This archival excerpt from the documentary project Term takes us back to September 2012, when Alexei came to Khimki to support environmental activist Yevgenia Chirikova in the mayoral election. Right in the middle of street campaigning, masked Kremlin-backed provocateurs, hiding behind nationalist slogans, try to attack him. With ease and irony, Alexei puts the cowardly "titushky" (hired thugs used to intimidate opponents) in their place, telling them to find real jobs instead of carrying out cheap assignments, and shows by example how open and honest conversation can overcome any kind of stupidity.
Text version
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We can raise only 1 million rubles for
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the election campaign. Instructions on how
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to do this are posted on my LiveJournal blog
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there. That is, it has the Sberbank account details,
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my signatures, in fact, and my
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campaign account.
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Navalny is full of shit! Greetings from Tesak (Maxim Martsinkevich)!
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Navalny is full of shit! Greetings from Tesak (Maxim Martsinkevich)!
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Lyokha came here to steal timber from us, right?
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Come on, come on, step up, tell me.
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Come on, come on, get the shot, get the shot, come on.
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You stole timber in Kirov, didn't you
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Are you scared or what?
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What is it?
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Well, what is it? What happened? Tell me,
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why? Why are you—what did you come here
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for? Can you explain? Substantively.
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Because you're a nationalist, and you were against Article 282 (Russia's anti-extremism law) when
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they were jailing Tesak. Then you were for it.
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All right. And you—can I ask, if you have
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something to say, then why are you
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hiding your face?
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All right.
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No need to hit anyone, no need to tear
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anything away. Look, this is what you're
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covering up with your behavior. The whole truth
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is that you were paid
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500 rubles each to come here. I
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strongly advise you to find yourselves
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another job. I'm sure you can
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find another job, earn
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a living in a normal way instead of humiliating yourselves
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in front of everyone. Your one eye sticking out
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from under the hood will never convince anyone.
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Do you really not understand that? If you
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believe in something and even have
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some complaint you can
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say to me, then come with your face uncovered
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and say it.
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I don't like what you're stirring up in
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the country, you're creating some kind of
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Okay. Is it me you don't like, or Chirikova? Who
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are you going to vote for?
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I haven't decided yet
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For whom? The candidate from the party of Crooks and
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Thieves?
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No.
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Definitely not. I
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What, are you afraid of her?
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No. Afraid of him? No, I'm afraid of what
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they'll write. They just write very
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nice things, fuck.
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What do you mean, they'll write such nice
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things? They'll write what happened. They'll
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write that three guys showed up, one of
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them had an eye sticking out from under his hood, the second
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had his face completely covered, this one was in a mask. And
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they asked questions—that's what they'll write.
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People who hide themselves in our country, in
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Russia, in my country. You're hiding your face
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from me, from a Russian man. What kind of
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nationalist are you? You're a person who got
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500 rubles... I'm not hiding my face from you, but from these
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people.
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Then why did you come here? Well,
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if you wanted to see me, you could've come
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to my office. You came here knowing
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there would be a bunch of journalists here.
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And can you do this at the office?
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Please, come.
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So what is your attitude toward Maxim
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Martsinkevich as of today?
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My attitude toward Maxim Martsinkevich is
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negative, because I believe that Maxim
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Martsinkevich engages in provocations.
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It is quite possible that Maxim Martsinkevich
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gets paid for these provocations, just
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like you do. If he doesn't,
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then great. I hope that
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in that case he will reconsider some of his
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positions. I can say that I am practically
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certain that the fact Maxim Martsinkevich
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was jailed then for 2 years for hooliganism
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prevented Maxim
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Martsinkevich from being imprisoned for 8 years, like other
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similar people who later attacked
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someone or killed someone. To all
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the questions you want to ask me, I
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have answers. More than that, I'm sure
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that on most issues I can
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completely change your mind. I am
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absolutely sure of that, because I know that
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the truth is on my side. So if you want
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to talk to Chirikova about the Khimki
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issues, please do; if you don't have questions for
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Chirikova, then come to me,
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come to my office, all four of you, and I'll
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talk with you.
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Good luck. Heard that? There, there, there it is already,
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the good machine of truth. Yeah, yeah.
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Ah, damn.
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What? Why didn't you take it?