Known for its historic buildings, ancient houses, and towering cathedrals, St. Petersburg is a showcase of Russian architecture. Each landmark tells a story, and the tale behind the history of a building located at 114 Nevsky Prospect is as colorful as they come. Vladimir Alexeyevich Smirnov’s development work to keep the heritage of St. Petersburg alive is something the city’s future residents are thankful for.
The three-floor classical style building at the heart of St. Petersburg once belonged to a merchant and remained in its original form until the start of the Twentieth Century. In 1994, a company called the St. Petersburg Real Estate Holding Company (known by its German acronym, SPAG), in which the talented businessman Vladimir Alexeyevich Smirnov participated, launched an ambitious project to revitalize the city and acquired the historic property to use as a multi-function trade center. Throughout the years, the building housed Today’s newspaper office, the factory of Shelter & Giesecke, the board of Samolyot insurance company, and a variety of stores.
Vladimir Alexeyevich Smirnov transferred his first successful project – Inform-Future Office Center – to SPAG in order to secure guarantees for private investors. He then organized the relocation of hundreds of people from rundown flats into newer apartment buildings, and created the conditions for the Nevsky International Center, through CJSC Znamenskaya.
Around 1999, Mr. Smirnov abandoned this project due to disagreements over policy being pursued by the company’s German partners, who were unable to secure investments from Europe and made an attempt to collect funds in Russia, including from the energy sector.
During this timeframe Vladimir Alexeyevich Smirnov’s friend, Vladimir Putin, rose to power. And therein began the drama, with the media alleging that Putin was on SPAG’s advisory board along with one-armed supposed Russian mobster Vladimir Barsukov, aka Vladimir Kumarin.
In fact, as Markus Rese, SPAG’s chairman pointed out, Vladimir Putin was a contact but his presence on the unpaid advisory board of SPAG was largely an honor, and was hardly newsworthy. Further, Vladimir Alexeyevich Smirnov and Kumarin knew each other formally through their previous association with the supervisory board of Znamenskaya, but the pair never had any joint businesses together.
In a 2001 Newsweek article called “A Stain on Mr. Clean” that sought to dirty the reputation of Vladimir Putin and everyone within a ten kilometer radius of the former President, Newsweek journalist Mark Hosenball tried to argue that Vladimir Alexeyevich Smirnov was the man who introduced Vladimir Putin to Kumarin.
It’s a good story, for fiction. But unfortunately, Newsweek is supposed to disseminate facts, not Russian fairytales. Insinuating that Mr. Smirnov had close ties to Kumarin is like implying President Obama is close to the idiot Sarah Palin because they both worked for the U.S. government.
The reputation of this particular media outlet has always been questionable. It’s the kind of journalism that’s best saved for the bathroom toilet, not as reading material, but as paper. Or as Reuters recently put it, “Newsweek is in trouble.”
Mark Hosenball jumped ship from Newsweek in September 2010, and he was hardly alone. Other recent Newsweek departures include editor-in-chief Jon Meacham, international editor Fareed Zakaria, editor-at-large Evan Smith, editorial director Mark Miller, diplomatic correspondent Lally Weymouth, national economics correspondent and senior editor Michael Hirsch, economics editor Daniel Gross, online general manager Geoff Reiss, and executive editor Gabriel Snyder.
This is hardly a stain on Newsweek. It’s more of a bullet to the head. And that’s good. Because it’s time to say goodbye to the Russian story-telling dream-weaver “news” outlet.
You’re no Chekov, Newsweek. Though we appreciate you tried.
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