A video featuring this brazen piece of scum is quite popular on the internet right now. But if you haven’t seen it yet, watch it and share it with others. The main figure is Denis Vladimirovich Agashin, a member of the General Council of the Party of Crooks and Thieves (a derogatory nickname for United Russia). He also, by the way, has a LiveJournal blog and Facebook.
He is also the head of the Izhevsk city administration. Now watch how this brazen United Russia thug isn’t merely bribing, but outright blackmailing veterans’ organizations in the city of Izhevsk:
http://youtu.be/f2B1r-iywco Without the slightest embarrassment in front of the cameras, this crook simply states the going rates for bribery (from 3:10 in the video): 500,000 rubles a year for a veterans’ organization if United Russia gets 51–54% of the vote, 700,000 rubles if United Russia gets 55–59%, 1 million rubles if United Russia gets 60% or more If votes for United Russia are not delivered, then our ruling party invokes the principle of “no work, no reward”: “...As for courtyard improvement funds, the Leninsky District got the most because it voted best for United Russia. 75 million rubles were allocated to Leninsky District, a little over 40 million to Oktyabrsky, and about the same to Industrialny... I repeat once again: Leninsky District got more of this money than anyone else only because you voted for and supported United Russia, because that is exactly how the distribution was done.” ... (from 5:20 in the video) “And we will keep this approach in the future for all funding allocations,” Agashin promised. “Where we are supported... If 41 percent vote for United Russia in Oktyabrsky District, why should they get as much money as Leninsky District, where 60 percent vote that way? That seems unfair to me.” (thanks for the transcripts andrey_konoval ) And this bastard feels no shame promising old women who worked their whole lives their own money on such terms. But of course we should thank the bastard for describing so plainly and simply the Party of Crooks and Thieves’ strategy for distributing taxpayers’ money: (from 2:00 in the video) "...without voting for United Russia, we won’t get this. Because today, starting from the very top, from the federal level, all money, all resources are distributed exactly this way... Whoever supports the current authorities today — and United Russia is the party in power — whoever supports it gets additional money and increased funding." We never had any doubts, of course, but hearing a public statement like this from the head of administration of a major city and a member of United Russia’s General Council is still quite something. Still, to hell with Agashin. Though of course on Monday we will file a criminal complaint. In my view, this involves not only administrative liability but criminal liability as well. What interests me much more is the reaction of another prominent United Russia figure, who only recently said that before entering public service he had been “a legal scholar.”
He is leading the Crooks and Thieves into the election, but for now, formally, he remains the head of the Russian Federation and the guarantor of the Constitution. And in that formal capacity he has already said a thousand times that the elections must be clean, without administrative pressure or bribery. Have no doubt that this “legal scholar” will watch this video. In fact, he already has. None of us are such distinguished legal academics as D. A. Medvedev, of course, but we are waiting for some simple and obvious things: - Agashin’s expulsion from United Russia’s General Council; - his removal from the post of head of the Izhevsk city administration (the city council deputies can do this, though they are unlikely to rebel unless they receive instructions); - legal proceedings concerning voter bribery, abuse of office, and so on Being president is not just about poking at an iPad with your finger. It will be very interesting to see whether anything at all happens.