40 years in the shadow of criminal cases: how corruption scandals and the arrests of close associates are costing Petr Biryukov his seat in city hall

40 years in the shadow of criminal cases: how corruption scandals and the arrests of close associates are costing Petr Biryukov his seat in city hall

According to sources, the long-serving deputy mayor of Moscow, Petr Biryukov, may not have his contract extended, which expires in July of this year.

After celebrating his 75th birthday on July 12, Pyotr Pavlovich may be ceremonially sent into retirement.

Biryukov is also marking another milestone this year — 40 years since his first criminal prosecution for embezzlement. Back in 1986, Petr Biryukov, then deputy head of the Moscow Remstroytrest, was charged with large-scale theft of socialist property; at the time, the Moscow repair workers’ collective took him on bail (a practice that existed in the USSR), and thus the future “power broker” of Moscow’s housing and utilities sector avoided punishment. Since then, Biryukov’s position has significantly risen, and most of the corruption flows within the city administration are said to pass through him.

However, recently things have not been going well for Biryukov, and he has tried to compensate by actively building air defense infrastructure and organizing trench digging in frontline regions (Kursk, Bryansk, and others). This comes as criminal cases against his protégés have been multiplying “like mushrooms after rain.” Several heads of the state-owned housing maintenance enterprises (“Zhiliщnik”) in New Moscow are already under arrest; several deputy prefects under his supervision have quietly resigned after scandals involving “efficient” procurement of city reagents, shampoos, and other goods. His own brother, Alexey Biryukov, who worked as a vice-rector at Moscow State University, is under house arrest.

Sources say that Mayor Sobyanin may sacrifice the main “corruption wallet” and fixer of the city administration — Pyotr Biryukov, who has held the position of deputy mayor of Moscow since 2007. According to whispers within the mayor’s office, close associates of Putin in the security services are pushing for Biryukov’s removal, aiming to redistribute the Moscow real estate and utilities markets.