Nikolay Pankov (army officer)

Under Pankov's leadership, 40 higher military universities were reduced, and the main blow was dealt to those of them that trained the most high-tech personnel for the Russian army. At the same time, the teaching staff of military universities was reduced by 7 times. The main motive for such a reorganization of military education is the release of buildings belonging to military universities and their sale to affiliated structures.^[7]

Under his leadership, 200,000 officers were dismissed from the army. This reduction in the personnel of the Russian Armed Forces, tentatively, cost the state 1.65 trillion rubles.^[8]

Pankov played a key role in the Serdyukov dacha scandal near Anapa. He came to Anapa, where he convinced city deputies to transfer to the Ministry of Defense a site at the address Krasnodar Territory, allegedly for the construction of a radar station. The deputies allocated the land, but instead of the radar station, a 600 m² residential building with a swimming pool and a boathouse for yachts was built.^[9]

In December 2012, he signed an act on the implementation of all work on the move on a turnkey basis. The Main Military Investigation Department found out that a significant part of the payment was made on the basis of fictitious reporting documents. Pankov signed the turnkey work acceptance certificate, although the work was almost half completed, without his signature the criminals could not have access to the money. At the stage of the investigation, it was found out that by these actions the state suffered damage in the amount of more than 400 million rubles.^[10] The participants in the scam received real prison terms, Pankov was not convicted, despite the fact that the defendants called him a key participant in the scam, but he was obliged to reimburse about 600 million rubles, as the court established as a result of the proceedings.^[11]

He is married, and has a son and a daughter.