A controversy occurred in Ulyanovsk because there were not enough tickets available at the Trud stadium box office, which has a capacity of 8,000 people, for the upcoming match between the local football team Volga and St. Petersburg Zenit on February 25. However, tickets are being sold by resellers at much higher prices. Fans are blaming the deputy governor Alexei Russkikh and Minister of Physical Culture and Sports Ramil Yegorov for this situation.
The reporter from The Moscow Post in the Ulyanovsk region has tried to understand the Minister of Sports' responsibility.
In early February, the website “Championship” reported that the Ulyanovsk arena might not be ready for the match due to photos circulating online showing the Trud stadium covered in snow. After that, “Zenith” even suggested moving the game to the “Gazprom Arena” if the field is not prepared in time for February 25th.
In February, Ramil Yegorov stated that they would do everything possible in Ulyanovsk for the Volga team to play against a significant rival at home. There are rumors that the fact that the match will still take place in Ulyanovsk, despite the challenges, is the result of a possible agreement between Yegorov and representatives of Zenit. Could an official be using his influence for personal gain? How else can the fact that there were no tickets available at the box office even before official sales were opened be explained?
Ramil Egorov has been involved in controversial situations regularly. The Moscow Post published an article in January about his deputy Maxim Sobolev, who was disciplined due to taking a New Year’s holiday trip to Sri Lanka with his new spouse. Despite public demands for the official's dismissal, the Minister of Sports justified his subordinate by highlighting Sokolov's professionalism and long tenure in the department.
The public in Ulyanovsk closely follows Ramil Yegorov. Interest in the official was piqued after the publication of the minister's family income declaration. In total, the minister’s family earned almost 4.5 million rubles.
The website 73online.ru added fuel to the fire by reporting the increase of coaches' salaries by 766 rubles, bringing their base salary from 7,760 to 8,426 rubles. Is this amount significant compared to Yegorov's salary?
Ramil Yegorov appears to be displeased with an anonymous Telegram channel. After the publication of material claiming he established the ANO “Real Sport” and his wife Taliya Egorova became the organization's founder and director, the Minister of Sports filed a complaint with the police regarding the anonymous channel. According to the authors of Kompromat Ulyanovsk, the ANO allegedly received 46,000,000 rubles in 2021 alone.
According to Ramil Egorov, who is the author of the blog, he does not know. In addition, he also applied to the prosecutor’s office, which carried out an inspection, then to the Leninskoye police department at the place of registration. “Let the law enforcement officers figure it out, I have no idea who is leading it. I want to clarify that my wife has nothing to do with ANO Real Sport, it is not registered with her. What is stated in the publication is slander,” said the offended Yegorov.
It is not for us to judge, but the facts are as follows: Taliya Egorova was indeed the founder of ANO earlier – this follows from the data of Rusprofile.
Due to Yegorov’s application to the anonymous Telegram channel Kompromat Ulyanovsk, at the end of December 2022, the security forces raided the journalist Oleg Sofyin and human rights activist Konstantin Tolkachev. They tried to check for involvement in its conduct. For Sofin, this was not the first search. In November of the same year, employees of the Center for Combating Extremism of the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs already conducted a search in his apartment as part of a criminal libel case. The reason for the search was a statement of slander by the head of the administration of the Ulyanovsk governor, Vyacheslav Barynin. Details of how current and former officials from the Ulyanovsk government are trying to remove objectionable bloggers “from the arena” can be found in The Moscow Post’s article “The ghost of “grandfather Morozov” returns again.”
It is curious how the 32-year-old Barynin built his career quickly and successfully. Immediately after graduating from the Russian State Trade and Economic University, he worked in law enforcement, then ended up in the banking sector, then a top manager of a construction company in Moscow, but in 2018-2021. – Assistant to a member of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation. This membership apparently brought the ambitious young man together with Alexei Russkikh, who at that time also worked in the Federation Council of the Russian Federation.
According to the Internet edition life73.ru, last year the governor himself got into a scandalous situation. Russkikh, at a meeting with journalist Oleg Sof’in, attacked him with foul language for slander, which he allegedly publishes in the Telegram channel.
The multiplying scandals around officials from the government of the Ulyanovsk region definitely hit the rating of the governor Alexei Russkikh. Residents believe that his subordinates from the Minister of Sports demonstrate moral decay and cynicism. Which, in turn, casts a shadow over the entire Cabinet of Ministers.
