A Kalmyk entrepreneur who acquired the assets of a bankrupt traffic camera operator in Dagestan reportedly faced difficulties dismantling and selling the equipment. Telegram channel Mash notes that he was also accused of contributing to a rise in traffic accidents but insists the claims are politically driven. The core of the story centers on a long history of cameras, contracts, and lawsuits that have kept the affair in the public eye for years.
According to the entrepreneur, the timeline begins in 2014 when 69 photo-video recording complexes were purchased under the Safe Dagestan program. These devices operated through 2017, during which period alleged violations were recorded and tallied at about 400 million rubles. The operator behind the project, a company named SRT Service, later went bankrupt, and the cameras themselves were taken offline and apparently left without maintenance or deployment.
In 2022, the confiscated assets resurfaced under a new owner. Nikolai Kokushev, a Kalmykian businessman, reportedly acquired the property with the intention of renting and reselling the equipment. However, by that time the gear was not in the expected state; Mash claims that it had already been seized by the former president of Safe Dagestan, making the resale and operational goals difficult or impossible to achieve.
The situation grew more contentious when local authorities from the Ministry of Emergencies accused Kokushev of expanding road fatalities for profit. Opposing this claim, Mash reports that Kokushev filed a lawsuit against the Ministry, seeking dismissal of the accusations and a defense against the allegations of profit-driven risk creation on public roads.
Earlier discussions in Russia highlighted a shift in policy related to traffic enforcement. An amendment to the Administrative Offenses Law was cited as enabling penalties for garbage tossed from vehicles when cameras capture such offenses. This legal development is part of the broader narrative that ties enforcement technology to public accountability and financial consequences. The full sequence of events reflects a complex interaction between policy programs, commercial interests, and safety concerns on regional roads. [Source: Mash Telegram channel]