vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #163 / Special reports / Reading article...

An ongoing feud between Vladivostok Mayor Victor Cherepkov and regional authorities took another twist Thursday when police raided the city's finance department and began removing documents.

The raid, in which 23 police officers sealed off the office and locked out the staff, is the latest move in a bitter dispute between Cherepkov and the region's federal auditors, whom the mayor has barred repeatedly from reviewing city books since their first attempts in September to investigate how the city has spent federal subsidies since 1996.

"For six months, the Mayor's Office hasn't let auditors in the financial department. Now a criminal case has been initiated," police spokesman Fyodor Asalkhanov said.

A district court ruled last week that Cherepkov's refusal to surrender to the audit and give up the city's financial records was illegal and told Prosecutor Yury Melnikov to seize the records by force, if necessary. Some reports said police were armed with AK-47 assault rifles, but police denied it. None of the five officers who stood outside the finance department Thursday afternoon was carrying a rifle.

Cherepkov has accused Melnikov of being allied with his enemy, Primorye Gov. Yevgeny Nazdratenko.

At a news conference Thursday, Cherepkov said the case was a politically motivated attempt to discredit him ahead of mayoral elections scheduled for July. He said he has asked for an audit by an independent commission from Moscow, rather than auditors from the Primorye region.

About 50 finance department employees and Cherepkov supporters gathered outside during the raid and hurled accusations at the police. Valentina Krivsud, who said she heads the Organization for the Protection of the Rights and Freedom of the Citizens of Vladivostok, said she and her friends rushed over as soon as they heard about the raid on the radio.

"The Mayor's Office suggested that people with cameras be present to witness the event," she said. "The work of the city is getting paralyzed."

Later in the day, all six of the city's deputy mayors announced they were going on a hunger strike until the prosecutor drops his campaign. And on Friday, the Mayor’s Office press center announced that 50 city hall employee’s had joined them.

Thursday's incident followed weeks of turmoil for Cherepkov. Earlier this month, regional court officials froze 15 city bank accounts, preventing the city, the mayor said, from paying for everything from electricity to doctors' salaries.

But court officials accused him of grandstanding and said the city has more than 65 bank accounts and Cherepkov was still allowed to pay for essential services from the frozen accounts.

Last Friday, Cherepkov led a demonstration of more than 3,000 people demanding the release of the bank accounts and blaming the courts for the delay in their wages.

But his troubles continued to mount this week. The cancellation of his regular Tuesday morning radio broadcast prompted him to claim that he is the victim of an "information blockade" preventing him from taking his case to the people.

But Inna Lebedeva, deputy director of Vladivostok Radio and TV Broadcasting Co., which airs the show, said the cancellation had nothing to do with politics and accused the mayor of wanting to take over the station.

"It is the fifth time he has attacked our company just because he wants to make it a city radio station," she said.