And today I’m going out for a completely personal reason.
This boy, Zakhar Navalny, turns 9 today.
Recently, he picked out a hat in a store with this slogan on it and said: I’m going to wear it when I go to rallies with Dad.
But I don’t want him to have to go. So I decided that, for now, I’ll go in his place.
He has spent all nine years of his life in a country that is, in theory, “rich-oil-producing-developed,” but in reality people here survive on as little as 6,000 rubles a month (about $100 at the time). Meanwhile, the prime minister has residences and yachts bought with “charitable donations.” Meanwhile, cellists—Putin’s friends—hold $2 billion each in offshore accounts.
And I know one thing for certain: corruption = poverty.
Over the past 17 years, we’ve seen that proven beyond doubt.
I don’t want Zakhar to live in a poor country. I want him to get an education, and then, when he finds a job, to be able—as in any normal country—to afford a home and support his family with dignity. I want him to drive to work on decent roads. And if he gets sick, I want him to be able to go to a clinic where good doctors will treat him, without having to bring his own bandages and cotton wool, like people do now.
Is that really too much to ask? Is it really unattainable? One and a half billion people live like that, and we can too.
In fact, every family in the country would be at least twice as well off today if the sea of petrodollars that poured in over recent years had been invested in Russia’s development instead of being stolen.
That’s why I’m going to Tverskaya Street today at 2:00 p.m.—simply to walk and show that there are people who oppose corruption, no matter how much some may try to convince themselves that no such people exist.