Honestly, I have no idea where Putin finds these people. The country is huge, after all. A population of 145 million. The average level of education is high. There ought to be decent candidates for governor, but when you look at the people Putin is pushing to run the regions, it makes your hair stand on end.
These days, half of the potential governors are former presidential bodyguards. But compared with what they’ve found for St. Petersburg, even a bodyguard would be a good option.
Alexander Beglov, who very much wants to lead the city of St. Petersburg, is simply an incompetent, out-of-touch, dusty Soviet-era caretaker whose only qualification is that he has been hanging around Putin since time immemorial.
He is incapable of organizing even the basic work of city services to clear snow, and instead he drags in a bunch of photographers to film Beglov helping a pensioner across the street.
He lies constantly, and so absurdly that his lies are exposed immediately. That’s what happened after Beglov claimed he had heroically led a woman out of a building where there had been an explosion. The woman said that Beglov had not saved her.
Beglov says he is not a member of United Russia, but everyone knows he is one of the founders of that party.
He has a fake Candidate of Sciences dissertation, meaning he is not just a liar but a plagiarist as well.
He not only got himself a government job, he also found places there for his entire family.
And I am, of course, urging the people of St. Petersburg to vote for anyone but Beglov on September 8. In this video, I want to ask the gubernatorial candidate one simple question.
Watch to the end, and if you share my curiosity, spread this video around. Let everyone in St. Petersburg see it and force Beglov to give a proper answer instead of dodging.
More than 40 countries around the world have adopted laws against illicit enrichment. The principle is very simple: what matters is not only an official’s income, but also their spending. And if the two do not match, that is grounds for law enforcement to open an investigation. The official would then be required to explain where the money came from for a new dacha (country house), an expensive car, or some yacht.
Let’s do this simple exercise together. Let’s check whether something in Beglov’s finances doesn’t add up. Unlikely, of course. They wouldn’t send a corrupt official to St. Petersburg.
Let’s take Beglov’s financial disclosures for five years, from 2008 to 2012. Add up the entire family income—his and his wife’s. The total is 30 million rubles. We’re trying to assess this objectively. On the other side of the ledger, from those same disclosures we list their assets—the real estate they own. There are three small old apartments, plus two more substantial ones. One is 106.7 square meters in St. Petersburg, on Nakhimov Street on Vasilyevsky Island. In fact, judging by his campaign disclosure, that is where Beglov lives right now. The other is 160 square meters in the famous apartment building for officials on Rochdelskaya Street in Moscow. It was allocated to him by the Presidential Property Management Department, where he was in fact working at the time. In other words, he allocated an apartment to himself.
Everything is logical and perfectly clear. Ordinary income. One apartment in St. Petersburg and another in Moscow, awarded for his service.
And everything would have remained calm and tidy if not for this document. Take a look.
At the beginning of 2013, our Beglov... buys a 150-square-meter apartment in Moscow on Kazarmenny Lane (that’s Pokrovka, right in the very center). So what exactly is going on here? Let’s quickly see what’s there.
There, according to the description on the website, is the “House on Pokrovsky Boulevard,” a DeLuxe-class residential complex.
“Yes! Yes! Yes! This is all about me! My daily grind is so hard!” Beglov seems to cry out as he buys an apartment there for 150 million rubles.
That is exactly what housing there costs, and Beglov’s apartment is also on the top, 10th floor.
Everything would be fine, except we’ve done the math. The apartment costs 150 million, while Beglov and his wife earned 30 million over five years. If you calculate it based on his salary in the year of purchase, it would take 25 years of hard work to buy a place like that. That doesn’t look good, Alexander Dmitrievich, not good at all.
Where did the apartment come from, Beglov? You present yourself as some kind of European-style politician in St. Petersburg, so explain to the city’s residents and to the rest of the country where you got the equivalent of 30 annual salaries to buy an apartment in a deluxe residential complex. What deluxe, Beglov?
After all, you’re our Cossack representative. You ought to be sleeping under a willow bush, wrapped in a burka (a traditional Caucasian felt cloak), while your faithful horse grazes nearby. But it turns out it’s not Cossackdom and the fatherland—it’s deluxe living?
I’m looking at the news: a couple of days ago, Belov met with schoolteachers and solemnly promised them a bonus for homeroom supervision—5,000 rubles. Oh, what a benefactor! Why don’t you tell those teachers the truth: you get a 5,000-ruble bonus, while I get an apartment worth 500 years of your salary.
I have no doubt that Beglov will not want to answer. He does not like uncomfortable questions at all, which is why St. Petersburg is seeing such lawlessness with the removal of independent candidates from the ballot.
But it is within our power to make sure everyone in the city learns about this question for Beglov and joins in asking it. So that everyone in the city votes for anyone but Beglov in the gubernatorial election on September 8. So that everyone in the city takes part in Smart Voting on September 8 and helps independent municipal candidates defeat United Russia candidates.
And by the way, if you are ready to work as an election observer in St. Petersburg, Moscow, or other cities where elections will be held, follow these links:
Moscow: https://shtab.navalny.com/hq/moskva/2579
St. Petersburg: https://navalny-spb.timepad.ru/events/
Other cities: https://vk.com/wall-55284725_949235
Help us, help yourselves.
Anyone but Beglov. Register for Smart Voting.