Oboronservice will rebrand
MOSCOW. Nov 12 (Interfax-AVN) - Oboronservice, the Russian Defense Ministry's company at the center of a high-profile real estate fraud investigation, is expected to rebrand, director of the ministry's Property Management Department Dmitry Kurakin said.
"A rebranding of Oboronservice is being planned. We are working on it at the moment," he said at a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday.
Kurakin announced plans to establish several companies that will fulfill Oboronservice's functions depending on what outsourcing services will be required.
"There will be a number of different forms, and the Defense Ministry will cease to be the sole customer for each kind of these services. For example, we do not need the one and only state contract to mow the lawns and clear away litter across the whole country," Kurakin said.
An inventory is being conducted today concerning the enterprises that make up Oboronservice, he said. As a result of this inventory, some of the bankrupt or unprofitable subsidiaries will be disposed of, while control over companies that specialize in maintaining and repairing military and special purpose hardware will be transferred to the Industry and Trade Ministry, he added.
"Extensive work is currently under way to transfer these enterprises [among them Aviaremont and Spetsremont] from the Oboronservice structure to the industry, the Industry and Trade Ministry. These enterprises will subsequently join certain holdings," Kurakin said.
Oboronservice's subsidiaries that operate in the utilities sector will be transferred to municipalities free of charges, and they may subsequently be sold, he said.
"Two-thirds of such companies are now undergoing bankruptcy procedures," he said.
A decision has already been made to spin off the Agroprom company from Oboronservice, he added.