I've been bombarded with emails from residents of Tyumen. It's hard to say whether lots of different residents are writing to me, or whether it's one resident using different addresses who really wants me to write a post about this. But I'm writing the post. It concerns a company called Aerodromdorstroy LLC. According to public opinion (there is no hard evidence), the company is linked to Sobyanin's wife, Irina Rubinchik (who was allegedly nicknamed "Irina Curb" in Tyumen because she supposedly had curbs installed around the city at absurdly high prices), and to Sobyanin's friend, a local crooked official named Almaz Zakiev.
So, this Aerodromdorstroy supposedly built Tyumen's first underground pedestrian crossing, which according to various reports cost between 500 million and 1 billion rubles. That figure troubles Tyumen residents, who are convinced that Almaz Zakiev and Irina Rubinchik skimmed off a hefty amount of money during construction. Allegedly, the local Accounts Chamber audited the construction and found numerous violations. The Prosecutor's Office also actively investigated the project. Active local residents filed many complaints, but neither the Accounts Chamber report nor the results of the prosecutor's investigation were ever made public. As one of the people who contacted me writes, "the material about SSS has a tabloid feel to it, but people in the know can confirm that it's true." Tyumen is a small city, everyone knows everyone, so a question for the residents of Tyumen and the surrounding region: was there really an issue with the underground crossing? is it true that Sobyanin's wife was "popularly nicknamed" Ira-the-Curb? what's the story with this Zakiev guy? is it really true that "public opinion holds" that Aerodromdorstroy actually belongs to Sobyanin? and more broadly, do people in Tyumen consider Sobyanin a crook? Disclaimer, especially for the smart-alecks: of course I don't believe that the opinions of unknown people in the comments can confirm or refute any facts. The purpose of this post is informal monitoring of public opinion among Tyumen residents. A request to the locals: speak up in the comments. A request to people who know locals: please email them a link to this post. And we'll read what they have to say.