It is very upsetting to watch what the Federal Antimonopoly Service is turning into.

Whereas this used to be one of the few government agencies that actually worked and did something useful, now it is increasingly turning into Rotenberg’s Little Helpers.

And while the federal FAS (Federal Antimonopoly Service) is simply "staring at its desk" and refusing to do anything, the Moscow branch has turned into a pack of lackeys directly servicing the corrupt schemes of Sobyanin, Liksutov, and company.

Just look at the response they gave us to our complaint about the fraudulent 5-billion-ruble tender run by the Moscow Metro:

Can you believe this? We tell them: here is a corrupt 5-billion-ruble tender, please review it. They reply: you didn’t provide a fax number, so we won’t consider it.

Here, Lyuba Sobol breaks down the situation and publishes the text of the letter itself:

An address, phone number, and email were still not enough for them to take up a 5-billion-ruble case.

What do you call this? Crooks in the FAS are covering for Liksutov’s thieves skimming money off the metro.

Take note that I was writing about this petty official protecting Sobyanin and Liksutov’s shady schemes back in 2012, when he was busy shielding Moscow officials from administrative penalties.

As we can see, Rachik Ashotovich continues to guard the peace and quiet of corrupt officials—only now more openly.

It’s very sad to see what has become of the antimonopoly service, very sad indeed.