Dacha tours are very important. I believe organizing them is a crucial task both politically and in terms of public messaging. It is precisely during these dacha tours that the true nature of our government reveals itself, and we get wonderful images of the moment when the "guards" and "watchmen" of fur-coat vaults pull out red ID cards so impressive that ordinary police officers immediately lose interest and step aside.
Because, at its core, Akulinino is exactly that: they stole and built themselves palaces. In its purest form.
We need to go there, take photos, and tell people about the modest lives of these "public servants" riding around in cars with 777 license plates.
We held the third dacha tour in support of our campaign for the ratification of Article 20. We went back to Akulinino, where the dachas of Yakunin, Beseda, and Chemezov are located.
This time everything went peacefully—we announced in advance that lawyers would be present and that there would be more cameras, and perhaps that is why they decided not to mess with us.
The cars and the bus carrying volunteers were stopped several times by traffic police officers, who checked documents but found nothing to complain about. Everyone made it to the Zlodeika River, from whose bank there is an excellent panoramic view of the dachas. There, Artyom Torchinsky, one of our organizers, gave a tour of the properties.
At the entrance to Akulinino itself, a barrier had been illegally installed, blocking a public road. We demanded to be allowed through and even called the police. The officers arrived, spent a long time sorting it out, and in the end just threw up their hands, saying they had no grounds either to detain the volunteers or to let them pass. They promised to look into it.
We will work to ensure that the illegal barrier is removed.
ACF's air unit overcame all obstacles without any trouble. Many thanks to Chorny Karlson: he flew over all the dachas and took many excellent photographs.
You can watch the full aerial livestream here.
More generally—and this deserves special mention—we had an excellent livestream of the dacha tour, which has now been watched by more than 21,000 people. Many thanks to Newcaster.TV for organizing it.
Special thanks as well to the journalists who covered what was happening, the lawyers who traveled with the volunteers, the organizers, and absolutely everyone who joined the third dacha tour.
You can read here about how the dacha tour was prepared.
We will definitely hold a fourth one. Join us (and in the meantime, don't forget to vote for the bill under which the residents of Akulinino will end up in prison)