You all complain that this blog only ever writes about thieves and corruption. So here’s a love story for you.
Any effort will produce results. Especially when that effort is driven by love.
Take old man Kusnirovich, for example. He loves those in power so much, works so hard for them.
Some might even call it "playing lackey": he works hard for dear _Sergei Semyonovich’s_ early election, and organizes clownish primaries for United Russia, but only foolish people would say that. Smart people would say: he’s not being a lackey, he’s simply in love.
Mikhail Kusnirovich, deputy chairman of the Moscow Public Chamber and a member of the civic initiative My Moscow, said turnout in the primaries was several times higher than in the opposition’s online initiative. "Five times more people took part in the Moscow City Duma primaries than in the online election to the opposition’s Coordinating Council. Opposition initiatives in Moscow drew 45,000 people over two days, while My Moscow got 200,000 offline in a single day," he noted. In Kusnirovich’s view, that turnout reflects the "quality of the candidates" who managed to attract voters. http://ria.ru/moscow/20140609/1011292392.html
A member of the My Moscow initiative, one of the eight signatories of an appeal that states, among other things: As citizens of Russia and Moscow, we support making the upcoming elections to the capital’s parliament just as free, fair, and competitive as the recent Moscow mayoral election. http://www.interfax.ru/366764
The campaign headquarters of acting Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin consists of 33 people. According to materials prepared for the headquarters’ first meeting, its members include surgeon Leo Bokeria, actor Gosha Kutsenko, Mosfilm CEO Karen Shakhnazarov, businessman Mikhail Kusnirovich, and a number of other well-known figures. http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2214440
Under the adopted resolution, Putin’s authorized representatives, who would be able to campaign for him and present the candidate’s platform, included artist and rector of the Russian Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture Ilya Glazunov, Sergei Glazyev, head of the Department of Economic Policy at the State University of Management, Bosco di Ciliegi president Mikhail Kusnirovich, and Vladimir Lagkuev, CEO of Intourist-Ossetia. RIA Novosti http://ria.ru/vybor2012_putin/20120209/561057851.html
And Kusnirovich’s love has borne fruit: he is leasing the famous GUM department store (the historic State Department Store on Red Square) for another 49 years without the competitive bidding normally required in such cases.
There is a caveat in the law: in exceptional cases, by order of the prime minister or the president, the tender procedure can be skipped and a "winner" simply appointed. And here too, apparently, we have such an exceptional case. Love, after all.
Order of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 242-r
To authorize the lease for 49 years to the open joint-stock company Trading House GUM (Moscow), without competitive bidding, of premises with a total area of 74,967.9 square meters, forming part of the cultural heritage site "Upper Trading Rows (GUM), 1889-1893, architect A.N. Pomerantsev" (Moscow, 3 Red Square), with the rent to be determined on the basis of an assessment of the market value of the right of possession and use, conducted in accordance with the legislation regulating valuation activity in the Russian Federation. Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, D. Medvedev
What kind of "market valuation" that will be, we can guess from the example of the purchase of the Hungarian trade mission building for the Ministry of Regional Development. Characteristically, the amount of this "market value" has already been determined, but has not been disclosed.
So there you have it: a story about love, not theft.