The Central District Court of Kemerovo has taken into custody until February 14 the main owner of the Listvyazhnaya mine, the chairman of the board of directors of SDS-Ugol Mikhail Fedyaev.

The explosion at the mine killed 46 miners and five rescuers.

In addition, the court placed into custody until January 25, the technical director of the SDS-Ugol company, Anton Yakutov, the chief engineer of the facility, Anatoly Lobanov, and the general director of the company, Gennady Alekseev.

Fedyaev's defense intends to fix his arrest.

In court, representatives of the Investigative Committee stated that the management of the Listvyazhnaya mine and the SDS-Ugol company, after the accident, had retroactively formed reports on the procurement of safety equipment.

The representative of the investigation said that the UK has a memorandum on telephone conversations, from which it can be traced that the top management of the SDS-Ugol holding "was aware that gross violations of industrial safety measures were committed at the Listvyazhnaya mine, which entailed grave consequences."

“Moreover, it follows from this certificate that measures are being taken to conceal evidence, that is, retroactively reports are generated on the allocation of funds for the purchase of security equipment and related to these measures,” TASS quoted him as saying.

In addition, the investigation is of the opinion that the technical director of SDS-Ugol Yakutov knew about the dangerous concentration of methane at the mine, but did not stop its work.

"Having a real opportunity to prevent an accident by prohibiting coal mining, having information that a dangerous production situation has developed in the mine workings, the concentration of methane reaches explosive values, acting deliberately, did not ban mining," the UK explained.

Earlier, the department said that, depending on the role of each of the defendants, they were charged with committing crimes under Part 3 of Art.

217 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Violation of the industrial safety requirements of hazardous production facilities, resulting in the death of two or more persons by negligence”) and Part 2 of Art.

201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Abuse of powers in a commercial organization, resulting in grave consequences").

Meanwhile, the "Siberian Business Union" and all the enterprises included in it are operating normally after the arrest of Mikhail Fedyaev, TASS reported earlier with reference to the holding's press service.

The first vice-president of the company Sergey Kolmogorov was appointed acting president of HC SDS.

Also on russian.rt.com "Profit at any cost": families of miners who died in accidents at mines - about the tragedy at Listvyazhnaya

According to the website of the SDS holding, Fedyaev, one of its founders, has been holding the presidency since 2007.

The entrepreneur has the titles "Honorary Worker of the Fuel and Energy Complex", "Honorary Citizen of the Kemerovo Region", in 2017 he was awarded the highest award of the Kemerovo Region "Hero of Kuzbass".

The tragedy at the Listvyazhnaya mine

On November 25, at the Listvyazhnaya mine in the Belovsky urban district of the Kemerovo region, smoke was generated in the ventilation drift.

Previously, the explosion of methane led to this.

At the time of the emergency, there were 285 people in the mine.

The accident killed 46 miners, as well as five mine rescuers who participated in the search operation.

In addition, 60 miners and 46 rescuers were injured.

After the incident, the managers of the facility were detained: the director of the Listvyazhnaya mine, Sergei Makhrakov, his first deputy, Andrei Molostov, and the head of the section, Sergei Gerasimenok. 

The chief state inspectors of the Belovsky territorial department of the Siberian department of Rostekhnadzor Sergei Vinokurov and Vyacheslav Semykin were also detained. 

On December 2, Vladimir Putin held a meeting on the situation in the coal industry of Kuzbass.

According to the President, the management of the facility systematically took measures to conceal the fact of excessive gas pollution of the mine and falsified this data.

"Why?

To get more there and send for export?

What for?

What a tragic result!

Now we are all sitting and all our heads are down, ”Putin said.

The head of state noted that investigators and prosecutors will assess the actions of all officials involved in the tragedy, but there will be no "sweeping accusations and raids."

Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov reported that gross violations were revealed at the mine, including the concealment of readings of individual control devices, malfunction of power supplies and methane measurement sensors.

According to him, "everything was smooth at the mine only on paper."

“There was little air in the mine from time to time.

Disruptions to ventilation and sluicing are possible - either special airlocks were opened at once for ventilation, or there was no necessary bridge between the airlocks, which were installed so that the methane escapes faster and more air flows in, "commented Ruben, first deputy chairman of the Russian Independent Trade Union of the Coal Industry, in an interview with RT Badalov.

On December 14, the chairman of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, held a meeting in the Kemerovo Region with the relatives of those killed and injured at the Listvyazhnaya mine.

According to him, the department will provide the meeting participants with any necessary assistance.

In addition, he instructed to establish the role of the owners of the mine in the tragedy and complete in the shortest possible time the production of forensic medical examinations. 

“Following the meeting, the Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia once again drew attention to the fact that the investigation will restore the entire chain of events and the reasons that led to the terrible tragedy.

After meeting with the victims, Alexander Bastrykin held a reception for citizens who addressed him with personal questions, ”the message said.