Penza, 13 January 2014. PenzaNews. After negative public reaction to long blocking of major roads in Penza on the day of the Olympic torch relay on Friday, January 10, the governor Vasily Bochkarev demanded to see into the situation and bring perpetrators to justice.

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“Of course, it is great, it is honor, it is a matter of respect and pride that the route of the Olympic torch relay ran through Penza. We are proud of this event and are happy that Penza became the capital of the Olympics if only for one day and we became involved in the historic event. Road closures, the impossibility to move in the city, people late for work and classes, ruined plans. Similar problems, as I see it, were typical of other regions, too. For instance, Saratov was the next on the flame’s route. But they were a bit luckier because that event coincided with a weekend. However, we should clearly separate objective reasons primarily related to people’s security and the successful organization of mass events. The Organizing Committee has warned of this several times and the governor appealed to Penza citizens and talked openly of possible inconveniences and discomfort. But there were problems that could have been avoided. The problems that triggered criticism of people and a strict demand of the governor – to see into the situation and bring perpetrators to justice. It concerns the reason why the main roads of Penza were clogged so early and kept clogged for too long,” the head of the governor’s staff department and the government of the Penza region Viktor Rubtsov wrote in his blog.

In his view, most often blocking of the roads was of no use neither to the organizers nor to the city residents.

“There were some other lapses that people did not see but that were visible to the governor. It was instructed to carry out investigation, identify those responsible and bring them to justice,” Viktor Rubtsov remarked.

“This is useful because in the year of culture, in the year of the 75th anniversary of the region and the 200th anniversary of Mikhail Lermontov, such problems should not recur and mass cultural events should bring only joy and pleasure to residents and guests of the region,” he added.