Press Release, 26.11.2014

Today, when participating in the Council of Non-Parliamentary Parties “Development of Entrepreneurship in Russia”, YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin proposed to Sergei Naryshkin, Speaker of the State Duma, to abandon the construction of the Parliamentary Center in Mnevnikovskaya floodplain nature protection territory.

“Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that all need to tighten their belts. Naturally, businessmen took it personally. Businessmen will be ripped off again. But maybe MPs have to think not only about raising taxes, but also how to reduce the costs? ” Sergei Mitrokhin said.

Mitrokhin told Naryshkin that public hearings for construction of the Parliamentary Centre in a protected natural area had already been announced

“First of all, Muscovites will lose a place where a good park could be made. Second, according to Vladimir Resin, Chair of the parliamentary commission for construction of the Parliametary Centre, this will cost about USD 1.5 billion, although I think that this figure will be exceeded,” he said.

“Propose them to cancel the project until a more suitable location is found and better times come. They should not irritate the society that MPs are improving their living and work conditions in such hard times,” Sergei Mitrokhin told to Sergei Naryshkin.

According to Mitrokhin, huge budget expenditures are made in the interests of oligarchic businesses and state officials connected with them.

“We are going to spend 25 trillion roubles on defense, but two years ago, chief military prosecutor said that every fifth rouble in the defense expenditures is plundered. This is a quote. What has changed since then? Ex Minister of Defense Anatoly Serdyukov was granted a pardon. There were only his deputy Evgenia Vasilieva and a few people around her left under investigation. The case of plundering every fifth rouble was closed at this,” Mitrokhin said.

Mitrokhin also reminded to Sergei Naryshkin that there had been several smaller, but very typical examples of corruption identified by YABLOKO’s Anti-Corruption Centre: “3 billion rubles were allocated for broadening of the [posh] Rublyovskaya road by 2 km, this is only for broadening of the road, not construction of a new road. Reconstruction of Pyatnitskaya street [in the centre of Moscow] cost 1 billion rubles. After that, there emerged a large cave in the street. Storm drainage does not function”.

“Why MP Makarov raises a question how to strip businesses once again, rather than how to stop this monstrous waste of budget money?” YABLOKO leader asked the MPs.

Mitrokhin also added that state support allotted to entrepreneurs is plundered.

“The beneficiaries of state support are not honest businesses, but ‘tame’ businesses connected with state structure that win all tenders whatever laws there may be written. And same businesses also get the state support money. This is a narrow circle of people. It is, on one hand, lobbying, as state officials are working for such businesses, and on the other hand, this is raiding,” Mitrokhin said.

Sergei Mitrokhin believes that also the case with oligrach Yevtushenkov had a negative impact on the business climate. “If this happened to Khodorkovsky, and the same thing, albeit for different reasons, happened to Yevtushenkov, this means that it can happen to anyone”.

Mitrokhin considers a compensatory tax on super profits received from privatization as an alternative to the endless redistribution of property: “Businesses may gradually pay the tax, but all the sins related to their distant past, where limitation period for litigation expired long ago, like in the Yevtushenko case, will be pardoned by the state. As a result, businesses will be legalised and raiding will be stopped.

Mitrokhin said that the current financial support for entrepreneurs was extremely inefficient. “This is what representatives of business asked me to say: “we are ready to give up any financial support, but do not touch us any more and stop raising taxes. Leave business alone, let them earn money and create jobs. Let people earn a living,” he concluded.