You’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead. But perhaps you can speak with skepticism. Yesterday, 29-year-old Alexei Dergachyov, head of the Land and Property Relations Department of the Central Administrative District Prefecture of Moscow, was killed. He is survived by a wife and a son. It is all terrible and tragic. His colleagues described A. Dergachyov as a man of principle. He spent his entire career in municipal and government service. *Despite his youth, Alexei Dergachyov had gone through every step of the career ladder. In 2002, after graduating from the Institute of Municipal Services, he began working at one of the DEZ offices (district housing maintenance offices). Then, after moving to the prefecture, he served in turn as a lead specialist in the department, chief specialist, and deputy head. Mr. Dergachyov had worked as head of the Land and Property Relations Department for two years. *http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=917054&NodesID=6 Meanwhile, A. Dergachyov was shot as he was getting out of his **Mercedes GL 550. **Let’s do the math: Dergachyov had been working in government bodies straight out of college since 2002. Six years. He could only have been earning more than $1,500 a month in his most recent position. Before that, his salary was $500–800. But let’s take an average of $1,500. 7 years × 12 months × $1,500 per month That means that over his entire working career, A. Dergachyov could have earned $126,000 in total. And even if he had neither eaten nor drunk nor taken girls to the movies, he still would not have been able to save enough for a **Mercedes GL 550. **And yet, somehow, he did. Interesting, isn’t it?