Russia Artificial trees celebrate the New Year in the city of Kemerovo are considered "symbols of corruption" because they cost up to $ 280,000.

Kemerovo City Council in Siberia, Russia has just built an artificial tree 25 m high to celebrate the new year with a total value of up to 18 million rubles ($ 280,000), three times the same tree placed in the Kremlin.

Comedian Ivan Urgant, who hosts Russia's popular Channel One, mocked the pine tree in Kemerovo as "expensive decorations" and alluded to corruption in the city council.

"We try to survive the day, while they spend 18 million rubles on an artificial tree," Roman Khabibulin, a resident of Kemerovo, commented on Russian social network VK. Many people believe that local authorities should spend this money to subsidize housing for people or support children with cancer.

However, the mayor of Kemerovo dismissed the allegations of corruption, stressing it was "a high-tech medium-priced pine tree" to replace an old tree that was costly due to high repair costs. "The new pine is made of steel, with 239,000 LED lights," the mayor said.

Sibevrostroy, the project construction unit, denied that they were blowing pine trees for profit. "We cannot simply call this product a tree. This is truly a high-tech multimedia complex that looks like a pine tree," said Andrei Zorin, director of Sibevrostroy.

Kemerovo is an industrial city with many coal mines. The city became the focus of media last winter, when people reflected the "black snow" caused by coal dust, while a nearby town used white paint to cover the coal dust on the hill. for skiing.

The Russians often set up and decorate the New Year's tree and many cities spend significant budgets on decoration and fireworks on this occasion.