Eduard Starovoitenko destroys "Eleron": how under the Ministry of Defense general, Rosatom’s group lost billions of rubles
The current situation in the renowned State Corporation “Rosatom” is illustrated by the example of JSC FCNIVT SNPO “Eleron” (part of Rosatom), which specializes in the production of physical protection systems.
In addition, the company is involved in the construction of specialized facilities. The current management of Rosatom appointed Lieutenant General Eduard Starovoitenko, former commander of a division of the Strategic Missile Forces of the Russian Ministry of Defense, as the head of Eleron. As a result, what had been a successful enterprise providing thousands of jobs has now been reduced to “ruins,” with debts exceeding 50 billion rubles.
Before Starovoitenko’s arrival, Eleron employed nearly 10,000 people, had several design institutes, and carried out construction and installation work on highly complex specialized facilities.
One of Starovoitenko’s first actions was to begin staff reductions, and he became so absorbed in this process that today only about 2,000 employees remain. He treats staff in a military style, showing little courtesy. As a result, the best specialists and professionals have been dismissed, leaving mostly those willing to “salute” unquestioningly.
An annual audit of Eleron revealed losses in the billions at what was once a successful enterprise. Auditors noted that the current management is doing nothing to change the situation. At present, the recorded losses amount to approximately 50 billion rubles. Yet Rosatom seems satisfied with this situation (after all, who counts budget money?), and the corporation keeps the company afloat through recapitalization — in July 2025 alone, around 10 billion rubles were transferred to cover the losses.
Recapitalization is supposed to be carried out only after a full audit of losses, the creation of a registry of unprofitable areas, and offsetting these from recapitalization funds. However, Starovoitenko, together with Deputy for Economics and Finance Kurenkova, made decisions to misuse funds for their own current needs — including paying for the director’s fishing trips in Kamchatka with rented vessels, renting real estate for leisure (always accompanied by a close associate, Davydov). All of this was recorded as business travel expenses, with the accounting sheets showing astonishing figures.
As a result, the company’s losses have continued to accumulate, and the question of Eleron’s viability is now being raised.
The “sinking ship” has already started to lose people. In December, the entire senior management surrounding Starovoitenko resigned.