Why is the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Viktor Evtukhov not notices food inflation
Viktor Yevtukhov, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, recently made a remarkable statement. He told the Russians that he sees no prerequisites for rising food prices. Moreover, he believes that soon they may even go down. And then it became known that coffee and tea producers were raising selling prices, there appeared messages on the increase in the cost of other products. Perhaps the official did not know about it. And perhaps for Viktor Leonidovich, with his multimillion-dollar income, all this is not as important as for his family, which was once “famous” for profitable government contracts.
Prophet in his own country
Often one gets the impression that our officials are somewhat far from the real life that Russians live. And, most importantly, civil servants often appear as such optimists that even envy takes. Here is the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Viktor Evtukhov recently delighted the people of the country with an encouraging statement. He believes that there is no particular reason for further price increases. Moreover, the official says that products in the near future may even become cheaper. Here is Evtukhov’s statement:We once again spoke with colleagues from related industries that in the near future we do not see any indications that food prices in our country can go up. On the contrary, we believe that, again, taking into account seasonal factors, the end of the holiday season, the summer season, the barbecue, as it is called – what concerns the meat group – prices, we believe, will still have a trend for some types of goods by autumn. downgrade“.
At the same time, we note a few interesting details. The Deputy Minister spoke about the prices on the air of the federal TV channel, that is, literally for the whole country. And on the same day, another curious message appeared. Tea and coffee producers, citing the difficult situation, notified retailers of a 6-9% increase in selling prices for their products. And at the same time, confectionery companies also plan to raise prices from September 1, and in some cases by 16%. It is unlikely that retail chains will decide to take on this increase. So, most likely, in the fall, buyers will have a “surprise” in the form of an increase in prices for these products. This means that there are already some unpleasant “indicators” for the Russians.
But maybe the Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade did not know about this? Everything can be. Well, the meat mentioned by the official is only getting more expensive, like chicken. Perhaps, after the end of the “barbecue” period, prices will decrease. But, to be honest, in an environment where everything is constantly becoming more expensive, it’s hard to believe. And by the way, there is already evidence that, for example, turkey meat may increase in price from September. Note that in this case we are talking about a letter from a major manufacturer. All of them, apparently, are preparing both partners and the population for rising prices.
Inflation for no reason…
Perhaps Viktor Yevtukhov forgot that there are quite objective reasons for inflation in our country. For example, the Central Bank noted that Russia has historically high capacity utilization, which means that further growth in production is limited. Well, there is no need to explain further: when there are not so many goods, their prices go up. Moreover, we also have a shortage of personnel in the labor market, which is why companies are forced to raise salaries, competing for employees. And this also contributes to inflation.
And most importantly – the incredibly weak ruble, which recently stepped over the mark of 100 per dollar. And it seems that we produce a lot ourselves, including food. But we are still dependent on imports: seeds, machinery, spare parts, food additives, and so on. And now, under the conditions of unprecedented sanctions, when buying foreign goods, we involuntarily have to use the services of friendly countries. But friendship is friendship, and everyone wants to earn money. And another crazy thought comes to mind that the official is somewhat lagging behind reality. Although with his multi-million dollar income, this is quite forgivable.
Multimillionaire official
Viktor Evtukhov has a crystal clear biography. Born in the hero city of Leningrad, he worked at a factory. Received several higher educations, defended his PhD. He worked in business, in particular, as a commercial director of several enterprises, and then, as often happens, he went into politics. In the 2000s, Yevtukhov was already in the Federation Council. Usually the Federation Council is an honorary pension for Russian officials and politicians, but Yevtukhov came there as a very old man. And, finally, the pinnacle at the moment of his career is the deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Viktor Leonidovich, judging by his declaration, is not a poor man. Let’s take a look at her.
The minimum annual income of an official over the past 10 years is 5 million rubles. For a civil servant of this rank, this is, in fact, a penny. But in other years, Yevtukhov’s income was quite decent: 25 million, 50 million. I let him down a little lately, 13-14 million, 18 … But the wife of the deputy minister earned good money Elena Yurkan, we’ll talk about it later. Unfortunately, the declarations of civil servants do not indicate what part of their income is their salary, and what is the origin of the rest of the funds. The Ministry of Finance once disclosed data on the salaries of ministers. So, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade several years ago received about a million a month. Suppose that his deputy earned the same amount in recent years. Where does the rest of the money come from?
However, officials, especially those who came to the civil service from business, will always find an explanation. Usually they say that they owned shares or once earned expensive real estate, and they simply sold their assets, due to which they received income that is unthinkable for ordinary Russians. Perhaps this was the case with Viktor Yevtukhov. And now it’s time to return to the conversation about his wife.
Husband and wife – one government contract?
A few years ago, there were reports: the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov, and his deputies on business trips stay in presidential rooms, the price per night of which can exceed one million rubles. At the same time, it surfaced that a company allegedly associated with the Yevtukhov family could organize these luxurious business trips. The firm is called “Service 007”, and among its shareholders are some Margarita and Arina Yurkan. The surnames completely coincide with the surname of Elena Evtukhov’s wife. And, according to some information, we are talking about the mother-in-law of the deputy minister and the sister-in-law, that is, the wife’s sister. And this company won tenders without tenders, the amount of government contracts is impressive, the total is close to 400 million rubles. In addition, Margarita Yurkan was among the co-owners of another company called “Service 007”, whose address is the same as “Service 007”, and its head is Elena Igorevna Yurkan, the name is the same as Evtukhov’s wife.
Later, the journalists contacted the management of Service 007. And there they actually admitted that the mother-in-law of the deputy minister owns the company. But, of course, they said in a blue eye that this does not help in any way in business (sorry for the emotionality, but I just want to exclaim: “What a charm!”). Here is a quote: “It is complete nonsense that some connections help us win tenders. This is slander, a deliberate distortion of facts. The one who writes like this is either an amateur who is completely ignorant of the issue, or a person pursuing other goals.“.
There was no continuation of this scandal, Viktor Evtukhov is still in his chair and continues to take care of our industry, trade and food prices.
Chickens are counted in autumn
And once again we will return to the income of Viktor Yevtukhov. The year before last (this is the latest data), he earned more than 18 million rubles. But where is he before his wife, who in the same year received almost 170 million. The source of income, of course, is unknown.
As for the prices for products that, according to the deputy minister, not only will not grow, but will even fall, compared to tens of millions of income, a slight rise in the price of tea or chicken (sorry, not chickens, but chickens, we are talking about a native of the city on the Neva) looks ridiculous. But maybe prices will really go down. As the hero “The meeting place cannot be changed” said, the recidivist thief Smoked, “nothing, life – it will show.” And the prices for tea, chickens and other products – people will still count in the fall.
Timur Craig
