The Azov City gambling zone will be closed until April 1. The tenants received a letter with such notification from the Minister of Strategic Development of the Krasnodar Territory Alexey Sheyan. The message states that the decision to close the zone was made in connection with amendments to the law “On Gambling Activities”, according to which in Kuban a gambling zone can only be located on sections of Olympic facilities of federal significance. What is happening today was described by Radishchev in “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” and shown by Zvyagintsev in the film “Leviathan,” says economist Sergei Aleksashenko

Photo: Alexander Shcherbak, Kommersant / buy photo

By decree of Empress Catherine II of September 4, 1790, Alexander Radishchev was found guilty of ... publishing a book ... filled with the most harmful speculations that destroy public peace, belittle the respect due to the authorities, strive to create indignation among the people against the bosses and authorities, and finally insulting and violent expressions against the dignity and power of the tsar" and was sentenced to death, which was mercifully replaced by ten years of exile in the Ilimsk prison. The entire circulation of the novel "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" was destroyed.

The novel about the structure of Russian life at the end of the 18th century begins with an epigraph that is familiar to many - “The monster is mischievous, huge, loud and barking.”

Do you think much has changed in Russia in two and a quarter centuries? In January 2015, a copy of Viktor Shenderovich’s book “Brain Blockade” was destroyed at the Ulyanovsk printing house. Without any imperial decree. And without a court decision. Simply because someone found this book unreliable.

The plot of Andrei Zvyagintsev's film "Leviathan" is simple and well known - an official, the same one who snatches property from a simple Russian peasant. Who did everything with his own hands. Who never asked anything from the state.

Many high-ranking heroes of federal television channels, who, I think, never watched this film, filled the airwaves with cries of blasphemy and slander against modern Russia. So that they can curb their ardor, I advise them to familiarize themselves with the next feat of the Russian Leviathan. By decision of the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Azov City gambling zone, which has been operating on the basis of the law for four years, will be liquidated. Built entirely with private funds. Where 500 jobs were created, which for an area with a population of 36 thousand people is equivalent to the creation of 2 million jobs across Russia. Why is it being liquidated?

Yes, because the Russian Leviathan, this time taking the guise of Sberbank, lobbied for amendments to the law on gambling, adopted 8 years ago. And now in the Krasnodar Territory, a gambling zone can only exist at Olympic venues. Owned by Sberbank.

Speaking at the Gaidar Forum, the head of Sberbank German Gref spoke about the danger of nationalizing a significant part of the economy due to the insolvency of borrowers. And so I think: have things really become so bad for Sberbank that without building a Russian Las Vegas on the bones of Russian businessmen, it will no longer survive?

By the way, the Ministry of Finance will have to pay ten billion rubles for the liquidation of Azov City. At our expense. Taking money from doctors and teachers.

And one last thing. I hope that after this story all talk about liberals in the Russian government will finally stop.

"Leviathan, in the guise of Sberbank, lobbied for amendments to the law on gambling"