Kirov Region and the power of LiveJournal. Nastya Karimova, aka Karisha, aka karimova, stirred up a scandal in Kirov Region. With this comment of hers. The day after belyh was inaugurated, Kirov newspapers reported that I was all but the incoming chief of staff (!) to the regional governor. And they cited Karisha's comment directly. There was also speculation that I would become some kind of "chief PR man." The basis for that assumption: "Navalny has already tried his hand at PR and even did a live report from the inauguration on his blog." All of this came packaged under headlines along the lines of "The governor's personal friend — that's serious business," along with old stories about the shooting at Bilingua (a well-known Moscow club/cafe) and "getting people out of police custody." I have to give credit to the Kirov media, and in particular to the meticulous newspaper Vyatsky Nablyudatel. The fact that they try to sniff everything out and dig up every detail shows that they are real media outlets, not some garbage kept on the authorities' payroll. But I feel obliged to post a kind of disclaimer. Just in case. Dear Kirov media, You now have a fine new governor, one of whose strong points is his openness to the press. What I mean is: you can ask Belykh himself whom he plans to appoint, and to what post. I don't think there are any secrets there. As for this blog, you should bear in mind that a significant portion of the information here (especially about Kirov Region) is presented, let's say, in a, uh... joking manner. If you take everything seriously, you may end up making a fool of yourself. F**or example. As for me, sure, I had a laugh and forgot about it. But what about the people actually concerned? Suppose you write, citing me, that journalist Kashin is now heading the governor's press office, and politician Yashin is taking over the Urzhum distillery. Can you imagine how the real press secretary and the plant director would feel? They could have a heart attack. So please keep in mind that if I do happen to be in Kirov, it is only on private visits, the purpose of which is to sample the famous Vyatka saffron milk cap mushrooms and, on rare occasions, Urzhumka vodka. Such visits carry no political significance. And if they ever do (for example, if I personally ask to be put in charge of the distillery), that will be announced separately without delay.