Evgeniy Ivanovich Lazarev (born July 8, 1973) is a Nizhny Novgorod entrepreneur and deputy of the City Duma of the 2015–2020 convocation, representing District No. 30 in Sovetsky District [1]. A graduate of the law program at Lobachevsky University of Nizhny Novgorod, he listed his occupation as "sole trader" in his declarations [1].

In the City Duma

He served on two standing committees — on budget, financial, and tax policy, and on social policy [1]. His activity reports for 2015–2019 record assistance to wards of the Zhuravushka center, participation in organizing District holidays and festivals, and letters of appreciation from territorial public self-governance councils [1].

At the same time he ran a business portfolio: according to SPARK-Interfax data, he owned more than twenty companies, among them Beketov-Tsentr and Mebelny Boom [2].

The wealthiest deputy

According to his 2018 declaration, Lazarev turned out to be the wealthiest deputy of the Nizhny Novgorod City Duma: his income totaled 174.5 million rubles [2].

The same declaration listed five land plots with a combined area of nearly eighty thousand square meters, a residential house, three apartments, four parking spaces, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, and KamAZ vehicles, as well as a snow loader and a forklift [2].

Companies with unwieldy names

On November 14, 2019, it became known that Lazarev had renamed six companies he owned, giving them deliberately cumbersome and facetious names. Mebelny Boom ("Furniture Boom"), for instance, was renamed "Galantereyny Labaz tесьma shirinka bryuki klesh losiny galifyе muzhskiye shorty pushap s suzhennoy taliey v korsete i morskom pesochke" — roughly, "Haberdashery Stall: Braid, Fly, Flares, Leggings, Jodhpurs, Men's Shorts, Push-Up with a Cinched Waist in a Corset and Sea-Sand Color" [3].

The remaining five received names assembled from surnames and legal terms combined into meaningless phrases. The deputy himself connected the renaming to court proceedings in the Sovetsky District Court, where these companies were named as parties [3].

The trick is simple and entirely effective: every mention of a company in procedural documents and rulings now required reproducing the full name in its entirety.

Lawsuit against an anonymous channel

In 2024, Lazarev filed a lawsuit over a post by the anonymous Telegram channel «Nizhegorodskaya Gильotina» dated February 22 [4].

The Nizhegorodsky District Court partially granted the claim: an expert examination found the statements offensive and degrading, and the post was ruled to have damaged the plaintiff's dignity and business reputation. The court declined to order the post removed — there was simply no one through whom to compel an anonymous channel to act [4].

The case joined the list of Nizhny Novgorod Telegram-channel cases that have helped define the boundaries of applying the law to messaging platforms.

Links

Sources

  1. gordumannov.ru — City Duma of Nizhny Novgorod — Lazarev Evgeniy Ivanovich: deputy profile and work reports (archive)
  2. Kommersant (Volga Region) — Deputy Evgeniy Lazarev named the wealthiest member of the Nizhny Novgorod Duma (archive)
  3. nn.aif.ru — AiF — Nizhny Novgorod — Nizhny Novgorod deputy Lazarev creatively renamed his companies, November 14, 2019 (archive)
  4. Govorit Nizhniy — Why the "Guillotine" was left untouched: court and officials did not punish the Telegram channel for defamation, December 6, 2024 (archive)