It’s amusing that both versions came true. I hope today I’ll get both: an escort to sad music and fried potatoes. I really knew nothing at all—Petya had a news radio in his cell, so he knew that the prosecutor’s office had scheduled an appeal.
As for me, all I had were pop songs, and this morning, after the "headcount," I was ordering books from the library and drawing up a strategic plan for a merciless war against the mosquitoes in the cell. "Take your things and come out" sounded very strange and incomprehensible.
Thank you all for forcing them, through your determination, to release me and Petya. Everyone: those who came out to Manezhnaya Square (a central square in Moscow), those who came out to other city squares across the country, and those who offered kind words of support. It doesn’t matter whether this is temporary or not. People decide their own fate. They themselves shape what happens—the main thing is to want it, and then to take two or three simple steps. To go out into the street, for example. Yesterday, people wanted to—and they did it. We need to want it and make sure that everyone unjustly convicted is released—people who are of course happy for me and Ofitserov now, but who also, somewhere deep down, are afraid they’ll be forgotten and abandoned. If we want it and start acting, there will be fair elections. If we want it and start acting, a real fight against corruption will begin. If we want it and start acting, the toad sitting on the oil pipeline will feel its little feet getting hot and start wondering whether it should hop off toward Switzerland, closer to its bank accounts. We already want this very badly, and we’ve been acting for a long time. Another couple of months certainly won’t hurt. We’re collecting money, campaigning, talking to people, demonstrating, doing everything that is called "politics in which everyone can take part." If our ranks are replenished more quickly by those who move from simply wanting to wanting plus action, then we will defeat anyone. Thank you again, my dear friends. In the person of one particularly steadfast individual, I embrace all of you, equally steadfast: