Exactly three years ago, I returned to Russia after undergoing treatment following the poisoning. I was arrested at the airport. And now I have been imprisoned for three years. And for three years I have been answering the same question. The inmates ask it simply and directly. Prison administration staff ask it cautiously, with the recorders turned off. “Why did you come back?” By now, answering this question, I even feel a slight irritation of two kinds. First, toward myself, for not having found words clear enough that everyone would understand and stop asking. Second, toward Russian politics over the past decades, which has so deeply instilled cynicism and conspiracy-mindedness in society that people simply do not believe in straightforward motives. The thinking goes: if he came back, then he must have made a deal with someone. It just did not work out. Or it has not worked out yet. There must be some cunning plan involving the Kremlin towers (a Russian expression referring to rival factions within the Kremlin). In any case, there has to be some SECRET hidden motive. Because in politics, everything is supposedly not what it seems. But there are no secrets or schemes. It really is that simple. I have my country and my convictions. And I do not want to give up either my country or my convictions. And I cannot betray either one. If your convictions are worth anything, you must be prepared to stand up for them. And if necessary, to make sacrifices. And if you are not prepared, then you do not really have any convictions at all. You only think you do. But those are not convictions and principles — just thoughts in your head. That does not, of course, mean that everyone who is not currently in prison has no convictions. Everyone pays their own price. For many, even without prison, that price is very high. I took part in elections and sought positions of leadership. The standard I am held to is different. I traveled all over the country and everywhere I declared from the stage: “I promise I will not let you down, I will not deceive you, and I will not abandon you.” By returning, I kept that promise to my voters. Surely, in the end, there must appear in Russia people who do not lie to them. As things have turned out, in Russia today, for my right to have convictions and not hide them, I must pay by sitting in a solitary confinement cell. And of course I do not like being locked up. But I will renounce neither my ideas nor my homeland. (Continues in the carousel) ------ My convictions are not exotic, sectarian, or radical. On the contrary, everything I believe in is based on science and historical experience. Those in power should change. The best way to elect leaders is through honest and free elections. Everyone needs a fair court. Corruption destroys the state. There should be no censorship. The future lies in these principles. And now, sectarians and marginals are in power. Overall, they have no ideas. Their only goal is to keep their seats. Perfected hypocrisy will allow them to wrap theirselves in any cover. So, polygamists have become conservatives. Members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union have become Orthodox. Owners of "golden passports" and offshore accounts are now aggressive patriots. Lies, and nothing but lies. It will collapse and crumble. The Putinist state is not sustainable. One day, we will look at its place, and it won't be there. Victory is inevitable. But for now, we must not give up and stand by our beliefs.