In Russia, there is digital feudalism, so on a par with the old ones – soldiers, priests, peasants, petty bourgeois; there are new extraordinary ranks – intelligence services, prosecutor's office, departmental and state officials. Governors are not exactly the weakest people in politics. Ever since the days of President Yeltsin, the practice of "feeding" has returned. Everything is like in Ancient Russia- they give land to people to feed on it. So most of the governors have long felt that they are separate princes, and they absolutely do not agree with the fact that feeding in the civilized world is called corruption. We live almost according to Russkaya Pravda, only better. Most of them "eat for three throats" and burrow so much that they do not even hide their "pranks". Of course, the media use all the opportunities to "suck the information" that government officials sometimes present to them directly "on a platter", showing their acquisitions- businesses snatched for next to nothing, land plots and mansions, apartments where you can deploy a company, collections of watches worth an annual salary, "stables" filled with "elite horses". Even though "geldings" are out of value, it is now fashionable to buy Bugatti, Lamborghini or Ferrari. And when the internet is already boiling with indignation and a huge part of the federal budget subsidies fall into the pockets of the organized criminal group of officials, then even "at the top", patience finishes and the team for rehabilitation arrives. The funniest thing is to look at the faces of the suspended and imprisoned ones, there is a clear reaction of an offended child. For what? Why can another person do everything, but I was caught at the wrong time with another ten million? It's not fair, I can only say that I was just getting a taste!!!
Mr. President came from a time when consumption for show was discouraged. Therefore, he outwardly behaves modestly and hints the "correct" behavior to the rest. The smart governors that understand hints stay on the throne of their principalities for decades, while the stupid ones who openly show off their "new clothes" leave quickly. Anyway, the president looks at the government official's rating. If, despite corruption scandals, an official is "popular among the people", he is usually not touched. Because the main goal of the governor is not only to "fork out money" to the top in time, but also to preserve all the conditions for "business". Corruption is just a form of basic earnings for governors and their team members. Therefore, the supreme authority calmly looks at its existence, because it acts on the basis of the same values. And the "ones who lost sight" are removed not because of the weakness of the government and the fear of a "social explosion", but because now is not the time of Stalin and Khrushchev – no one needs a new Holodomor or Novocherkassk. Why "poke the bear"? The time will come, we will get meat and feathers from them, but now they absolutely do not need extra stress.
And yet, the princes’ appetites are constantly growing. Let's see what happened over the past two years, for example, among the most corrupt regions of the Southern Federal District.
Rostov region
The region is held under the hands of the "unsinkable" Vasily Golubev. He has ruled for almost 10 years, and although more than 50 people from his team are "locked up", including deputies, ministers and mayors- Golubev himself shows that everything is in order and he feels quite comfortable on the Rostov throne. Once again, he commented on the rumors about his resignation as completely groundless on January 23, 2020.
Not everything is so clear: Golubev came into power as a member of Medvedev's team, but the latter was replaced by Mishustin. Now a lot depends on the goals of the new Prime Minister. While there is information that in May, United Russia is ready to support Golubev in the primaries, but now a lot can change in a couple of months.
Golubev's position is unstable not only because of the change of the Prime Minister, but also because the federal center "has issues with him". Too openly and shamelessly for the media, Golubev turned his team into an organized criminal group; too illiterate on his part, on budget funds there is a PR company to protect those who are behind bars and himself. He does not have a personnel reserve, loyal officials who could replace those who were under investigation.
In general, the center has not yet decided for itself – "Akella missed" or not yet. After all, those under investigation will not rat "dad" out. Maybe he really went to work honestly, not noticing what was being done by his henchmen in the region? And they, the scoundrels, you know, got deep into the budget and pumped tens of millions into their pockets behind his back.
Governor Golubev watches cost $ 30,000
Let the investigation answer this question.
In the meantime, we will tell you in a few words about the achievements of the “Akella” team in the field of corruption over the past two years. According to Navalny's staff, the Rostov organized criminal group added about 300 million of "clean" rubles to its " bins".
And this is only what went through the public procurement channel. It makes no sense to show all tenders that raise questions from the point of view of inadequate costs, we will provide a few examples.
Media.
Self-promotion of the government of the Rostov region is now expensive. It outstrips inflation simply with a jet rocket. Over the past 5 years, the budget has grown 10-fold to 124 million rubles. All the years of Golubev's work, the winner of the tenders is the same- Don-Media holding.
Urban improvement.
According to the results of the case of former Deputy Governor Sergey Sidash, it is clear that Golubev’s team "buried" more than 1.5 billion rubles in landscaping: the reconstruction of Stanislavski street, the area around "Rostov-arena", the revival of Park Sobino. And Mr. Sidash had haughty manners: he loved to joke about brazen fortress, he demanded from his subordinates to call him "master", and for unknown merits he memorialized himself in a portrait gallery with frames of pure gold.
governor's house costs $ 180,000
The motor car park of the Government of Rostov region.
More than 300 million rubles were allocated for servicing the park in 2019, 197 million rubles was allocated for updating the car pool- just the "budget" option of purchasing-Mercedes, Toyota, etc. Think about it, 4% of the total budget of the region goes to the motor car park for officials. And if you look at other articles related to the provision of the government, it is almost 20% of the total budget of the region! One of the two – either this is a blatant audacity of "gluttons" at the top of power or a not lesser blatant corruption.
If public procurement may not be so obvious, then Golubev was openly caught out by supporting construction scams.
When the residents of "Teatralny slope" were pressured by "black realtors" who destroyed some of the houses by fire, the governor promised, in the presence of the TV, that the decision to restore the property or get new housing will be made by the owners themselves. In reality, officials did everything possible not only to prevent the restoration of destroyed houses, but also to declare that the completely intact and untouched ones are burned and uninhabitable. Residents were forced to prove that their house was not exposed to fire in the district court. But representatives of the administration for the court were more convincing than the facts and the court declared the houses as unfit for living.
A much more extensive participation of Golubev in the scam in the Rostov region - defrauded co-investors. The regional administration created the Rostov Regional Mortgage Company (RRMC) in order to control the funds of co-investors and monitor the unscrupulous owners of VANT construction holding. In addition Golubev promised to take the matter under his full control and send 3 billion rubles for the completion of housing construction
The funds went through RRMC, but the money disappeared in the same way. The cynicism of government officials was off the scale, and RRMC continued to enter into contracts with co-investors right in the process of its own bankruptcy. As a result, more than 300 million rubles disappeared. How the 3 billion allocated funds were used is also unknown. More than 1,000 human destinies were destroyed – young couples were unable to separate from their parents and live independently; the elderly died before they reached the bright day when they could move into their apartment; school children, whose parents wanted to give them an apartment for adulthood grew up, but never found their family nest. More than 1000 people whom Golubev personally promised to sort out and help. Instead, his team capitalized on their grief.
Alongside the general lawlessness in the region, the governor’s mansion in Vodopadny ("Rostov’s Rublyovka") for 32 million rubles, somehow does not even look that good. Just think, because of one house they made a road. The amount is not serious, even for a small-scale oligarch. If Mr. Golubev did not use his power to "grab" several neighboring plots and close access to water in violation of the Water and Land codes of Russia, and did not "ask " Rosgvardiya "to look after" the house, then there would be nothing to talk about at all.
And this man is sure that everything will work out for him, and he will win the election without a choice and will again sit in the chair of the Governor of Rostov region in May 2020.
The Chechen Republic
The highly-decorated Ramzan Kadyrov got another high honour – this time from the Association of Oncologists of Russia "for introducing a number of important institutions" It Is always interesting when a ruler is rewarded for exactly what he should do. Mr. President has more than 60 awards. You need to have a great sense of humor, or vice versa, to be a government official at 100%, in order to give out, and then, with dignity, accept medals like: "For the development of parliamentarism" (is this in Chechnya?), "For services to the all-Russian population census", "For the protection of Crimea", "10 years of Astana". Even the outsiders get infected with the poison. How do you like the badge of honor of the leader of the “Night Wolves” motorcycle club for jointly made shashlik and drunk wine?
Over the past two years, Mr. Kadyrov has received more than 20 awards. Surely all this is very fun and is a nice bonus in the work of the Chechen local prince. An exemplary personal "Putin disciple" accomplishes his childhood dreams, both at the expense of the budget and at the expense of forced extortions of the population to charity funds. In the most dated region of Russia, 85% of the budget comes from Moscow. Only Crimea gets more subsidies. Since 2001, 70-80 billion rubles earned by other regions have been falling into Chechnya like a black hole. And in 2019 out of 91 billion rubles "income grants" from the Federal budget, 79 billion rubles fell.
So, Vanessa-Mae comes to the economically depressed Republic, and Jean-Claude Van Damme shows a couple of his tricks for a "modest" reward of half a million dollars each, a visit by Mr. Baskov cost $100 thousand, Olga Buzova and Alena Vodonaeva each cost 1 million rubles. How much Ronaldinho and a whole crowd of Russian producers and athletes came to Chechnya for is classified information. But this love for Kadyrov was clearly not free.
The palace of the head of the Republic cost the budget 10 billion rubles. Its annual operation costs 36 million rubles. Kadyrov's modesty is not inherent in principle. He is surrounded by palaces built for him, luxury cars, herds of personal racehorses, which cost about 40 million rubles a year to feed and maintain. When there is talk about his immodest income and lifestyle, the question is: "Where do the funds come from?" Mr. Kadyrov looks down at the floor and says: "the Almighty gives, we don't know". But there is a clear feeling that this is not a reward from Allah for the deeds of Kadyrov himself, which in principle do not exist, but they are funds from the federal budget with greetings from the worker-regions.
In exchange for loyalty to Putin, Chechnya was given the opportunity to become a de facto independent state and to prevent crime from spilling out of the region again- they plugged the appetites of the clans with subsidies. And the leader of Chechnya has long and firmly replaced the law. The balance of the "Akhmad Kadyrov Foundation" is 8 times higher than the reserve fund of Chechnya. Where did the funds come from? Every month, a certain amount is deducted from the salary of everyone who works on the territory of Chechnya.
All Chechens pay tribute to their ruler as one.
The alternative is to lose your job in Chechnya. In fact, you are hinted – you do not accept the new orders, leave with your family.
Mr. Kadyrov has quite a certain reputation, so going against him is tantamount to real or political suicide- not the essence of the matter. One of the honest Vainakhs, Mr. Dzeladinov managed to get on Putin’s direct line and show that Chechnya is not just Grozny. In a video clip about his village, he showed that most of the houses are still not repaired after the war. The result is a burned house, beatings, harassment and threats from Kadyrov's supporters. As a result, the peasant was asked to make an official apology to Kadyrov in exchange for compensation of material resources and the cessation of harassment, which he did. The harassment stopped, but the promised 3 million rubles were not paid.
The people who work for him are not subject to jurisdiction. A second cousin used a stun gun during interrogations. He was "smart enough" to record the execution on camera. Kadyrov at a press conference: "Islam Kadyrov overdid it. After [medical] operations, he went to work and broke down. In order to quickly expose the scammers, he used these methods...I warned him, I said: get treatment. He didn't listen, I had to fire him."
Therefore, corruption scandals against the head of Chechnya begin and end immediately. And the next articles about hiding income, such as the fact that Kadyrov earned more than 98 million rubles just on the tracks and hid these revenues from the Federal Tax Service- ended in zilch.
In the end, the budget's shortfall in personal income from Mr. Kadyrov is sad, but not fatal. There were considerable chances that the economy of the Republic itself would work. But no. All official statements about attracted billion-dollar investments are empty words. Why the region is visited almost daily by investors from all continents is a mystery of nature. Over the past three years, none of the companies that signed letters of intent have implemented these very intentions. Czech, Irish, Spanish, Qatari, South Korean, Chinese and even Moldovan businessmen who wanted to make friends and invest, where are you? Apparently, everyone is scared off by the investment rating of Chechnya, the third from the end for Russia, and, perhaps, the real behavior of officials who, after signing the framework agreements on cooperation, do nothing and do not solve any issues? No, Chechnya can not be a paradise for entrepreneurs. It is clear that a region with undeveloped labor resources will become famous for unemployment. Only the officially recognized level of the population without work is 13.4%. Kadyrov's response PR move – the population became lazy. "The Chechen people are turning into a society of idlers" . The population is simply infuriated by this statement, as well as the show-off and demonstrative consumption of Kadyrov and the people of his clan, since it contradicts Chechen traditions that require modesty from their leaders.
Kadyrov's vertical is stronger than ever. In 2019, Mr. Kadyrov conducted a purge of his surrounding. It was time to "share assets", so high-ranking Chechen officials and their relatives in places of illegal imprisonment signed off their property and transferred multimillion-dollar donations to the "Akhmad Kadyrov Foundation" . Here you are tempted to say: just think, they took away funds from thieves and corrupt officials in favor of other thieves and corrupt officials. But there are two points: for sure, the purge took place after permission from the top and the participants in the outright robbery represented other clans and partially transferred the stolen funds to their support. That is, Mr. Kadyrov is 100% sure that he crushed other clans and does not fear the consequences for himself and the peaceful existence of what is already not a republic, but almost a despotism.
Mr. Kadyrov has his own army. Well, like an army – a full-fledged company of 200 fully armed guards and an appropriate car park to solve very specific issues, and to put it simply- help in recovering debts for "their" senators and businessmen, as well as cover for thieves in law of Chechen origin, gangs engaged in illegal money laundering, extortion, organizing illegal gambling and drug trafficking. A question arises – did Kadyrov's guard cover and protect partners from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other bodies, or did all these "businesses" firmly "lay down” long ago under the President of Chechnya?
How much have crime and state power grown together? Or how much has state power basically turned into a full-fledged mafia? If you compare the situation in these regions of the Southern Federal District, a comparison arises: bad – worse – worse than ever. When Russia is compared to the Upper Volta with nuclear missiles, this comparison causes a smile, because it begins to seem that not everything is so bad. But if you compare the situation with Mexico, the smile immediately disappears. Russia is slowly but surely moving towards this country with a large amount of land and minerals, with an education system that still exists, but has been completely defeated by corruption. The unemployed form entire districts that are run by drug cartels, prisons become separate cities with their own economies, and the police openly engage in kidnappings, extortion, and looting of the population. And all this is practically recognized at the official level.
We live poorly, but I strongly doubt that most Russians would decide to move to Mexico, where the only protection is money and the possession of power, and the rest are better to be invisible gray mice, never go into certain places and solve their problems without involving the police and authorities. I very much hope that Russia will not become a second Mexico and we will have freedom, even if truncated, but the opportunity to protect ourselves, our loved ones and our assets.
https://www.1rnd.ru/news/2639866/gubernator-rostovskoj-oblasti-prokommentiroval-sluhi-o-svoej-otstavke
https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4227503
https://dailystorm.ru/vlast/golubev-mozhet-vyporhnut-ranshe-vremeni
The results of journalistic investigations of Yevgeny Mikhailov and Navalny's staff in Rostov-on-don were used****
Data on purchases are taken from the website of public procurement of the Rostov region
https://novayagazeta.ru/news/2017/11/21/137215-kadyrova-nagradili-medalyu-assotsiatsii-onkologov-rossii
https://ria.ru/20191006/1559483034.html
https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2202985
https://www.golos-ameriki.ru/a/grozny-celebrations-2011-10-06-131219034/246440.html
https://www.kavkazr.com/a/dorogoy-ochen-dorogoy-kadyrov/28762988.html
https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2012/02/16/48300-171-dvorets-kadyrova-187
https://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2016/12/09/669021-korruptsiyu-chechne
https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2019/10/14/82356-chistka-klassa-lyuks
https://meduza.io/feature/2018/11/30/ramzan-kadyrov-zarabotal-100-millionov-rubley-na-skachkah-s-uchastiem-svoih-loshadey-v-ego-deklaratsii-etot-dohod-ne-ukazan
https://tjournal.ru/news/80812-transparencu-kadyrov-zarabotal-98-millionov-rubley-na-skakovyh-loshadyah-za-chetyre-goda-no-ne-ukazal-dohody-v-deklaracii
https://zona.media/news/2019/12/23/islamk?ref=tjournal.ru
https://zona.media/news/2019/10/25/islam
https://zona.media/news/2019/12/23/islamk?ref=tjournal.ru
http://docs.cntd.ru/document/550307657
https://www.kavkazr.com/a/investitsii-v-chechnyu-realny-ili-net/28110007.html
https://www.kavkazr.com/a/ot-bednosti-kadyrov-ne-umret/30295172.html
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5GBlhoFEZb/?fbclid=IwAR3R_Oj00yo_GW3_pslxrlTQMs6RaIYcK8Ete0hNDy8QeeuNLkTLLeTiLh8
https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2202985
