To the meme, "What, do you want it to be like in Ukraine?" Putin has now added another one: "What, do you want it to be like in Paris?" And I couldn't hold back, so I recorded a short video about why yes: we do want it to be like in Paris.
Let's take diesel fuel, the very thing said to be the main cause of the unrest in France. On TV, we're told this is a full-blown crisis. That the collapsing EU economy has driven prices up to unimaginable levels.
Uh-huh. Since the start of the year, the price of diesel in France has risen by 20%. Now a liter costs 112 rubles. Wow.
And in Russia, the price of diesel has also gone up by 16% since the start of the year and now stands at 46.4 rubles. Does that make us feel better? Should we run off to thank Putin?
Before we start handing out thanks, let's compare all this to the average salary.
In France, it is 167,000 rubles (after tax), and the average French person can buy 1,490 liters of diesel.
In Russia, the average salary after tax is 37,000 rubles, and the average person can buy 798 liters.
And if you take into account that the real average salary in the country is around 20,000 rubles, the picture becomes downright bleak.
So yes—we want it to be like in Paris. We want to be richer. We want Putin to finally leave and stop holding the country back from developing.