Presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich has been caught allegedly abusing his VIP car’s flashing blue lights.
A “Blue Bucket” movement activist filmed Dvorkovich’s car over the weekend racing around what he says was the Moscow region with his lights flashing. The video quickly made its way onto YouTube.
The activist says Dvorkovich was returning from his friend’s dacha. Earlier that day, the aide had tweeted that he was attending a birthday bash outside the capital.
In a radio interview yesterday, he said he was too busy working in the back of the car to notice if his driver had turned the lights on, but apologized on his behalf anyway.
This is not the first time a presidential aide has been involved in a traffic scandal. This past January, two people fell victim to a scandalous road accident in the Moscow region involving presidential aide Garry Minkh.
A chauffeur-driven BMW with blue flashing lights carrying Minkh collided with a smaller car on one of the region’s biggest highways.
The driver of the BMW was killed, and a 23-year-old girl driving the second car was seriously hurt. The official got away with a few bruises.
In recent months, as the traffic situation in Moscow has gotten worse and worse, the issue of the illegal use of blue lights has repeatedly attracted public attention.
The excessive number of cars with such signals inspired outraged drivers to create the “Blue Buckets” movement. Movement members have adorned their cars with blue buckets – a parody of the VIP’s blue flashing lights – and driven around the center of Moscow at low speeds, causing traffic jams.
“Blue Bucket” activists recently caught the emergencies minister’s driver threatening to shoot another motorist in the head if he did not move out of the way.