Mitvol, get out!

Last week, Oleg Mitvol was removed from a departmental meeting, like a schoolboy who had misbehaved. The case is indicative. Still, we are not talking about the class teacher and the guilty student. And about the head of a serious government department and his deputy.

The head of Rosprirodnadzor Vladimir Kirillov introduced the new head of the department. His deputy Mitvol expressed doubt whether the law on civil service had been violated, and for this he was expelled from the meeting. In any law-governed state, such doubts would be considered, and explanations would be provided to employees... But not in Russia.
Meanwhile, Mitvol’s doubts have some basis. The new head of the department, Vasily Bogoslovsky, is in the recent past a co-owner of a large maritime transportation company, Vagna Shipping. This group of companies includes 10 independent structures with their own dry cargo fleet, cargo terminals and port facilities, bunkering stations, a container park, and offices in Moscow, Astrakhan, and Iran. Bogoslovsky was appointed to head the department of maritime control and licensing activities. That is, Mitvol apparently assumed that he could well lobby the interests of certain sections of the business with which he is closely connected.
Since 2003, Bogoslovsky’s name has not been mentioned as a co-owner of Vagna Shipping. So, perhaps, the appointment was dictated by the interests of the case: a major specialist with excellent knowledge of the topic. But Mitvol’s objections are not without meaning: they don’t leave big business for good – their connections, acquaintances, and interests remain.
When Vladimir Kirillov was appointed to the post of head of Rosprirodnadzor, everyone said so - he was appointed to finally get rid of Mitvol, “muddying the waters.” Since then, the echoes of the intradepartmental war periodically reach our ears. But for the first time there was a story about outright rudeness.
Mitvol can be treated differently. He often gets ahead of himself, announcing sensational news that never becomes a reality. But, it seems to me, Mitvol has the main thing - he wants to make the department’s activities transparent. He is not afraid to talk about unfinished business in the hope of winning citizens over to his side. His opponents have a completely different view of these things - they strive to work in silence. But this is precisely what allows one to express suspicions of corruption.