Russian Athonite Society Poltavchenko. What sign indicates that a Smolny official belongs to a religious union?

The Russian Athonite Society is building on the island in Lake Ladoga hermitage with a helipad. Once she already received the Mi-8 with Metropolitan Barsanuphius.

On the protected island of the Valaam archipelago - Oboronny (or Sukhoi, or Kelisaari) the St. Andrew's monastery, a temple and several other auxiliary buildings are being built. As Fontanka found out, the Russian Athos Society allocated money for the construction, and at the ceremonies on the island one could meet the former vice-governor of St. Petersburg Igor Divinsky, Metropolitan Barsanuphius and ex-director of Vodokanal Felix Karmazinov.

Oboronny is the southernmost of all the islands included in the Valaam archipelago. Its area is about 10 hectares. In those years when this territory belonged to Finland, defensive fortifications were built here: an artillery tower, casemates and even a secret descent to Ladoga. Sometimes tourists were dropped off on it, attracted by the combination of harsh nature and abandoned army positions.

At the end of November 2014, a landing party of officials and church leaders landed on the island. The leadership of the Valaam Monastery decided to build a skete and a temple here in honor of the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, who, according to legend, at one time reached the archipelago and put a cross on it. As emphasized in the message of the monastery itself, the monastery should appear “in pursuance of the program for the development of desert life, approved His Holiness Patriarch Moscow and all Rus' Kirill."

The then vice-governor of St. Petersburg, Igor Divinsky, and the ex-director of Vodokanal, Felix Karmazinov, were present at the foundation ceremony for the monastery. The appearance of St. Petersburg residents was not accidental. “The skete will be erected jointly with the St. Petersburg Metropolis, with the direct support of the regional public organization “Russian Athonite Society”, the head of the board of trustees of which is Governor Georgy Sergeevich Poltavchenko,” the monastery reported.

The Russian Athos Society took over the financing of the work, Igor Divinsky said at the ceremony. Let us remember that before coming to Smolny he was the executive director of this charitable organization. “We are pleased that we are participating in the revival of Valaam as the northern capital of Orthodoxy, as Northern Athos. Today we took part in the foundation of a monastery and a temple in the Byzantine style, this is a kind of bridge between ancient Athos and the modern Valaam archipelago, and all construction costs will come from voluntary donations from Orthodox Christians of the Russian Athos Society,” Divinsky said at the end of 2014.

A year later, in December 2015, Igor Divinsky and Felix Karmazinov visited the island again - this time a ceremony was held to lay a capsule with a letter in the wall of the altar part of the future temple. It was also attended by the current director of Vodokanal, Evgeny Tselikov (then working as Karmazinov’s deputy) and Vyacheslav Kalganov, Divinsky’s chief of staff. The church delegation was even more impressive: Metropolitan Barsanuphius of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, the chairman of the financial and economic department of the diocese, Father Sergius, as well as the singer of the metropolitan choir, Father Andrei Levin, arrived to see how the work was progressing.

Within a year, a helipad had already appeared on the island, on which, judging by the photographs on the official website of the diocese, an Mi-8 with Metropolitan Barsanuphius and other high-ranking officials landed.

“Breaking out of the bustle of the world, people will be able to offer prayers here, gather their thoughts, and be strengthened spiritually, so that later they can solve the problems that the Lord has put us all on,” the metropolitan said then (quoted from the diocese website). From the church photo report it can also be concluded that by this time a metal pier had already been erected, with a construction crane working to receive cargo.

Archondarik for pilgrims

At the end of the summer of 2016, Aleksey Vladimirov, a journalist from the Karelian publication Chernika, visited the island and recorded the next stage of construction: the brick temple was erected to the domed base, the construction of the first floor of the wooden building in which the monks will live is underway. According to him, there are also small houses scattered around the island. At the same time, the territory of Oboronny, according to Rosreestr, belongs to the zone of “specially protected areas”. At that time, neither the monastery nor the Russian Athos Society had permission for construction work.

Oboronny Island. June 2016.

The administration of the urban settlement of Sortavala told Fontanka that no documents for a building permit had been received. A representative of the Ministry of Construction of Karelia was unavailable for comment. The monastery's press secretary, Maxim Shishkov, suggested contacting the Russian Athos Society for all questions.

One of the founders of the society, Igor Divinsky, who recently became a State Duma deputy from United Russia, told Fontanka that money for construction was raised among Moscow companies.

“St. Petersburg businessmen did not participate in the project,” he said. He found it difficult to name the names of specific companies, just as he did not remember the total cost of construction. The work is planned to be completed in 2017, and in the future the metropolitan will visit the monastery from time to time - it’s not for nothing that the diocese is participating in the project.

“Why is there a helipad there?” – asked the Fontanka correspondent.

“What if someone gets sick,” answered the former vice-governor of St. Petersburg. He also said that an archondarik will appear on the island, where pilgrims will be able to stay.

Petersburg trace

The company that operates on the island is called St. Petersburg company "Stroy Expert". Judging by her website, she has been working on Valaam for a long time: in particular, she carried out work in the Temple of the Life-Giving Spring, built a summer hotel and wastewater treatment plants. However, it cannot be called large: in 2014, revenue, according to SPARK, amounted to 51 million, in 2015 - 79 million. The director and owner of Stroy Expert, Kirill Bespalko, categorically stated that his company’s employees do not work on Oboronny Island.

In the summer of 2015, journalists from Novaya Gazeta visited the island to prepare a review of construction activities throughout Valaam. On the door of the work cafeteria, they photographed a schedule that included the names of companies and times for food pick-up. In addition to Stroy Expert, you can find there a certain "KER". The St. Petersburg holding of the same name was previously engaged in reconstruction electrical networks on Valaam, and also performed work for the Energy Committee, State Unitary Enterprise "Fuel and Energy Complex", OJSC "Special Economic Zones". KER itself reported that they are no longer working on the island: “The person responsible for this project has left the company.”

It should be noted that in 2015, KER, unexpectedly for many, became the owner of the Russian National Commercial Bank - one of the few operating in Crimea. In 2016, the Bank of Moscow bought KER bonds for 24 billion, after which the holding increased the bank’s capitalization from 321 million to 17.3 billion, and then sold it to the Federal Property Management Agency. At the same time, KER’s revenue in 2014 amounted to 4.5 billion, and in 2015 – 2.8 billion.

Closely connected with Valaam and St. Petersburg Vodokanal, whose name is also mentioned on a sheet in the work canteen. The city enterprise was engaged in the reconstruction of wastewater treatment facilities and a water treatment plant that serves the monastery and the adjacent village. Both facilities were commissioned in the summer of 2015. Now Vodokanal is present on the island only “as part of the operation of networks and structures,” the company noted.

An interesting detail: Konstantin Goloshchapov, a St. Petersburg entrepreneur and one of the founders of the Russian Athos Society, is closely associated with Vodokanal. He does not hold any official positions, but is considered one of the most influential figures in Smolny. In particular, as Fontanka’s interlocutors say, his word was of serious importance when choosing a successor for the departed Felix Karmazinov: Vodokanal is considered to be in the sphere of influence of Konstantin Goloshchapov. In particular, in recent years, the company SK Nostrum, co-owned by his wife’s business partner, has become a major contractor of the enterprise.

Apparently, Konstantin Goloshchapov did not abandon his activities in the Russian Athos Society. He traditionally helps financially in organizing a pilgrimage trip to the Italian city of Bari, where the relics of St. Nicholas the Pleasant are kept. So, in December 2015, two charters took off from Moscow and St. Petersburg, among the passengers you could meet. As the trip participants said, one of the benefactors was Goloshchapov. And on the website of the Russian Athos Society, in the section dedicated to current activities, it is indicated that the organization provides “assistance to pilgrims in visiting holy places, including Holy Mount Athos and Bari (Italy).”

Andrey Zakharov, Fontanka.ru

The website of the Regional Public Organization “Russian Athos Society” has opened on the Internet. www.afonru.ru

As stated on the first page of the site, the Society, created in September 2005, “united people who are not indifferent to the fate of Russia”, seeking to “preserve the Orthodox and cultural values, which play a fundamental role in spiritual development individuals and society as a whole." It is no coincidence that on the first page of the site the visitor will see the call of the “Russian Athos Society” to citizens and organizations of Russia to begin collecting donations for the restoration of the tomb of Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky, located in Suzdal, a national hero, the savior of Russia from the Polish invaders in 1611-1613.

The “Russian Athos Society” develops relations with the monastic communities of Holy Mount Athos, helps in the restoration of monasteries and churches both on Athos and in Russia. Currently, for example, with funds donated by private benefactors and some commercial structures, the Society is restoring a number of objects on the territory of the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos and in other Athos monasteries.

Among the objectives of the Society is the spiritual and moral education of the Russian population through familiarization with the customs, traditions and history of Orthodox culture. The “Russian Athos Society” also carries out charitable activities, aimed at supporting Orthodox people in need of help.

Visitors to the website of the “Russian Athos Society” will be able to learn more about the history of its creation, about projects that have already been implemented by the Society or are under implementation, and how to become a member of the Society.

See also:

Athanasios Martinos, recently appointed by the Greek government as the new civil governor of Athos, visited the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the website reports.

In the Vinnytsia region, an underground, clandestine, hundred-year-old church has been preserved, reports the portal “AFONIT.INFO” with reference to the website Afon.org.ua In the 1920s of the last century, in the village of Yaryshev Mogilev-Podilsko

In the Svyatogorsk Hilandar monastery, in the vineyard on the field of St. Sava, the grape harvest began. On Thursday, August 15, the abbot of the monastery, Hegumen Methodius, with the brethren, the monastic technologist

On August 2, 2019, the International Institute of Athos Heritage (MIAN) in Chernivtsi held a spiritual and educational evening on the theme “In the Garden of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A thousand years on Mount Athos,” the portal reports

Celebrations in honor of St. Anthony of Pechersk took place today and last night at the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, reports Orthodox portal"AFONIT.INFO" with reference to foma.in.ua.

A member of the Council of Elders of the Athonite Monastery of Dokhiar, Hieromonk Philotheus recently arrived in Kyiv. He visited the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the Ionin Monastery and other monasteries and shrines of the city, as well as the Neshcherovsky Spa

FLB: The “conspiracy” against the Athos monastic republic threatens not only Greece, but the whole world

Passions around Athos
Following the Belt of the Virgin Mary, they will bring us from Greece... waste processing plants

“If it weren’t for the elections in State Duma and the discussions, scandals and rallies that happened after them would probably have been discussed for a long time in Russia the main event of November: a journey through the country of the ark with the Belt of the Blessed Virgin Mary”, - states the deputy editor-in-chief of this publication in the latest issue of “Top Secret” Grigory Nekhoroshev.

“The plane with the relic landed on October 20 at the St. Petersburg Pulkovo airport. The delegation of Athonite monks was met by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak and Governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko.

According to Vladimir Putin, bringing this Orthodox relic to Russia was historical event . After the relic was transported to fifteen cities of our country, Patriarch Kirill reported that more than one came to honor the Belt of the Mother of God three million Russian believers.

But even now, when Vladimir Putin, members of European parliaments, opposition leaders and politicized Russian citizens discuss the results of the State Duma elections and future presidential elections, for many clergy and their parishioners the events around the Belt of the Blessed Virgin Mary still mean much more. Many Orthodox Christians are now praying for Abbot Ephraim, abbot of the Vatopedi Monastery on Holy Mount Athos, where this Belt has been kept for many centuries.

Reverend Hegumen Ephraim accompanied the Belt of the Blessed Virgin Mary on a trip to the cities of Russia. In Moscow The clergyman was received by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. During a meeting with the prime minister, Abbot Ephraim said that he was shocked by the power of the faith of Christ, which he saw in Russia, and promised to write a book about miraculous healings among those who came to worship this Orthodox shrine. “In faith is the most great strength Russia,” Abbot Ephraim told Putin, “and this is the force that connects our two countries.” Hegumen Ephraim asked Putin to help Greece, “which is now going through hard times.”

Prayer for Ephraim

The Belt of the Virgin Mary was supposed to be in Russia until November 27. But literally on the eve of this day, the organizers of the pilgrimage reported that out of respect for the Russian people who came to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior to touch the Belt, the monks accompanying the relic decided to leave it in Moscow for one more day.

On the morning of November 28, Patriarch Kirill, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika saw off the Belt of the Virgin Mary and Abbot Ephraim at Domodedovo airport.

And the very next day From Greece, reports began to arrive about the detention of abbot Ephraim by the police. It was impossible to understand from these messages why this happened. Russian religious websites wrote that Father Ephraim was eventually released on bail of 200 thousand euros.

On the day of the elections to the State Duma, the Russian online resource “Orthodoxy and Peace,” an authority among clergy, published a sensational message: “Immediately after returning from Russia to Greece, Archimandrite Ephraim, abbot of the Vatopedi monastery of Holy Mount Athos, could have been arrested in connection with the case brought against him, but after many hours of detailed interrogation he was released. Whether Archimandrite Ephraim will be arrested or not will be decided by the Court of Appeal in the coming days.”

“Orthodoxy and Peace” quotes in detail the Greek newspaper “Acropolis”, which regards the incident as an intrigue:

"Hegumen Ephraim has become the target of a scandal fueled by the national security service, Papandreou and the Americans." The publication stated that there is a “conspiracy drawn up against the Vatopedi monastery and especially against the Church”.

At the center of the conflict between the Vatopedi monastery, investigators and the prosecutor’s office is Lake Vistonida, which has long been claimed by the Greek government. During the conflict, Abbot Ephraim was repeatedly accused of falsifying ancient property documents, and the accounts of the Vatopedi Monastery were blocked.

The Acropolis newspaper is convinced that the interrogation of Abbot Ephraim, one of the most revered Greek confessors, will lead to righteous popular indignation: “The poor monks who appeal to the mercy of those who conceived this were given vague guarantees. They raised the question of protecting Elder Ephraim, who is perceived as one of the most revered personalities in world Orthodoxy, and we all understood this especially during the veneration of the honorable Belt of the Mother of God in Russia.”

The Acropolis newspaper is a small regional newspaper, which comes out in the north of Greece, just in that part of the country where Holy Mount Athos is located on the Halkidiki peninsula - the only Orthodox monastic republic in the world. The newspaper belongs to the famous Greek media magnate Georgi Bobolas. And so, after an article from Acropolis was quoted by a Russian Orthodox resource, several priests of the Russian Orthodox Church called on their parishioners to pray for Abbot Ephraim.

Vatopedi scandal

But if Russian Orthodox journalists had read the Greek press at the beginning of November, they would have easily learned that even before the Belt of the Virgin Mary began traveling across Russia, the court decided to interrogate Abbot Ephraim on November 29 in the case of “an exchange of lands between the monastery and the state.”

November 14 in this case Father Arseny, financier of the Vatopedi Monastery, was interrogated. It is for this reason that he did not come to Russia to accompany the Belt of the Virgin Mary. As the English-language newspaper Greek Reporter writes, “charges are being brought against both clergymen on suspicion of forgery of documents, fraud and money laundering.”

The scandalous case of “the exchange of lands between the monastery and the state,” in connection with which Abbot Ephraim, who had just returned from Moscow, was interrogated, began at the end of 2008, and since then it has been discussed almost every day in one way or another by Greek journalists and politicians. Of course! It was because of this property scandal that two Greek ministers first left the government, and then Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis was forced to announce early elections. And it was because of this scandal that he lost them.

At the very end of 2008, Greek journalists published details of a suspicious transaction between the Vatopedi monastery and the Greek government. In order to understand the essence of this scandal, it must be said that the Greek state still recognizes property documents that were issued back Turkish sultans and Byzantine emperors. In ancient monasteries founded more than a thousand years ago on Mount Athos, such documents are found from time to time. It has been written many times about the abbot of the Vatopedi Monastery, the former Cypriot abbot Ephraim, that one of his main achievements was putting the monastery archives and library in order. Apparently, in the process of this work, Abbot Ephraim found an ancient document, from which it followed that the monastery owned a large area of ​​forest and Lake Vistonida in northern Greece.

The Vatopedi monastery began to sue the state for its rights. After almost five years of litigation, the court recognized the ancient document as authentic, and a huge piece of protected forest with a lake became the property of the monastery. But almost immediately after this, the Vatopedi Monastery exchanged land and lake for several hotels in the center of Athens, built to Olympic Games, and to tourist complexes near Athos. As Greek journalists found out, this exchange was absolutely unequal. A piece of land and a lake cost one hundred times less than state tourist real estate. According to a parliamentary investigation, State losses were estimated from one hundred million euros to half a billion.

The Greek bureaucratic machine is notorious in Europe. But in the case of this deal, the doors of the ministries opened before the Vatopedi monks as if by magic. For very short time Several Greek ministers and their deputies signed all the documents necessary for the exchange. And the wife of the Minister of Maritime Trade, Yorgas Voulgarakis, a notary by profession, immediately notarized these exchanges.

A parliamentary investigation into this deal began during the Karamanlis government, then continued under the new government and continues to this day. The press accused the ministers of accepting bribes, but this has not yet been proven. Now in Greece they are writing that the story with the Vatopedi monastery is most likely connected with lobbying the interests of the monastic republic on Mount Athos through the spiritual guidance of high-ranking officials.

But During the investigation, suspicions arose of forgery of ancient real estate documents. In addition, it turned out that the humble Athonite monks manage many offshore companies registered in Cyprus, play on stock exchanges, have shares in the mining industry of Greece and Cyprus, several hotels and other real estate in many Balkan countries. “But they pay virtually no taxes,” wrote the New York Times.
The website of the independent information and analytical group Balkananisis reported back in November 2008, citing publications in the Greek press, that A commission of the Greek parliament found 200 million euros in the bank accounts of Abbot Ephraim.

The monastery that shook the euro

Recently, Forbes magazine, in its article “The Belt of the Virgin, or the Monastery that Buried the Eurozone,” ironically wrote: “The change of government had, as we now know, consequences of a tectonic scale. It turned out that the Greek government massively falsified economic statistics and the budget deficit had to be revised from 3.6% of GDP to almost 16. The country lost the confidence of the markets and the ability to service the gigantic public debt, became the “weak link” of the eurozone, and the EU’s attempts to put out the Greek fire with stabilization loans and a cost-cutting program were unsuccessful. The sovereign debt crisis is spreading to other countries, threatening the world with recession and the single European currency with death. And who knows, maybe the Greek government would have continued to hide false reporting, and the world would not have been in a fever if not for the enterprise of the monks of Vatopedi.”

At the beginning of December, the popular Greek magazine Epikaira published excerpts from a new book by a Greek journalist Manolis Kottakis “Karamanlis. Not for tape recording". The preface to the publication says: the book being prepared for publication will publish sensational materials revealing the relationship of the former prime minister with the monks of Vatopedi, the background of his decision to post on greek island Crete two complexes of Russian anti-aircraft missile systems medium-range S-300 costing $115 million each, reasons for supporting the Russian Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline project and discussions with Vladimir Putin on plans to increase Russian influence in the Mediterranean.

Even at the very beginning of the scandal “about the exchange of lands between the monastery and the state,” many world newspapers wrote that Abbot Ephraim had long been nurturing ambitious plans to “become an important behind-the-scenes figure in the formation of the “Orthodox Vatican,” the center of which is in his own monastery.”

The Turkish newspaper Turkish Daily News noted at the time: “...the truly charismatic chief monk was quite capable of creating a serious network of valuable connections between political and business circles both inside and outside Greece; he has indeed masterminded the attraction of many international celebrities to the beautiful surroundings of Vatopedi, including Prince Charles of Wales and Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

Putin's three attempts

According to Christian tradition, Holy Mount Athos became the last life destiny of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Virgin Mary got there during a storm when she was sailing by sea to the island of Cyprus, to Saint Lazarus, resurrected by Jesus Christ. More than a thousand years ago, the first monasteries were built on Mount Athos. Now there are twenty monasteries in which monks serve from different countries in which Orthodoxy is preached - from Bulgaria and Georgia to Romania and Russia.

Holy Mount Athos lives according to its own autonomous laws, established in the Middle Ages and recognized by the Greek state. Women and even female animals are not allowed there.

In order to visit Athos, you need to obtain permission from representatives of its spiritual leadership. Permission is given only for four days, regardless of personality, title, position and merit. And can be canceled at any time without explanation. The monks on Holy Mount Athos await the Last Judgment and Resurrection and pray for many hours every day about it. Holy Mount Athos is subordinate to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul. All other churches in Greece are subordinate to the Patriarch of Athens.

The first time Vladimir Putin planned to visit Mount Athos was in December 2001. He was supposed to fly there by Greek Air Force helicopter. But a snow storm broke out over the peninsula that day, and because of this the flight was cancelled. In September 2004, the President of Russia was supposed to come to Mount Athos at a great landing ship Russian Navy "Yamal" from the Turkish port of Izmir. But it happened tragic events in Beslan. After this, Orthodox newspapers around the world wrote that “Our Lady does not allow Putin within her borders”.

Vladimir Putin still managed to “climb” Holy Mount Athos on September 9, 2005. The Vesti program began reporting on this event with the following words: “Putin became the first head Russian state, who visits Mount Athos - the holiest place on Earth for Orthodox Christians, associated with Russia and Russia for a thousand years.”

Vladimir Putin visited the oldest temple of Athos of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, venerated the miraculous icon, lit a candle and held a service there. After this, Vladimir Vladimirovich met with members of the Holy Kinot of Athos. Kinot is the spiritual administration body of the Holy Mount Athos, which includes representatives of all twenty Athonite monasteries. “In Russia, with a population of 145 million, the overwhelming majority are Christians,” Putin told Kinot members. And he continued: “We have great respect for Greece in general and Athos in particular. And if Russia is the largest Orthodox power, then Greece and Athos are its origins,” the Russian president told the Athonite monks.

On the same day, Vladimir Putin visited the Vatopedi Monastery. Hegumen Ephraim and Father Arseny showed the president the ark with the Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos. At the end of the day, the President of Russia, at the invitation of the Russian monks, visited their cells and spoke with them privately for several minutes. The President spoke with the abbot of the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery, Archimandrite Jeremiah, who has lived on Mount Athos for 30 of his 90 years, as well as with Father Macarius, the confessor of the brethren, who has lived on Mount Athos since 1987.

We will probably never know what Vladimir Putin talked about with the Russian monks of the St. Panteleimon Monastery. But ITAR-TASS correspondent in Washington Andrei Shitov, who visited Athos several months before Vladimir Putin’s arrival there, told us about some of their thoughts and moods: “Having learned that I came from Washington, almost everyone I met considered it necessary to express their attitude – as a rule, extremely hostile – towards the USA and its foreign policy. Mount Athos has its own concept of the axes of evil in modern world, and Washington is unconditionally assigned the role of a pole through which the main such axis passes.

True, judging by most statements, Afonites tend to see in America not so much the primary source of evil, but rather an instrument of a “global Masonic conspiracy”, from which it itself sometimes suffers. Thus, among them it is taken for granted that the explosions of September 11, 2001 in New York and Washington were staged by the “US authorities themselves” in favor of the same “dark forces.” One of those who told me about this, by his own admission, has not left the Holy Mountain for 17 years. When asked what allows him to navigate world politics so confidently, he replied that, firstly, he states in this case generally known and partly even self-evident things, and secondly, he regularly listens to three different Orthodox radio stations.”

Andrei Shitov, among other things, was struck by the strange paradoxes of Athos, on the country roads of which luxury Mercedes and Maybach cars meet rickety carts pulled by a donkey.

When Vladimir Putin was driving a car along the roads of Athos, a small donkey accompanied him for several hundred meters, the Vesti program reported on September 9, 2005. The correspondent added that the monks of Athos regarded this as a good omen.

Athonite spirit

At the end of November 2004, I was invited to a rather unique event - the II Women's Forum of the Central Federal District, which was held by the office of the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for the Central Federal District Georgy Poltavchenko. There were all sorts of rumors about Poltavchenko in Moscow at that time., and journalists took every opportunity to find out at least some details about him. That's why I went to Ryazan.

The forum delegates, mainly directors of schools, cultural centers and chairmen of women’s councils of army units from Central Russia, talked a lot about the dominance of immoral American films on television, demanded that “non-Russian” TV presenters be removed from the screens, and asked government officials to “introduce more programs about Russians on TV.” Orthodox family values" On the last day, the journalists were taken home Sergei Yesenin, to the village of Konstantinovo. An elderly teacher who boarded the bus told us about Yesenin and his relationship with Christianity. When she got out on the outskirts of Ryazan, the journalists accompanying her First Deputy Poltavchenko Alexander Gromov said: “All her stories are superficial. In fact, Yesenin has a lot encrypted in the name of Christ. But not many people can understand this.”

Naturally, these words surprised me. I began to remember the university course on Russian literature and my hobby Yesenin's teacher, poet Nikolai Klyuev, the so-called name-glorification. A movement under this name arose at the beginning of the 20th century among Russian monks on Holy Mount Athos and greatly excited the minds of the Orthodox priesthood in Russia. To such an extent that in 1913, the Imiaslavites, with the help of Russian troops, were expelled from Athos to Odessa. In 1928, the majority of the Imenaslavtsy moved to the Catacomb Church, which was not subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate due to its collaboration with the communists. They considered the new government to be the “Antichrist.” To put it very simply, the name-slavers believed that God himself lives in the very word “Jesus Christ.” Name-slaving had a strong influence on the development of Russian religious philosophy at the beginning of the 20th century.

But what surprised me then was that Major General of the Tax Police Alexander Gromov, apparently, knew something about this. “Don’t be surprised,” an Orthodox philosopher I knew told me in Moscow. – Georgy Poltavchenko and his people now very often go on pilgrimage trips to Holy Mount Athos. They have one Andrew the First-Called Foundation- a favorite pastime of the so-called “Orthodox security officers.” And on Mount Athos, name-glorification was again revived among radical Russian monks. That’s what they seem to have said.”

On the approaches to Mount Athos

The St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation, which has now become famous throughout the country for organizing the Belt of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s trip across Russia, was created back in 1992 to “form in society a positive attitude towards the traditional binding foundations - the state, the Church, the army.”

For services in strengthening statehood and the revival of Orthodox spirituality, the foundation presented awards - the “Sovereign Eagle” badge and the “Star of the Order” and the Order “For Faith and Loyalty.” In those years, various independent orders and awards were distributed by a variety of funds, which no one remembers now. But the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation very soon became a completely reputable organization, its board of trustees was headed by the then chairman of the Federation Council, Yegor Stroev. At that time, he became interested in Orthodoxy and its history, and the actual creator of the foundation, Sergei Shcheblygin, Stroev’s fellow countryman and adviser, helped him a lot in this.

As he told me former lieutenant governor Oryol region Alexey Bogomolov, adviser Shcheblygin was supposed to prepare reviews of new books and trends in socio-political thought for Stroev. Shcheblygin and Stroev were very keen on the work of the Orthodox philosopher and priest Sergei Bulgakov. First of all because Bulgakov was born near Orel and studied at the Oryol Theological Seminary. “Stroyev was very interested in the great Oryol fellow countrymen. And he could quote Sergei Bulgakov by heart,” said Alexey Bogomolov. Stroev supported friendly relations with Patriarch Alexy, and after the opening of the restored Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the foundation presented its awards in the Hall of Church Councils of the temple in 2000. Moreover, even then it was believed that the foundation’s awards were associated with Holy Mount Athos, one of the main shrines of Orthodoxy.

In 2001, the principle of forming the Federation Council changed, and Yegor Stroev left as governor for the Oryol region. After this, Stroev’s former adviser, Sergei Shcheblygin, became a senator from the Legislative Assembly of the Oryol region. The new senator created a branch of the fund - public organization"Center of National Glory of Russia". Its board of trustees included Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, presidential affairs manager Vladimir Kozhin and two presidential envoys - Viktor Cherkesov and Georgy Poltavchenko. A little later The board of trustees of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation was headed by Vladimir Yakunin, then vice-president of Russian Railways. Under Yakunin, the foundation began to work very actively - it began to bring Holy Fire from Jerusalem, holy relics from Athos and organize pilgrimages of Russian officials to Athos and the Jordan River on the feast of Epiphany.

The bifurcation of the friends of Athos

Literally a few days after Vladimir Putin’s “ascent” to Holy Mount Athos in Moscow there was registered regional public organization - “Russian Athonite Society”. The then Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative in the Central Federal District, Georgy Poltavchenko, became the chairman of its board of trustees. For historians Russian authorities it remains to be seen why Poltavchenko decided to create a public organization, the goals, objectives and methods of work of which almost completely coincided with the activities of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation. Looks like it's about to seize an interesting initiative.

As it is written in the colorful book “Five Years of Serving Orthodoxy,” published for the anniversary of the society, in September 2006 it “implemented its first large-scale and socially significant project associated with the bringing to Russia from the Athonite Monastery of Simonopetra the relics of St. Mary Equal to the Apostles Magdalene." After that “Athonites” of Poltavchenko brought the relics of the Holy Great Martyr Dmitry of Thessalonica to Russia. With the money of the society, several dozen monastic cells and monasteries were restored on Holy Mount Athos, and the hospital of the St. Panteleimon Monastery was reconstructed. Some projects also concerned St. Petersburg: the society collected donations for the restoration of the Trinity Cathedral of the Izmailovsky Life Guards Regiment and financed the construction of a nursing home at the Church of the Archangel Saint Michael in Toksovo.

But the main achievement of the “Russian Athos Society” was “ national project to recreate the monument-chapel to the people's hero of Russia - Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky, who headed militia in the war against the Polish invaders in 1612,” says the anniversary book. On National Unity Day, November 4, 2009, President Medvedev honored the grand opening of the monument-chapel in the Spaso-Evfimievsky Monastery in Suzdal.

In 1885, the tomb of Prince Pozharsky in this monastery was built with public donations. In 1933 Soviet authorities it was destroyed. The “Athos Society” especially emphasized that “private individuals and organizations” also donated money for their monument-chapel to Pozharsky. The luxurious book published on this occasion listed all the donors, private individuals, alphabetical order– from unknown ordinary citizens to Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev.

But the listed organizations for the most part turned out to be budgetary - from the federal treasuries of the cities of the Central Federal District to district funds social insurance. And this, you see, looks rather strange: because it is not very clear why and why government money from these government organizations it was necessary to transfer funds for the construction of a memorial tombstone for Prince Pozharsky in such a strange way, through the bank account of the Russian Public Athonite Society.

President Dmitry Medvedev and Pat-
Riarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill.

In the summer of 2009, the leaders of the “Athos Society” “had the honor of meeting and accompanying a delegation from the Orthodox monastery of Vatopedi from Holy Mount Athos, led by its abbot Fr. Ephraim."

The paths of Russian Athos residents

A few weeks after Georgy Poltavchenko was appointed governor of St. Petersburg, his associates in the Russian Athos Society appeared in leading positions in Smolny. In mid-October, instead of Alla Manilova Vasily Kichedzhi, a former employee of the Moscow mayor's office, was appointed vice-governor of St. Petersburg. His wife Antonina Kichedzhi, works as Deputy General Director of the Radiocenter concern.

The controlling stake in Radio Center belongs to her husband. The concern includes the radio stations “Moscow Speaks” and “Public Russian Radio”, which are official partners of the “Russian Athos Society”.

And on November 9, instead of Mikhail Oseevsky, Igor Divinsky, executive director of the Russian Athos Society, became another vice-governor of St. Petersburg.

Well son of the new governor of St. Petersburg Alexey Poltavchenko, who turned 26 years old on December 4, at the end of last year was appointed director of development in Russia and the CIS of the Greek construction company Aktor CA, which in January 2011 won a major concession tender from the government of St. Petersburg for the construction of a powerful waste processing plant in the suburb of Yanino factory

The young businessman Poltavchenko already owns a 50% stake in Bik-Well LLC, which builds and drills wells for Gazprom, and the same stake in Alekseevsky Bread Factories LLC, and also controls different-sized stakes in companies purchase and rental of residential and non-residential real estate and cargo transportation.

Greek bosses Poltavchenko

As stated by the government of St. Petersburg, the construction of a waste recycling plant “will be implemented on the principle of public-private partnership.” The Greek company will invest 300 million euros in borrowed loans in its design and construction, and the government of St. Petersburg has granted it a concession to process St. Petersburg waste for 30 years. After this, the plant will be transferred to the city. It will start working in 2015. “The city will ensure that the project pays off through subsidies or tariffs for waste recycling,” said a representative of the St. Petersburg government.

It seems that young businessman Alexey Poltavchenko has a very promising future. Aktor CA is a subsidiary of the very large Greek construction company Allaktor. On the official website of Allaktor it is solemnly announced that the waste processing plant in Yanino, which will occupy almost 7 hectares of land and will process 350,000 tons of waste per year, among other things, is a pilot project of the company in Russia. This is what will be shown to future customers.

“Today’s event demonstrates the beginning of a powerful, long-term cooperation between our company and the government of St. Petersburg. The signing of this concession contract means that St. Petersburg, the most advanced Russian city, and the Allaktor group of companies, which unites a group of the largest Greek construction and concession companies working according to protection standards environment, will be required to work closely together for the next 30 years.

The signing of this agreement means that the project has become a landmark event for future projects in many sectors and regions Russian Federation... We provide the citizens of St. Petersburg with modern social benefits and privileges by optimizing waste processing and reducing emissions of dioxin carbonate into the atmosphere,” he said after signing the contract general manager company Aktor SA Leonidas Bobolas.

Like his colleague in Russia and the CIS, Alexey Poltavchenko, Leonidas Bobolas is known in Greece primarily because he is the son of the famous Georgis Bobolas, a Greek billionaire, construction and media tycoon. Georgi Bobolas owns several dozen construction and mining companies and the largest media empire in Greece, Pegasus Publishing Group. By the way, it is “Pegasus” that owns the newspaper “Akropolis” in the Chalkidiki region, which published an article stating that Father Ephraim should not be arrested, because he is the most authoritative figure in the Orthodox world, which was allegedly proven by the travel of the Belt of the Virgin Mary across Russia.

“So similar to Russia”

Many Greek journalists and political scientists sometimes link all sorts of various projects the Bobolas family with corruption in the Greek government by Kostas Karamanlis.

Literally a month after the government of St. Petersburg signed a contract for the construction of a waste recycling plant in Yanino, a special commission of the European Union published the results of an investigation into the sale by the Greek government in 2003 of quarries with deposits of non-ferrous metals "Kassandras", in the Chalkidiki region, to a Canadian mining company "European Goldfields".

The Greek government sold the mines, which produce gold, silver, zinc and lead, to this company for just 11 million euros. 53% of the shares of European Goldfields belong to the mining company Gris Mines of Georgi Bobolas.

As the EU Commission found out, this transaction was carried out without announcing an open tender and without an assessment market value mines by independent appraisers.

In addition, by decision of the Greek government, the European Goldfields company was exempt from paying taxes for this transaction. To understand why the Bobolas mining company was exempt from paying taxes, Greek journalists tracked down documents on the history of the deal. Scandalous details were revealed that surprised not only the Greeks, but also many other taxpayers in the European Union.

Until 2003, the Kassandras mines belonged to TVX Hellas SA, which bought them from the Greek government in 1995 through an open tender auction for 11 billion drachmas, which then corresponded to 39.8 million euros in today's European currency. TVX Hellas SA has been working in the mines for almost 7 years. Until the moment when the Greek State Council completely unexpectedly revoked the license for the extraction and production of gold at the Olympikas and Statoni mines, which are part of the Kassandras ore mine. In the mines of the Olympicus region, gold mining was prohibited for environmental reasons. At the Statoni mines, production was stopped due to the fact that people were working there whose qualifications did not meet production requirements.

But at the same time, the Greek Ministry of Development unexpectedly issued two regulations on the mines in Statoni. In the first decree, the ministry prohibited all work in the mines, and in the second, the Georgi Bobolas company was appointed temporary manager of the Kassandras mines. Government officials explained such a quick appointment of a temporary manager by the fact that after the ban on work in gold mines, the Canadian company Kinross, owner of the mining company TVX Hellas SA, stopped paying wages to workers. After this, TVX Hellas SA was declared bankrupt and its mines became the property of the Greek state.

On December 12, 2003, the Cassandra Mines company Georgi Bobolas received an insurance fine for bankruptcy in the amount of 11 million euros from the former owner of the mines, TVX Hellas SA. Although a few days before at the International arbitration court TVX Hellas SA filed a claim for lost profits against the Greek government for 293.5 million euros. But it was on December 12 that the Greek government transferred the mine to the management of Georgi Bobolas’ company.

In order to “avoid social unrest among mine workers who may become unemployed,” government officials said. This statement was broadcast on television for several days and published in newspapers that belong to the media empire of Georgi Bobolas.

Eight years after these events, on February 23, 2011, the EU Commission published an official conclusion, from which it follows that Georgi Bobolas’s company defrauded the Greek Treasury of 15.3 million euros in the deal to purchase the Kassandras mines. Bobolas’ company has now been ordered to pay this money plus the “accumulated” interest on it.

After the EU Commission published the results of this investigation, Greek newspapers published estimates from independent experts, from which it follows that the actual price of the mines in Halkidiki is 433 million euros. And the EU Commission took as a basis the average statistical data for European mines with deposits of non-ferrous metals.

This discussion about the market value of the mines in Halkidiki is a rather controversial issue. Moreover, in Greece, which is gripped by massive and not entirely peaceful protests of citizens, any information about the Bobolas family is as effective as a red rag on a bull. A friend of the Bobolas family, the Athonite monk Father Ephraim, told Vladimir Putin that Greece is now going through difficult times.

The Case of the Bobolas Clan
In Greece, the surname Bobolas causes almost the same irritation as in Russia the surname Berezovsky. There are countless scandals associated with the Bobolas media and construction empire. One of the main ones happened during Greece's preparations for the 2004 Olympic Games. During government tenders for the construction and reconstruction of sports arenas for the Olympics, the head and owner of the Greek construction company Michaniki, Prodramos Emphietzoglou, began a legal battle against the Aktor SA company, which allegedly, through technological electronic manipulation, won a public government tender worth 150 million euros for the reconstruction of the Athens stadium "Marussi" for the Olympic Games.

In addition, Emfietzoglou said that the construction company Aktor SA had no right to participate in the state tender at all, since the construction company Hellenic Technodomiki, which owned 75% of the shares of Aktor SA, belongs 25% to the son of media tycoon Georgi Bobolas Leonidas.

When this scandal broke in Athens 10 years ago, according to the laws of the Greek state, none of the citizens who owned a controlling stake in the funds mass media, and their relatives down to their fourth cousins ​​did not have the right to participate in government tenders if the relatives could not prove their financial independence.

The scandal in the case of the reconstruction of the Athens Olympic stadium occurred because Leonidas Bobolas, the largest shareholder of the Hellenic Technodomiki company, was unlikely to be able to earn the money himself to purchase such a stake. Leonidas Bobolas told reporters a lot about his business successes, but was never able to prove that he himself earned 100 million euros to purchase a stake in Hellenic Technodomiki.

Due to a series of scandals associated with the abbot of the Vatopedi monastery, Ephraim, who, according to Greek journalists, “spiritually nurtured” the Bobolas family, Theodoros Roussopoulos, a spokesman for the Greek government with the rank of minister, resigned in the fall of 2008. Roussopoulos began his political and public career as a journalist in the Bobolasov media empire.

One can sympathize with the deputies of the Greek parliament, who, in the course of their struggle with the Bobolas family, changed the law on the rights of citizens to participate in government tenders several times. Thus, a couple of years after the scandal with the reconstruction of the stadium, the Greek parliament legitimized an amendment according to which owners of more than 5% of the shares of any media outlet were prohibited from participating in government tenders. Then Leonidas Bobolas sold part of his stake in Aktor SA in order to still participate in tenders.

Recently, the Greek Parliament made another amendment to the law - now people cannot take part in government tenders if they themselves or their relatives have more than 1% of shares in the media. After that Leonidas Bobolas became a minority shareholder of Aktor SA, but at the same time became its managing director. It was by his decision that the son of the mayor of St. Petersburg and chairman of the board of trustees of the Russian Athos Society, Alexey Poltavchenko, was appointed to his position.

Miracles of Ephraim

The newspaper “Greek Reporter” in an article entitled “Efrem and Putin are doing... “miracles”” writes about the journey of the Belt of the Virgin Mary across Russia and talks about Ephraim’s call to Putin to help Greece: “Father Ephraim knows how to do business very well, so it is only natural that he found a way to financially exploit the passion of believers for the relic.

As advanced businessmen do, he found a free market space and produced the required market product. And it doesn’t matter that this product is nothing more than paper copies of the Belt of the Virgin Mary, which should satisfy the spiritual hunger of Russian believers. These copies are expected to sell out within days.

But he didn't stop there. Ephraim promises to write a book about this relic and the miracles associated with it. So it's no wonder why the Greek media is saying that Ephraim could be the best prime minister in Greece right now. He is the only one who was able to truly implement development and production, and, as we now see, his PR skills are much better than those of former Prime Minister Papandreou or the candidate for the post of Prime Minister Samaras.”

The Orthodox educational mission of Poltavchenko’s “Russian Athos Society” is commendable, which, following in the footsteps of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation, brings Christian values ​​to Russia. But in Russia there always remains a danger that, under the cover of noble, bright deeds, other things can happen. What is evidenced by the arrival of the “Greek Berezovsky” in the country.

“However, be that as it may, this story has one prevailing positive side - Russian pilgrims will for decades to come remember with gratitude that they were given the happy opportunity to venerate the Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos. It doesn't matter which way grace comes. That’s how the world works,” I’m sure Grigory Nekhoroshev in his material in the latest issue of “Top Secret”.

This summer marks the anniversary of Georgy Poltavchenko's governorship. There is a joke in St. Petersburg: the city is under the heel of St. Athos.

Unlike Valentina Matvienko, a native of the Ukrainian Shepetovka, Poltavchenko is her own, St. Petersburg person. Blue duster, driver's cap, doesn't say too much. The city likes all this. Fundamental dimness is our style. Due to his lack of brightness at one time, the townspeople were so fond of Governor Vladimir Yakovlev that they did not even allow Moscow to re-elect him in the elections. He was replaced by Matvienko with a complex gambit - instead of elections, Vladimir Anatolyevich went to construction deputy prime minister.

Poltavchenko almost never gives interviews; he does not have his own TV show. Little is known about him: 59 years old, the son of a party organizer of the North-Western River Shipping Company and the director of the airport's Central Ticket Office. He graduated from the Institute of Aviation Instrumentation, and wrote a diploma about a spacesuit. Production, district party committee, service in the KGB, presidential representative in the Central Federal District. In St. Petersburg they managed to forget Georgy Sereevich.

During the year of work at Smolny, Poltavchenko removed Matvienko’s entire team and replaced it with people from the “Russian Athos Society”. This is a hitherto little-known Orthodox organization. Its members “can be persons who have reached 18 years of age, have made a pilgrimage to Holy Mount Athos, share the statutory goals of the society, and lead a decent lifestyle.”

In mid-October, instead of Alla Manilova, the former deputy of Georgy Poltavchenko in Moscow, Chelyabinsk businessman Vasily Kichedzhi, an active “Athos resident,” was appointed vice-governor of St. Petersburg, responsible for culture and media.

And on November 9, instead of Mikhail Oseevsky, former paratrooper officer Igor Divinsky, executive director of the Russian Athos Society, became another vice-governor of St. Petersburg.

Responsible post of the head State Inspectorate Alexander Makarov, a lieutenant general of the FSB, a former assistant to Poltavchenko, a graduate of the Moscow Architectural Institute, ended up guarding the monuments.

Ivan Gromov, the son of another “Athos resident” - Alexei Gromov, Poltavchenko’s deputy in the Central Federal District, headed the informatization committee.

And even the head of the cultural department, director Dmitry Meskhiev, who had not previously been particularly religious, said that he accepted his current post solely with the blessing of his confessor.

In Smolny there are now iconostases and breaks for prayer. Poltavchenko and Divinsky recently once again flew to Athos. Makarov proposed to transfer St. Isaac's Cathedral (there is now a museum) to the church.

It is curious that, according to slon.ru, the son of the governor, Alexey Poltavchenko, 26 years old, has been working since 2010 as the director of development in Russia and the CIS of the Greek construction company Aktor, closely associated with Athos, which in January 2011 won a large concession project in St. Petersburg for construction of a waste treatment plant. The project will be implemented on the principle of public-private partnership.

In addition, the capable descendant of the governor owns 50 percent of Alekseevsky Bread Factories LLC, as well as a share in ETIKA and Co. LLC, which, in turn, owns 50 percent of Bik-Well LLC. In 2009, Bik-Well LLC won the Gazprom OJSC tender for the construction of exploration wells at the Chayandinskoye oil and gas condensate field. He is also the owner of 10 percent of Estate and Co LLC - intermediary services in the purchase, sale and rental of non-residential real estate. Poltavcheko Jr. owns 30 percent of Freight Exchange CJSC, 40 percent of PrimeCom LLC (real estate transactions), a share in LLC "Capital Multiservice" (repair of household products and personal items). Alexey Poltavchenko co-founded the ANO "Inter-industry Institute of Additional Professional Education".

So far, the fears of those who feared the establishment of a theocracy in the city have not come true. “Athos residents” are extremely cautious and have chosen rather the tactic of “doing nothing.” Athos Monastery is a stronghold of hesychasm. As “Brockhaus and Efron” informs us: “Hesychasts or Hesychasts, Greek, mystics of the 14th century, among the Athonite monks of the 14th century, taught about the existence of an eternal uncreated light, which appeared on Mount Tabor near Nazareth; for the perception of this “Tavorsky light "they stood motionless for whole days and nights, their eyes fixed on their stomachs at the place of the navel."

The management of Smolny is being ruined by unnecessary reflection.

The largest investment projects conceived by Valentina Ivanovna were canceled - the Orlovsky Tunnel under the Neva and the NovoAdmiralteysky Bridge, which was supposed to connect Vasilyevsky Island with the Admiralteysky District. Financing of the long-suffering Gazprom Arena, the city's main stadium, has been stopped. Meetings of the city government have become less frequent, and journalists are no longer allowed to attend them. Lobbyists and deputies cannot see the necessary officials.

As for our own projects, things are going poorly here. A one-year moratorium on the allocation of new sites led to open discontent from the powerful construction lobby. There has never been a master plan for the development of St. Petersburg.

The automobile cluster that emerged under Matvienko does not live up to expectations. It was assumed that most of the components would be produced by local manufacturers. But the actual screwdriver assembly is still underway.

Finally, the relocation of the headquarters of national companies to St. Petersburg could provide significant funding for the budget. But, according to the new law, oil and gas workers must now pay taxes at the place of their main activities.

As a result, according to economists, the revenue side of the city budget may lose 20 percent of its revenue.

Discontent is brewing.

Legislators

In the elections to the Legislative Assembly held in December, United Russia, according to official data, received 37 percent of the votes (observers believe that in reality it was 30 percent) and did not have an absolute majority - 20 mandates out of 50. A Just Russia had 12 mandates, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation - 7, Yabloko - 6, and the Liberal Democratic Party - 5 mandates.

However, during the elections United Russia successfully tested new technology- all parliamentary factions were infiltrated with their own agents of influence, voting along with the party in power. This led to a split in the local Yabloko and the actual formation of two factions in the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

Nevertheless, the authority of the ZAKS in the city has grown: energetic oppositionists Alexey Kovalev, Boris Vishnevsky, Maxim Reznik not only participate in opposition rallies, but also actively, and often successfully, defend the interests of residents infringed by the construction of attics in protected areas, cutting down gardens and parks, etc.

Even more important is that the closed nature of Smolny also causes displeasure among local United Russia members. The most influential representative of the construction lobby, deputy Sergei Nikeshin, proposed to force the governor to answer essentially the questions posed. “Now we don’t always receive answers, and requests are written anew. Because of this, we simply have a flood of requests,” notes Nikeshin. It also calls on the governor to respond to the request within seven business days of receiving it.

New people

In Moscow, during the “snow revolution”, previously well-known people came to the fore, but simply did not take direct part in politics: Bykov, Sobchak, Navalny, Parfenov, Akunin. In St. Petersburg there are few media figures of its own - once federal, St. Petersburg Channel 5 has been owned by Muscovites since 2008 and broadcasts mainly films and TV series from ORT's storehouses. Yuri Shevchuk does not speak at rallies, although he sympathizes. Grebenshchikov is in Buddhist reflection. Granin and Basilashvili are not young. Therefore the most important part political activity new organizations have emerged over the past turbulent months. First of all, this is the “Observers of St. Petersburg” - an organization created before the December elections and numbered 3.5 thousand active participants before the presidential elections. Coordinator and ideologist - Alexandra Krylenkova (in peaceful life she has two children, a programmer husband and a business making chocolate bouquets). Since April, “Observers” have been registered as a public movement and intend to observe municipal elections and prepare future municipal deputies, monitor the expenditure of budget money, protect parks and historical buildings.

The already mentioned “Living City”, headed by Yulia Minutina, is active.

Any plan of the authorities that threatens citizens meets with decisive and immediate resistance. Dmitry Meskhiev was forced to abandon the creation of a film factory on the site of Lenfilm - due to the protest of filmmakers led by Alexander Sokurov and Alexei German. Theater critics and artists thwarted the theater reform he had conceived. Having secured all the necessary papers, developers are forced to remove their favorite “spots” in green spaces.

The regional public organization (ROO) "Russian Athos Society" was created in September 2005, almost immediately after Vladimir Putin first visited the Orthodox shrines of Athos. According to the charter, which, judging by the official website, has not changed since the founding of the organization, the ROO operates in Moscow. However, it was stated: “It is planned to reorganize the society into an All-Russian public organization.” This is easily explained: the organization’s board of trustees is headed by Georgy Poltavchenko, who lived in Moscow in 2005 and now lives in St. Petersburg, where he works as governor. The goal of the RPO "Russian Athonite Society" is "the preservation of cultural Orthodox values ​​that play a fundamental role in the spiritual development of the individual and society as a whole." Among the main activities is the “development and strengthening of ties with the monastic communities of Holy Mount Athos.” The people of Athos (as members of the society are called) organized “business trips” to Russia for the relics of Mary Magdalene and the relics of the Holy Great Martyr Dmitry of Thessalonica. The ROO has accounted for several dozen restored monastic cells and monasteries, a reconstructed hospital of the St. Panteleimon Monastery, collecting donations for the restoration of the Trinity Cathedral of the Izmailovsky Life Guards Regiment in St. Petersburg, financing the construction of a nursing home at the Church of the Archangel Michael in Toksovo. A notable project of the Athos residents was the monument to Prince Dmitry Pozharsky in the Suzdal Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery.

More details: http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/1967590