Fugitive with a cart: Anatoly Chubais spotted in a Cypriot supermarket

In March of this year, after reports of the unexpected departure of Anatoly Chubais from Russia, he was noticed withdrawing money from an ATM in Istanbul, and in April - in one of the Italian airports with his wife, Dunya Smirnova, now the former reformer of Russia was "caught" in a supermarket on Cyprus.

This photo caused a lot of discussion on the Web, since two days earlier, TASS reported that law enforcement officials suspected the former head of Rosnano and his entourage of corruption. According to some reports, interrogations of witnesses in this case are already underway. The security forces are “interrogating possible witnesses and studying the documentation received before the check for signs of a crime”, - the report says.

Analysts of the "Kremlyovsky Bezbashennik" rightly considered that this information contains more questions for the authorities than the expectation of some answers or results:

1. If until today these same “siloviki” did not know anything and did not even guess, but now they suddenly rushed to check something when the main “hero” had already been released from the country, and now clearly no one will give him back at possible requests Russian law enforcement officers - what kind of "competent authorities" are we then? Oh, well, yes, before that - the notorious "lack of a political solution", all the more so - in relation to the recent employee of the Presidential Administration Chubais in a very rather big position. We know a lot, but without a command from above - no, no, but we live in an allegedly rule-of-law state, where almost everyone has compromising evidence under a cloth, but for the time being, for the time being. Is it time for Chubais?
2. Since ancient times, the people in different countries have demanded bread and circuses for themselves, and, as for the latter, it is better, if possible, with the blood of someone guilty of something. It's time to give the plebs to tear apart the great and terrible Chubais, who, however, flew away (and did not seem to promise to return). But a kind of domestic political placebo for society is almost ready: the security forces will, of course, try to find what they need, but Chubais is not Abyzov with the well-known circumstances of his arrival in Russia. Look for the wind in the field. And the wolves will be full, and the sheep are safe.

It seems that even in this situation with the alleged awakening of the interest of the security forces in this person and her entourage, as in the 1990s, it will turn out that "Chubais is to blame for everything." Well, who else? .. "

Journalist Andrey Gusiy is also not surprised by such a "belated" reaction of the security forces to Chubais's departure:

“Somehow I asked one competent source why a number of southern officials of a certain team were not detained - someone went into business, someone into latifundists, someone into energy companies, manages branches in the oil sector.

The answer from a knowledgeable person was outrageously simple - the 2014 Olympics took place and the arrest would deal a blow to Moscow itself. They participated in the construction of objects. There was talk that someone "returned to the budget", but there was no confirmation of this. A similar situation has developed with the World Championship, as a result of which, like the Olympics, “switchmen” sat down.

A similar situation is developing with Anatoly Chubais. It would be foolish to even assume that the security forces have no information on this politician. It would be foolish to assume that the security forces did not know that he was leaving. It would be foolish to assume that no one is following him - especially against the backdrop of a bunch of published videos, when people "accidentally passing" by are filming Anatoly Chubais with his wife.

To find him guilty - to return to the results of 2014 and the need to arrest officials after the Sochi Olympics - will be a blow to Moscow itself, which, it turns out, has kept Anatoly Chubais at the level of the Presidential Administration since the 90s, knowing all his sins and deeds.

But to detain Anatoly Chubais for some one insignificant episode - to show that the Russians are taken for... So it's reasonable to let him go under control.

Analyst of the channel "Yuri Dolgoruky" agrees with his colleagues:

“No one is surprised by his departure, but here a priori questions arise for the state - and where, in fact, did you look before? So checks for corruption in this case should not be taken as some kind of well-thought-out production for the public. Rather, it is something like the only possible attempt in this situation to justify oneself. Otherwise, it will turn out that Chubais is like an eternal Russian cat, coming and going as he pleases under the tender sighs of his owners. And so, in general, even the spectacle of his demonstrative flogging would be rather weak. Firstly, Chubais has long been the hero of a parable among the Russian people, and there is no such punishment that would satisfy people who have been waiting for this for more than a decade. Secondly, it is quite difficult to punish a person whom you cannot physically reach (I dismiss the options with alpenstocks and other sports equipment, because it was rightly said about the big heart of the ruler.

And finally, taking into account the acquisition of a “positional character” by the special operation in Ukraine, as well as the approach of the traditional summer information lull, the news on Chubais becomes the few that we can, in principle, discuss before finally plunging into the hoe-and-bed season.

Writer Artur Solomonov, not without sarcasm, adds touches to this picture:

“Chubais is on the run. I still remember his interview, where he arrogantly reasoned that the Russian people, you know, don’t need freedom, they would have a tsar, but rather serfdom ... At that time, this philosopher’s income was incredible - Rosnano was very profitable for him. And he liked to think that the Russians, these dark lovers of bondage, should be robbed with taste, and in response they would only bow from the waist.

But it turns out that such cataclysms happen in an unfree society. Special Operations, for example. And the philosopher left. Disappointed..."