This is what happens when someone takes their duties and powers as a deputy seriously and formally, even if those duties and powers provoke an ironic smile from others.
I watched the TV Center (TVC, a Moscow television channel) report and was horrified: once again, residents are being misled! ... As a member of the commission on information and media relations, I broke out in a cold sweat and gasped for air: what is going on? I know for a fact that there are around 40 signatures, certainly not 20, and active negotiations are underway with another 50 deputies. So what is this — are the media, in a report featuring the acting mayor of Moscow, lying to residents? We had to convene an emergency meeting of the information commission. At 11:00 p.m., it gathered in full at a café (the municipal offices were already closed). Leonid Volkov, head of Alexei Navalny’s campaign headquarters, was invited to the meeting and reported the real state of affairs: he had 39 signatures with him and showed them to us; 5 more signatures were on their way from other cities and from notaries. They also sent official deputy inquiries to Sobyanin, TVC, and Izvestia. Well, why not? They are deputies, after all — representatives of the people. They are obliged to respond when the public is being brazenly lied to — and they do.