In Chelyabinsk, an honorary title is awarded to a convicted deputy with a Rolls-Royce

Alexander Dybin

The Chelyabinsk City Duma annually elects one or two honorary residents for City Day. This year, only two have been nominated for the title. The first is plastic surgeon Oleg Pukhov , who became famous not only for the increase in breasts and lips, but also for sewing severed hands on patients. The second nominee is a deputy of the City Duma from United Russia, a major businessman Vitaly Rylskikh . The latter caused a lot of controversy, since in his career there is not only business, but also a criminal record, which he has to indicate every time he is nominated for deputies. Urban communities began to publish a photo of Vitaly Rylsky, which shows a tattoo on the arm of the letter SLON, which can be deciphered as "death by a cop from a knife."

As one of the deputies of the city duma of Chelyabinsk told Novye Izvestia, this is the second attempt to assign the Rylskys the highest public title in the city. The name of an honorary citizen is embossed in gold letters on a marble wall in the city hall, and this status also entitles you to free travel on public transport.

“In 2018, the deputies made an amendment to the regulation on an honorary citizen, earlier it was stated that a convicted person could not receive the title,” says the interlocutor of Novye Izvestia, “but then the deputies added that it was forbidden to give the title to a convicted person under serious articles. Everyone understood that this was an amendment under the Rylskys and a hype arose. As a result, he was not given an honorary award, but was given only the “Recognition” award - a public award for his contribution to the development of the city. Now the new composition of the City Duma and apparently there is no one to raise the fuss. Vitaly Rylskikh can be treated differently, maybe he did a lot as a philanthropist, but the title is a kind of guideline, who we want to see as the leader of the city community and open a window for those convicted, even if for a long time, in my opinion, it’s not right.”

State Duma deputy Valery Hartung responded to the news about the award of a high rank to Vitaly Rylsky, who called the situation a shame.

“This is a shame on the whole of Russia! Have the deputies of the city duma from the party with the majority already solved all the problems that they are engaged in conferring honorary titles on themselves? Apparently, now in Chelyabinsk there are no environmental or transport problems, no broken roads, no dilapidated houses, if the deputies reward themselves for the second year in a row, - Gartung wrote in his telegram channel, - they are going to award the twice convicted acting deputy Rylsky. In the 1970s he was convicted of hooliganism and illegal possession of weapons, and even served four years on this charge in a colony. I believe that conferring the title of honorary citizen on a convicted person is a shame for the city and a humiliation for all Chelyabinsk residents. We must not allow this."

There was no big discussion in the City Duma itself, both candidates were approved at the commission, they must be approved at the Duma meeting on August 30. Only deputies from A Just Russia opposed the assignment of the Rylsky title. Andrey Zelenin , head of the SZRP faction, told Novye Izvestia that the Righteous Russians have made amendments that prohibit awarding an honorary title to those convicted.

“The highest title of “honorary citizen” should be claimed by those who are crystal clear before the law,” Andrey Zelenin told Novye Izvestia, “we are not attached to any person, but if we admit this, that someone who had problems with receives this title by law, then in the future it may serve to discredit the entire institution of the “honorary citizen”. A window will open, it will become the norm. We think we need to look a little ahead so that this does not become the norm, it was not acceptable.

The website of the election commission of the Chelyabinsk region indicates that Vitaly Rylsky had a criminal record in 1969 under articles 206 and 218 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (hooliganism and possession of weapons). The conviction was canceled in 1978, and the following year Rylskikh was again tried for hooliganism. He himself speaks of his convictions without much regret. The deputy has to explain himself before each election: “I had a criminal record for a hooligan at the age of 17, the second time too - I got into a fight to protect a friend. It's all about youth."

Vitaly Rylskikh started his commercial activity in Chelyabinsk with a flower trade in the city center. Now he owns a lot of real estate, the main and most noticeable asset is the high-rise office center VIPR (short for first name, patronymic and last name). According to the latest declaration of income, Vitaly Rylskikh is the second in terms of earnings among the Chelyabinsk deputies. In 2021, he earned 209 million 971 thousand rubles. The MP owns a Rolls-Royce Phantom, a Toyota Land Cruiser, a motorboat, a snowmobile and 3 trailers. From real estate - 6 land plots, 3 houses and 9 non-residential buildings.

Interestingly, against the backdrop of the scandal, he gave a long interview to the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, where he spoke about his philanthropic activities and attitude to this hype:

“As far as I know, I was nominated by the team, the diocese, the Council of Veterans and the party organization. People have given me confidence. Why should I let them down and refuse myself?! Let the public decide, - he said, - of course, it is an honor to have such a title. But for me the main thing is that people know who I really am and remember with a kind word.