After the press conference of President Vladimir Putin, the governor of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Vladimir Butov, became extremely popular. Everyone is looking for him, but they can’t find him.

At a press conference of the Russian president, a correspondent for the Nenets district newspaper "Nyaryana Vender" ("Red Tundra Man") asked Putin a question:

" Vladimir Vladimirovich, a paradoxical situation has now developed in the Nenets District - this is the third prosecutor in a row who has been removed after he begins to investigate criminal cases in which the name of Governor Butov appears. The last such case was literally a few days ago. Butov does not appear on summons for questioning, and as soon as the district prosecutor issued an order to bring him in, he was immediately removed. The question is: does the federal government know about this situation and what does it think about it? Thank you ."

President Putin responded:

“I must say honestly, I don’t know about this, this is the first time I’ve heard from you. Butov, of course, I know, but the fact that he is being summoned for interrogation, including by arrest, is the first time I’ve heard and I promise you that today this issue will be the subject of my conversation with the Prosecutor General.”

Two days after the press conference, it became clear that the Russian president had fulfilled his promise and talked to the prosecutor general. The main result of this conversation is that the governor of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Vladimir Butov, has been put on the federal wanted list. Butov was already a well-known personality in certain circles. He is 44 years old, has a diploma from the Higher Institute of Management (although, according to the Moscow News newspaper, he never studied there and was not given a diploma). He worked as a tractor driver, a carpenter, a snowmobile repairman, was convicted twice (for fraud and poaching), founded several companies in the Nenets Okrug, and at the beginning of 2001 was elected head of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug for a second term. Now everyone knows about Vladimir Butov - thanks to the efforts of a journalist from the district newspaper.

The regional prosecutor's office intends to charge the governor under the article "abuse of official powers", which carries a penalty of up to 7 years in prison. Several more criminal cases have been opened against Butov, among them - “on the fact of fraud in the production of cash offsets for reimbursement of transportation costs”, on the theft of oil from the Nenets Oil Company OJSC. One of the cases was initiated after he refused to comply with a court decision and sign a license for the Northern Lights company to develop the Musyurshorskoye field.

The fraud case was initiated in 2001 based on an audit by the Accounts Chamber of the use of funds allocated from the federal budget for “northern delivery.” According to the Accounts Chamber and the investigation, out of 47 billion non-denominated rubles, as a result of various offset schemes, 8 billion simply disappeared, the same amount, as the Kommersant newspaper writes , ended up in the accounts of the Sir-Vark company, and 22 billion was received by the TransNao company. These two companies were founded by Mr. Butov even before his election to the post of governor. For two years now, the district attorney's office has been trying to bring charges against the governor. But he did not appear at the prosecutor’s office when summoned, making excuses either because he was extremely busy or because he was feeling unwell.

For the last few months, Butov has not appeared in his region. According to the prosecutor's office, he is in Moscow. In an interview that he gave to reporters on Thursday evening, Butov called everything that was happening “a pure order.” According to the governor, he never evaded the investigation, and all the stories from the prosecutor's office about how they ran after him to serve a summons are fairy tales. Now, as Butov said, he is in the hospital, and will remain there until July 2, although the administration of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug knows nothing about the boss’s illness. As for criminal prosecution, Butov is not afraid of it. According to him, the criminal cases in which he is wanted have been ongoing since 1998, “ and since then they have been closed and reopened several times .” “ They’ll make some noise, but when they figure it out, nothing will happen ,” Butov said.

Mr. Butov's self-confidence is probably due to the fact that he actually “fired” district prosecutors three times. The latter, Alexander Lykov, was released from his post at his own request after he gave the order to deliver the governor to the prosecutor's office by force.

This decision caused a mixed reaction in Moscow. High-ranking officials from the Prosecutor General's Office made it clear to the zealous prosecutor that it was better for him to resign. The resignation of Nenets prosecutor Lykov was signed by Prosecutor General Ustinov. The same one with whom Vladimir Putin spoke after the press conference┘

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