Running from corruption

Rosmolodezh and the Ministry of Sports assure that the source of funding for the “Run after me” project is not budgetary funds, but philanthropy of the masses

In December last year (see Novaya Gazeta No. 138 of 08.12.2010), as part of the Chistye.ru anti-corruption campaign, we - Novaya Gazeta and our readers - launched the first joint investigation. Topic: conflict of interest in the family of the head of Rosmolodezh Vasily...

Last December (see Novaya Gazeta No. 138 of 08.12.2010 ), as part of the Chistye.ru anti-corruption campaign, we - Novaya Gazeta and our readers - launched the first joint investigation. Topic: conflict of interest in the family of the head of Rosmolodezh Vasily Yakemenko. In the fall, Yakemenko and Putin discussed the problem of physical education lessons in universities and schools. As part of the conversation, the prime minister was presented with a new project on a healthy lifestyle and proper nutrition, Run After Me. A healthy lifestyle is good. But not in the case when the project to promote it is headed by the wife of the head of Rosmolodezh, we thought. And they were wrong.

On its official website, Rosmolodezh asked citizens to leave "information about cases of violation of the requirements for official conduct and the presence of a conflict of interest of civil servants for consideration by the commission." We tried to help the federal agency as much as we could: readers sent letters describing the conflict of interest of Mr. Yakemenko (Rosmolodezh received more than a hundred messages, for which many thanks to you, readers), and Novaya sent official requests. Not only to Rosmolodezh, but also to the Ministry of Sports in charge of them and the Prosecutor General's Office ...

Literally a week after our inquiries, information about the income of Yakimenko and his family appeared on the website of the federal agency, which was not there before. And the other day we received a letter from Rosmolodezh. We publish our favorites (look for the full texts of the answers on the Novaya website) in the form of our questions and their answers. Stylistics - in accordance with the source.

- If the project is an official project of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, is it funded from the federal budget?

“Rosmolodezh does not finance activities that program participants carry out as part of the project on a voluntary basis. In this regard, Rosmolodezh did not organize tenders to place state orders for the implementation of activities for young citizens within the framework of the project. Within the framework of the project, in 2010 Rosmolodezh carried out the following activities at the expense of the federal budget: preparation and distribution of letters to higher educational institutions of the Russian Federation in order to inform about the project and invite potential participants to participate in it; meeting of the head of Rosmolodezh V.G. Yakemenko with program participants; as well as organizing the development of a program to disseminate a culture of nutrition and physical activity among young people.”

- Who is the leader of the "Run for me" project? What position does Maria Soboleva hold within this project? Does Maria Soboleva receive funds in the form of wages, royalties or in any other form as a "creator" or "consultant" of the Run for Me project?

“The Run for Me project, as a set of activities of Rosmolodezh, has no leader. After the All-Russian youth educational forum "Seliger", this project was picked up by young citizens, and in various regions of the Russian Federation they organized associations for joint sports.

The Moscow Association of Young Citizens, one of whose members is Maria Soboleva, has achieved significant results and attracted show business stars, the best trainers and nutritionists, and sponsors - food manufacturers to the activities of its public association. Rosmolodezh does not allocate funds to Maria Soboleva, who is a participant in the Run for Me project, in the form of wages or other rewards.

All of us, dear readers, it turns out, mixed up. Rosmolodezh has no financial relationship with its offspring, and the presentation on Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow, training, rental of premises, trips of project participants to holiday homes, information support - all this was and is paid for by generous sponsors.

In general, the party said: “It is necessary” - and the jubilant masses, led by sponsors, were in unison ... We passed, we know.

But wait… At the expense of budgetary funds, they paid for “the organization of the development of a program to spread the culture of nutrition and physical activity of young people”, but at the same time “they did not organize tenders for placing state orders”? That is, the employees of Rosmolodezh themselves wrote the program? Even without the involvement of the Higher School of Management (it is this organization that usually develops projects for Rosmolodezh and Nashi) or, at worst, the Healthy Generation (another brainchild of Yakemenko and Co)?

If you believe the answer of Rosmolodezh, Maria Soboleva is an ordinary participant. According to the project website, Maria Soboleva is still the leader. (Even this conflicting information was too lazy to remove!)

And at the bottom of each page of the “Run for me” website is a copyright icon and the signature: “Federal Agency for Youth Affairs. All materials belong to the owners of the site. If the site belongs to Rosmolodezh, then it was created with its money, but again without a competition?

Or, perhaps, an active participant in the project, Maria Soboleva, created the site with her own money and then donated it to Rosmolodezh? After all, the zamnoy.org domain is registered in the name of V. Yakimenko's wife. At the same time, in the personal data provided by the registrant, a strange phone number is given - (495) 12-34-56, in which at least one digit is missing. Perhaps this information will be of interest to the domestic domain registrar Ru-Center, in accordance with the agreement concluded by ICANN * responsible for the accuracy of the data provided by registrants.

Dear readers! We managed to get answers from Rosmolodezh to the questions we and you raised, and, believe me, given the specifics of this organization, this is an achievement. However, they do not satisfy us at all. And you? What will we do next: wait for the response of the Prosecutor General's Office, write new requests, dig? Express your opinion in the comments on the Novaya website or send it to novgazdocs@gmail.com . Let's think together.

* An international non-profit organization that regulates issues related to domain names, IP addresses, etc.

PS Separately, we want to thank our reader Felix Gansovsky, who found information about the zamnoy.org domain. Thank you for your indifference!