Translated material
Cap analysis
The Kremlin's conflict with the mayor of Moscow continued on air
The Kremlin kept the promise of a source in the presidential administration that Yuri Luzhkov’s statements in the television program “Facing the City”, as well as his article in “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” actually attacked President Dmitry Medvedev and the scandalous article in “Moskovsky Komsomolets” about intrigues around the Moscow mayors allegedly harming the positions of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will not remain without consequences. According to a source in the administration, the capital's authorities are trying to drive a wedge into relations between Medvedev and Putin (see Vremya Novostey, September 10) . As a result, since last Friday, federal television channels have shown several revealing programs dedicated to Mr. Luzhkov. At the same time, Dmitry Medvedev spoke about the mayor of Moscow at a forum in Yaroslavl.Until now, a similar campaign on television was conducted only against the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. In addition, shortly before the resignation of the President of Bashkiria Murtaza Rakhimov, he himself, his son Ural Rakhimov and the political environment were sharply criticized in the “Maximum Program” story on the NTV channel. Then Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article “The Bashkir Paradox” about corruption in the Bashkir fuel and energy complex with accusations against the head of the region and his entourage. Mr. Rakhimov even planned to sue the TV channel and the newspaper , but in the end he was soon forced to write a statement about his voluntary early resignation from his post .
A television campaign against Yuri Luzhkov was opened on Friday, September 10, by the same NTV channel. He showed an exposing documentary about the capital's mayor called "The Case of the Cap." The film talks about corruption cases involving Moscow officials, the business of the mayor's wife Elena Baturina, the construction of a highway through the Khimki forest, and the scandalous demolition of houses of residents of the capital's Yuzhnoye Butovo district.
On September 11, NTV continued the attack by airing a revealing story about Mr. Luzhkov in its Maximum Program. This time we were talking about the reconstruction of the legendary sculpture by Vera Mukhina “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” at VDNKh, which was carried out by Elena Baturina’s structures. The authors of the story calculated that a disproportionately large amount was spent on the reconstruction of "Worker and Collective Farm Woman" - almost 4 billion rubles, that is, more than 50 thousand rubles. per kilogram of steel.
Yesterday, the 24-hour news channel Rossiya 24, part of the state holding VGTRK, also joined the “hot topic.” He showed a documentary about the demolition of architectural monuments in Moscow. It claims that under the pretext of reconstruction, historical buildings are being destroyed in the capital. In particular, the authors of the film called such architectural monuments as the Rimsky-Korsakov estate, the Sukhovo-Kobylin house and Voentorg as remakes. The authors of the film placed responsibility for the demolition of historical buildings on the Moscow authorities.
In turn, Luzhkov’s team also responded to these revelations on television. Alexey Pushkov, author and presenter of the analytical program “Postscript” on the TVC channel owned by the Moscow mayor’s office, compared what was happening to the “information wars of the 90s.” “On Friday, the campaign against Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov continued. Now not only with the participation of print media, but also some television channels. At the same time, we did not see a single authoritative figure on the screens. But we saw those who ten years ago, in 1999, with some amazing frenzy he attacked the mayor of Moscow. Well, it’s a pity that our colleagues on television took part in a campaign of attacks on the head of Moscow, a campaign that is becoming more and more similar to the campaigns of the information wars of the 90s. , that is, a time from which we seem to have left irrevocably,” Mr. Pushkov said on air.
The topic of confrontation between the Kremlin and the capital’s mayor was continued at the International Political Forum in Yaroslavl. A “provocative” question was asked by the President of the Effective Politics Foundation, Gleb Pavlovsky, at a meeting between President Dmitry Medvedev and political scientists. He asked the head of state how he felt about the mayor’s words about the difficult atmosphere in the country. “In your article “Forward Russia!” you spoke about relying on sensible, critical and confident people. You even suggested that such people are the majority. But the Moscow mayor speaks of a difficult atmosphere, that the country cannot develop,” - - asked Mr. Pavlovsky. “Are you suggesting that you send me greetings to the mayor?” - asked Dmitry Medvedev. Hello turned out to be tough. The head of state actually invited the mayor to join the opposition.
“There are people who are dissatisfied with the way we are developing. But if colleagues are dissatisfied, they have the opportunity to draw their own conclusions. Government officials should either participate in improving public institutions or go into opposition. I don’t have the feeling that we have a musty atmosphere , stagnation or a police state. There are those who are dissatisfied. This is normal, this is democracy,” answered the head of state.
The mayor of Moscow was also at the Yaroslavl forum, although he was not present at the meeting between the president and political scientists. So Yuri Luzhkov could not answer personally; he had to do it through the press. “I think that only hotheads could think that Moscow could cause a split in the activities of the highest Russian authorities,” Mr. Luzhkov told reporters, responding to a reproach that he was trying to enlist the support of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in a confrontation with the Kremlin . And, according to him, there is no confrontation either. "Conflict? I don't see it. They're drawing him, maybe that's what they want. There are no conflicts. There are different opinions,” he said. And since there is no conflict, then, according to the capital’s mayor, there can be no reason for early resignation.
The term of office of Russia's oldest regional leader, Yuri Luzhkov, who has led Moscow for almost two decades, expires next year. He himself is not going to resign before this moment. “I have no reason to talk about anything else,” the mayor told reporters.
In turn, after the screening of the film “The Case in the Cap,” State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said that the facts presented in it would be submitted for discussion to the Supreme Council of the United Russia party, co-chaired by Mr. Luzhkov.