Children's Ombudsman Pavel Astakhov is resigning after all, a senior Kremlin source told reporters on Saturday. The human rights activist was required to be fired for his careless “How did you swim?” in a conversation with the children who suffered at Syamozero, but similar punctures had happened to him before. Experts admit that Astakhov, apparently, is simply not made for this position. How he got to this post and why he was fired, Lenta.ru figured it out.

In the meantime, a petition for the Ombudsman's resignation continued to gain votes on change.org. The initiators called the reason for it a remark in a conversation with children who survived the storm at Syamozero. Astakhovsky "Well, how did you swim?" in a matter of hours, it turned into a meme and caused a wave of criticism against the Commissioner for Children's Rights.

By Sunday afternoon, when a Kremlin source had already determined the fate of the human rights activist, about 156,000 citizens signed for his resignation.

According to media reports, Astakhov admitted that he "really seriously flew" from the president for a sloppy statement. But the doctors rushed to the rescue, explaining that the unfortunate ombudsman acted in accordance with the recommendations of the psychologist. The human rights activist himself also referred to some special psychological techniques that were supposed to make the conversation with the affected children more relaxed.

But this is far from Astakhov's first public blunder. He was immediately reminded of last year's statement in connection with the marriage of a minor in the Caucasus: "There are places where women are already wrinkled at the age of 27 and by our standards they are under 50." Then the Internet buzzed no less, and the official is being dismissed only now. So what happened - an inappropriate phrase against the background of the death of children overwhelmed the cup of patience, or are there any other reasons for dismissal?

In a Tom Ford suit, with a touch of cynicism

“It is unlikely that he quarreled with someone,” says political analyst Yevgeny Minchenko. “I think that Astakhov ended up in this position quite by accident: there was a well-known media figure, with high recognition, he speaks smartly, and besides, he is a lawyer.” But according to the expert, now it turned out that the children's human rights activist "does not fulfill his main function." “Given the abundance of claims against him, he still did not join this role, did not grow together with it,” Minchenko believes.

In Astakhov's biography, nothing really speaks in favor of the fact that the protection of the family and childhood was his vocation. Maternal grandfather worked in the state security agencies, the human rights activist himself graduated from the Higher School of the KGB in 1991. A decade later, he studied at the University of Pittsburgh in the USA.

And yet, for the random appointment of Astakhov at the end of 2009, the place was vacated under rather mysterious circumstances. The previous Ombudsman Aleksey Golovan, according to official information, resigned of his own free will, but his colleagues were perplexed. “I can’t even imagine what made him write such a statement,” Ella Pamfilova, at that time the head of the Presidential Council for the Promotion of the Development of Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights, was surprised. At the same time, a Kommersant source in the presidential administration emphasized that the protection of children is a priority for the president, and "in this sense, Golovan was very consistent with the tasks set."

Photo: Dmitry Lebedev / Kommersant

Unlike Golovan, who came to the post of federal "children's" ombudsman from a similar post in Moscow and is known mainly in the professional environment, Astakhov became a real guest star in the ombudsman's office. Since 2004, he has hosted the nation's first court show, The Hour of Judgment, and several other television and radio programs. In addition, the media human rights activist published books on quite pressing legal issues: “How to get an inheritance” or “Consumer rights. Legal assistance from the pinnacle of lawyer professionalism. There is also fiction in the asset - the books "Mayor", "Producer" and the novel "Raider", which was even made into a movie.

In the professional world, however, lawyer Astakhov is known for other merits. He defended, for example, the leadership of the Vlastilina financial pyramid and the American Edmond Pope accused of spying for the United States, and participated in the case of the head of the Media-Most holding, Vladimir Gusinsky.

“There are two types of lawyers in American films. One is such a brined, well-groomed lawyer in a Tom Ford suit, with a slight degree of cynicism. The other is drunk, wrinkled, compassionate. Astakhov is the first type, - Evgeny Minchenko, the president of the communication holding Minchenko Consulting, outlines the main problem of the now almost former children's ombudsman. “Astakhov still did not have an image match for this position.”

Look at the problem differently

Actually, the position of the Ombudsman for Children was formed “from below”, starting from the regional level. In 1998, the position was established in the Kaluga, Volgograd, Novgorod regions, as well as in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg: this happened as part of a pilot project of the Ministry of Social Development and the UNICEF Children's Fund. Gradually, new subjects were connected, and in September 2009 the position was brought to the federal level by a corresponding presidential decree.

Some sources explained Astakhov's appointment by rather close relations with the entourage of the current Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev; subsequently, the ombudsman at least attended the events of the foundation, working under the patronage of the wife of the prime minister. But Minchenko does not agree: in his opinion, explaining the subsequent resignation by the weakening of this or that clan is too complicated and a stretched version. On the one hand, Astakhov has a really good relationship with lawyer Mikhail Barshchevsky, who is considered "a representative of the Medvedev group." On the other hand, the clan affiliation of a person in the current system is rapidly changing.

Replacing Golovan, who had worked in office for only a few months, Astakhov promised not to make any revolutions. The lack of an appropriate background did not bother the human rights activist. “My predecessor is a professional with extensive experience in protecting the rights of the child. I didn’t work with children, although I was engaged in family law for sixteen years, so I look at the problem from a slightly different position, ”he told Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

According to Astakhov, it was "important for him to work with performers", for example, law enforcement agencies, who also have to protect the rights of children, but do not want to "deal with other people's family squabbles." Almost a year and a half after taking office, Astakhov presented the president with a report on the observance of the rights and interests of children in Russia. The document consisted of three volumes, one of which was in the format of a photo album. Colleagues of the human rights activist complained that the text of the report was not available to a wide audience.

Although this did not mean that the public was not familiar with Astakhov's activities. He published some of his statements on Instagram, for example, he offered to protect children from destructive information.

From time to time, he deviated a little from the sponsored topic, going into socio-economic issues. In particular, he called for distributing unclaimed products to the poor instead of destroying them.

Photo: Gennady Gulyaev / Kommersant

However, according to a presidential decree, the ombudsman's duties look somewhat different and lie far beyond the media field. First of all, the commissioner is focused on working with state structures whose activities affect the interests and rights of children.

The decree states that the ombudsman has the right to request information from the federal government, independently or together with relevant structures, check the work of government agencies and officials, and also send them recommendations on restoring the violated rights of a child.

Just dangle on the Cote d'Azur

In the human rights community, they rarely commented on the essence of Astakhov's work, and even more so its compliance with official tasks. But on the other hand, colleagues had claims of an image character. Thus, Seyran Davtyan, a member of the European Ombudsman Institute, criticized the tone of the materials posted on the Ombudsman's website in one of his publications. "Pavel Astakhov rated the region 'good with a minus'," Davtyan quoted an April 2011 post on the website regarding the commissioner's visit to the Pskov region.

“I don’t know what the style of correspondence looks like between the Commissioner for Children’s Rights under the President and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the regions, but the style of messages posted on the information website of the Presidential Ombudsman testifies to the feeling of superiority of the Ombudsman P. Astakhov over his colleagues,” wrote Davtyan. photo reports. Astakhov complained that “in general, from Moscow”, where they live with their middle son, he does not leave for a long time. “I just dangle almost every weekend here, to the Cote d'Azur, otherwise, I'm afraid the baby will wean me,” he shared with the magazine. And about the birth of his wife in France, he said that “we really occupied the largest ward in the hospital,” where Angelina Jolie had previously given birth.

“He is a wealthy man, in the past a lawyer, and this personal well-being is directly read in his eyes, in his statements and actions,” political scientist Dmitry Orlov, Astakhov’s image features, in a conversation with Lenta.ru.

Yevgeny Minchenko notes that Astakhov was kept in this position “for quite a long time”, although there was clearly something to improve in his work. According to the expert, the image component should be taken into account during the next appointment. “Some compassionate middle-aged woman, such as Liza Glinka, would fit here,” Minchenko says. “Or you can clone Pamfilova here.”

Instead of Pamfilova, however, already Senator Elena Mizulina: according to Irina Chirkova, a member of the Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children, a woman must certainly be a children's ombudsman, and Mizulina can appeal to both the party in power in parliament and executive structures.

Astakhov has no future political career yet, Minchenko is sure. The human rights activist did not manage to get on the party lists in the elections to the State Duma in time, and in single-mandate districts, where one has to meet face to face with the voter, he has little chance. But the political scientist is not worried about the fate of the lawyer: “He is a rich man. It won't disappear."

Masha Traub's book "Superfluous Children" What do children feel? Babies announce their desires by crying. What about the older ones? What do they think about at six, seven years old? What is betrayal for them? What are they afraid of? We, adults, are touched by looking at bears and hares from plasticine. We laugh and cry when we watch the children dance at the matinee. But do we know what is happening on the other side of the kindergarten fence? And, most importantly, can we guess at what point our children learn not to live, but to survive? Masha Traub's book "Superfluous Children" is such an alternative look at kindergartens that most people have attended and still attend. A book about how it is to be a child, unnecessary to your mother. After reading it, you seem to see the old Soviet kindergartens, in which children were not needed even by educators. They so wanted to just go home, and not sit at work - with these children. The game of duty managed to get everyone and make them always be gloomy and dissatisfied, starting from themselves and ending with everything that was nearby. The main character is a serious and early matured girl Rita, who very early had to learn to be independent, go home from kindergarten alone, or even get used to being on a five-day period, just because her mother had a boyfriend. Reading about a girl, you sincerely worry about her, hoping that over time she will grow into a good person, despite the indifference of her mother in childhood. But the mother of the heroine also makes her reconsider her attitude towards her child, be with him more often, at the same time remember herself, her desires and dreams. To become, so to speak, a more reliable shoulder to the child than the heroine's mother. Writer Masha Traub Masha Traub started as a journalist, having worked for several years in the capital's publications, but at one point she decided to become a writer. Having started to print sincere and ironic stories from life, Masha could no longer stop. And readers are unlikely to forgive if she pauses her work, because they are used to waiting for a woman to tell a new story about themselves - ordinary, strange, funny and sad. The author has dozens of novels and stories that do not claim to be the ultimate truth and do not teach how to live, but fascinatingly and vividly tell about the most ordinary things that, under the gaze of the writer, acquire a unique charm. Masha was born on October 8, 1976 in Moscow, but she spent her childhood against the backdrop of the Caucasus Mountains, in an Ossetian village. Traub is a creative pseudonym, the real name of Maria is Kiseleva. The girl absorbed the love for the word from a young age. The influence of my grandmother, who worked all her life in the regional newspaper, is great here. The writer says that she grew up in the editorial office to the sound of a typewriter and absorbed the romance of a printing house, where streams of new words appeared on sheets of white paper right in front of her eyes. The most important childhood impression was a fairy tale published on the pages of the “district”, which was written by a young writer. The Kiselev family also had a chance to live in the Far North, but in the end they returned to Moscow, where the girl began attending courses at the Literary Institute. A creative atmosphere reigned here, where young people wrote poetry and could not imagine themselves without poetry. However, Masha decided that she would choose a different path, and acted as a journalist. At the same time, she chose the university on the advice of her mother, who dreamed that her daughter would study at MGIMO. Traub's writing biography began with Pack Up, We're Leaving, published in 2006. Each subsequent book by Mary was in demand among the reader, and the woman writes several volumes a year, coming up with some stories to continue. In 2008, “All la vie” was released, and a year later, two novels - “The Diary of a First-Grader Mom” and “A Little House in the South”, both of which subsequently formed the basis of film adaptations. After graduating from the institute, Maria began to cooperate with the capital's publications, including Izvestia, Novoye Vremya, Nedelya. I also managed to work in glossy magazines - Bosco, Magazine and Officiel. The theme of childhood is close to the writer, and the works “Through the Eyes of a Child”, “What Babies Talk About”, “Lesha the Clown” meet the constant reader's response. Not all of the author's stories are sweet and touching, as evidenced by the novel "Keyhole", which opens Traub as the master of a complex story with a "double bottom". Maria presents stories about difficult destinies simply and convincingly, as in the book “I owe nothing to anyone”. Masha Traub's bibliography includes dozens of works, including “On the verge of divorce”, “My grandmother is Lermontov”, “Second life”. Masha Traub does not make a secret of her personal life, and photos of her family are easily found on the Internet. With her husband Andrei Kolesnikov, they were united by a common cause: the man is a writer and journalist, works as the editor of Novaya Gazeta and writes columns in Vedomosti and Gazeta.ru. The couple have been together for many years and have two children. Maria borrowed her pseudonym from her mother-in-law, whose maiden name is Traub. This word is translated into Russian as “vine” or “bunch”.

Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Pavel Astakhov returned to work from vacation. A week ago, the press secretary of the head of state, Dmitry Peskov, stated that after the rest, Mr. Astakhov, who wrote a letter of resignation of his own free will, would leave his post. Then the Kremlin representative also noted that there were no candidates for the post of Ombudsman yet. Today, Mr. Peskov said that he did not know whether the presidential decree on the resignation of Pavel Astakhov was signed. According to him, no approved candidates for the post of Ombudsman for Children have yet appeared. Yabloko today proposed appointing the Moscow Children's Ombudsman Yevgeny Bunimovich to this post, and according to Kommersant's information, the Federation Council is nominating Senator Valentina Petrenko for the vacant post.

"Everything is in the hands of the President"

“I went out, I’m sitting at work. Everyone is at their jobs, everyone is working,” Pavel Astakhov, who returned from a week-long vacation in Crimea, told RIA Novosti today. At the same time, on July 4, Dmitry Peskov announced that Mr. Astakhov had written a letter of resignation from his position “of his own free will” (see Kommersant of July 5). He also stated that Pavel Astakhov "will leave his place of work upon his return from vacation." Renat Abdeev, adviser on information policy to the presidential commissioner for children's rights, then told Kommersant that Mr. Astakhov would spend "from one to two weeks" on vacation in Crimea.

The press service of the Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights told TASS today that the resignation of Pavel Astakhov has not yet been announced and that he is working as usual. “Everything is in the hands of the president,” Mr. Astakhov himself told RIA Novosti. “There is an understanding that after leaving the vacation, his request for resignation will be granted,” Dmitry Peskov said today, in turn. At the same time, he does not know whether the president signed a decree on the resignation of Mr. Astakhov.

The possibility of leaving the children's ombudsman from his position was discussed after the death of children in Karelia - on June 18, 14 children died due to a storm at Syamozero. Pavel Astakhov, who has been working as a children's commissioner since 2009, visited the children who survived the tragedy on June 23. "Well, how did you swim?" the ombudsman asked them with a smile. The next day, a petition appeared on the Change.org website calling for Mr. Astakhov to resign; it collected 156,000 signatures. At first, the Ombudsman stated that the phrase was “rudely torn out of a general extremely difficult psychologically and morally conversation with the injured girls.” However, on July 1, he told RBC television that he had submitted his resignation, admitting that he "received a severe scolding" from the president.

“We have many worthy candidates in our country”

On July 4, when asked who would take the post of ombudsman instead of Mr. Astakhov, Dmitry Peskov replied that “there is no one yet” and it is premature to discuss this. Today, he also said that "so far there are no approved candidates."

In the human rights community, it was previously suggested to look at the regional commissioners and heads of funds that are involved in helping children. Among the possible candidates for the post of children's ombudsman, a member of the Human Rights Council, Elizaveta Glinka, and the head of the Volunteers to Help Orphans, Elena Alshanskaya, have already been named. True, both do not see themselves as children's ombudsman. Mikhail Fedotov, head of the Presidential Council for Human Rights, refused to name possible candidates at all.

The chairman of the Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans Affairs Olga Batalina (United Russia) told Kommersant that a person who professionally deals with issues of motherhood and childhood should take the place of the commissioner. “There are many people who head charitable foundations and work on this agenda,” she said. “But a candidate for the post of ombudsman must have not only professional, but also personal experience. I would see a woman in this post. At the same time, Ms. Batalina told Kommersant that it would be better to discuss “specific candidates” with representatives of those civil society institutions that are professionally involved in protecting children. She herself is not ready to name potential candidates. Olga Batalina only noted that, in her opinion, a politician or a party functionary should not be an authorized representative. For this reason, she does not consider herself a candidate for this post.

The head of the Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children (Fair Russia), Olga Epifanova, in turn, told Kommersant that she generally positively assesses the work of Pavel Astakhov. “We interacted in detail on a number of issues, including the prevention of social orphanhood, the improvement of the legislative framework in the interests of missing and injured children,” she noted. “But since Pavel Alekseevich decided to leave his post, I will continue my work with a new delegate. I am sure that there are many worthy candidates in our country.”

Meanwhile, in the Federation Council (SF), according to Kommersant's information, Valentina Petrenko, a member of the Federation Council committee on social policy, was nominated for the post of children's ombudsman. She herself, however, told Kommersant that the appointment of a new commissioner is the prerogative of the president and that it is unethical to talk about candidates for this post now.

Yabloko, in turn, today proposed to the president the candidacy of the Moscow children's ombudsman Yevgeny Bunimovich for the post of commissioner for the protection of children's rights in Russia. According to party leader Emilia Slabunova, the appointment of Mr. Bunimovich will be optimal both politically and socially, "and most importantly, in protecting the rights of the child." She is sure that Yevgeny Bunimovich "can establish a dialogue with society" and transfer the solution of children's problems "from a speculative-politicized level to a practical one." Mr. Bunimovich has been working as the Commissioner for Children's Rights in Moscow since 2009. From 1997 to 2009, he was a deputy of the Moscow City Duma from Yabloko, while working in the capital's parliament, since 2001 he led the commission on science and education.

Sergey Goryashko, Natalya Korchenkova

How Pavel Astakhov sent a child to the "Darwin Award"

The Commissioner for Children's Rights in the Russian Federation, Pavel Astakhov, reacted to the incident at the Barnaul Zoo, where a tiger maimed a 13-year-old girl in April. He wrote that for the child "a Darwin award is crying" (awarded for the most stupid death). Mr. Astakhov said that, most likely, two girls arbitrarily made their way to the zoo in the evening and they, along with their parents, should be punished.

"No crimes were committed"

In May 2015, Pavel Astakhov, the Commissioner for Children's Rights in the Russian Federation, stated that the rights of a 17-year-old Chechen girl, allegedly forcibly married to the head of the local police department, were not violated, and the data on the participants in the scandalous story were distorted. Earlier, the Ombudsman refused to intervene in the scandalous story, saying that "we do not forcefully protect."

The Ombudsman wrote a letter of resignation after he was found to have a conflict of interest in connection with the activities of his son's firm. “And, as they say in the administration, the motive for writing (statements on his own dismissal. - Gazeta.Ru) was not so much that he understood all the abomination of his statements and posts on Instagram, but a claim from the anti-corruption department . It turns out that the department of Bad (- the head of the anti-corruption department. - Gazeta.Ru) dug up that Astakhov had a conflict of interest. According to Kashevarova, Astakhov Jr.'s firm may be subject to an audit.

Gazeta.Ru sources close to the Kremlin confirmed that Astakhov had already written a letter of resignation of his own free will. One of the sources linked the resignation to the recent high-profile scandals surrounding Astakhov's statements. The final decision on dismissal will be made by President Vladimir Putin - the statement was not signed at the time of publication of the material.

“This has been discussed since Thursday morning. A presidential decree is expected soon.

The Kremlin is discussing a list of five possible candidates for the position of children's ombudsman,” one of Gazeta.Ru's interlocutors clarifies.

Renat Abdeev, head of the press service of Pavel Astakhov, Commissioner for Children's Rights under the President of Russia, denied reports about the decision of the Children's Ombudsman to resign.

“We do not comment on sources and rumors. This is not true. Pavel Astakhov is at the appropriate moment with the president at an event with ambassadors,” Abdeev told Gazeta.Ru.

“Pavel Astakhov is currently at a meeting with the president, we do not have information about his resignation,” Yulia Astakhova, an adviser on information policy, told Gazeta.Ru.

When asked if Sergeeva refutes the news of her resignation, she answered in the negative: “We do not confirm it.”

Gazeta.Ru contacted the ombudsman's son Anton Astakhov, but he also did not confirm this information, citing the fact that he was away.

“To be honest, I can’t really comment, because I myself am not in Moscow.

It has nothing to do with me, it's utter nonsense. But Pavel Alekseevich should be asked himself. If there were some things connected with me, then I would be the first to know, ”he said.

When asked about returning to Moscow, Astakhov Jr. replied that he was not going back yet.

According to the Spark-Interfax database, Anton Pavlovich Astakhov is currently a co-founder of the non-state educational institution "Pavel Astakhov's Legal Center", NP "Monitoring Center for the Identification of Dangerous and Prohibited Content", SIT Institute LLC.

He is also a member of the Board of Directors of PJSC Regional Development Bank. Anton Astakhov owns 8.4% in the bank. However, in November 2015, by order No. OD-3097, the banking license was revoked. Also, Anton Astakhov was the chairman of the board of directors of the United Bank for Industrial Investments.

The scandal around the phrase "How to swim"

Most recently, Pavel Astakhov was at the center of a scandal related to the tragedy at the Karelian Syamozero, where 14 children died during the rafting. published a video of Pavel Astakhov's meeting with the children who survived the tragedy at Syamozero. In the video, he, smiling, asks one of the girls: “Well, how did you swim?”

The children were confused by this question, so the woman who was with them in the ward answered for them: “Thank God, they survived.”

Astakhov's words were widely disseminated on the Internet, and the children's ombudsman had to explain himself. On his Instagram, he wrote that it was difficult to get in touch with the surviving girls, so he had to "speak their language" before asking difficult questions. “There are psychological techniques that help open a frightened child and give him the opportunity to speak out, throw out emotions, which is extremely necessary for such children,” the Ombudsman emphasized. He also added that the investigators did not talk to the surviving teenagers, "but we talked very thoroughly and frankly, and a lot was revealed."

Ismail Osmanov, the chief physician of the Bashlyaeva Children's Hospital, in turn, confirmed that "the commissioner managed to establish psychological contact with the children and, without injuring them, discuss the details of the incident."

The official representative of the UK drew attention to Astakhov’s words: “We have long asked the question“ How did you swim? those who directly sent and accompanied the children on this deadly voyage.

And investigators, unlike the Ombudsman, use any psychological technique when talking with children only in tandem with qualified psychologists.”

“With all due respect to Pavel Alekseevich, I must explain to him that when deciding when exactly to interrogate the injured minor, the investigator is guided primarily by the recommendations of psychologists so as not to harm the child,” Markin explained. “And believe me, the investigators are not working in order to quickly report on the work done, and even more so to promote this case.”

KGB Schools and "Hour of Judgment"

Pavel Astakhov was born in 1966 in Moscow. He graduated from high school, the Faculty of Law, which Astakhov himself called "counterintelligence." Since 1991, he has been practicing law and throughout the 90s and 2000s acted as a lawyer in a number of high-profile cases.

From January 12, 2004 to October 23, 2012, he was the host of Russia's first court show "Hour of Judgment" on television, which is an imitation of a civil trial.

In November 2007, Astakhov founded and led the all-Russian movement "For Putin". On December 30, 2009, by decree of the President of the Russian Federation, Pavel Astakhov was appointed Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights.

Astakhov gained particular fame thanks to numerous cases related to the adoption of children by foreigners. Thus, Astakhov took part in the preparation, creation and negotiation of a bilateral agreement on adoption between Russia and the United States, which was eventually signed on July 13, 2011.

However, a few weeks later, Astakhov announced live with that he was "an absolute opponent of international adoption." In December 2012, Astakhov supported the so-called “law”, named after a child who died in the United States with American adoptive parents. This law banned the adoption of Russian children by US parents.

- President of the Family and Childhood Support Foundation, mother of six children. A striking contrast with Astakhov, who, prior to his appointment to this position in 2009, had nothing to do with activities related to helping children or protecting their rights.

Pavel Astakhov

Astakhov was a successful and famous lawyer. He took on high-profile financial cases, or difficult stories with political overtones. For example, in 1995 he was a lawyer for the founder of the Vlastilin financial pyramid, Valentina Solovieva, who deceived depositors in the amount of several hundred billion rubles. And in 2001, Astakhov defended the head of the Media-Most holding, Vladimir Gusinsky, who was accused of major fraud. Thanks to Astakhov, the oligarch escaped criminal liability, secured release on bail and left the country. Among his other clients are former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, Chairman of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation Sergei Stepashin, as well as representatives of show business: Kristina Orbakaite, Philip Kirkorov and many others. Later, Astakhov collaborated with Russian TV channels, hosted programs and talk shows on legal topics.

Interestingly, at the beginning of his career, Astakhov allowed himself harsh statements about the current government - for example, the prosecutor's office, accusing them of political persecution of Gusinsky. However, in 2007 he headed the All-Russian movement "For Putin", and was later elected to the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation.

It would seem that an untalented lawyer, like no one else, could successfully fight from within with all the imperfections of our legislative system by legal methods, use, so to speak, his gift as a lawyer to protect those who cannot defend themselves. However, instead of fighting with officials, he traveled to the country's children's institutions, checking that everything was in order, and fired directors for playing cards found in institutions.

Dissatisfaction with Pavel Astakhov in society has matured almost from the moment of his appointment. Human rights activists drew attention to the fact that Astakhov is the only ombudsman that citizens of the Russian Federation cannot apply to - either personally or even by letter, it will be redirected to the regional office. The resignation of Astakhov from the post of commissioner for children's rights was publicly discussed in June of this year, after the tragedy in the children's camp on Syamozero in Karelia. Then, we recall, as a result of rafting on boats in a storm, 14 children died. The scandal was caused by the phrase of Pavel Astakhov, said at a meeting with the surviving girls - "well, how did you swim?". The girls, of course, could not find what to answer.

After this story, a petition appeared on the Change.org website demanding Astakhov's resignation, which gained over 150,000 votes in 5 days. And soon the resignation became a reality: information leaked to the media that Astakhov had asked to be relieved of his post. At first, the press services and departments commented on the information in a traditional way - they say that they did not personally see the statement, and if they saw it, it was necessary that the president first sign it, but it was clear: the resignation of the Ombudsman was a matter already decided.

True, there is another version of Astakhov's departure. And the reason for this is not at all loud and ridiculous phrases that high-ranking officials in Russia love to throw right and left on every occasion. The real reason for the resignation, according to Life.ru journalists, is a conflict of interest due to his son's business. Anton Astakhov was the owner of several banks, and was also connected by contractual relations with the Pavel Astakhov Legal Center: in 2014, he served the ombudsman's office and controlled donations to families with children in the Donbass. This is already an argument, and loud phrases for the amusement of news editors and news aggregators are trifles.

In fact, all the spectacular, sometimes useful, but collectively ineffective activities of the previous Commissioner for Children's Rights caused serious damage to the reputation of the entire institution of ombudsmen in Russia. I would like to believe that the appointment of Anna Kuznetsova gives a chance that the main thing in the work of the commissioner will still be children, and not personal PR and loud phrases.