Rostselmash Denies Fake Order on Staff Cuts and Military Transfer

Rostselmash, based in Rostov, has denied information about alleged mass personnel cuts at the enterprise. This was stated by the plant«s marketing director Dmitry Dontsov.

Earlier, various Telegram channels published a photo of an «order» allegedly issued by Valery Maltsev. It stated that due to falling machinery sales, until May 1, 2026, the enterprise would switch to a three-day work week. To achieve this, up to 35% of all personnel would allegedly be dismissed from the plant.

Furthermore, the document stated that the personal files of the dismissed employees must be transferred to the Russian Defense Ministry so that these people could be sent either to military units or to agricultural work in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Rostselmash was founded in 1929. The company exports machinery to 20 countries. Rostselmash ended 2024 with a net profit of 6.9 billion rubles (approx. $80 million at current rates). This is 2.3 times lower than in 2023. The plant«s total revenue for 2024 was 78.3 billion rubles (approx. $910 million), having decreased by almost 20 billion rubles compared to 2023.

Rostselmash is equally owned by Konstantin Babkin, Yuri Ryazanov, and Dmitry Udras.

At Rostselmash, the «order» was called a crude forgery, stating that nothing of the sort had been issued or signed at the enterprise.

«The absurdity of the situation is underscored by the fact that the authors of the fake didn»t even bother to check the logic: the «pseudo-order» is dated tomorrow. Obviously, we are dealing with a hastily concocted information dump aimed at destabilizing the situation,« stated Dmitry Dontsov.

161.RU has repeatedly written about the problems faced by Rostselmash in 2025. According to Dontsov, the situation in Russian agricultural machinery manufacturing is indeed difficult now. However, the plant continues to operate in normal mode and has already conducted machinery shipments this year.