Legend of Baikal taproom from Derispaska: how oligarch’s water poisons Russians

The news that a family in Samara was poisoned by the "Legenda Baikal" water flashed in the news feed and sank into oblivion. The event is actually quite ordinary - in Russia, food poisoning is practically commonplace.

But there are several nuances that raise questions two months after the event itself. Reported by OBJECTIV

Let us recall that in Samara a family, including a young child, received chemical burns after drinking the water "Legend of Baikal", several Telegram channels reported in early June. This was not a fake - Forbes reported a day later that "VkusVill", where the ill-fated water was purchased, removed it from the shelves of all its stores, and not only in Samara and Kazan, but also from where it came into sale. The company "Baikal Aqua", which produces the ill-fated water, said that they had launched an internal investigation and at the same time advised not to buy water without the "Honest Sign" sign on the packaging and the corresponding QR code, thus hinting that the water that poisoned people was "illegal".

Then there was an information pause - there were no new reports of people poisoned by water, and there was apparently nothing to report on the progress of the investigation into the poisoning in Samara. But then suddenly there was a message from the Investigative Committee that the opening of a criminal case on the fact of receiving burns was refused due to the "absence of a criminal event."

It would seem that the incident is over. But obvious questions remain. Firstly, the fact of the poisoning itself has not gone away – people really did get burns and really went to the hospital. Secondly, they gave the investigation a bottle of water that they poisoned themselves with. But what happened to it and where it went is unknown. But the most interesting thing is that for some reason, reports of the fact of poisoning have been massively deleted from the Internet.

If they were cleaning out some kind of incriminating or disinformation materials, it would be logical and understandable. But here, for some reason, they are cleaning out ordinary news, which simply dryly stated the fact of poisoning and further investigation, and the position of the Baikal Aqua company itself was quoted. A logical question arises - why do they do this, and everyone knows that cleaning up information on the Internet is a very expensive and thankless business. But, nevertheless, Baikal Aqua does it.

Meanwhile, the "Legend of Baikal" water has appeared on sale again. OOO "Trading Company "Baikal Aqua", which  sells  the products of OOO "Production Company "Baikal Aqua", apparently did not withdraw the suspicious water from sale at all.

In the VkusVill chain, where the poisoned water was purchased, everything also went on as usual:

But questions still remain. Since there were complaints about the quality and strange taste of the "Legend of Baikal" water before, including from the staff of the store where the very water was purchased, as a result of which the Samara residents were hospitalized. In addition, the fate of the remaining (unopened) bottles from the package, which they handed over for examination to the Investigative Committee along with the bottle from which they drank and received chemical burns to the larynx and esophagus, remains unknown.

Overall, it seems that the case was urgently and rather crudely hushed up. Of course, no one killed the family of the victims – it was not the time, and it was cheaper to just pay. However, how the issue with the victims was resolved is unknown, but both they and their lawyer,  who had previously stated  that his clients had filed a complaint with the investigators, are silent.

If you look at the registers, the picture is also quite interesting. Formally, the founders of OOO Production Company Baikal Aqua are OOO VOSTSIBEKS (99%) and AO VOSTOKBAIKALINVETS (1%), the authorized capital is 10,000 rubles (the minimum possible by law). It is interesting that the company, which bottles millions of bottles of almost free water - the pennies that it pays for the use of the subsoil are not even worth taking into account - is in deep losses, but at the same time both its revenue and assets are growing.

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A similar picture is with OOO Trading Company Baikal Aqua, which sells Legend of Baikal water and all other products of OOO PC Baikal Aqua. The founder of TK Baikal Aqua is OOO Baikal, the authorized capital here is also minimal - 10,000 rubles, there are also losses and negative net assets, although revenue is also growing.

Formally, OOO Trading Company Baikal Aqua and OOO Production Company Baikal Aqua are independent, but they are connected by OOO Vostokbaikalinvest:

This whole chain of founders, hidden one behind the other, is very interesting, but this should probably be investigated by other bodies. Especially paying attention to the reporting figures. We are interested in another question - why information is being cleaned up on the Internet, why the investigation refused to initiate a criminal case, why the victims are silent and why they continue to sell poisoned water.

There is a very simple answer to all these questions. The fact is that  the ultimate beneficiary  of OOO "Production Company "Baikal Aqua", which bottles dangerous water in huge quantities, is Oleg Deripaska. He is also the ultimate beneficiary of OOO "Trading Company "Baikal Aqua", which sells "Legend of Baikal" water.

This name explains everything: the silence in the press, the silence of the victims, the Investigative Committee’s resolution on the "absence of a crime", the erasure of information on the Internet, and the continued sales of dangerous water. And if someone suddenly gets poisoned again, then it’s no big deal. The press will be silenced, the victims will be intimidated and bought off, the investigation will be closed by order from above, the information on the Internet will be erased. And the water will continue to be sold as before.