Officials who decline to comment on socially significant developments, or interfere with journalists’ work, or hide behind their press services unaware that power structures must be transparent and fully open to public scrutiny, are all likely to be nominated for the anti-award, BarentsPress web site reads.
This year’s group of “Gag” nominees included Karelia’s Culture and PR Minister Galina Brun; Finance Minister Sergey Mikhailov; Communal Reform Committee head Vladimir Koryagin; Construction Deputy Minister Alexander Yefimov; Chief Bailiff Yevgeny Dyogot and others. But the most frequently mentioned name was that of Anatoly Kovalenko, chief of Karelia’s Consumer Rights Defense and Public Wellbeing Supervisory Service, and it was to him that the anti-award finally went based on the voting results.
