Astrakhan dairy technologist faces trial after 12 people contract brucellosis
According to the court's press office, the defendant has fully admitted her guilt. The regional branches of the Investigative Committee and the prosecutor's office charged her under Part 1 of Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The charge concerns the production, storage, transportation and sale of products in breach of consumer safety requirements, including veterinary and sanitary regulations. Kommersant identified the technologist.
The milk was produced at the monastery's farm in Komarovka, a village in the Kamyzyaksky District of Astrakhan Region. The farm belongs to the 51-year-old abbot of the Monastery of St. John the Baptist, Hegumen Pyotr, whose secular name is Konstantin Barbashov. According to Rusprofile, in November 2007 he registered as an individual entrepreneur heading a peasant farm. His principal registered activity is raising dairy cattle and producing raw milk. Additional activities include growing vegetables and melons and raising horses, donkeys and rabbits. The farm has been under quarantine since May 15 because of brucellosis in cattle.
During the farm's operation, the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) and the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) carried out 16 inspections. Most inspections resulted in precautionary warnings issued to Barbashov. The concerns primarily involved veterinary requirements and the paperwork accompanying products. The most recent inspections took place on June 2, followed by July 9 and 29. After the final July inspection, the entrepreneur received another precautionary warning.
According to his biography on Monastic Herald, the official portal of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), Barbashov began studying a military specialty at Kazan Aviation University after leaving school in 1992. In 1995, the department closed, and he transferred to the Astrakhan Technical Institute of the Fishing Industry and Fisheries, where he studied marine propulsion systems and their design and installation. After graduating in 1999, he entered a theological school in Volgograd and completed his studies a year later. He was ordained a deacon on June 28, 2000; on November 5, he took monastic vows under the name Pyotr, and on November 12 he was ordained a hieromonk. By a decision of the Holy Synod dated December 27, he was appointed superior of the monastery, becoming hegumen on January 1, 2001. In 2009, he graduated from Moscow Theological Seminary through distance learning, and in 2013 he became head of the Astrakhan Diocese's catechetical courses. He also serves on the diocesan council and ecclesiastical court.
In an interview with Monastic Herald, the abbot explained that the St. Nicholas–Komarovka skete and monastic dependency had been established because of the difficulties of city life and the monks' desire to work to support themselves and help others. To this end, the monastery purchased an abandoned student camp and land belonging to a former collective farm. Water, electricity and gas supplies were restored on the site. Three rooms were converted into a house church, and a bell tower was built nearby. The church was dedicated to the icon of the Inexhaustible Chalice: according to the abbot, problem drinking was widespread in nearby villages. A copy of the icon was brought from a monastery in Serpukhov. In the same interview, he spoke about the monastic dependency's success in producing Kagor sacramental wine.
Another project at the skete involved vermicompost, which is produced by processing organic matter using earthworms. Barbashov spoke of spending on technology and materials but noted that efforts to establish sales had failed. He claimed that established relationships among market participants restricted access to sales outlets, even though the monastic dependency's products were cheaper and outperformed competitors in laboratory tests. Kommersant established that Zhivaya Sila, a production and trading company associated with this venture, operated from 2007 to 2016. Its revenue was 220,000 rubles in 2013 and 142,000 rubles in 2014; the company never made a profit.
Cattle breeding began at the monastic dependency in 2004 with two donated cows. In a 2022 interview, the abbot estimated the cattle herd at 150–160 animals and also mentioned keeping hens, roosters and turkeys. He said the farm had twice received state support under the Development of Family Livestock Farms program. The funds were used to buy a milk pipeline, milking equipment and a milk cooling tank. The farm produces sour cream, butter, brined cheese and curd-based products from cow's and goat's milk. In an interview with the same portal, Toshcheva described milk pasteurization; the publication nevertheless gave prayer a central role in the production process.
