Minsk City Executive Office: We learned about this "Stalin-bus" in Internet

The information that a bus bearing Stalin's portrait will soon appear in Minsk, which was published in the blog of the action's initiators, outraged the whole Belarusian internet. It is planned that the bus will start going on May 6 in honour of the Victory Day anniversary. However, the Administration of Trade and Services of Minsk city executive committee refutes this information.

"No. I've read this in the internet myself. I was greatly surprised. We received no documents in this regard", - they say to Euroradio's correspondent.

The official reacts with great enthusiasm to the suggestion to place portraits of Kupala and Kolas on the city buses. She complains that no one has addressed to them with such an initiative so far. Unfortunately. The classics turn 130. As for the advertising department of "Minsktrans", they also heard nothing about the "Stalin bus".

 This is how the "Stalin bus" may look. Photo by stalinobus.rf

"On the whole, I can say nothing about Stalin. However, it is necessary to get a passport in order to place such an image on the bus. You need a passport to put any advertisement on the city traffic".

The price for advertisement on Minsk buses, trolley-buses and trams is very low - from Br 280 thousand per year. It is more expensive to make stickers. You need to pay about Br 2 million for a bus. The most difficult thing is to get a passport for advertising. The agency "Minsk-advertisement" provides such services. 

"The set of necessary documents is available at our web-site. Study it and collect everything. Then come to visit us in "Minsk-advertisement", we will approve the documents, within a month. And then you can place your advertisement".

This is how we see the "Kupala-Kolas bus":) Picture by Euroradio.

The set of documents includes an application, a layout of the image, agreement of the vehicle's owner, and more than 10 other papers. And even this is not enough. If you want to put something on buses, trolley-buses, or trams, you need to get a permit from the State Automobile Inspectorate. They will decide whether they like your idea or not. 

"If you want an ordinary passport, you need to coordinate with the committee of architecture, administration of trade and services. If you need transport, you should coordinate with the State Automobile Inspectorate. Whether they like it, the colour etc..."

The price for the passport is Br 450 thousand. On the whole, placing an advertisement on a city bus in Minsk costs about Br 3 million a year. However, even if they file the documents for the "Stalin bus" today, they will not manage to coordinate it till the Victory Day. Euroradio called the action's initiators. Their spokesperson Andrei Rerykh insisted that the negotiations were in process. However, he refused to tell with whom and how. Like, no one should know it until the time comes.