It is very sad to watch how barring the opposition from the elections became the trigger for a broader process of degradation across the entire regional political, judicial, and law-enforcement system of Novosibirsk Oblast.
When we were preparing for the elections, Siberia was described in background briefs as a freedom-loving region with its own political tradition, virtually no electoral fraud, a relatively honest election commission, freedom of assembly, and *siloviki* (security and law-enforcement officials) who were not especially eager to get involved in petty nonsense to interfere in elections.
There were also the Monstrations (an annual satirical street demonstration in Russia; only the most recent one was banned, and that happened after the election was announced), and the mayor was not from United Russia.
But as soon as the crooks in Moscow demanded that the Siberian authorities keep us off the ballot, it immediately required the instant destruction of all those traditions:
— The regional election commission, once famous among specialists for its honesty, turns into a pack of first-rate swindlers worthy of Chechnya or Mordovia. “Darya Timurovich” is now known across the whole country.
— The courts rush to convict members of our campaign staff for “resisting the police”.
— The local subordinates of Bastrykin in the Investigative Committee are quite openly fabricating a criminal case, working hand in hand with activists from the Young Guard of United Russia. Read it: the whole scheme is разоблачается in detail here.
— The city’s “independent” mayor publicly spouts nonsense about “$20 million from the State Department”, to the point that even his partners in the election coalition walk out of city hall
— Finally, we are denied permission to hold a rally and march without even being offered an alternative location, which is completely illegal.
In other words, over the course of three months, before our very eyes, one of the freest regions in the country, with a long political tradition of relative pluralism, was turned into the equivalent of a North Caucasus republic.
And most importantly: what was all this for? What goals did the authorities achieve, and who is better off because of it?
In fact, only one objective was achieved: several local residents were prevented from running in the election and becoming deputies. And if they had become deputies, then what?
Let’s imagine that Sergei Boyko, who is now on a hunger strike in protest, had become a deputy in the regional assembly and sat there overseeing housing and utility tariffs and speaking out against corruption in public procurement.
Everyone would be satisfied, Novosibirsk Oblast and its residents would benefit, and the public good would be advanced.
But no: to make sure some Boyko-like figure does not ask questions about housing and utility tariffs or dig into public procurement, everything has to be twisted out of shape—from the courts to the right to hold rallies.
Is the result worth the effort? Clearly not.
That is why the Putin regime is doomed. Titanic efforts are spent for dubious results. And who needs them? If you asked a million Novosibirsk residents, do you really want rallies canceled, cases fabricated, and a hunger strike in the city just to keep Boyko off the ballot? They would clearly respond by tapping a finger to their temple to show you were crazy—including the local bosses.
Obscure people, for obscure reasons, are forcing everyone to carry out obscure, senseless orders.