The Insider investigation prepared in partnership with Reportéři ČT (Czech Republic)
Alexander Talanov is 72 years old, and thirty of them he is engaged in the production of hot air balloons (in other words, hot air balloons), heading the Rusbal company.
There is another area of Rusbal's activity, which the company prefers not to focus on on its website. For many years, Talanov has simultaneously acted as a contractor for the Ministry of Defense. For the military, Rusbal manufactures and supplies inflatable models of battle tanks, aircraft and other equipment. Their task is to deceive the enemy. A special unit, a camouflage regiment, was even created to serve the mock-ups.
Now almost all contracts of the Ministry of Defense are classified, including those with Rusbal. But The Insider found information about deliveries in 2018-2019 thanks to the archive of arbitration cases. Due to delays in deliveries, the Ministry of Defense went to court, demanding the recovery of fines from Rusbal for the delay that arose due to disagreements about changing the price of the contract after the increase in the VAT rate.
So, for 6.1 million rubles, Rusbal supplied the military with a model of the SU-27 aircraft. For the same amount – a model of the MiG-31.
Deliveries appear to have continued beyond February 2022. The Zvezda media outlet of the Ministry of Defense reported in June 2022 that Rusbal is still producing 3D models of tanks, aircraft, missile systems and other equipment. In addition, in 2021, Rusbal presented new camouflage patterns for armored vehicles at the Army-2021 forum.
In January 2023, Rusbal posted a vacancy: the head of a research laboratory was required. Among the duties it was indicated: "Knowledge and application of the basics of camouflage, including the basics of radar, thermal, photographic reconnaissance."
In parallel, the Meshchansky Court of Moscow is considering a criminal case on corruption when Rusbal received military contracts. The next hearing is scheduled for April 6, so there is no verdict yet. But it is known from the materials of the case that former officers of the Ministry of Defense allegedly demanded a bribe from Talanov for general patronage when concluding state contracts. According to the defendants, it was Talanov himself who initiated the transfer of money and himself determined the amount of the fee – 4% of the amount of contracts.
Alexander Talanov was previously registered at the address: Smolnaya Street, 23 building 1. This is an old five-story building in the north of Moscow. According to real estate data leaks, Viktor Aleksandrovich Talanov, now 49, lived here. This is the son of the general director of Rusbal.
Since 2014, Talanov Jr. has been a co-owner of the Czech company Inflatech, which supplies mock-ups to Ukraine. More than a third of the HIMARS missile systems claimed to have been destroyed by Russian forces were actually inflatable decoys, according to the company itself.
Prior to this, Inflatech also worked with Western customers. Moreover, the company supplied "dummy" to the United States in parallel with the work of the shareholder Viktor Talanov in the Russian "Rusbal", that is, the supplier of the Russian army.
Talanov Jr. worked at his father's Rusbal until 2017. Now he lives in the Czech Republic, although he still has his own business in Russia: he owns Aerocontrol LLC with his sister. This company is engaged in technical testing and is affiliated with Rusbal, they have the same phone numbers.
In a conversation with The Insider, Viktor Talanov said that he had not communicated with his father for about two years. They also had personal differences, but after the invasion of Russian troops, political ones were added.
– I got to work with my father in 2010. Before that I worked in IT, I had a good career. But at some point I decided to help my father. They had a rather difficult situation in the company,” he said.
After the launch of the business in the Czech Republic, Talanov Jr. explains his ongoing cooperation with the Russian Rusbal by the fact that his European business was just a registered legal entity, in fact, a startup at the investment stage:
“There was practically no money. We traveled at our own expense, bought some sewing machines. The money was invested at the expense of the Rondat company, which was opened in 2011 together with a partner. My father worked at the same time. When Inflatech gained momentum, I relocated here.
When asked how he could simultaneously work for both the Western military and the Russian defense industry, Viktor Talanov answers this way:
Everything was legally clear. From a moral point of view… Well, you work, you produce some kind of product. Well, yes, he is a soldier. On the other hand, not lethal. Moreover, in recent years I have practically not been engaged in the military commissar at Rusbal, there was a separate manager.
Talanov Jr. is not in Russia now. Prior to the re-registration of his Russian business (co-founder, by personal admission, acts formally), which is affiliated with Rusbal, according to him, "hands did not reach." Yes, and it does not bring large incomes (revenue – 3.2 million rubles for 2021, net profit – 0.5 million). When Viktor Talanov talks about political differences with his father, he is hardly disingenuous. The Insider studied his social media accounts and made sure that critical posts appeared there long before moving to the Czech Republic.
Journalists of Reportéři ČT received a comment from Inflatech:
“Our company does not hide the fact that its partners and employees are two citizens of Russia < in addition to Talanov, the shareholder is Russian Andrey Parfenov – The Insider> . This information is publicly available in registries. They are experts in physics, simulation and avionics. Thanks to them, we have acquired important know-how for the production of mock-ups of military equipment, which now also helps Ukraine defend itself against an aggressor and is used in other NATO states, including the United States. Our Russian colleagues have linked their lives with the Czech Republic, they have families here, and given that they are involved in helping Ukraine, they may never return to their homeland unless there is a change of political regime.
Both Russian colleagues received visas as part of a program to attract key scientific personnel from abroad. The Czech Ministry of Defense was also involved in the approval of the visa application. There is no doubt that both of our Russian colleagues successfully passed the check of the Czech security forces, otherwise they would not have received visas. Therefore, the fact that Russian citizens work and are partners in our company is known to the Czech state and its security agencies.
The media attention given to our two Russian colleagues and closest associates endangers their personal safety and the safety of their families.
In this context, it is worth noting that, in addition to Russians, we also have employees from Ukraine, from where they fled the war.
The only one who benefits from this case is Putin's regime. We regret that the reputation of our company and the safety of our Russian colleagues are under threat. We support our Russian colleagues 100 percent, we thank them for their work and we support them during this difficult time.
— Did you know about Viktor Talanov's connections with Russian industry, including Rusbal?
– You narrow the range of questions to one of the two Russian colleagues. At the same time, both are carriers of unique know-how, which they brought from their native country and logically acquired there. Their professional history is known not only to us, but also to the Czech State, which requested this information as part of their verification. The information that Russian specialists work for us is also well known to our major customer, the US armed forces.
— Do you know that Rusbal has been cooperating with the Russian army for a long time? Is this not a problem for you?
– The work and personal history of both Russians is known not only to us, but also to the Czech state and its law enforcement agencies. We consider it extraordinary that they decided to leave their native country and bring their unique know-how to the Czech Republic, its NATO allies and Ukraine. We regret that this is now under threat of media coverage. We perceive this case as an attempt to harm not only our company, but mainly our Russian colleagues, in the interests of the Putin regime, which does not want the valuable brains of Russian science and industry to go to the West.”