Employees of the Kursk NPP are forced to donate money for gifts for the Russian army. This is written by "Important Stories" with reference to an anonymous station worker.
He said that the order on gifts to the nuclear power plant came from the mayor of Kurchatov, Igor Korpunkov. According to the source of Important Stories, this happens not only at nuclear power plants: “The mother of a subordinate works at a school, the same thing happens there.”
In an order addressed to the director of the nuclear power plant, Korpunkov writes that he is counting on "personal support and the patriotic position of the team." In the application template, NPP workers are invited to “donate” money as part of the “Hour of Labor” campaign for the “Urban Initiatives Support Fund”. As the source of "Important stories" told, about 90% of the station's employees have already filled in these "donation" for 200-400 rubles. According to him, he himself refuses so far, for which his boss scolds him.
According to him, such extortions at nuclear power plants occur regularly: “This is already perceived as some kind of tax. But, probably, even if they start taking money for entrance, we will still go – there is no other work nearby. ”
The action "Hour of Labor" was created by the residents of Kurchatov. Its essence is to transfer an amount equivalent to the payment of one hour of work for the Russian army. The collected money is promised to be spent "on the purchase of gifts for […] participants in a special military operation on the front line." So, Korpunkov himself donated his salary at the end of July. Under his publication about this, residents of the city asked about guarantees that the money will reach the addressees, and whether a report on fees and expenses will be published. They received no answers.
The City Initiatives Support Fund was created on behalf of Korpunkov in 2016. Since 2017, its head is Yevgeny Sakharov, a member of the Kurchatov City Duma of the sixth convocation from United Russia, one of the co-owners of the city's unified information and settlement center. In 2021, the City Initiatives Support Fund announced that it had received almost 50 million rubles in donations.