THE PRESIDENT WILL REMOVE THE FLASHING LIGHTS. OR THE FLASHING LIGHTS WILL REMOVE THE PRESIDENT

SEPARATE CONVERSATION

By launching a campaign against flashing beacons, Vladimir Putin took aim at the sacred: the symbols of belonging to the highest caste, which is like cutting the combs off roosters. The owners of the attributes of being chosen just don't...

By launching a campaign against flashing beacons, Vladimir Putin took aim at the sacred: the symbols of belonging to the highest caste, which is like cutting the combs off roosters. The owners of the attributes of being chosen won't just give up.

Here, in fact, the most interesting begins, a kind of test drive for the first person. Will he be able to remove their flashing lights - or will the flashing lights remove the president?

We think there are three possible scenarios for the development of events: optimistic - the president will win and all drivers will become completely equal, pessimistic - the public campaign will stall after the elections or even before them, not even a year later, and, finally, a compromise - flashing lights will be removed, but the number of all kinds of escort jeeps and police guards, who can legitimately blink at their pleasure.

If the campaign launched by the President of the Russian Federation does not lead to results, it will only mean one thing: very important people who put blue beacons on their cars live on their own, so to speak, independently, as a separate government. This means that the first person of the state does not control the process. That is why, it would seem, not the biggest issue of reducing special signals on the roads, in our opinion, is of fundamental importance for the president.

As soon as the president hinted, the executive branch immediately began to restore order on the roads of the country. Last Friday, Rashid Nurgaliyev reported to the President on what measures would be taken to reduce accidents on the roads. The Minister of the Interior was especially pleased with his decision to rid the country of unnecessary flashing lights.

According to Rashid Nurgaliyev, about seven and a half thousand cars with flashing lights are currently driving on the roads of Russia. By November 1, the minister promised to reduce their number to one thousand, that is, seven times.

- Formally, there are so many of them, - confirms Vyacheslav Lysakov, leader of the people's movement of motorists "Freedom of choice". - Even in fact, there are something in the region of 6800 flashing lights. But the problem is that special signals are in very high demand for criminals, this is a huge business. Formally, there are seven thousand of them, but in fact there may be seventy-seven of them, and no one knows for sure.

As early as April 2006, Novaya Gazeta tried to find out how many there were. We addressed inquiries to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the traffic police of Russia. Both departments refused to provide us with information on this matter.

Owners of flashing lights are divided into two categories. The first is the power structures, and the traffic police quite rightly refers to the fact that "the list of vehicles on which the installation of special signals is allowed is determined by government decree No. 482." But it is not entirely clear why this list is secret. The second category of flashing lights are cars used by very important people, for example, the president of the Russian Academy of Sciences or the head of Gazprom. This information can be provided to the traffic police and the Ministry of Internal Affairs only by a court decision. They refer to the protection of the interests of individuals.

Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 482, to which representatives of the traffic police referred in the answer to Novaya Gazeta, secures the right to use special signals for ambulances, fire and police services, military traffic police, cash collection services of the Central Bank and Gokhran, emergency rescue services, special communications services, prosecutor's office, drug control, bodies and institutions for the execution of criminal penalties (FSIN) and bailiffs (FSSP). In this case, all cars must be distinguished by a special coloring.

Without special coloring, flashing lights are allowed to be installed on vehicles of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (no more than 230 cars), the Ministry of Defense (22), the Federal Penitentiary Service (5), the Federal Service for Special Purposes (5), the Federal Customs Service (8), the FSB (no more than 95), the Federal Drug Control Service (20), the FSO ( no more than 105), SVR (14), special communications agencies (15), State Fiscal Service (68), Prosecutor General's Office (10), Ministry of Emergency Situations (9), Rosenergoatom (2), Presidential Administration (17), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (15).

The most extensive category is personal company cars. According to the resolution, flashing lights are available for the heads of the presidential administration (including representatives in federal districts and regions), the head of the Security Council, the Secretary of State of the Union State, members of the government, the head of the Central Bank, the president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, heads of law enforcement and defense services and agencies, the chief of the General Staff, heads of the government apparatus and Federal Assembly, speaker and vice-speakers of the Federal Assembly, heads of factions and deputy groups, judges of the Constitutional Court, chairmen and deputies of the Supreme Court and Supreme Arbitration Court, the Prosecutor General and his deputies, heads of the Accounts Chamber and the Central Election Commission, governors and heads of regional legislative assemblies, as well as heads of Gazprom , RAO "UES of Russia" and Russian Railways.

The paradox is that Rashid Nurgaliyev is going to reduce the number of flashing lights on the roads without amending the current government decree. Firstly, in this way the minister indirectly admitted that the lion's share of special signals was issued illegally. After all, if flashing lights were issued only to persons and organizations indicated in the list, their number would not exceed two thousand.

And secondly, the measures proposed by Rashid Nurgaliyev are most likely nothing more than another populist move. Today, all flashing lights are removed in public, and tomorrow they can put them back on, of course, without inviting the media.

Rashid Nurgaliyev called the current fight against flashing lights unprecedented, but the ideas of the minister reported to the president are very similar to the text of the bill authored by Vladimir Pligin, Vladimir Medinsky and Alexander Moskalets:

“The document proposes to keep flashing lights only for persons protected by the Federal Security Service, and there are about twenty of them in Russia,” explained Vladimir Medinsky, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, “as well as for vice-premiers of the government and persons equated to them.

In addition, the deputies proposed to establish an upper limit of one thousand special numbers for the whole of Russia: approximately eleven numbers per subject of the Federation. However, the law of Pligin, Medinsky and Moskalets is the mildest of the measures proposed by the deputies to combat special signals.

- From the parties "United Russia" and the Liberal Democratic Party agreed with this project on "a thousand special numbers." All the rest signed the "law on eight flashing lights," said Vyacheslav Lysakov.

The project "about eight flashing lights" was submitted to the State Duma in the spring by deputies from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, "Motherland", "Narodnaya Volya" and independent legislators. According to the draft, special signals can only be kept for the president, prime minister, speakers of the Federation Council and the State Duma, the prosecutor general and chairmen of the country's Constitutional, Supreme and Supreme Arbitration Courts.

- Nurgaliev says "leave a thousand," continues Vyacheslav Lysakov. - And who will count this thousand? Where there are a thousand, there are two and three. As a result, those who now remove the flashing lights will immediately return them in one way or another. Therefore, the number of "entitled" should be very strictly limited. Let it be not eight, but ten or fifteen flashing lights, but no more.

However, Nurgaliyev's statement pleased public organizations, despite the prevailing opinion that "it's just the boyars bowing at the king's feet."

“The movement against special signals has been going on since the beginning of the year,” reminds the leader of the “Freedom of Choice”. - At first it was an action in defense of Oleg Shcherbinsky, then the May protest action “No flashing lights” (at which, by the way, serious intimidation measures were taken against the participants by the traffic police. - E.I.). And, finally, now the speeches of motorists have reached the authorities.

However, the protests "came" to the authorities even earlier. Yuri Luzhkov in May signed a decree according to which members of the Moscow government were generally forbidden to use special signals on cars. You can only drive with a flashing light to the highest city officials, and even then only in emergency cases. Now Luzhkov has gone even further. According to the mayor of Moscow, "flashing beacons and special signals should remain with only three persons in the state: the president, the prime minister and the patriarch."