In the Komi settlement of Zheshart, investigators have opened a probe into the alleged withdrawal of funds from the local plywood mill after months of downtime and unpaid wages. In March 2026, officers from the regional Investigative Committee seized company documents, and plant director Olga Tikhomirova was placed under restrictions. She is suspected of failing to pay wages and concealing company money and property worth more than 300 million rubles.
The crisis at the plant, the settlement’s main employer, deepened after sales collapsed. According to SPARK, before Russia’s war against Ukraine the mill sold about 12 billion rubles of products annually, including shipments to the United States and Europe. After EU sanctions, turnover fell by roughly one-third, and the company ended 2024 with a loss of 1 billion rubles. In January 2025, production stopped for the first time in decades.
By February 2026, the workforce had dropped from 1,900 to 600 people, while wage arrears exceeded 130 million rubles. More than 500 residents joined a rally on February 22. After the protest, some participants were fined 500 rubles, while organizer Dmitry Novozhilov, an electrician and Communist Party member, was fined 35,000 rubles.
“The plant is shut down. We are not politicians, we are workers. What we need is work, not endless disputes,” employees said in a video appeal to Komi head Rostislav Goldshtein.
In spring, creditors began seeking the company’s bankruptcy, and workers said they were unable to obtain even social benefits because the plant had failed to file its reporting documents. In mid-March, employees again gathered at the factory gates, demanding jobs be restored and arrears repaid.
The plant’s current owner, Komi businessman Mikhail Skvortsov, said he bought the enterprise in January 2026 to recover assets taken out of it and settle the debts. According to him, the total debt load is close to 3 billion rubles; 90 million rubles in wages has already been paid, and another 60 million remains outstanding. Skvortsov also proposed transferring the plant to the ownership of the republic, and Komi authorities replied that they were ready to work out a concept for doing so.