The Russian interior minister has ordered a probe into an attack on a car whose driver refused to give way to a BMW with flashing blue lights, the ministry's press service said on Wednesday.
Flashing blue lights, or "migalka" in Russian, have become the source of growing public anger in Russia's largest cities amid several high-profile accidents involving cars with sirens. In the most recent incident, three men smashed the windows of a Lexus car in an attempt to drag out the driver who failed to give way to a VIP convoy they were traveling in.
"All details of the conflict must be thoroughly investigated and all circumstances established," Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said.
The driver, Alexei Smirnov, claims he was unable to switch lanes as the road was heavily congested.
Anatoly Kostin, a deputy chief of a police department in western Moscow, earlier said the BMW belonged to the AST Group company, owned by billionaire Telman Ismailov.
"Such impudence, especially accompanied by unlawful actions, is simply inadmissible on roads, regardless of who is behind the wheel and what status he has. Especially in Moscow, where the traffic situation is already extremely complex," Nurgaliyev said.
This is not the first time the name of Telman Ismailov, an Azeri-born oligarch who controlled the Cherkizovsky market in Moscow, emerges in media reports of road accidents. Late last year his sons Alek and Sarkhan were allegedly flown out of Switzerland in a private jet after their alleged street race in luxury rented cars resulted in the hospitalization of an elderly man.
The interior minister also ordered Russia's traffic police chief Viktor Kiryanov to probe whether the car's flashing lights were lawfully installed.
A criminal case has been launched into the attack, and those found guilty may face up to two years in prison for damaging property.
VIP cars with flashing blue lights brazenly disregarding traffic rules have become an object of hatred and a symbol of double standards on Russia's roads.
The misuse of flashing lights spawned a grassroots protest movement this spring. In a dozen demonstrations in Moscow, motorists attached blue buckets to the roofs of their cars in imitation of the lights.
By February 1, re-registration of all cars with special license plates and flashing lights was completed in Russia to reduce the total number of registered flashing lights to 977 from 7,500. However, migalka is believed to be available to those prepared to pay a hefty bribe or having political connections.
MOSCOW, December 1 (RIA Novosti)
