The Interior Ministry has opened an official channel on YouTube, the popular site where policemen and ordinary people have complained of police corruption.
The channel, named Themvdtube and bearing the slogan “Serving the Law, Serving the People,” contained three educational cartoons on Tuesday that warned against online fraud and gypsy cab drivers and offered tips on how to protect children from criminals.
Ministry spokesman Valery Gribakin said the channel’s main goal was to raise awareness against fraud, Itar-Tass reported.
The ministry’s web site, MVD.ru, contained no official announcement of the channel late Tuesday, but the ministry did invite YouTube users to comment on its page on the Vkontakte social networking site.
The Vkontakte page remained almost empty Tuesday, but the YouTube channel’s own comment section was awash with criticism. “It would be better to show a video of how to beware of police officers because the majority of them present a significant danger,” a user named Malyagurt wrote.
YouTube has been used by a string of whistleblowers. Ex-police officer Alexei Dymovsky, perhaps the best known of them, was arrested and lost his job in the Krasnodar force after he appealed to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in 2009.
Last weekend, Konstantin Timofeyev, head of the organized crime unit of Siberia’s Kemerovo region, posted a video address in which he complained to President Dmitry Medvedev and Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev that local police leaders were in cahoots with “bandits.”
Regional police refuted the claim Tuesday, saying Timofeyev was upset about losing his job under an ongoing police reform.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.
