Penza, 7 October 2014. PenzaNews. Penza region governor Vasily Bochkarev was not informed of an appeal sent to him by the innovation project directors of Aviar, Vig-Venta, DAN-Master, DP-Komposit, Penzkonditermash, Penokeramobeton and Mikroprofil companies in early August 2014 due to “Penza regional fund of innovation support,” JSC, stopping their financial support, said Victor Shamaev, independent reporter and editor of “Tochka Zreniya—Penza” news and analysis website.

© PenzaNewsBuy the photo

According to him, he learned of this during a private discussion with the region leader initiated by the latter.

“This discussion was caused by several recent newspieces published in ‘Tochka Zreniya—Penza.’ From the governor’s point of view, these publications contain lies, since their author was not properly informed. Sergei Pulikovsky, deputy chairman of the regional government, and Anatoly Zemskov, acting head of the Department of information policy and media of the Penza region, who were present at the discussion, received the orders to show him through the region in order to display all the results of the investments,” Victor Shamaev writes.

“In the discussion, I have learned that the governor has no idea about a collective appeal to him from the innovation developers, or who and what institution received the appeal. He said exactly that Barmakov [general director of Penzkonditermash LLC and Mikroprofil LLC] never addressed him at all, never called and never wrote to him. Therefore, it appears that the inventor organized the picket only for publicity and not as a last-resort measure to reach the officials,” the independent reporter explains.

At the same time, Victor Shamaev provides the copies of two documents in his article: an appeal to the Penza region governor Vasily Bochkarev from a group of innovation developers, registered August 7 2014, where they are pleading to resume the financial support of their enterprises in order to allow the completion of the projects which have already been 70—80% invested; and a note from the regional government office, dated August 13 2014 and signed by Nikolai Gudozhnikov, head of citizen and institution inquiry review department, that says the appeal was redirected for analysis to Valery Bespalov, deputy chairman of Penza region government.

“If the letter had been worked through in time with some measures, Barmakov would not have held the picket. The issue would have probably been solved quietly, possibly not in favor of those who appealed, but the authorities would have solved it without much noise. This moment in the whole red tape case is a very odd one. Hiding the unwanted documents from the tops is not unheard of in the Russian official routine. And directing the letter of appeal against an official to that very official has already been a constant in Russia, and one must remember about it before addressing the government with your complaints. Sometimes you should begin with going to the streets with slogans: it is faster, and nobody will be able to hide the fact,” Victor Shamaev thinks.

As PenzaNews agency reported earlier, Ruslan Barmakov, general director of Penzkonditermash LLC and Mikroprofil LLC held one-man pickets in Penza on September 29 and September 30. The first picket took place in front of the business incubator building on Volodarskovo street, and the second was held at the Lenin square by the Penza government hall.