As promised, we’re continuing our series of ruthless mini-investigations, driven by the fact that we’re very angry: Moscow crooks stole the election from us, looted our office, and jailed our colleagues.
This time, the steamroller of anti-corruption repression has rolled over someone completely unknown to the general public. In fact, he’s barely known even to a narrow circle. Until the last couple of weeks, we ourselves had never heard of him.
Nobody knows him, nobody has heard of him—and he’s delighted by that. He thinks: “Look how cleverly I fooled everyone!”
Not so fast. Meet the former Moscow military commissar, now Head of the Moscow City Department of Regional Security and Anti-Corruption Vladimir Regnatsky. He is doubly interesting to us: both as an “anti-corruption fighter” and as the official responsible for ~~approving~~ refusing approval for public rallies.
A colonel, a military man—what could he possibly have? Even if you look at his asset declaration, there’s only an 88-square-meter (947 sq ft) apartment and nothing else...
Here, take a look at the declaration yourself. He really seems poor as a church mouse: no car, no dacha (country house), not even a spouse.
And take a look at the man himself. That way you’ll recognize Moscow’s chief anti-corruption crusader on sight.
You can study his biography on the mayor’s office website. It’s a picture-perfect read. No “businessman from the wild 1990s” there—just the career of a military official since the late 1980s.
Regnatsky would never have come to our attention if it hadn’t turned out that he is precisely the official—along with his boss Gorbenko, of course—who handles the issue of Moscow rallies. He approves them, negotiates over them, oversees security. In practice, though, he bans them, thereby authorizing violent dispersals and arrests.
For example, one of the organizers of the rally in support of Golunov (journalist Ivan Golunov) describes how the “negotiations” with city hall went. Who was negotiating on behalf of the mayor’s office—and who banned the rally? Regnatsky.
In short, Regnatsky is by no means a top-tier political figure, but under the circumstances he is well worth paying attention to.
How do you imagine the life of a military man who has devoted himself to public service? Fairly modest, right? There’s a stereotype that military people are supposed to live more modestly, more frugally, than some dyed-in-the-wool United Russia politician like Metelsky.
And before your imagination carries you off to some standard Soviet-style high-rise out by the MKAD (Moscow Ring Road), let us stop you right there.
We’re headed to Ostozhenka—to that very “Golden Mile.” Not only to the Golden Mile, but to one of its trendiest buildings. The 20-apartment luxury club residence “Cooper House.” 3 Butikovsky Lane.
The building has won a whole string of architectural awards and belongs to the very highest category of elite housing. The best and most expensive kind of property you can get in the capital.
And who, exactly, did we find there among the owners?
A 146-square-meter (1,571 sq ft) apartment turned out to be owned by the man who was then Moscow’s military commissar.
And it didn’t just somehow end up in his hands—note carefully from whom he “bought” it: from the city of Moscow, whose military order he was overseeing. We—and by now you along with us—have seen similar registry extracts a hundred and fifty times in our previous investigations. A “purchase” from Moscow is a form of giveaway, a housing subsidy. The city takes property off its own books and hands it out to officials. It is done for a token price.
The market value of such an apartment is 200 million rubles (roughly several million U.S. dollars).
That is equal to 40 years of Regnatsky’s salary—even using his latest, highest one.
But why isn’t it listed in his declaration?
Because Regnatsky was so determined to keep anyone from learning about his real wealth that he transferred the apartment to his 74-year-old mother, so now it supposedly isn’t his.
Moscow pensioners sure do live well—with 200-million-ruble apartments!
And if it suddenly turns out that it is not the 74-year-old mother living in a building alongside oligarch neighbors, but Regnatsky himself... then our colonel has a big problem. The anti-corruption department he heads would have to investigate its own boss. This apartment is not listed as being at the official’s disposal—and that is a serious violation of anti-corruption law.
The next time you see photos or videos of a police officer punching a young woman in the stomach, know this: Colonel Regnatsky is defending his “golden” square meters on Ostozhenka.
This apartment was given to Regnatsky by Moscow. It was paid for out of the budget—in other words, 200 million rubles were effectively taken from OUR taxes and handed to Regnatsky. And now he gives orders to beat us with batons.
Smart Voting is the only way to get rid of these fabulously rich, vile officials. No sane deputy or uncorrupt city hall employee would ever have allowed the city to hand out apartments like this in elite club residences on Ostozhenka. ON WHAT GROUNDS?! FOR WHAT?! Let’s stop this together. Sign up for Smart Voting. Vote only for the candidate with the best chance of defeating the United Russia nominee. If every Muscovite watching this video does that, then on September 9 a lot of upset United Russia officials will be packing their things and vacating their offices. Don’t miss this opportunity.
You can watch the previous installments of our investigative marathon here:
And this is only the beginning. Watch out, crooks.