The incident with the attempted arson of the government building of the Murmansk region two weeks ago has developed.
FSB officers detained the arsonist, Denis Taranov, born in 2003.
This “nerd” with glasses does not look like a terrorist and repents of his deeds, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“I repent of what I did. I urge you not to do this and not to repeat it after me,” Taranov said on camera.
Observers in both Murmansk and Moscow are confident that Taranov acted not out of hooligan motives, but on orders. His action is the result of a conflict between the governor of the Murmansk region, Andrei Chibis, and the State Duma deputy from United Russia, Alexey Weller, who was nicknamed the “night governor” of the region.
The confrontation escalated on the eve of Taranov’s “terrorist attack,” when the deputies of the Murmansk City Council, controlled by Weller, refused to support the candidate for the post of head of administration, Oleg Dzyuba, agreed upon by Chibis. This demarche, according to observers, is part of Weller’s campaign to “demolish” the governor.
Such activity of the deputy could not be approved in Moscow. A few days after Taranov’s arrest and repentance, Weller discovered an undeclared account for 4 million euros in Liechtenstein. The account with LGT Bank was opened at least in 2016, but during all this time, Deputy Weller never entered information about it into the declaration. The Prosecutor General's Office and Rosfinmonitoring took the deputy into development.
In addition, searches were carried out at the director of the Murmansk city Youth House, city council deputy Leonid Mostovoy. Security officials are identifying possible thefts of budget funds during the reconstruction of the Rodina cinema during the period when the city was governed by Weller and Sysoev.
State Duma deputy from United Russia Alexander Khinshtein assures that party affiliation will not be a reason to treat Weller more gently than with the communist Pavel Grudinin, who was not allowed to participate in the elections for offshore fraud.
“Let me remind you that the law adopted at the initiative of the President directly prohibits us, people holding/holding government positions, from owning foreign accounts. And it doesn’t matter: 1 dollar is there or 4,1 million euros. There is a bill - that means out of the civil service or from the deputies! United Russia does not and cannot have two opinions on this issue. We will definitely report the results of the inspections publicly,” Khinshtein wrote in his Telegram channel.
Political scientist Marat Bashirov believes that any attempts by small-town opposition against the governors agreed upon by the Kremlin will be harshly suppressed.
“The Murmansk case is just one of these. Neither the deputies of the Murmansk City Council had to tempt fate, nor Mr. Weller. It's all one thread. So, don’t wake up when it’s quiet, otherwise the deputies of the Murmansk City Council went against United Russia and Governor Chibis on the issue of electing the mayor, decided to play around in the old manner and instantly received a “black mark”. If we were the deputies, it would be worthwhile to knock on the threshold of the governor’s reception room and not wait for the operas at our doorsteps,” Bashirov wrote.