case was handled by the Western Interregional Department of Transport of the TFR. The case was opened on November 26, 2024, and the first department for particularly important cases took over the investigation, which indicated its special status. The materials were based on operational data from the "T" Department of the FSB of Russia, whose employees accompanied the investigative actions.

According to the investigation, Vyacheslav Smirnov and Alexey Semenov, Director of the Department of Development Programs at the Ministry of Transport, signed a state contract in 2012 for the maintenance of the TMK SS transport security system. For three years, the Ministry of Transport has been transferring money under these contracts. The prosecution believes that some of these funds were stolen, and the damage amounted to at least 73.7 million rubles.

At the same time, the investigation initially called the amount of alleged damage almost four times higher, but later it was reduced.

In April 2026, the Nikulinsky District Court of Moscow satisfied the claim of the Prosecutor General's Office for the transfer of assets worth more than 6 billion rubles to the state revenue. The defendants in the case were former Deputy Minister of Transport Alexei Semenov, ex-heads of FSUE "Zashchitainfotrans" Vyacheslav Smirnov and two other defendants in the large investigation.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Yulia Mayorova

SS TMK is a part of the Unified Digital Transport Security System (UTSS), which collects data from various infrastructure facilities and helps monitor the situation in real time. Thanks to it, specialists can monitor what is happening at train stations, airports and the subway, identify threats faster and respond to them.

FSUE "Zashchitainfotrans" is the operator and developer of pilot elements of SS TMK. Currently, individual elements of the system are operating at Sochi Airport, the railway station in Kazan, Paveletsky Railway Station in Moscow, the Severnye Vorota bus station and the Moscow Metro.

After full launch, according to the Ministry of Transport, the system will allow to remotely assess the level of protection of facilities, monitor the work of transport security units and prevent possible threats faster.

Is it possible for the defendant to escape punishment

The absence of claims by the victim against the defendant does not in itself mean the termination of the case or the acquittal, Yuri Telegin, a leading lawyer at the EJ, told Izvestia.

"It is possible to avoid a guilty verdict through reconciliation with the victim only in cases of minor and moderate crimes," he noted. — This mechanism is not used for theft of such an amount.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Eduard Kornienko

As lawyer Viktor Terskikh explained to Izvestia, an acquittal is possible only if the court finds that the defendant's guilt has not been proven. At the same time, a refund or lack of claims on the part of the victim does not automatically make a person innocent. According to the lawyer, even if the accused fully compensates for the damage, it is impossible to terminate the case for this category of crimes related to budgetary funds.