On 5 March 2026, the Petrozavodsk City Court ordered the arrest in absentia of Dmitry Rodionov, a former deputy prime minister of the Karelian government who has fled abroad, on fraud charges. In the same case, on 25 September 2025, Vladimir Kvanin, a former deputy of the regional parliament from the New People party, was arrested in the capital of Karelia. The whole case revolves around the waste reform.
Priority on incineration
In 2021, Vladimir Kvanin, co-chair of the regional branch of the All-Russia People’s Front (ONF), headed the New People party list in the regional elections; the party won 6.35% of the vote and one seat. In parliament he became deputy chair of the committee on economic policy, energy and housing and utilities.
The choice of committee was no accident — the deputy was simultaneously heading the commercial company MCE Invest Rus. In 2021, before the elections, that firm bought a 51.06% stake in the enterprise Avtospetstrans — the regional waste operator — from the republican government. The transaction price was very modest — 24 million roubles — even though the state-owned company had posted revenue of 1.1 billion roubles a year earlier. Avtospetstrans was soon renamed the Karelian Environmental Operator (KEO), and that same year Kvanin felt a desire to go into politics.
During the election campaign, immediately after the purchase of the regional waste operator, the future deputy hammered away at the problems with implementing the waste reform in Karelia: “The problem of waste collection is colossal: numerous illegal forest dumps of household waste and hazardous waste across the republic, the absence of separate collection, and at the same time the imperfection of legislation in the field of waste management,” Kvanin said in a piece paid for from his campaign fund. The parliamentary candidate also promised to devote his efforts “to creating conditions in Karelia for rising incomes and people’s well-being… to make the country fit for life overall. The environment, healthcare, the education system — all of this requires fundamental change.”
Immediately after his election, Deputy Kvanin, retaining control of the operator company, began proposing bills aimed at raising tariffs for the public and lobbying for state investment in organising the operator’s work. At the same time, virtually all the positive groundwork of the previous two decades was being rolled back, and the process of creating modern high-tech waste disposal complexes in the region was being obstructed in every possible way.
In early February 2022, Kvanin stated that “setting up separate waste collection in the region is unprofitable, so the priority must be on incineration.” It became obvious that the enterprise he headed was not focused on carrying out the regional reform.
By the start of 2022, the waste reform in Karelia had already been under way for two years. The reform implied that each region had to develop its own model for implementing waste management measures — that is, the question of exactly how everything would work was decided at the level of Karelia — and the laws were passed by the republican legislative assembly, the very body where Kvanin had won a seat.
The launch of the waste reform in Karelia was largely shaped by groundwork laid while studying the experience of Northern European countries, above all Finland. An environmental focus predominated: eco-stations for separate waste collection appeared in practically every town in the republic, and groups of enthusiasts were active, not only separating waste in their own households but also actively promoting such approaches during educational and awareness-raising events. Potentially, the republic was ready to adopt the most advanced practices and the technological solutions that had proven themselves well in neighbouring countries.
However, the final implementation of the reform was determined by the regional waste operators — that very Avtospetstrans that had become the Karelian Environmental Operator. The scope of their activity presupposed a virtually non-competitive system for awarding contracts and setting tariffs.
Criminal fraud case
The “waste saga” unfolding before voters’ eyes turned into a corruption and criminal scandal.
It all began back in late 2021, when Ivan Novikov, director of Karelian Environmental Operator LLC, was detained — he had tried to buy the database of the Unified Information and Settlement Centre of Karelia for a bribe of 200,000 roubles. This would have allowed the company to increase its profits significantly. In 2023, Novikov was found guilty and sent to a strict-regime penal colony for 4 years and 7 months, and also fined 2 million roubles. In the summer of 2025, he was released on parole and immediately took up the post of deputy head of the Construction Directorate, which is subordinate to the Karelian Ministry of Construction.
Kvanin, who managed the founder of KEO, managed to distance himself from this scandal: he sold his stake in MCE Invest Rus and in the spring of 2024 gave up both his seat in the Legislative Assembly and his post as co-chair of the ONF.
In the autumn of 2025, however, Kvanin was finally detained along with other figures involved in the waste reform — former Karelian Minister of Natural Resources Alexei Shchepin and former directors of Avtospetstrans, Ivan Novikov and Yevgeny Moshnikov. The investigation believes that the deal to sell the state stake in Avtospetstrans was carried out with fraudulent machinations.
By this point, the regional operator was already in turmoil: the private owner had changed, the new one exited the business fairly quickly due to losses, and the regional government had to take urgent measures: Head of Karelia Artur Parfenchikov announced plans to nationalise the regional operator. However, no dedicated state enterprise was created. KEO’s operations were simply transferred to state management. Environmental standards also slipped even further backwards. Projects for waste processing with a capacity of 190,000 tonnes per year, including a sorting plant and a composting station, were left hanging. In Petrozavodsk, municipal waste went uncollected for several days.
New People put in their place
On the eve of the start of the new election campaign for the Legislative Assembly of Karelia, which will begin in June 2026, the New People party is trying to distance itself from the legacy of its former “number one”. Sergei Usatenko, who replaced Vladimir Kvanin in parliament, is attempting to offer mild criticism of the authorities’ inaction, as they have been unable to demonstrate changes in the nature of KEO’s work now that it has become fully state-owned. Under Usatenko’s leadership, a “Rat Race” action took place in November 2025, when four activists in mock-up rodent costumes walked along the pavement and recorded a short clip for the VKontakte social network.
The entire action lasted one minute. In January 2026, Usatenko was held administratively liable for violating the procedure for conducting a public event (Part 2, Art. 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offences) and fined 70,000 roubles.
In this way, the authorities clearly demonstrated that even ironic criticism is impermissible — even if it concerns a story where the investigative bodies have already established fraudulent actions.
What is happening now with the waste reform in Karelia
The waste reform in Karelia is stalling. An updated territorial waste management scheme has been drawn up, but it is being concealed from public discussion in every possible way, on the assumption that the very raising of the issue could become politicised, and the regional authorities have absolutely no interest in that on the eve of the elections. On the other hand, the accumulation of social discontent continues, and there remains a chance that environmental protest will manifest itself during the campaign.
Yulia Syurokainen, Vadim Ternovoi