Chinese bearings were put on the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, passing it off as Russian

The Samara District Court, within the framework of a high-profile criminal case on the state defense order, namely, when performing contract work for the heavy aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, will begin considering the petition of lawyers of three top managers of SPZ‑4 LLC — General Director Denis Kotov, development Director Vitaly Zlobin and commercial director Yuri Zhurba.

The defense asks to change the measure of restraint for three high-ranking defendants who have been detained in a pre-trial detention center (SIZO) since May 14 this year.

Earlier SU TFR in the Samara region opened a criminal case against these three defendants under several serious articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud on an especially large scale committed by a group of persons; abuse of authority in the execution of a state defense order; violation of the terms of a state contract for a state defense order or the terms of a contract concluded to fulfill a state defense order, etc. e).

According to investigators, the SDZ-4, as part of the state defense order, instead of bearings of its own production, supplied Chinese bearings not provided for by the contract to PJSC Proletarian Plant (part of USC), passing them off as its own. The bearings supplied to the Proletarsky were supposed to be installed on the airfinisher of the heavy aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov (a system that slows down the aircraft when landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier), Kommersant pointed out.

The damage to the state under this contract alone exceeded 300 million rubles. In addition, new episodes may appear in the case file related to the sale of counterfeit goods by Denis Kotov, Vitaly Zlobin and Yuri Zhurba as part of the State Defense Order, and the damage will exceed a billion rubles. Law enforcement agencies have information that the accomplices planned to hide with their families abroad on the eve of the arrest. Large amounts of cash were seized at the apartments of the suspects. Also in the case file there are facts about the pressure of the owners of the SDZ-4 on key witnesses, the publication noted.

Recall that in July 2025, the issue of conservation of the Admiral Kuznetsov was considered, or in cutting for scrap. The cost of the ship, according to various estimates, reached about 100 billion rubles. According to the latest information, the aircraft carrier remains without movement in Murmansk.