This weekend, a city councilman in Moscow's Severnoye Izmaylovo District noticed a couple of tractors driving through a local courtyard. They were supposed to be cleaning up snow, but they were just driving around, cleaning up nothing. The man then stopped the lead tractor and asked what was going on.
They say they were acting on orders from their boss, circling the area in tractors without the proper brushes attached to their vehicles, making it impossible to clean up any snow.
The city councilman filmed the exchange, and his YouTube video quickly led to a scandal in Moscow’s communal services.
In the video, a tractor driver said that his team wasn’t equipped with the necessary brushes for cleaning up snow, but his boss ordered them into the streets nonetheless, in order to fool the fleet’s GPS system into registering the cleanup work as completed.
After media outlets reported the scandal, the government institution responsible for Moscow’s snow cleanup, Zhilishchnik, told the tabloid Life that the tractor drivers caught on video have already been fired for failing to do their jobs.
“We are aware of the situation in question,” a company representative told Life. “These men were new employees, and they still hadn’t passed their initial probationary period. We fire people who don’t want to fulfill their work duties. It’s our policy to prohibit vehicles from going into the field with brushes raised out of service, let alone without any brushes at all.”
Responding to concerns that Zhilishchnik is battling a shortage of the brushes needed to plow Moscow’s streets, a spokesperson for the company assured Life that there are plenty of snow brushes in stock currently.
“The brushes are washed occasionally, especially when there’s a lot of snow. When this happens, the tractors are outfitted with new brushes immediately,” the spokesperson told Life.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.
