Russia

Corruption, bribes, forged evidence – confessions of a Russian officer

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:52:38 +0100

A senior Russian police officer who dared to denounce the corruption of his olleagues in a YouTube video has been fired just two days after his confession.

So scandalous was the content of his upload, Major Alexeï Dymovsky managed to reach his desired destination - Vladimir Putin. Posted on Friday (Nov. 6), the seven minute confession has been viewed over 100,000 times in just three days. His main complaints: that young recruits only sign up to earn money through bribes, and that high-ranking officers order staff to forge evidence against innocent people in order to boost statistics.

Nothing new there - the police are thought to be the Russian public's least respected institution. For an officer to say it himself, however, is quite something. Indeed; an internal investigation was immediately launched by the Interior Minister. The result came 48 hours later: "These claims are not verified". By nightfall, Dymovsky had been discharged. The story doesn't end there however. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who the video was addressed to, says he is aware of it.

Biggest ever forklift truck boo boo

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:47:47 +0100

Since it was posted on Russian site Scandalim on Tuesday, this video has exploded on the Russian web.

Posté sur YouTube par scandalim

According to a Scandalim manager when contacted by FRANCE 24, the scene took place in a warehouse managed by a major Russian alcohol supplier. Nobody was seriously injured.

The cinema that turned into a church

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:55:54 +0100

In an attempt to do away with religion, Soviet Russia turned its churches into swimming pools, warehouses and sobering-up clinics. Now, the trend is being reversed - schools, cinemas and hotels are being transformed into churches by Orthodox parishioners.

This is, or was, the Shakhter cinema in the city of Safonovo, Smolensk region (east).

When the buidling was still functioning as a cinema in the 1960s. Photo courtesy of Russia Today.

During the building's transformation (2001/ 2002). Image posted on the Smolensk Council website.

And in 2008, as the "Nativity Church". Photo posted by "yardkeeper" on Livejournal.

Pro-Kremlin election observer rants about “merry-go-round” fraud

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:17:29 +0200

Allegations of election fraud in Russia are not uncommon. But they usually come from the opposition. This video, of a slightly irate, somewhat drunk, pro-Kremlin election observer in Moscow, has become one of the most talked about subjects in the Russian blogosphere, after he disclosed the ruling party's "secrets" of fraud.

Sunday's vote in the capital (October 11) secured pro-Kremlin 73-year-old Yuri Luzhkov, Moscow Mayor since 1992, another four years in office. A powerful member of ruling party United Russia, his 66% win will give both him and the Kremlin more clout in future. Luzhkov is commonly blamed for much of the city's corruption, but remains relatively popular with the general public. There are however many within, and in support of the party, who would like to see him gotten rid of. The following United Russia supporter is no doubt one of them. When he was approached by an opposition election observer on Sunday, he had no qualms about describing how the "merry-go-round" fraud system is operated.

"Gazprom, get your phallus out of St Petersburg"

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:50:09 +0200

Thousands of St Petersburg residents took to the streets on Saturday to protest plans to build a 400-metre skyscraper in the historic centre of the city. Despite widespread opposition however, the future home of Russian energy giant Gazprom is already being built.

The 77-storey, €1.6 billion project, was given the green light by St Petersburg mayor Valentina Matviyenko on October 6, despite a warning from Unesco in September that the building could cross the former capital off the list of World Heritage Sites. The Okhta was also criticised by Russian rock star Boris Grebenschikov, who labelled it "the devil's spit". Meanwhile architects Norman Foster, Rafael Viñoly and Kisho Kurokawa, who were invited to judge the project at a meeting held by the organisers, walked out in protest of the plans. According to a poll conducted by non-governmental civil rights organisation EKOM on September 28, only 19.9% of city residents support the project, whereas 66.4% oppose it.

The building, designed by Scottish architects RMJM, also goes against the city's construction regulations, which impose a height maximum of 42 metres - ten times shorter than what's been dubbed the ‘Gazscraper'. And to top it off, archaeologists last year discovered a mine of incredible finds, including remains of the ancient Swedish town of Nyenschantz, two fortresses, and a Neolithic settlement - right below the area where the Okhta is being built. On September 30 the city council announced that the archaeologists would have until the spring to finish their work, when construction would take hold of the entire site.

Moscow council is corrupt and xenophobic... they said so themselves

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:49:41 +0200

Muscovites were, on September 24, surprised to find adverts in the city streets suggesting that their council was corrupt, xenophobic and irresponsible. Carrying the council logo, the allegations seemed to be coming straight from the horse's mouth.

The posters only stayed on display for a couple of hours, but photos of the billboards appeared online a few days later. It was soon realised that the posters were a prank, put up illegally and swiftly removed by the local authorities.

The poster reads: "Tenders are supposed to be fair." Listed as sponsors are Moscow City Hall and Inteko. To an outsider it might seem quite innocent, but every Muscovite understands the hidden joke. Inteko, the capital's biggest development company, is widely believed to receive the most lucrative deals from Moscow City Hall.

Coincidentally, the owner of Inteko, billionaire Elena Baturina, is married to the head of the city council, Mayor Yuri Luzhkov.

"Driver, give way to expensive foreign cars with flashing lights! We are hurrying to work, not to steal!" The logo is that of the Moscow Traffic Police," which is reputed as one of the most corrupt organizations in Russia.

"Smoke. Drink Give birth to freaks." Logos of Moscow City Hall and Jaguar energy drink. Jaguar is the most popular drink amongst youths in Moscow. It has an alcohol content of 9 percent.

"A Georgian is not a friend to a Russian," with the logo of state channel TV 1 and the Nashi youth movement. Both institutions are openly anti-Georgian.

"A Khokhol is no brother to a Russian," with TV 1 and Gazprom. Khokhol is derogatory slang for Ukrainian. The slogan refers to the recent natural gas conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the clear anti-Ukrainian position transmitted on Russian state TV.

Some bloggers took the posters seriously, but the majority of them got the joke and applauded the artist behind it for his daring. They thought that he or she was a political activist, but they couldn't agree from which side.

One of our Observers in Russia tells us that he knows who was behind the prank but that he wishes to remain strictly anonymous. A non-political young man who was simply fed-up with certain aspects of organisation in the capital, he pulled off the stunt with the help of a few friends, and for less than 100 euros in total.

The death of the Aral Sea

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:40:55 +0200

Left - aerial of the Aral Sea in 1989. Right - in 2008.

Once one of the world's largest inland seas and home to thousands of species, in under 20 years the Aral Sea has shrunk to ten percent of its original size and is so salty that barely any life form remains. The Russians were taught to believe that the sea was an "error of nature" and therefore pointless, but as our Observer points out, the real catastrophe was man-made.

Once a vast stretch of water lying between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, the Aral Sea covered 68,000 squared kilometres of water; placing it in fourth place on the world's largest inland saline bodies of water. For the best part of the past century, inhabitants around the Aral Sea thrived on the fishing industry, supplying the former USSR with 20 percent of its fish products. The Aral Sea's fate was sealed as early as 1918, however, when the Soviet authorities decided to divert two rivers that supplied the sea towards a neighbouring Uzbek desert in order to turn the region into one of the biggest raw cotton producers. Construction of the canals began in the 1940s, and although the USSR did succeed in growing cotton and rice out of desert land, by the beginning of the 1960s the sea's water level had started to fall. The lake since split in two, and then three. This year, one of the three dried up completely, leaving only 6,000 squared kilometres of water left in Kazakhstan, where efforts by the government maintain the remaining northern lake.

Images taken from NASA's Earth Observatory website. The first was taken in 2000, the second, in 2009.

Putin's not a fan of punk rock

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:43:44 +0200

With lyrics like "Just don't listen to him; a pig will always find mud to roll in", it's no surprise that punk band PTVP can't be found on Russian TV. But one of our pro-Kremlin Observers tells us it's got nothing to do with politics.

Punk has been more or less entirely removed from the Russian media since Vladimir Putin's first term as president in 2000. Last month we were made aware that some of the music fans had even been added to the government's extremist list and supporters of punk groups were being placed under police surveillance. The lengthy crackdown pushed some groups to go mainstream. But one band which did not succumb to the censorship, is PTVP, or "The Last Tanks in Paris". After AFP published a story about the band on Monday, the Western media fell in love with PTVP, being particularly taken with the idea of calling Putin a pig.

The song in which Putin is referred to as such is called FSB Whore (referring to the Federal Security Service, successor to the KGB). The lyrics are short and to the point:

He always lies to you

Just don't listen to him

Putin-Putin-Putin

A pig will always find mud to roll in

The group also sings in more details about Putin in their take on the Sex Pistols legendary hit God Save the Queen. In the following video they're performing "God Save Putin" at the Tabula Rasa rock club in Moscow, November 2007. Before he starts singing, front man Alexei Nikonov recites a little rhyme about Putin being like a rat.

Insurers avoid me like the plague

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:46:32 +0200

This ad is aimed at people who are having difficulties in finding a willing car insurer - something which is obligatory in Russia. The message at the end: "If no car insurer will have you, come to us".

Russia to launch nationwide citizens militia

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:30:28 +0200

The Russian government is planning to allow pro-Kremlin volunteers to set up a nationwide youth militia by recruiting 100,000 destitute 17- to 25-year-olds to patrol the streets in return for food and shelter.

The news comes just months after a similar initiative was set up in Italy. Is Europe seeing a return to citizen policing?

If approved by the government, the plans would see the Dobrovolnye Molodezhnye Druzhiny (DMD), or All-Russian Association of Voluntary, in action across the country by December this year.

Behind the proposed militia is the Nashi, a pro-Kremlin youth movement which has already been criticised by liberals for recruiting skinheads to "patrol" opposition marches.

Set up in 2005, the movement is considered an initiative by President Vladimir Putin and it remains faithful to the current prime minister. On 3 August, they announced their proposal to the government to nationalise youth patrols.

The group already supervises some youth patrols in the country, but the movement is not widespread. Branches are largely disorganized, funded by churches or local businesses and without any authority. Unarmed, they are unable to arrest people.

The law proposed by the Nashi would allow volunteers to carry Tasers and give them the power to stop and search people. The groups would be directly funded by the government and work in collaboration with the regional police. The State Duma, the lower house of parliament, will vote on the law in October.