FSB of the Russian Federation appropriated funds allocated for space projects - Ukrainian intelligence

In March of this year, Russia launched the first 16 serial satellites of the "Rassvet" constellation into orbit – a project that state propaganda immediately declared to be a response to Elon Musk's Starlink. This project is allocated 102 billion rubles from the Russian federal budget as part of the national project "Data Economy." This was reported by UNN with reference to the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine.

Details

Behind this project is LLC "Bureau 1440," a subsidiary of "X Holding" – another 329 billion are supposed to come from the company itself, but there are no signs that these "own funds" actually exist.

As noted by Ukrainian intelligence, "X Holding" is not so much a technological group as it is a personnel reserve for the FSB. In particular, the first deputy general director of the holding is 29-year-old Boris Korolev – the son of FSB deputy director Sergei Korolev, who is already being predicted for the position of head of the agency. He received the position at the age of 27 – in 2023, when the official owner of the holding, Anton Cherepennikov, "very timely" died. He was 40 – the official version of his death is an overdose.

The scale of "Bureau 1440"'s ambitions and the scale of the disconnect from reality are well illustrated by simple figures. By the end of 2030, the "Rassvet" constellation is supposed to number 292 satellites, and by 2035 – 383. Starlink already has over 10,000 devices in orbit. The density of the SpaceX constellation allows at least one satellite to be constantly in sight at a 15-degree angle – this is what made it possible to miniaturize and reduce the cost of terminals to 350-600 dollars per new device. "Bureau 1440" used terminals based on Kymeta U8 phased array antennas of Israeli production, costing about 25,000 dollars each, in experimental tests. Even if Russia launches the planned number of satellites – which in itself is highly unlikely – the terminal problem will remain unresolved. A mass-produced cheap terminal for a sparse constellation does not exist in nature.

They added that Russia has already gone through similar scenarios.

"National search engine," "iPhone killer," "domestic analogue of Rolls-Royce" – each of these projects received budget funding at the start, propaganda coverage, and a completion date that was postponed each time. Then the projects were quietly closed. "Bureau 1440" has all the attributes of the same genre: opaque ownership, personnel from the FSB, unattainable deadlines, and a chasm between declared and real capabilities. The project, which was supposed to become satellite internet for the entire country, performs a completely different task – to ensure a stable cash flow for structures that have long learned to convert state priorities into private income.

Recall

According to the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, leading Russian economic institutions – the Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-Term Forecasting, the Higher School of Economics, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation – have recorded that the aggressor country's economy has approached stagflation.