Honestly, I expected this police officer to be fired by the end of the week.
But the “authorities” showed that there are some things they can do quickly. Not catch criminals, of course. No — they can swiftly purge anyone in their ranks who dares express dissatisfaction.
The guy posted two videos online showing what police officers were being fed during the Eastern Economic Forum. They caused quite a stir, and local media put out a bunch of stories with headlines like “Police Officers Fed Like Dogs.”
And so:
They were hoping for a response from the bosses and better food, but the bosses decided it was easier to throw out the troublemaker so the rest would eat what they were given and keep quiet.
Here’s what occurred to me when I saw this video over the weekend.
The forum’s security was provided by a thousand police officers.
Sechin and Shuvalov flew in for the forum. Both arrived on their own magnificent Bombardier jets, each worth $55 million.
One flight hour on a plane like that costs $8,000 — about 500,000 rubles. (After all, A. A. Venediktov told us that Shuvalov pays for the aircraft at market rates).
8.5 hours each way.
So the two officials together racked up 17 × 2 × 500,000 = 17 million rubles in flight costs.
Divide that sum by 1,000 police officers, and it turns out that 17,000 rubles could have been allocated for meals for every Far Eastern cop standing in the cordon.
And that’s just the cost of flying two useless, crooked officials to the forum.
There would have been no need to allocate any extra budget money for that — all it would have taken was telling Sechin and Shuvalov: you’re flying business class on a regular commercial flight. Or even: you’re flying on the same plane as the rest of the government members.
But apparently that never even crossed anyone’s mind.
And do you know why, dear Far Eastern police officers?
Precisely because you are protecting this gang of thieves from the people — people who would like to ask Sechin, Shuvalov, and Putin a number of uncomfortable questions.
You break up rallies, detain people for one-person pickets, carry out unlawful orders, and fabricate criminal cases against activists. You keep repeating all that lying nonsense about how “the opposition is backed by the West.” Was it the West that put a single piece of candy into a grown man’s field ration? Was it Obama who ate half the tomato?
Until you turn your batons, shields, special riot-control spray “Cheremukha” (a Russian tear gas/irritant agent), and “acoustic systems for dispersing demonstrations” against those who are robbing Russia while proudly calling themselves the “current government,” you will go on being fed like dogs. And thrown out onto the street if you decide you don’t like that kind of food.