Putin clearly does not want to defend Chaika, and he does not want to talk about him either. But he cannot hand him over, because that would be seen as "giving in to Navalny" and would send a bad signal to the elite: not only Putin himself, but also public outrage can lead to dismissal and an investigation.
Maybe I’m mistaking wishful thinking for reality, but I have a strong feeling the Kremlin would gladly round up all the Chaikas and drop them from a plane onto ISIS positions for the unexpected problems they have caused.
As if there were not already enough problems with Turchak and Nemtsov, with Erdoğan and Ukraine, now they also have to cover for the Chaikas in front of the whole country.
I lost every bet. I was sure Putin would prepare thoroughly for the most pressing question and answer it as many times as necessary. I thought they would even let Alburov ask the question himself—otherwise why accredit him? I even wrote my own version of the answer that Putin would give, in his usual style and taking into account what Peskov had said.
Instead, it was not just that they did not call on Alburov—they did not even call on Sobchak, which had never happened before.
The Chaika issue came up alongside other topics, and the need to comment on it caused obvious confusion.
I thought this short video would be outdated by the end of the press conference, but it turned out to capture the essence of the position on Chaika.
Here is the full version of the question and answer.
There was none of the "this was commissioned" line, let alone "Browder with the intelligence services" . Not to mention the strictest taboo on the Tsapki case (a notorious Russian criminal gang) and all of that. The only thing the Kremlin is willing to discuss in this story is: Chaika has children, and the children have suspiciously large houses. The response to that is: well, the children are adults.
The other parts of the investigation are left for the Chaikas, the Lopatins, and others to deny themselves, which they are doing with the help of Browder and claims that the Tsapki registered their companies in their names without asking them.
The conclusion is the usual one. We keep doing what we have to do. We are going to court. You should file complaints too, if you want. And most importantly, we need to keep spreading both the investigation and the film. Millions of people are asking these questions along with us, and there are still no answers.