One of the close collaborators of the Deputy Head of the Russian Presidential Administration, Sergei Kirienko, the Head of the Directorate for Public Projects, Sergei Novikov, found himself at the center of a scandal related to the editing of news on the state agency’s website “RIA Novosti”.
He stated that 250,000 participants in the war in Ukraine, returned from the front, remain without a job. According to him, a “gray zone” has formed of people who have not applied to any specialized fund, but also have not returned to work.
Shortly after publication, the news was modified – noted the Faridaily project. The figure of 250,000 was removed from the title and text, being replaced with the phrase “tens of thousands”.
“We still have a fairly large gray zone – tens of thousands of people who have not appealed to the fund and are not employed. They returned, they do not work, either they spend the money received, or they manage by other means. There are regions where this practice is objectively present,” Novikov stated.
The initial version is no longer available on the agency’s website.
However, the news was picked up by newspapers such as “Kommersant”, the Telegram channel “Context”, the websites “Riduss” and “Targrad”. The original versions of the “RIA Novosti” and “Kommersant” publications, which explicitly mention the figure of approximately 250,000 former fighters without a job, are preserved in web archives. Later, “Kommersant” also edited the material, removing this figure.
Details, HERE