Hello!
At the beginning of the week, we published an investigation into CEC (Central Election Commission) member Ebzeev and his four-year-old grandson, in whose name illegally acquired apartments and houses on Rublyovka (an elite, ultra-expensive area outside Moscow) were registered. One of the most common comments we received went something like this: “How does this keep happening — anyone who gets in your way (Ebzeev, Sergunina, Gorbunov) turns out to have a penthouse, a palace, or property abroad?” As in, how is that even possible?
It’s actually very simple, we would answer. Twenty years of unchanging Putin rule have created a system in which even the smallest crook has had enough time and opportunity to steal something from us. Then hide it. Then hide it again somewhere else. Then steal something more.
It’s a chain reaction, a system of mutual cover-up. The boss steals, then the subordinate steals too (if the boss can do it, why can’t he?), then the subordinate’s subordinate, and so on, over and over again.
We keep saying that Putin’s officials are corrupt through and through, corrupt as a class, but it still seems that not everyone grasps the scale of it. And people need to. There are no “good” United Russia members. There are no “normal” officials working for crooks, either. These supposedly “normal” officials know perfectly well how people steal in their departments — and they either cover up those crimes or steal in exactly the same way themselves. Every point of no return has already been passed; no excuses work anymore. If you are part of this system, let’s say it plainly: you are most likely a corrupt official too.
At the Anti-Corruption Foundation, we believe our job is to tell you about this and show it to you clearly. To explain through concrete examples why, under no circumstances whatsoever, should anyone vote for United Russia or for “independent” candidates backed by United Russia. That is what thousands of people support us financially to do. So now, angered by detentions, searches, jail terms in special detention centers, confiscated equipment, and frozen accounts, we have decided that we will do our work with ten times the effort.
Starting today, we are launching a mini special project. We’ve fired up our investigation machine, and we will be putting out investigations with a frequency and intensity unlike anything we — or anyone else — have ever done before.
We are going to do more of our work, and do it better, because right now all of us need to make the maximum effort to achieve our common goal: throwing United Russia members out of the Moscow City Duma. And not just from there, by the way, but from many other regions where elections will also be held. So let’s make a deal: we’ll provide the investigations, and you spread them and take part in Smart Voting on September 8.
Meet our first star!
To Moscow officials, we are second-class people. We can be beaten, illegally detained and locked in cells, our votes can be ignored, and our signatures can be declared invalid. There is nothing new about that. They see us as petty, annoying little people who are always demanding something. And they see themselves as important, great administrators entitled to so much.
But have you ever wondered whether this “stratification” can somehow be measured? Just out of curiosity. How many rights do we have? Twenty percent? Thirty percent of a deputy’s rights? If a deputy is paid 500,000 rubles a month, how much should a teacher be paid? Or a doctor? In other words, how many times more important and deserving do they consider themselves than us? It’s a very interesting question.
We have the answer: exactly fifteen times.
Here’s how. The Moscow City Duma is the body that, among other things, legally sets the social housing norm. In other words, the deputies get together, think about us Muscovites, and decide: 18 square meters (194 sq ft). That is the current figure. If a person has 18 m², that’s considered enough to live on. Clear enough — remember that.
Now let’s look at the conditions in which the deputies themselves live — the very people passing these laws for us. We don’t have to look far: let’s take the top person in the Moscow City Duma, its chairman, Alexei Shaposhnikov.
Shaposhnikov has spent his whole life in politics. Since the early 2000s, he has been a United Russia functionary and worked in the State Duma secretariat. In this election, Shaposhnikov is running in the districts of Sviblovo and Medvedkovo, right by the MKAD (Moscow Ring Road), on the very edge of the city. But Shaposhnikov prefers to live somewhere else.
In this building, right in the city center: 22 Zoologicheskaya Street.
Very close to the Garden Ring and the Moscow Zoo — a beautiful neighborhood. His apartment is located somewhere here and occupies the top two floors.
A penthouse. Seven rooms. Area: 270 m² (2,906 sq ft). Value: 95 million rubles. And the underground garage costs another 1.5 million.
According to the declaration published on the website, he lives there alone. He has no spouse, and his daughter lives elsewhere.
Now take the size of Moscow City Duma chairman Shaposhnikov’s apartment — 270 m² — divide it by the norm for one person, 18 m², and you get exactly 15.
Shaposhnikov lives 15 times better than, and deems himself 15 times more deserving than, the average Muscovite.
Do we agree that Shaposhnikov is 15 times better than us? That he works 15 times better, brings 15 times more benefit, and needs 15 times more square meters to live?
No. Shaposhnikov is worse than us. He is a harmful deputy, a liar, and no one knows where he got 100 million rubles for a penthouse. In his place there could be a decent independent deputy. In his place there SHOULD be a decent independent deputy.
And now for the good news. If you live in Sviblovo, North Medvedkovo, or South Medvedkovo, you personally can help make sure Shaposhnikov is not in the next convocation. Register on the Smart Voting website, and we will send you the name of the person with the best chance of defeating Shaposhnikov. On September 8, you will need to come out and vote. Let Shaposhnikov do whatever he wants afterward — he can wander alone from room to room in his 270-square-meter penthouse — but he should not be in the Moscow City Duma.
If you live in other parts of Moscow, register for Smart Voting anyway. In every district, we will identify an alternative candidate, and each of you will be able to deal United Russia a serious blow in the September 8 election.