Shantsev.Net, Shanzev.net — a website on the international computer network the internet, dedicated to the overthrow of Governor Shantsev. The primary, though not the only, Mass Media outlet devoted to this subject.

At present (February 2011) the site is inactive, and the phrase "Denis, I miss you, call me" has been embedded in the source code, signifying the project's lack of funding.

Nature of the phenomenon

Arguably the most expensive website ever produced in its category — one dedicated to criticizing the activities of Governor V.P. Shantsev, his subordinates, and the members of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Government.

Contains a flash game based on Shantsev's adventures in Nizhny Novgorod.

The main page of the Shanzev.net website features an animation depicting the chimes of the Moscow Kremlin with V.P. Shantsev dangling from the second hand of the clock, frantically kicking his legs. A calendar next to the tower counts down the days remaining until the governor's term expires.

Public Benefit

Contains more than 9,000 articles about the regional government's spending abuses.

Site Sections

  • Shantsev Eats! — analytical articles
  • No Chance! — Shantsev chronicles 2005–2009
  • Catch Your Chance — flash game
  • Little Chances — dossiers and portraits of officials
  • Chansonnier — poems, songs, videos, stories
  • Give Me a Chance! — the unofficial reception desk of Governor Shantsev

Criticism

The successes of the Shanzev.Net website naturally provoked a flood of anonymous messages on internet forums about the nature of the project.


« - A curious little memo recently caught my eye. Unfortunately, I can't quote it word for word, but I'll retell everything I learned from memory. This memo concerns the website Shantsev.Net. Strictly speaking, it's not a memo in the traditional sense — more like information that people apparently gather for their own use. What they gather it for is a separate question.

So, regarding the anti-Shantsev website. The Shantsev.Net project began development back in 2008. The project's technical director is Alexander Yakovlevich Briskin, an employee of the Moscow PR agency "Mikhailov and Partners." Before 2005, Briskin worked with the team of presidential envoy Sergey Kirienko as a specialist in black PR and took part in actions against Klimentyev (remember those houses spray-painted with "We're for Klim"?). He then worked in the press office of the company "Russian Buses" (a Deripaska-linked structure). Last year he left that job due to some interesting offer. This offer may well have been connected to the Shantsev.Net project.

He registered the site under a front person — one Olesya Bagreddинova (I hope I've written the surname correctly), a resident of the Leningrad Region. Under Briskin's direction, the site's ideology was laid out and its design and management were developed. A former TV presenter, Alexander Bludyshev, who has spent the past ten years working on various elections in cities and towns across our vast country and in Ukraine, took part in developing the site's ideology.

At the same time they began looking for staff for the site. They reached out to Molokin (former director of the NNTV television studio and the Dialog channel), who recommended Gennady Grigoryev, with whom he had worked in black PR for a number of years. This Grigoryev had until recently been working in Dzerzhinsk on local television, and was then fired — apparently for drinking.

The alleged initiator of the site was the head of Mayor Bulavinov's press service, Roman Skudnyakov. Whether he personally proposed the idea to Bulavinov, or Bulavinov came up with it himself, or it was the collective product of Bulavinov, Skudnyakov, Briskin, Bludyshev, and Molokin — that is not yet known. But it is apparently reliably known that Bulavinov approved the idea and allocated money for it — and, judging by all indications, a considerable sum. Whether all these people are involved in the project is also unknown, but what is definitely known is that Roman Skudnyakov is actively running the project today. He regularly gathers the people who work on the site and briefs them. He passes them various documents which, according to the memo, he receives from Bulavinov, who in turn receives them from some deputy head of the Regional Police Directorate whom he had gotten to know through his previous work in the police. They say there are photographs of Skudnyakov and Grigoryev discussing something, but I haven't seen them yet.

It is clear that a mayoral aide would not be meeting with people connected to an anti-government website without his boss's knowledge. Which means that Bulavinov is the chief inspiration and financier behind this site. (That's how much Shantsev has gotten under his skin!)

On Bulavinov's orders, the entire staff of the newspaper "Leninskaya Smena" was brought into the project. They are paid a pittance — 10,000 to 15,000 wooden rubles. This while Grigoryev gets 100,000 rubles a month. Skudnyakov allegedly receives 300,000 rubles. But this information has not been fully verified.

Well, that's essentially all there is for now. I don't know any more at the moment. If anyone has any information on this — send it along. It's interesting, after all.

- The site is made by Gena Grigoryev, and a couple of people from LS write for it as well. The budget is around 50,000–60,000 rubles a month.

There's no talk of any astronomical sums.
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See also