Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ The recent grounding of five Russian Il-76 military transport aircraft is being investigated by the Russian authorities. It was likely caused by a component substitution scam by staff at the Balashikha Foundry and Mechanical Plant. ⬇️

https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1814637464172073116

2/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reports that following the grounding, which was caused by faulty bearings in the planes' wheels, the founders and employees of the Balashikha Casting and Mechanical Plant (BLMZ) are being interviewed and documents have been seized.

3/ BLMZ, which is based in the Moscow region, is a long-established supplier of aircraft wheels, brakes, brake control units and spare parts for Russian civilian and military organisations, including the Ministry of Defence. It has been under Western sanctions since 2022.

4/ According to VChK-OGPU, the company is being investigated on suspicion of "abuse of power in the execution of the state defence order". Documents seized from the firm appear to have been fabricated to conceal the source of the faulty bearings.

5/ The bearings were claimed to have been purchased from the Samara Bearing Plant (SPZ), another long-established company which supplies bearings throughout Russia, other countries in the region and foreign states which were part of the old Soviet sphere of influence.

6/ In fact, according to the seized documents, the faulty bearings appear to have been purchased "from an unknown manufacturer" in the period 2017-22, before being sent on to the Aviastar manufacturing plant in Ulyanovsk, which makes the Il-76 aircraft.

7/ The apparent substitution probably represents a common scam in Russia's defence sector – the substitution of cheap substandard components in place of high-quality items, with corrupt contractors pocketing the difference in value.

8/ This has manifested itself in numerous military procurement scandals over the years. In 2023, for instance, it was reported that Russia's ballistic missile warning system had been crippled by a component substitution scam.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1655449330021433347

9/ The late Yevgeny Prigozhin was a notorious perpetrator of substitution scams. His companies were sued hundreds of times by the Russian military procurement agency for supplying troops with rotten, infected food made using substituted ingredients.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1617824599391244290

10/ Perhaps the most spectacular example, though, was the case of the captain of the destroyer Bespokoyny, who stole the bronze propellers from his own ship in 2020, sold them for scrap, and replaced them with much cheaper steel propellers. /end

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1542269393945903105

Source:
t.me/vchkogpu/49410