A fatal car crash in downtown Moscow has exposed growing public anger at officials who seem to live above the law, as they flout the rules of the road and endanger the lives of ordinary Russians.
A black Mercedes with a flashing blue light on the roof and a VIP inside collided head-on with a little hatchback, killing the two women in the car. The VIP — a vice president of Lukoil, Russia’s largest private oil company — leaves in another car, and police blame the hatchback for swerving into oncoming traffic.
However, civic activists have disputed the official version, and a rap song condemning the oil executive to hell has become an instant YouTube sensation, with more than 300,000 hits by Friday afternoon.
In recent years, numerous government officials, powerful businessmen or their relatives have been involved in fatal accidents, often caused by drunken driving, and gotten away with fines or reprisals, but this time people are saying “enough.”
Bloggers are urging Russians to boycott Lukoil gas stations, and opposition activists are calling on the Kremlin to stop the “lawlessness” of officials and rich businessmen who flout traffic rules and avoid responsibility for accidents they cause.
Muscovites are all too accustomed to seeing luxury sedans driving in the opposite lane to escape gridlock. The cars often have flashing blue lights, issued mainly to government officials to help them get to important meetings on time.
Lukoil vice president Anatoly Barkov said in a statement posted on the company Web site that he was interested in an “objective and unbiased investigation” into last week’s accident. He also expressed his condolences to the family of Olga Alexandrina, the 35-year-old driver of the hatchback, and her mother-in-law, Vera Sidelnikova, 73. Both women were gynecologists and were on their way to work.
Some of the strongest support for the two women has come from civic organizations formed to defend the rights of drivers.
Sergei Kanayev of the Federation of Car Owners says he has eyewitness evidence that it was Barkov’s car that pulled into the lane of oncoming traffic. He also claims that police removed numerous closed-circuit cameras from the major Moscow avenue where the crash occurred.
“I personally saw there were no cameras left some 70m around the site,” Kanayev said.
Police have denied this.
“The crash site was blocked by a billboard,” Sergei Kazantsev of Moscow traffic police said in televised remarks.
City police and federal investigators were not available for comment on Friday despite numerous phone calls.
A lawyer representing Alexandrina’s family says the lack of footage will make it difficult to receive justice.
“We don’t trust Moscow police and investigators,” Igor Trunov said.
Prominent opposition leader Boris Nemtsov said the incident was indicative of the political system created by Vladimir Putin, the former president and current prime minister.
“Putin lives by the principle ‘friends get everything, and the rest get the law,’” Nemtsov said. “Since oligarchs are friends, everything is for them. They are a caste above the law, and Putin heads the caste.”
The controversy inspired rapper Ivan Alexeyev, also known as Noize MC, to write an angry song that has attracted wide attention since its posting on Tuesday on YouTube.
“Miserable mob, shiver with fear, a patrician is coming your way,” Alexeyev sang on behalf of Barkov, whose mug shot was superimposed over the figure of Satan from an episode of US TV show South Park. “We’re late to hell today, so get out of the chariot’s way.”
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