Penza, 8 April 2015. PenzaNews. The workers of the office of records and bookkeeping of the Penza city administration have refused to show a PenzaNews agency reported the document registration journal and the decision No. 410/1 dated March 31 2015, which, according to the media, aimed at canceling discounted bus fares as of May 1.

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The search for the official decision and the notes in the registration journal began early on Tuesday, April 7, in the protocol department, where the workers, despite trying to avoid the topic, did confirm that “if it [the decision] has an identification number, it certainly exists.” Citing dinner break as an excuse, they asked the PenzaNews reporter to wait in the hall: however, when the reporter asked them again, they directed him to Irina Melnikova, deputy head of the office of records and bookkeeping, for a permission.

“Firstly, we can show people the documents not on my decision, but on the decision of first deputy head of administrative workflow management [Victor Gvozdev]. All the documents are available only on his permission,” Irina Melnikova claimed, not explaining the legal reasons behind such requirements.

She also objected to a repeated address to the protocol department. In spite of that, the PenzaNews reporter visited them again, where he for the third time asked to see the document registration journal and the decision No. 410/1 dated March 31 2015, this time mentioning the federal law “On Media.”

“I do not know [about the Media Law]. We have our deputy head,” said one of the protocol department workers, after which the other state officials held a short phone call in order to resolve the deadlock situation.

“We are not in power to do anything here without deputy head’s permission. We have a head of our department: please come to him and he will decide. [His name is] Gvozdev Victor Vasilyevich,” a city administration official explained.

Having arrived in the receiving office of the first vice-mayor, the PenzaNews reporter learned that Victor Gvozdev is holding a meeting and decided to wait in the hall. A short time later, the vice-mayor himself has left the office, surrounded by several ladies, one of them Irina Melnikova.

The reporter managed to catch up with the group of people only by the stairs. The discussion with the official began on the way back to the office, and the first vice-mayor immediately took an inhospitable stance.

“It was very careless of you to create it [the news peg],” Victor Gvozdev claimed, asking whether the PenzaNews representative has an editorial instructions. When the reporter said he does not have one handy, Victor Gvozdev refused to allow the use of a voice recorder, saying that “we will soon learn who you are.”

Several requests to receive a personal permission of Victor Gvozdev to see the document registration journal and the decision No. 410/1 in the protocol department, with or without his presence, failed to yield any results.

“There is no such effective document. As for effective documents that may be located here in the administration hall, there may be many various variants, but they come into legal force only once the legal procedure is complete. There is no document you are asking for. The people at the protocol department cannot understand what you are asking for. […] Maybe there are some effective documents. You don’t have one of that kind. […] Must somebody show you all the documents, all those effective? Did you come for the official decision? There is no such decision – there is your answer,” Victor Gvozdev said.

After the PenzaNews reporter quoted the protocol department officials who had practically admitted the presence of the decision No. 410/1 on the fact of its identification number and signature date but had refused to show it, the first vice-mayor remained silent for a few seconds, but continued to insist the effective document with these credentials does not exist.

“There is no such effective document, no decision you are asking about, because all the documents before entering into force must undergo a specific procedure, must be made public. After that, they are effective. That’s it. There is no such already effective document here. About other documents here? There are many documents here in the administration hall, and your cares and requests are irrelevant. […] Say, I have a lot of documents currently in development here in my table drawers. They will be a point of interest for the public only once they come into force. Once they come into force, about which you at ‘PenzaNews’ have written: why, that document is effective, somehow, somewhere, somebody gave it to you – it doesn’t exist at all,” Victor Gvozdev said, adding that the deputies have discussed the discounted fares for over a month.

“Yes, this issue has been discussed for a month. Discussed with deputies. But these are budget planning-related issues, the cares of how much money we have. We have enough, the deductions will be, if not…” first vice-mayor said.

After the reporter asked when will the decision be published, Victor Gvozdev assured him “it will never be, because it doesn’t exist.”

The PenzaNews reporter once again asked to prove the official’s words by visiting the protocol department of the office of records and bookkeeping. Nevertheless, the first vice-mayor declined the request.

“You may find your official information in the relevant section of the website. If it has nothing, there is nothing,” he said, adding that the protocol department does not have the document either.

Victor Gvozdev also denied the request to see only the document registration journal and continued to stress the importance of the phrase “effective documents.”

“There a lot you people imagine we can do, and a lot of questions you can make up,” the official replied.

“The public gets acquainted, and we are legally obliged to get them acquainted with the effective documents, through publication – through publication. Once there is a publication, there is a document worthy of talking about. […] There may be drafts, may be discussions – one shouldn’t bring them out for public discussion,” Victor Gvozdev recommended.

In his opinion, the signature date and the identification number assigned to the document were absolutely irrelevant to the topic.

“This has no importance at all. This is just how we work behind the doors. It may be signed, crossed out, signed and crossed out. It [the document] enters into force only once it is published. Where do you have it? You said you had the documents. Show it to me, I will see it and tell you that yes, there it is. Where is it? Show it for me to see. Based on your words… Somebody gave it to you. Do show it: I’ll look and tell you if the document is there. I don’t even know how to identify it,” Victor Gvozdev admitted.

Having heard the identification number and the date once again, the first vice-mayor immediately denied the document’s existence.

“What document it is, you say? Slash one, 410, and date? […] Don’t know. There was no such document. The document, doesn’t exist. The document, this document, you see [addressing the reporter], the document is the key word, this effective document doesn’t exist. And anything else is just for internal workings, and it is not relevant for people or for the media at all. You should work only with official documents, and we here should only discuss the official and effective documents. If a document doesn’t exist, it means it doesn’t exist,” Victor Gvozdev said.

Afterwards, he showed the reporter his discussion on the topic in Twitter, adding that the issue was marked with official explanations and recommending to use social networks for concerning issues.

After Victor Gvozdev once more asked to see the copy of the decision No. 410/1, the PenzaNews reporter complied, and again asked to visit the protocol department to see whether the document really exists. Nevertheless, the official again denied the request, saying there is no such document.

“You took it [the copy of the Penza administration decision] out of a trashcan: some draft, some discussion variant. We have ultimately chosen for the fare deductions to stay, because it’s a budget planning task. These fare deductions issues have been discussed since the beginning of the year. On and on. I don’t know who – maybe you yourself are a normal lad, maybe not you – but some bloke decided to make a fool of you, and they are doing just that,” Victor Gvozdev shared his conclusions.

Seeing the copy of the decision, he also informed the reporter that such a document normally should be made public as soon as possible.

Answering the question on why it has not been made public, Victor Gvozdev sternly claimed there was no decision to publish it.

“It’s because there was no such decision – there was no such decision. No word of canceling fare deductions, nobody made such decisions,” said the official, continuing to insist that the document identification number and signature date are not relevant to the issue.

At the same time, he stressed that “each document must have some signs it is a document.”

“A regulatory act has these signs: its publication, public domain release. Once it is released, it exists, if not, it doesn’t,” Victor Gvozdev added.

He once again said he cannot deny the discussion of the fare deductions, after which diverted the discussion into a more political one, citing LDPR and CPRF.

“I am not denying that this issue has been discussed, that the administration had it – whether to cancel some deductions or otherwise: these are the all-present budget planning questions. The all-present questions get on the table, they do. And the deputies together with the city administration head, with the city head decided – not the Communists, like you write, not LDPR – the deputies and the administration, they found an opportunity to avoid canceling fare deductions this year. That’s not some news hook that somebody gave you to fret about, or the Communists, or the LDPR, and see what they have done. No. The administration has decided for fare deductions to stay. And there is no document that cancels them,” Victor Gvozdev explained.

Having been asked once again to visit the protocol department and see the registration journal and check the documents for the decision No. 410/1 on fare deductions, Victor Gvozdev began pointing out that the official website has all the necessary information, he gave all the comment necessary, and the PenzaNews reporter himself has no editorial instructions handy.

“I am not obliged to do your bidding. […] I have shown you the official document, I have shown you the website, registered as a media source. I gave you my explanations as an official? I did. Apart from that, your other requests or wishes are irrelevant. […] You should look for the document on the website, or, I’m telling you once again, in the ‘Munitsipalniye Vedomosti’ newspaper. […] I gave you full, decent and good answers to all your questions. Maybe you’ll now ask me to go walk on the ceiling together? Well, I’m not going to,” Victor Gvozdev said.

In conclusion, he once again expressed the belief that the situation behind the decision No. 410/1 has been caused by the opposition as part of their campaign.

“Well, let’s say that document would have been published. Say it would have been published. Then you could discuss it. Now, you, and I mean this figuratively, as ‘fools,’ got caught with some draft that ended up not being published and will not be published ever. Will not. But, why, somebody should create a news peg for the Communists, for the LDPR. They must have made a deal. […] Well, we know that the Communists and the LDPR have had a money batch dropped of them from above to launch their PR ad campaigns. We know that about them for sure. And they should have […] some news pegs created for them. Maybe real, maybe artificial. Say, LDPR – they could award medals to some people, spend them on, let’s suggest, sports events, some presents for children or a contest of some kind. They may have said: ‘Let’s create a news peg for us, on that, that, that, and here are some fare deductions, and an opportunity [‘PenzaNews’ agency website]’. And I see you’ve got two newspieces, from CPRF and LDPR each, following that one. At once we see the ‘cui prodest’ and who sides with whome,” Victor Gvozdev drew conclusions.

Summing up the above, the government official who assured the others the decision No. 410/1 dated March 31 2015 does not exist, refused to provide the PenzaNews reporter an opportunity to see the registration journal and resolve the issue immediately and spent over half an hour of his work time repeating the same notions and claiming the media are trying to undermine him in their attempts to uncover the truth.

Shortly after the meeting with the reporter, the first deputy Penza administration leader Victor Gvozdev came to an even more idiosyncratic conclusion.

“I think PenzaNews tries push Penza city administration to canceling public commute fare deductions. But they will stay,” he wrote in his Twitter.