Sataev will get behind the wheel of a tractor

Before the demonstrative crackdown, the district head entered the operating establishment and asked everyone to leave, saying: "I'm about to break everything here!"

The bulldozer's bucket smashed in the windows of the premises and broke the canopies over the entrances. Later, Nikolai Sataev explained that he was fighting an immoral phenomenon and that his position on shutting down gambling establishments coincided with the position of the President of Russia. Following a complaint from the injured businesswoman Elena Fedyunina, a criminal case was opened over Mr. Sataev's abuse of office (Article 286 of the Russian Criminal Code). But the case was later dropped due to reconciliation of the parties: the district head compensated the victim for the damage in the amount of 80,000 rubles.

Note that Nikolai Sataev earned the nickname "bulldozer man" even before the incident at the slot-machine arcade. Thus, in 2003 he personally got behind the controls of a bulldozer and demolished several unauthorized garages.

And in the autumn of 2004 the official ordered a paid public toilet to be walled up, whose owner was "creating unsanitary conditions": a KamAZ truck loaded with earth and construction debris was driven up to the toilet's doors and blocked the exit, despite the fact that there were people inside.

Mayor Vadim Bulavinov always publicly supported his deputy. "I believe this social evil must be fought with more decisive measures. We have very democratic legislation that protects malicious violators," said the head of the city, complaining that court cases over the demolition of illegal structures drag on for years. Nikolai Sataev himself was unavailable for comment yesterday: his mobile phone did not answer, and his reception office reported that he had "gone to the region."

"The preliminary investigation bodies charge Nikolai Sataev with the following: on 23 January of this year, exceeding his authority, without applying to a court, and with the aim of obstructing the operation of a slot-machine arcade located on Dvizhentsev Street in Nizhny Novgorod, he ordered the head of the municipal enterprise 'Communal Services' to place a front-end loader at his (Sataev's) disposal. On the same day, at around 4:30 p.m., Sataev, with the aim of ending the lawful operation of the slot-machine arcade, gave an unlawful order to the tractor operator running the loader to demolish two canopies with roller shutters above the entrance to the premises and to damage a window. As a result of these actions, the owner of the premises, individual entrepreneur E.V. Fedyunina, suffered significant material damage in the amount of 80,749 rubles," the prosecutor's office statement said.

"In addition to a substantial violation of the entrepreneur's rights and legally protected interests, Sataev, through his unlawful actions, undermined the authority of local self-government bodies and discredited the organs of power, thereby causing substantial harm to public and state interests," the prosecutor's office statement said.

This was announced today at a press conference by Vyacheslav Igoshin, acting head of the investigative directorate of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation for Nizhny Novgorod Region.

For example, in the Nizhegorodsky District, as part of the cleanup the territory around City Hospital No. 5 will be cleared. The head of the Nizhegorodsky District administration, "United Russia" party member Andrei Tarasov, will take part in the snow clearing.

In the Avtozavodsky District, United Russia members will clear a courtyard hockey rink.

In Kanavinsky District, United Russia members will clear the territory around the Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium.