What a piece of work this guy is. I love this kind of thing. Some people have an irrepressible love of life; he has an irrepressible, irresistible, and even—dare I say it—astonishing love of money:
Yakunin proposed carrying out a multi-trillion-dollar megaproject on the scale of the GOELRO plan Moscow, March 11. INTERFAX.RU — Russian Railways chief Vladimir Yakunin has proposed implementing a megaproject in Russia worth several trillion dollars that would unite the economies and cultures of the Eurasian continent. Yakunin, who holds a doctorate in economics, spoke on Tuesday before the presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences with an academic report prepared jointly with academician, noted philosopher and sociologist Gennady Osipov, and Moscow State University rector Viktor Sadovnichy, on the basis of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Socio-Political Research. In his report, Yakunin argued that the West is imposing alien values on Russia—economic development for the sake of increasing quantitative indicators. According to V. Yakunin, by operating within these imposed models, Russia is losing its spiritual and moral foundation, as well as its inherent values and guiding principles. In his view, the country needs to rethink its role in the world and become an "integrator on the Eurasian continent." "The idea that Russia can and should become an integrator on the Eurasian continent was put forward long ago. This is an alternative to the situation of being an 'apple of discord'—when Russia is not situated between Europe and Asia, but connects civilizational communities. That is the idea of Russia as a civilizational center," Yakunin said. In order to become such a civilizational center on the continent, the scholars believe Russia needs to carry out a large-scale project—the "Trans-Eurasian Development Belt," abbreviated TEDB. As part of the project, they propose, among other things, large-scale construction of transport arteries across all of Russia, infrastructure development, bringing labor resources from Asia to the Trans-Urals and the Russian Far East, as well as reorienting the economy away from the 'Western' type, which is detached from spiritual and moral goals and values. As Yakunin stated, throughout its history Russia has continually carried out large-scale megaprojects; he cited the adoption of Christianity in Rus', the conquest of Siberia, the GOELRO plan (the Soviet Union's electrification plan), the USSR's space programs, and the Sochi Olympics as examples. According to him, it is precisely such projects that determine a country's position on the world stage, and Russia needs ambitious plans on this scale. "A project of this kind, a GOELRO plan for the 21st century, is the Trans-Eurasian Development Belt project," Yakunin said. At the same time, he said the TEDB plan would require very substantial resources. "It is difficult to speak about cost estimates; it is obvious that the cost is in the trillions, and not in our rubles. But the result will be of an entirely different order of magnitude," V. Yakunin emphasized. http://www.interfax.ru/russia/363821 Now admit it: how can you not be impressed by this? There isn't a blank spot left on him for another brand mark. A thief among thieves. He runs a state company and at the same time openly lives like some Arab sheikh. Built himself an estate with a fur storage room and artificial ponds.
http://yakunin.fbk.info Right before the whole country's eyes, he just built a road 43 km (about 27 miles) long that cost nearly $10 billion. Together with the contractors, he drained at least $4 billion from this construction project into his offshore accounts. He created an offshore business empire of fantastic proportions worth billions. One son lives in London in a house worth £4.5 million (about 225 million rubles).
Andrei Yakunin The second son lives in Switzerland.
Viktor Yakunin And still, without the slightest embarrassment, he lectures us about the "development model imposed by the West, under which Russia is losing its spirituality." And then modestly adds: give me a few trillion dollars, and I'll raise spirituality and unite "civilizational communities." Or maybe we could start uniting civilizational communities not with trillions of budget dollars, but by sending Yakunin's children and grandchildren from England and Switzerland to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, where spirituality is supposedly doing so well, and where he (Yakunin) plans to recruit the labor force he wants to bring into the Trans-Urals and the Far East?
Guardians of spirituality, values, and moral compass—my ass. They get money in Swiss bank accounts, while we get spirituality, civilizational community, and "labor resources from Asia." PS We ask United Russia and the Investigative Committee not to trouble themselves. The post was prepared and written with due regard for the house-arrest regime under which Alexei Navalny has been unlawfully placed.