The Navalny Case

The theme of this issue is whether to leave Russia or stay. What’s your position? People who say you have to leave are right in a sense, because it’s impossible to live in a country like this. But then it becomes a moral choice. Either you get out, or you try to change something here. When people talk about politics, we’re constantly outraged by how awful everything is. At the same time, no one is willing to do even the smallest thing. I’m not calling on anyone to go out onto the barricades tomorrow. But if each of us spent two hours a week genuinely fighting injustice, in a month we’d be living in a different country. Why did you decide to take on corporations? A lot of people think I only recently made that decision and started doing something. In fact, since 2000, ever since I joined the Yabloko party, I’ve devoted 80% of my time to social and political activity—human rights work in the broadest sense. In other words, for the past 10 years I’ve been trying to do what any citizen can do to improve life around them. But you’ve been specifically fighting for the rights of minority shareholders since 2008. What have you managed to change? Have they started putting crooks in jail because I, among others, started fighting them? No, they haven’t. But I’m not a utopian. I’m someone who understands how things work in Russia. In the current situation, the only person who can jail the people I’m going after at Gazprom, VTB, or Rosneft is Putin personally, by direct order. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to sit at home, curse under my breath, and do nothing. I do what I can, based on my rights and on the law. And I’ll keep doing it. It doesn’t matter if my successes aren’t very visible, or maybe if there won’t be any at all. In a number of cases, I know for certain that right now I won’t achieve anything—I’ll file suit and lose. But I’ll file it anyway, because that too is part of my civic position. Your civic responsibility as a blogger led to a very interesting story involving Sheremetyevo... (On January 11, Navalny published a blog post, “Sheremetyevo-2 as Russia” about the airport’s problems, after which Sheremetyevo’s director invited the blogger to a meeting, and then to cooperate. — Ed.) Yes, in a way that’s a blogger’s social responsibility. I shot my mouth off, they invited me, and it would’ve been awkward to say, “Figure it out yourselves.” They created a working group made up of senior Sheremetyevo staff. And they invited me to offer my suggestions, since I’m supposedly “so smart.” I brought in transport logistics specialists as well, we looked at some of the issues, and outlined a plan of action. I’m convinced that, by the way, we’ll actually manage to achieve some things in this project. It may be something absolutely minor—for example, getting rid of that endless traffic jam. But Sheremetyevo is used by 15 million people a year, and all of them sit in that jam and curse furiously. And if we manage to solve that, then I won’t have wasted my time. Tell me, are the authorities interested in you? I know they’re watching me fairly closely, but there’s no contact. And I’m not eager for any. Especially since I don’t like people who seek public support only to trade it in for a ministry post or money. I’m not going to do that. For me, one of the most important results of my work is the people who file complaints and take part in my campaigns. And if I’m a “well-known minority shareholder” and it’s not so easy to quietly smash a brick over my head, those people are defenseless, and their courage amazes me. I don’t want to let them down. How afraid are you, by the way, of being “taken out”? Or “locked up”? I’m fully aware that it could happen. But when I was involved with the Committee for the Defense of Muscovites—we were fighting illegal construction—that was much more dangerous. What I’m more worried about is some kind of police provocation. That tomorrow they’ll just happen to find heroin in my pocket, a grenade in my trunk, someone will throw themselves under my car—something like that is entirely possible. What are you going to do next? The number of appeals I’ve received asking me to create some kind of movement or party has crossed the line where I could ignore them. But I’ve spent a lot of time in parties, and I understand that a party or that kind of public movement is a completely dead-end path. So I’m thinking about how to create a self-sustaining system in which everyone who wants to take part in this work with me can do so. What kind of country would you like to live in? A normal country. One where you see a police officer standing on the street and understand that he’s there to protect you—and you don’t cross to the other side of the road. One where the rule of law exists. Where the courts and the prosecutor’s office really are places where people can defend justice. That’s not some kind of utopia. I genuinely think the dogma that we need 300 years to develop is nonsense. All of this can be done now—we just need to put in a little work. Some people probably think that Navalny is well-known, so it’s easy for him to fight... Anyone can start a blog. Just take up something meaningful, make trouble for someone, show real work. Don’t just insult somebody—sit down, write a formal request, wait for the reply, publish it all on your blog. In a month people will notice you, and in six months you’ll be more popular than Navalny.