How large an apartment can a government official and member of United Russia hide from the citizens of Russia? Any size. For some employees of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, searching for undeclared real estate is practically a favorite sport. And this time, they’ve come back with a championship-level result. Ironically, also from the world of sports. It is Russian Federation Senator Vyacheslav Fetisov.
http://council.gov.ru/structure/person/281/ A legend of Soviet sports, whom we all love. We would love him even more if the senator’s legendary sporting past were not overshadowed by a rather disgusting political present:
Our hockey player joined the Party of Crooks and Thieves (a derogatory nickname for United Russia). But he became a senator. Everything in life has its price. Well, he joined, and he joined. He’s a successful wealthy man. That’s his right. But since Fetisov now, in addition to the title of “sports legend,” also holds the title of “official paid by taxpayers and representing the people in a legislative body,” we also have the right to ask whether Senator Fetisov’s actual property matches what he has declared. Fetisov declared quite a lot, including substantial property in the United States—an elite apartment in New York and a mansion in New Jersey. But he still hid the crown jewel of his real estate collection from us. Apparently he was too shy. Here it is. An apartment registered in his wife’s name, with an area of 1,051 (!) square meters, in one of Moscow’s most ultra-elite neighborhoods—Zachatyevsky Lane:
Full property extract. Not good. Very much not good. How can one hide such a large, beautiful apartment—about 0.1 hectares (1,000 square meters)—from the grateful public?
(The happy owner of the apartment in the Ostozhenka area, Ladlena Yuryevna Fetisova)
https://maps.google.ru/maps?q=%D0%B7%D0%B0%D1%87%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8C%D0%B5%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9%20%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%83%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%BA&um=1&hl=ru&authuser=0&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=il As usual, crude materialists will exclaim: how much is this secret apartment of the United Russia senator worth? We answer: the secret apartment of this United Russia senator is worth quite a lot. Here you can get a sense of the price and see that apartments in this building are selling for 746,000 rubles per square meter, which means the Fetisovs’ apartment, at 1,051.9 square meters, is currently worth about 785 million rubles. It is hardly surprising that our United Russia senator did not include the apartment in his declaration (The latest declaration can be viewed here). Let us note that Vyacheslav Fetisov is, without question, a wealthy man who earned a lot of money honestly. After all, he is one of the most famous athletes in the world. However, when talking about the sum of 785 million rubles, one has to stop and scratch one’s head. The apartment was purchased in 2011 (and has been successfully hidden from all of us for three years already). The entire Fetisov family’s income in the year of purchase was 42.4 million rubles; in 2012, the whole family earned 21.5 million. http://declarator.org/person/1179 There is no information in earlier declarations indicating that Fetisov had bank funds, deposits, or securities in sums anywhere near that colossal amount. As we can see here, since 2002 Vyacheslav Fetisov has been a state official and has had no opportunity to rake in millions by the shovel-load. Or rather, let’s put it this way: he has had no legal opportunity to rake in millions by the shovel-load. And yet, somehow, they appeared. We eagerly await: An explanation from the “servant of the people,” Senator Fetisov, as to why he has been hiding his enormous apartment from us for three years. Clarification of where Fetisov, in 2011, after nine years in public service, got the funds to purchase such an apartment. A formal inquiry in the Federation Council into the violation of the law and concealment of property. Here we need the help of the media. To initiate the procedure, an appeal specifically from a media outlet is required. So we’re grabbing a paper bag of popcorn and waiting. Practice shows that when United Russia members try to justify their fraud, it is very entertaining. Update. Since there has been a lot of talk along the lines of “Fetisov made big money when he was playing abroad,” here is the data on his hockey earnings:
http://www.blackhawkzone.com/salaries/career.php?PlayerID=8169 Four and a half million dollars over his entire career. That is just one-sixth of the value of this single apartment alone. Of course, he also earned money from advertising, coaching, and perhaps other things. But hardly an order of magnitude more. So the source of funding for the purchase of this miracle apartment becomes ever more murky.