Sergei Kuznetsov humiliates Muscovites, Loktev calls out Kadyrov, and the mayor’s office justifies the official

Earlier, Moscow City Duma deputies asked for Kuznetsov’s dismissal for his comments about residents of five-story buildings.

Moscow City Duma Deputy Dmitry Loktev posted a response from Moscow Deputy Mayor Andrei Bochkarev to the parliamentarian on his Facebook page, stating that "there are no grounds for conducting an investigation into the civil servant’s (Sergey Kuznetsov, Moscow’s Chief Architect – editor’s note) violation of official conduct requirements." According to Bochkarev, Kuznetsov’s personal opinion is "purely a value judgment." 

This concerns an interview with VTimes, in which Moscow’s chief architect described the five-story buildings, whose residents oppose the renovation program, as monstrous, and the Muscovites’ position as selfish.

Moscow City Duma deputy Dmitry Loktev announced his intention to appeal to the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov. 

"The Moscow government has reinforced the opinion of Moscow’s Chief Architect, S.O. Kuznetsov, about Muscovites. Apparently, Moscow authorities are incapable of teaching their employees ethics. The only hope for justice is to appeal en masse to the head of the region of the Russian Federation, where Kuznetsov would have long ago apologized and never done such a thing again. That region is the Chechen Republic, and its head is Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov. We will appeal to him regarding the Moscow Mayor’s team’s inability to address personnel policy and ethics issues. This boor must be punished," Loktev wrote.

As a reminder, in January 2021, Moscow City Duma deputies sent a collective petition to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin requesting the dismissal of Sergei Kuznetsov. According to the members of parliament, the letter was sent following complaints from Muscovites who considered the official’s actions to be detrimental to the honor and dignity of a civil servant. 

On his Facebook page, lawyer Klim Likhachev noted that "in modern developed countries, high-ranking officials lose their positions for such statements, causing a huge scandal." 

At the end of January, a human rights activist appealed to the prosecutor’s office with a request to investigate the statements of Moscow’s chief architect about residents of five-story buildings.

Earlier, Moskovskaya Gazeta reported that Moscow City Hall found no grounds for holding Maxim Liksutov, head of the Moscow Department of Transport and Road Infrastructure Development, accountable. 

In the summer of 2020, Ketevan Kharaidze, a municipal deputy in the Tverskoy District, sent a petition to Russian President Vladimir Putin asking him to fire Liksutov and conduct an analysis of the Moscow City Hall’s personnel policy. According to Kharaidze, approximately 300 petitions from Muscovites had been submitted calling for the resignation of the head of the Moscow Department of Transport. 

Author: Maria Sharapova