Look at them: they really are utterly shameless scum. The worst kind of people. Regardless of political views. In a normal society, they would be universally condemned outcasts, and in Russia they were seen that way until quite recently.
Putin’s system of negative selection has lifted them to the top and granted them immunity from criminal and administrative prosecution. Without the slightest embarrassment in front of the camera—quite the opposite, they pose for it—they splash paint in the face of a 75-year-old man. Then throw flour on top. As if they were carrying out a lynching.
We know their names; the news writes about them. They will receive state grants and off-the-books cash. They know that someone important will call in the evening and say: Well done, guys, that’s exactly how it should be. This is what social mobility looks like in Putin’s Russia:
The video shows 75-year-old Vladimir Ionov. A wonderful man, completely harmless, yet remarkably steadfast. He chose a personal form of political resistance—he constantly goes out and stands in one-person pickets. He was one of the first to be targeted under that law imposing insane fines. He was hit with several hundred thousand rubles in criminal penalties. And he still keeps going.
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