"Beeline" denies connection with the "Orthodox operator mobile communications"- by the Blagovest company. Was the operator assigned a “church tithe”?
VimpelCom, the owner of the Beeline trademark, has denied the information about involvement in the Orthodox parishes company, which calls itself an “Orthodox mobile operator” and operates under the Blagovest brand.Earlier, the company "Orthodox parishes" stated that the legal entity is a "daughter" of VimpelCom. And when you call the support service of Orthodox parishes, you can hear the phrase of the answering machine “You called the Beeline company.
Tariff plan "Blagovest" is called "United Orthodox". As part of it, the subscriber can even order daily SMS with quotes from Patriarch Kirill (Vladimir Gundyaev). It is especially noted that the sayings of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church are sent out with his blessing.
The general director of the "Orthodox parishes" is Orlov Alexey Viktorovich. The authorized capital of the company is 10 thousand rubles, usually the authorized capital is registered in the same amount for "one-day firms".
The General Director of Orthodox Parishes, Mr. Orlov, is also the founder of three other companies: Global-Paging System LLC, S.V.O.-Telecom LLC and Svo-Telecom LLC. The job search site HeadHunter says that Global-Paging System "provides cellular (GSM) communication services to individuals and legal entities under the TM Beeline (VimpelCom)."
In addition, Alexey Viktorovich Orlov is listed as a co-founder with a 42% stake in Mtk-Mobil. This legal entity also has certain business ties with Beeline. In particular, you can block a phone number or replace an operator's SIM card at Mtk-Mobil offices.
Mtk-Mobil itself is “registered” at the place of mass registration legal entities. It does not add credibility to the company.
It turns out that there is still some connection between the “Orthodox” operator and VimpelCom. Blagovest calmly uses the Beeline brand, and VimpelCom, although it denies any connection with Orthodox parishes, for some reason does not resent the exploitation of its brand and does not overwhelm Blagovest with lawsuits.
ROC has a share?
One gets the impression that VimpelCom either does not understand what is happening at all, or does not want to convey certain facts to the public. It is possible that the "Orthodox operator" just wants to earn extra money on a major brand.
Indirectly, this assumption is confirmed by experts.
According to Konstantin Ankilov, General Director of TMT Consulting, Blagovest, most likely, is an office that is on the market mobile operators called "kolkhoz". This is an agent who distributes the rates of a larger company. In fact, such legal entities are "gaskets" between service providers and end users and earn solely on the difference, that is, they simply resell services at a higher price.
It is not known for certain whether Orthodox parishes LLC is directly connected to the ROC. But those familiar with the situation believe that it is unlikely that a religious organization could afford to earn on the Orthodox contingent without receiving at least a part of the profits.
And how to spend this money, the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church will always be able to decide. Especially. That the church income itself, as you know, is not taxed. But the general public can only guess about the size of these incomes.
The fact is that Alexy II, who was patriarch for 18 years, until his death in 2008, provided a full public report on the expenses and income of the ROC.
“Alexy made an annual report for five hours - like Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev: how much was received, how much was spent on what. Cyril never reported back. The papacy, every parish in Europe publishes its budgets. The parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church are published somewhere in Paris ... ”, - the church oppositionist said on condition of anonymity.
But Cyril did not adopt such a practice from his predecessor. Moreover, he generally classified data on how much and on what the church earns. In 2014, the income of the ROC was estimated at 5.6 billion rubles.
In addition to income from extensive business, the church receives considerable funds from the state, that is, in fact, from taxpayers, although Orthodoxy in Russia is by no means universally professed. According to experts, in 2012-2015 alone, the Orthodox Church and its structures received at least 14 billion budget rubles! The economic crisis of the generosity of the country's leadership is not a hindrance; the Russian Orthodox Church was supposed to receive 2.6 billion rubles from the budget last year.
However, a number of experts believe that instead of regular "infusions" from the state budget, law enforcement agencies should be engaged in checking the entrepreneurial activities of the ROC.
A fresh reason for investigators to look to Patriarch Kirill is the situation with the Peresvet bank, the “hole” in the budget of which exceeds 50 billion rubles. The largest shareholder of the bank is just the Russian Orthodox Church. However, when the Central Bank began to check the financial organization, it turned out that Peresvet was actively lending to related structures. The scheme is most often used for fraudulent purposes - when withdrawing assets.
It is unlikely that the main shareholder could not be aware of what is happening. So, it is possible that the lion's share of these 50 billion rubles ended up in the wallets of the church leadership.
However, the Russian Orthodox Church kept its money in other banks. At the beginning of last year, it became known that the "church" 1.5 billion rubles were stuck in Vneshprombank, whose license was revoked on January 21, 2016.
Sources say that it was in the VPB that the church placed funds, since the chairman of the board of the bank, Larisa Markus, who is now on trial for embezzling 114 billion rubles, was close to the Moscow Patriarchate.
But it is quite likely that the money was simply withdrawn in the interests of the owner.
The chic life of a patriarch
There are many stories in the press about priests and their fancy cars. Basically, the “employees” of the Russian Orthodox Church become the heroes of the news when people are knocked down on the roads in their expensive cars.
For example, in Rostov-on-Don, a priest in an apparently charitable Mitsubishi ASX car caused a massive accident. Eyewitnesses claimed that the perpetrator of the accident was drunk and, moreover, tried to escape from the scene.
But, undoubtedly, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, overshadowed all subordinates with luxury. In the summer of 2015, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church “lit up” at his more than luxurious dacha on the Black Sea coast.
Patriarch's cottage
Vladimir Gundyaev had a rest on the yacht Azimut, which can be bought in Russia for no less than 680 million dollars!
Everyone knows the scandalous story of Cyril's watch - Breguet 30 thousand dollars, which the press service of the Russian Orthodox Church so unsuccessfully tried to erase with the help of Photoshop.
The Russian Orthodox Church is aware of the opportunity to connect the tariff "United Orthodox" of the company "Blagovest", subscribers of the tariff, in particular, receive SMS with quotes from the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill. RBC was told about this in the Synodal Department for Church Relations with Society and the Media.
"This tariff exists long time, and we are not against such a tariff. Previously, we received signals from a number of parishes that the tariff is being used, the tariff is liked. Users especially liked the opportunity to receive quotes from His Holiness the Patriarch,” the department said. The number of users of the tariff in the ROC is not known, the interlocutor noted.
The call center of Blagovest reported that they had sent a request to the Patriarchy for the use of quotes from Patriarch Kirill. “We receive quotes from Radio Vera. If someone does not want to receive, we turn off this service, ”said a company employee (TASS). He also said that you can connect to the company's tariffs in any of the churches in Moscow, as well as in several regions bordering Moscow. At the same time, according to an employee of Blagovest, they prepare SIM cards at the request of churches, and contracts with subscribers are concluded in the church, and SIM cards are issued there.
Earlier, the Vedomosti newspaper reported that Blagovest appeared in April and calls itself the MVNO operator of Beeline. VimpelCom representative Anna Aibasheva told the publication that VimpelCom has a corporate client, Orthodox Parishes (a legal entity of Blagovest), but it is not a virtual operator.
Earlier in Russia, with which you can subscribe to the official channels of temples, exchange messages, send photos, audio and video recordings, and other files.
Download and Save: Apps for the Believers
Confessional Mirror app, Google Play
The application has not been updated since 2012, but will be remembered for its weight - 666 KB.
Confession App, Google Play
Application for preparing for confession - the user can view a list of sins, tick off those in which he is noticed (only available in the paid version). At the same time, the application is encrypted: only the user has access to it, which allows you to keep the secret of confession.
Muslim Pro
According to the developer, this is the number one app for Muslims. Here you can find sacred texts, fasting schedules and even Greeting Cards and an animated compass that shows the direction to Mecca. In addition, halal restaurants nearby are marked on the map.
Treba.org, Web
Using the application, you can order a prayer service, memorial service, magpie, leave electronic notes about health and repose. If you link to the application bank card you can send donations.
PrayerMate, AppStore, Google Play
An application for the English, in which a parishioner can subscribe to the prayer diaries of Anglican churches and follow their schedule. Here you can pray for the queen, for relatives and friends, and the application will compile statistics and show for whom the user prayed the most.
The Sanctuary App
An application for lazy believers or for those who simply do not have time to visit the temple. Allows you to visit the temple virtually, put a candle and pray.
"Beeline" denies communication with the "Orthodox mobile operator" - the company "Blagovest". Was the operator assigned a “church tithe”?
VimpelCom, the owner of the Beeline trademark, has denied the information about involvement in the Orthodox parishes company, which calls itself an “Orthodox mobile operator” and operates under the Blagovest brand.
Earlier, the company "Orthodox parishes" stated that the legal entity is a "daughter" of VimpelCom. And when you call the support service of Orthodox parishes, you can hear the phrase of the answering machine “You called the Beeline company.
The Blagovest website states that “the economic service of the Moscow Patriarchate, together with the Beeline company, developed in 2010 tariff plan"United National+" for parishes and monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church. Many deaneries of Moscow and the region are already actively using this tariff. The official supplier of this tariff is Orthodox Parishes LLC. Since 2016, the company has become a virtual telecom operator under the Blagovest brand.
However, Beeline itself denies any connection with the “Orthodox operator”. Anna Aibasheva, a representative of the Big Three operator, said that Blagovest is not a Beeline virtual operator, and Orthodox Parishes is just one of corporate clients a company whose services are provided on the basis of standard tariffs.
Black and yellow "mimicry"
The website of the Blagovest company (a legal entity of Orthodox Parishes LLC) is designed in the recognizable black and yellow colors of Beeline. Yes, and in social networks, the company "Orthodox parishes" with might and main uses the brand "Beeline".
Tariff plan "Blagovest" is called "United Orthodox". As part of it, the subscriber can even order daily SMS with quotes from Patriarch Kirill (Vladimir Gundyaev). It is especially noted that the sayings of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church are sent out with his blessing.
The general director of the "Orthodox parishes" is Orlov Alexey Viktorovich. The authorized capital of the company is 10 thousand rubles, usually the authorized capital is registered in the same amount for "one-day firms".
The General Director of Orthodox Parishes, Mr. Orlov, is also the founder of three other companies: Global-Paging System LLC, S.V.O.-Telecom LLC and Svo-Telecom LLC. The job search site HeadHunter says that Global-Paging System "provides cellular (GSM) communication services to individuals and legal entities under the TM Beeline (VimpelCom)."
In addition, Alexey Viktorovich Orlov is listed as a co-founder with a 42% stake in Mtk-Mobil. This legal entity also has certain business ties with Beeline. In particular, the Beeline website says that you can block a phone number or replace the operator’s SIM card at Mtk-Mobil offices.
Mtk-Mobil itself is “registered” at the place of mass registration of legal entities. It does not add credibility to the company.
It turns out that there is still some connection between the “Orthodox” operator and VimpelCom. Blagovest calmly uses the Beeline brand, and VimpelCom, although it denies any connection with Orthodox parishes, for some reason does not resent the exploitation of its brand and does not overwhelm Blagovest with lawsuits.
ROC has a share?
One gets the impression that VimpelCom either does not understand what is happening at all, or does not want to convey certain facts to the public. It is possible that the "Orthodox operator" just wants to earn extra money on a major brand.
Indirectly, this assumption is confirmed by experts.
According to Konstantin Ankilov, General Director of TMT Consulting, Blagovest is most likely an office that is called a “collective farm” in the mobile operator market. This is an agent who distributes the rates of a larger company. In fact, such legal entities are "gaskets" between service providers and end users and earn solely on the difference, that is, they simply resell services at a higher price.
It is not known for certain whether Orthodox parishes LLC is directly connected to the ROC. But those familiar with the situation believe that it is unlikely that a religious organization could afford to earn on the Orthodox contingent without receiving at least a part of the profits.
And how to spend this money, the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church will always be able to decide. Especially. That the church income itself, as you know, is not taxed. But the general public can only guess about the size of these incomes.
The fact is that Alexy II, who was patriarch for 18 years, until his death in 2008, provided a full public report on the expenses and income of the ROC.
“Aleksy made an annual report for five hours - like Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev: how much was received, how much was spent on what. Cyril never reported back. The papacy, every parish in Europe publishes its budgets. The parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church are published somewhere in Paris ... ”, - the church oppositionist said on condition of anonymity.
But Cyril did not adopt such a practice from his predecessor. Moreover, he generally classified data on how much and on what the church earns. In 2014, the income of the Russian Orthodox Church was estimated at 5.6 billion rubles.
In addition to income from extensive business, the church receives considerable funds from the state, that is, in fact, from taxpayers, although Orthodoxy in Russia is by no means universally professed. According to experts, in 2012-2015 alone, the Orthodox Church and its structures received at least 14 billion rubles from the budget! The economic crisis of the generosity of the country's leadership is not a hindrance; the Russian Orthodox Church was supposed to receive 2.6 billion rubles from the budget last year.
However, a number of experts believe that instead of regular "infusions" from the state budget, law enforcement agencies should be engaged in checking the entrepreneurial activities of the ROC.
A fresh reason for investigators to look to Patriarch Kirill is the situation with the Peresvet bank, the “hole” in the budget of which exceeds 50 billion rubles. The largest shareholder of the bank is just the Russian Orthodox Church. However, when the Central Bank began to check the financial organization, it turned out that Peresvet was actively lending to related structures. The scheme is most often used for fraudulent purposes - when withdrawing assets.
It is unlikely that the main shareholder could not be aware of what is happening. So, it is possible that the lion's share of these 50 billion rubles ended up in the wallets of the church leadership.
However, the Russian Orthodox Church kept its money in other banks. At the beginning of last year, it became known that the "church" 1.5 billion rubles were stuck in Vneshprombank, whose license was revoked on January 21, 2016.
Sources say that it was in the VPB that the church placed funds, since the chairman of the board of the bank, Larisa Markus, who is now on trial for embezzling 114 billion rubles, was close to the Moscow Patriarchate.
But it is quite likely that the money was simply withdrawn in the interests of the owner.
The chic life of a patriarch
There are many stories in the press about priests and their fancy cars. Basically, the “employees” of the Russian Orthodox Church become the heroes of the news when people are knocked down on the roads in their expensive cars.
For example, in Rostov-on-Don, a priest in an apparently charitable Mitsubishi ASX car caused a massive accident. Eyewitnesses claimed that the perpetrator of the accident was drunk and, moreover, tried to escape from the scene.
But, undoubtedly, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, overshadowed all subordinates with luxury. In the summer of 2015, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church “lit up” at his more than luxurious dacha on the Black Sea coast.
Patriarch's cottage
Vladimir Gundyaev had a rest on the yacht Azimut, which can be bought in Russia for no less than 680 million dollars!
Everyone knows the scandalous story of Cyril's watch - Breguet 30 thousand dollars, which the press service of the Russian Orthodox Church so unsuccessfully tried to erase with the help of Photoshop.
That is, despite all the calls to abandon the pursuit of wealth and power, Mr. Gundyaev behaves exactly the opposite. It is likely that the head of the Russian Orthodox Church confused himself with the eastern sheikh.
But recent activities The ROC, some believe, crosses all boundaries. Billions of rubles are withdrawn from the church bank, the Russian Orthodox Church encroaches on museums of national importance and actively interferes in the life of a secular state. Unfortunately, there can be no democratic change of power in the church. But if the believers had held elections, Gundyaev, the “dealer” and lover of luxury, would hardly have won.
