Alexander provided a link: http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Anthere&diff=36335.... Apparently he asked Anthere, who asked Brion.
Yes, but he was not me. I actually voted against the counter (but majority of Russian Wikipedia community was for)
Developer of the counter is Edward Chernenko. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Edward_Chernenko
-- Alexander Sigachov http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:ajvol