Dear friends. I need something from some of you. Please help. The thing is, my modest struggle against Effective Managers of every stripe constantly forces me to study subjects that are very far from my own field. The VTB case—drilling rigs. What kinds there are, how much they cost, how they’re cleared through customs, and so on. Gazprom—gas transportation schemes, purchasing terms, types of contracts, what this gas actually is, what “rich” gas is and what “dry” gas is, where it is produced and in what volumes, etc. Transneft—pipelines: how they are built, how much they cost here and how much elsewhere. And so on. In other words, in our country they steal from everything, and to understand how it was stolen—and then catch the crook—you need to know the subject. Do you know what PKBU is? I do. It’s a ballast device. Bags of sand hung on pipelines so they don’t float up in swampy terrain. Otherwise, supposedly, “corrugation” will occur. You may laugh, but Effective Managers at Gazprom make billions on these bags. I’ll tell that story sometime. Can you imagine how much time it takes to figure out this crap? So here’s the question: why am I suffering through this alone? I’ve got nine and a half thousand friends, and lots of people read me just because. Obviously among these people—that is, among you—there are plenty who know or can do things I don’t, and who are willing to help. So here’s the call: Halloa! Help is very much needed. Very highly qualified professionals are needed. Extremely highly qualified. Seriously top-tier. Because, as you understand, with low-level professionals we won’t catch the Effective Managers. Terms: you really do need to understand the subject extremely well. Pay: obviously there is none. And none is expected. And I’m not going to “bring in sponsors” to pay for expert work either. We work for the idea. Workload: about three hours a week or more. Sometimes there will be work, sometimes there won’t. More often there won’t. And when there is, it will most likely be urgent. It’s important to have the ability and desire to work regularly. Principles: alas, I do not apply the principle of democratic centralism in my work. The principle is corporate. If you want to help—help, do what I ask. If you want to argue with me, decide issues by voting, and give advice on how to live or how to organize the work—thanks, but please do that somewhere else. At the same time, of course, I do listen to opinions, and I take useful ones into account. Moral compensation: poking Effective Managers with a sharp stick is actually tremendous fun and very satisfying. Besides, you will be doing something good and right for the benefit of the country (forgive the pathos). Future generations will thank you :) PR and promotion: if someone wants to get a ton of publicity from their work and earn professional or political dividends from it—I’m all for it. I’ll promote you like crazy. If you want to stay in the shadows, no one will learn from me about your help except under torture. Benefits package: none for now, but after victory over the forces of Evil, everyone will be entitled to a month of annual vacation at the state residences “Barvikha” or “Shuyskaya Chupa” (former Russian state residences; your choice). Areas: 1. A monster in corporate governance. Familiar with Russian (and foreign) corporate law and practice. 2. A monster in foreign corporate law. Quickly and accurately helps punish Effective Managers whose actions violate listing rules on foreign stock exchanges, ADR/GDR issuance rules, and identifies signs of violations in the work of foreign subsidiaries. 3. A translation monster. Quickly, urgently, and well translates press releases/complaints into English/German. The complaints may contain specialized terminology. 4. A monster for relations with foreign media. Help coordinating relations with foreign media (including trade media), agencies, etc. 5. A monster in combating money laundering/legalization of funds abroad. The Effective Managers sawed off a billion and bought chalets in the Alps. The monster will advise how to use EU/U.S. law to enlist local cops and Interpol in the fight against unjustified enrichment and laundering. 6. A Gazprom monster. Gazprom export schemes. Pricing. Rules. It’s a total maze in there. 7. A website-building monster. Independently, very quickly, and well puts together the simplest websites for one-off projects on free platforms/CMSs. Other internet support as well (mailings, promotion, etc.) 9. A pipeline monster. Transneft and its construction projects. The monster looks at documentation and various interesting facts and understands where to dig. 10. An oil trading monster. Knows everything about deliveries, discounts, premiums, freight terms. Will help the country get rid of the vile crooks from Gunvor. That’s it for now. If there are such Good Monsters out there and they want to help crush Mordor, then I await their letters at navalny at gmail dot com Obviously, if tomorrow we start looking into a case where Gazprom wrote off one hundred million dollars for buying giraffes for the children of Yamal, then we’ll look for a giraffe specialist to verify the giraffe breed listed on the invoice, an animal trade specialist to understand the market value of a giraffe, and an animal psychologist to determine whether Gazprom was justified in writing off another twenty million dollars for a giraffe training program and the prevention of aggressive behavior toward the children of Yamal. It’s just that the Good Monster positions listed above are needed almost all the time. And one more thing—please don’t be offended, but don’t write: I know a little about this and want to help. I myself know a little about everything. I need people who know A LOT. A million times better than I do. I value any help very highly, and if your area of professional expertise does not (yet) match what is needed, I will still be infinitely happy to have support in the standard format: sharing, PR, template complaints, etc. Everyone who is ready to help will be needed, but this post is about something else. That’s all. And please don’t be offended in advance by my suspiciousness—I understand perfectly well how delighted the Effective Managers would be to plant a mole/provocateur on my team. Therefore everyone must surrender the little finger of their left hand for genetic identification. P.S. Many thanks to everyone who wrote about yesterday’s action/protest. I’ll reply to everyone. I’ll send invites to everyone. I just need a little time.