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Thursday, 21.04.2011
Kremlin administrator wants to bury Lenin and palace scandal
Moscow. 900 VIP limousines with flashing blue lights are cruising around Moscow, according to Vladimir Koshin, the head of Kremlin administration. Koshin does neither see a problem with this nor with the scandal over the alleged Putin palace.
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Accidents with VIP cars have increased in the recent years. According to official statistics there were 218 VIP car involved in accidents, last year. 30 of them were equipped with a blue light.
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Discussion over VIP cars with flashing blue lights
The head-on collision of Lukoil Vice Anatoly Barkov 's official Mercedes on Leninsky Prospekt in Moscow caused an enormous scandal. In the accident two women, the occupants of the oncoming car, were killed.
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Although accidents are generally closely monitored by more than a dozen video cameras, none of them recorded anything in detail according to the police (some cameras were apparently turned off). While witnesses state that Barkov's limousine had been driving at top speed in the opposite lane, the police named the victims of the accident as the perpetrators, who had moved into the opposite lane and therefore caused the accident according to the official statement.
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Koshin feels talking about VIP cars is unnecessary
Since then there had been heavy debates about the legitimacy of the blue-light limousines in Russia, which are completely unnecessary as per Koshin.
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Maybe 900 blue lights are slightly too much for Moscow, he admits. It is actually only a problem for the residents of elite residential areas around Kutusovski Prospekt or the exclusive mile of Rublevka. If we would go to Birjuljovo or Shulebino and ask people there, whether they were upset about this problem, we would get a clear answer: "Go away, we have completely different problems".
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Kremlin wall is to be cleared
Obviously it is much more important to move Lenin. The body of the leader of the revolution has been on display in a mausoleum at the Kremlin wall since his death. In recent years, calls for Lenin, who celebrates his 131st Birthday the day after tomorrow, to be removed and burried in the cemetery had increased.
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Koshin has now joined these demands. Of course this is not only about removing the corpse. Koshin advocates to clear the whole Kremlin wall, convert the beds there, remove all the remains of the Bolshevik Elite and bury them according to Christian tradition in a cemetery.
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Koshin denies involvement of Kremlin administration in 'Putin palace'
The chief of the Kremlin administration would like to bury also the scandal over the 'Putin palace' at the Black Sea. This issue got into the headlines after President Medvedev received an open letter from businessman Sergej Kolesnikov who stated that a billion dollar residence for personal use of Prime Minister Putin is being built at the Black Sea.
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Koshin denied again these accusations. He explained his own signature on an investment contract for the project with the following reason, that the Kremlin administration had been looking to find investors in 2004 for the renovation of a small state owned health spa in Tuapse.
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It apparently ended in 2008
The investors had then proposed a new construction instead of a renovation. 'And like with all other investment contracts we received ownership over a part of the project'. In 2008 the Kremlin ended its involvement in the project after the investor had asked for money to complete the building of the palace.
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Now the palace is in private ownership, only the land belongs to the state, but is being leased to the construction company. According to Koshin, the Kremlin administration has no further involvement with the project.
Original German text can be found here >>>
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