Autumn Tour. Rally in Kaliningrad. Part 1

This was a great tour, thank you very much.

You have a very beautiful city, and now

when people ask me, "So, Navalny, have you

seen Kaliningrad?"

I’ll say: it’s not just that I saw it — I had

two thousand tour guides. Thank you very much.

Well, that was a great walk. Brian — whose

city is this?

This is your city, and walking through it

Let’s give a big thank-you to our

police — your police — for the wonderfully

organized procession. In the Beautiful

Russia of the Future, the police will do

what they are actually supposed to do, and we

will respect them very much — and rightly so. And the police officers

here, all the leadership of your

regional Interior Ministry office, it seems to me, ought to

when they sit down this evening to write up

their reports saying that, according to the regional Interior Ministry office, the meeting

with blogger Navalny was attended by 250 people,

feel at least a little ashamed. Once again,

let’s help them out, guys.

A rally in Kaliningrad is always such a

complicated thing for any politician.

I’ve spoken in many cities, in many

regions, and almost everywhere I can say

that we held a rally, and it was

the largest, or one of the largest,

rallies in the city’s recent history.

But you are so awesome that here it’s

impossible to say that for sure. In the Putin era alone, you’ve had

only under Putin, you’ve changed

five governors, right? I want to say this:

thank you. The whole country is watching. Here you are

doing something that no one else is doing. You are very,

very cool. But there’s little result, very little result, and that’s

what we’re going to talk about now. Before

working up the courage to come to some

city, climb onto a stage, and speak in front of

a large number of people, every

person, every politician, must first of all

find within themselves some

reason — maybe a simple one — why

you truly believe this needs

to be done. What exactly happened?

Why do you believe you have the right

to come to people and campaign to them? When I

was preparing, just today I literally went

online again and thought: let me see what

the latest news about Kaliningrad is, and well,

maybe I’ll mention it at the rally.

Maybe — just maybe — this news will help

give me confidence that something needs

to change. If you go to Yandex News right now

and type in "Kaliningrad,"

you will most likely find a story like this:

the latest widely covered

news item about your city reads as follows: in

Kaliningrad, a ton of mangoes was discovered and destroyed.

A ton of mangoes — a ton of Portuguese mangoes.

At the same time, the police established that these were

Portuguese mangoes, and therefore

mercilessly destroyed them. And in the comments

people rightly write: yes, of course, they destroyed them properly.

After all, Portugal is our main enemy after

Mongolia. A small thing, sure, seemingly a small thing, but

it is the embodiment

of idiocy, right? The main reason why

we cannot live normally right now

is the idiocy of this government.

Corruption too, of course, but first and foremost

it is sheer idiocy. They do not let us live

normally. I’m not mistaken, am I? You’ll tell me

that in your own region

a large number of people go to Poland

for groceries, right?

That says it all: people go

to another country for groceries because

it’s cheaper, right? Maybe even

three times cheaper. So the question for the authorities is:

the authorities.

What kind of heartless bastards are you

that you take something and destroy it?

Why not give it to someone instead?

You’ve ruined some entrepreneur, you’ve insulted

a whole lot of people who don’t have enough to eat.

Who did you help? Who did you do any good for?

Not even yourselves, you understand. One hundred percent of

people,

including the person driving the bulldozer

crushing the mangoes, are all thinking: what on earth

is going on here?

What is happening? Why should we

put up with this? And that is why I believe that yes,

some people may agree with me more,

some less, but

it cannot be denied that this government has simply

degenerated, right? It is filled with

stupidity and idiocy. Every single

day they do something so insane,

so strange,

that, you understand, this is happening like this all

across the country. Have you heard?

A slap — all this time they’ve just gone and done

something like that.

Why? What for? There is no explanation. But they do it.

So yes, I believe the time has come

for change, and the time has come to think about

whether we are ready to live like this for another six

years, or twelve. Just six more years — just be patient, my

friends, tighten your belts. Just endure it,

what’s the big deal?

Just six years of your life. We’ve already endured 18 years, so

let’s give these people another mandate of trust.

Are you ready to endure more? Ready to give them

another mandate of trust? And this is based not on

some old idea that, you know,

blogger Navalny just likes to come and

chant things from the stage, but simply on

plain facts. They have been in power for 18 years. In those 18

years, they sold oil and gas worth

trillions of dollars — trillions.

It was an unprecedented period for

Russia. We received so much money that we

could have built not just your

— we could have built it out of solid gold.

House of Soviets, excuse me, the House

of Soviets.

We could have built a new country, and what

what has been built here over these years, you tell me

you’ll say, well, here come these touring outsiders

they call me some visiting hooligan, you can later

go ahead and put it together, but tell me this: what do you have

built? Churches.

Well, maybe they’ll build you a stadium too.

Look.

The main thing, the very main thing that the authorities must do

and the president’s main task

of Russia, in my view—though maybe

it sounds too utilitarian; some people say

“Come on, that’s not exactly lofty thinking,”

but I believe the president’s job

is to make everyone richer, so that people’s wages

and real incomes grow—just

so that every year everyone is a little

a little better off, a little richer. And in every city

—those who’ve watched the livestreams know—I do

something that drives this government crazy. You

just ask, and that’s exactly why

they won’t even allow rallies to be held

because it’s an obvious point they

simply cannot argue with. But I was

told that in Kaliningrad it wouldn’t work

because Kaliningrad is a wealthy region, you

live well here.

Well, everyone says, no, look

Navalny will have to pull his usual tricks

and they’ll send him packing, because in Kaliningrad

people are well-off and every year they live

better and better. So what are you going to use?

Let’s find out. Look, I’m not

asking you to play along with me—give me the real number.

Please think: what are the wages

for you, your parents, your friends and

acquaintances? Give me a real, honest

figure: what is the average salary in

the city of Kaliningrad, located in Europe,

in what is generally considered one of Russia’s more advanced cities—what

is the average salary?

20–30 thousand, I heard. A prosperous city? 25–15? No

that can’t be. How much? 20–25? 15–15? Were you sent

by Donald Trump? He wouldn’t believe it, because

if I were governor, I’d

have this person searched and arrested

and sent back to America. And 15—what kind of

15? Here is my terrible new weapon

against Vladimir Putin and your

governor: I have

printed out from your governor’s website

the official figures. Are you whistling at the governor or at

me? A group of young United Russia supporters, do you want

to say something? I invite you onto the stage.

I’ve invited the young United Russia supporters onto the stage.

If you want to debate me here, go ahead.

Come on up here.

I have something to say while they’re whistling.

I inform you that the average salary in

the city of Kaliningrad

is 36,000 rubles. You don’t believe it, hecklers? Well then,

36,000 rubles is actually

not a high salary at all, really not high.

In some regions, you understand, it might

be harder to talk about this, but you

are surrounded by countries where

the average salary is much higher, right? You

know what incomes are in Poland, what they are in

Lithuania, and across the rest of the Baltics.

They’re higher than here—immeasurably higher. It’s the

same region, the same land. Here

it was in fact historically more

developed, but there the average salary is three

times higher than ours on paper, while our

real one is 20–25 thousand rubles. I’ll continue.

These figures.

United Russia, your governor Alikhanov, continues

to get nervous, because—raise your hands, those

who are teachers, or who have teachers among your acquaintances.

You’re answering—don’t let me lie.

What is the average salary in the region—not in the city,

but across the region—for a teacher in

the region? 15? I hear 25? 18?

How much? 21,000 for two full shifts? 30,000?

So, the average teacher’s salary in the

region, according to the ruling party’s

government information, is 30,085 rubles.

Do you believe that? Fine, let’s continue our

fascinating journey through paper salaries.

Researchers—do you have any

acquaintances? What kind of salary do they have here?

An average of 10–25? There’s just no science left to choose from.

Well, maybe there’s no science left, but the average

salary of a researcher is thirty

six thousand four hundred sixty rubles.

Does that sound true?

No? All right, now, now you’ll surely

guess this one: doctors. Any acquaintances who are doctors,

relatives of doctors here?

Please tell us all. 8,000? But

wait—the average doctor’s salary in the

region is how much? I heard 8, and I’m hearing 20, 10

12—how much? Ask them, and I

assure you they’ll say the same thing.

You know it’s a small salary. So what is a doctor’s salary?

A doctor’s salary—what, 15? I still haven’t heard

a single number above 25. So, 20–25 then.

So I inform you, my dear fellow citizens—maybe

you’ve all been brought in from Poland or something,

I don’t know, some kind of foreign agents,

because the official figure

for the average doctor’s salary in your

region is 46,000 rubles. You see, I travel,

I travel and travel—yesterday I was in Siberia, before that I was

in other regions—and not once

has it happened that people guessed it, not once

has it happened that I named a figure

from the paper and didn’t hear, “That can’t

be true.” That’s why there is one ironclad

fact. Again, someone may

agree or disagree, but this

government cannot be supported in any way

because all they have given us

is official poverty and lies about

real incomes. But it is all built on

lies—lies in every single figure.

The same goes for the economic growth figures,

the same goes for the figures about the future.

estimates of real incomes, estimates

the figures on the number of mortgages are all lies

And why? Because if you put the real numbers here

then it turns out that not 20

percent of Russia’s population lives below

the poverty line, but in fact the correct figure is 85

percent. So the whole point is not that

Putin has 86 percent, but that 86 percent

of Russian citizens are officially

destitute, and I am running in the election because I

refuse to accept this situation as

normal. It cannot be normal in a rich, in the

richest country, one overflowing with

oil and gas, where there is an educated

population—there cannot be such poverty and

destitution, and no prospects. These are the two

most important things. First, we have established that, well,

over 18 years they have not really

managed to make us prosperous, even

to the level of Eastern European countries

Raise your hand if you study at school or

at university

A question for you: in Penza, I heard 500 rubles

All right, now up to 500 rubles, but right now

right now we are officially being told that

Putin is now going for another 6 years

and that all this time was just preparation, and now

finally he will start improving our

life, and our—our choice, basically. But in March

we will have to decide what kind of

life we will have for the next six years, or

quite possibly the next 12 years. And this

question is also connected with a sense of

prospects. Tell me, please, if

you study at school or university and finish it

with straight A’s—is that possible? Maybe not

for many people, but let us assume it is

possible. As they say, instead of going to rallies

you should study. Let us assume you graduated

with top marks. Let us assume you got

the best job in Kaliningrad—not some mass-market one,

that is, not that you became governor

or joined United Russia (the ruling political party)

but simply a high-paying job

here in Kaliningrad. What would your

salary be?

Not 20,000—I mean a good one, the best one. So

what, 45,000? 50,000? It would not even be that much. Well,

let us think—60,000. You understand, it is the 21st century, and I

am in a city that is located in

Europe, and the dream salaries you are

telling me about here are 60,000 rubles

less than the average salary in Estonia

That is less than welfare benefits abroad. I was in

Poland

well, many, many years ago, just passing through

Those of you who have been to Poland—what is the

average salary there, around 1,200 to 1,300 euros? That in

rubles is how much? And in Lithuania, what is the average

salary? These are countries with problems

too, obviously. You cannot say there are not plenty of

problems everywhere. But how is it that our

dream salary is lower than their

average salary?

It is lower than benefits in a huge

number of countries. That is why I

got up on this stage. I want someone

to say this out loud. Look at all the

other candidates—they are not

doing anything at all. We have an election in this country;

we are supposed to decide something for six years. Do you see

any other candidates coming here,

running around, clutching their heads, discussing these

issues, saying: Putin, look over there, look at what the

salaries are—look at this? No, nobody does

that. I want to become a candidate, and

I am asking you to support me. I want

to express your opinion, because I will be

the one who says these things—about

the fact that under the current regime there are no prospects

ahead. Raise your hands if you are

younger than me. I am 41

At moments like this, you do not feel

very young. But for those of you who raised your hands, I

have bad news, because

it will go by pretty quickly, and you too will soon be

41, and then much older than that

And I am 41, and I have lived half my life under

Putin

And you have lived most of your life under

Putin. Do you want to keep living under him? That is why

we need to propose some different

strategy now. And I have a simple plan, a very

simple one. It is based on the obvious idea that

we live in a rich country

I look at the price of oil now—62

and I see colossal amounts of money

flowing into the Russian budget, simply

colossal, without any exaggeration. And

my number one question is: where does

the money go? Where does the money go, exactly?

Ask anyone, and everyone says: it is stolen

They steal money through the procurement of state-owned companies

and state corporations—26 trillion

rubles a year. Applying the formula of my

favorite, Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev—I did not

make this up, he did

we understand that every year, through this procurement,

6 trillion rubles are stolen

That is a gigantic figure. With that—with this

money, you could build

Do you have an oncology center here? No, right?

No, there is not one in the regional center either. And that is 6

trillion

They carve it up; it turns into yachts

it turns into offshore accounts

openly, in front of everyone’s eyes. Nobody even

tries to hide it. And to us, to a federal subject (region)

to a large major city where

half a million people live, they say: folks,

just hang on, there is no oncology center. How much longer can

people endure? Well, they endure, of course—but people are dying,

aren’t they?

It is impossible to live like this, right?

That is why I say very clearly: the first

step that will really

make us richer and allow us to solve

a huge number of problems that are not

take years to solve and will inject money into

the economy

It is the fight against corruption. I know how to

fight it. We have already canceled

corrupt procurement contracts worth tens of

billions of rubles, but I differ quite a lot from the other candidates

because

any of the other candidates—well, just pick one—could come here right now

and show up here

Katya Gordon, I don't know, Putin could come here

and say: I will start with the fight against

corruption. Everyone talks about fighting

corruption

in general—like, the system, systemic measures—but

let's be honest: without trials

without naming names, that's how things are set up, and

that doesn't suit me. I know for sure that for

a real fight against corruption, you need to

punish corrupt officials, right?

Therefore, my campaign promise

is this: guys, I will put all of them

in jail

[applause]

through a fair trial, a fair trial, onto the

defendants' bench, with juries and all that, but

corruption is so obvious that yes,

we will jail them; otherwise it simply will not work

Until the police officer who

is standing here, the press standing here,

ordinary people, the officials themselves, do not see

that people are imprisoned for corruption, no fight against

corruption is possible. This is not

an abstract thing. There must be

public trials, right? We must

see all these crooks behind bars

and then the prosecutor comes and says: we are

seizing this yacht of yours,

seizing this palace. Please explain

—not that one person is sitting there as the owner and then

another person comes from him, whom we

will appoint prosecutor general, and asks a question,

for example to the mayor of your city, Kaliningrad:

he comes and asks: buddy, after all, you were caught

with a house, right? And what did

he do? He got divorced, you see?

They get caught with undeclared property

and they smile right in your face: oh, that

isn't mine, it's my wife's. I got divorced. And the prosecutor's office

is like: well, all right, go ahead. And Russian state TV says, well,

okay, everything is according to the law. And Putin tells us

well, okay, he already got divorced. And so

they all got divorced. Look, half of

the State Duma deputies have gotten divorced by now

Are you going to believe that? I am not. And

that is why I will ratify this article

If your mayor cannot explain where he got

the money from, exactly, we automatically

open a criminal case. If you cannot

prove it

sorry, my friend, then you go to jail. An official should not

If you do not want to live by such rules, then do not become one

If you became an official,

you must account for everything. And second, I need money. I

want to build an oncology center for you, I want

to allocate twice as much money here

for education. I can see that in your

budget—by the way, do you know that your

budget over the course of this year has decreased by

11 percent

social spending is down 8 percent

and education spending has fallen

and then the housing and utilities budget in your region

was cut by 33 percent. Housing and utilities here are a disaster, and

they are cutting it, and they are cutting more

while sending money elsewhere. This stadium cost

11 billion rubles at first, now 17 billion

rubles, and God knows how much more will sink into it

and something is always wrong with it. One way or

another, I need money. And there is one more

obvious, simple solution

Oligarchs must pay taxes

Oligarchs must pay taxes. We

are not going to, I don't know, grab them

and saw them in half and then take their money

but at least pay some taxes

How can it be that over the past year

the combined wealth of Russian

oligarchs increased by 21 billion

dollars? That's right, friends—thanks to Putin—but

maybe someone here also saw their wealth rise

by 21 billion dollars

Raise your hand. There is one person there

Thank you very much. navalny . data dot

ru

Go there and contribute 1 billion of your

21. The point is that these astonishing

oligarchs appearing in an impoverished

country—we rank second in the number of billionaires

after the United States. How can that

be? If we were second after the U.S.

in wages, in GDP, then it would at least

make some sense. But we are, excuse me,

at the bottom of the rankings, and only in

the number of billionaires are we at the top. Why? They

do not pay taxes. They evade

taxes, and they do not pay wages. Remember

my famous dialogue with Alisher

Usmanov

during which he spat and swore at me twice?

Remember how I kept telling him

dude, you are not paying wages. Your

wages at your mining operation are

35,000 rubles, while in America a miner doing the same job

earns 5,000 dollars a month

Remember what he said to me in response? He

said: Alexei, we are not in America

And what does that mean? Does that mean that you

can avoid paying wages and the state

will have no claims against me?

That is exactly how it works. But look now:

Kerimov was caught in France, you know

the story, and France is chasing him and

saying: Kerimov, you bought up

real estate—pay, pay our

citizens need hospitals

they need schools, we have expenses, you are rich

you buy here, so pay taxes. The Russian

state has no such claims

No, the Russian state is saving him.

running around, and it’s the same with everyone — all our

oligarchs are non-residents.

of the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and so on.

Next, we will apply normal,

reasonable measures like those in Germany,

the ones that exist in the United States, that exist in any

normal country — these people will pay

taxes, and with that money we will build

a cancer treatment center. Right? That’s how it should work.

That’s the proper way to organize it. The third thing is that

someone will say: that money won’t be enough,

it won’t be enough. Fine — let’s say I’m sitting here, I’m the president,

a pleasant thought.

There isn’t enough money, and I think: how am I supposed to do something

in Kaliningrad,

if there isn’t enough money? How can we not

develop Kaliningrad? And the obvious thought

comes to mind: if a person

gets a salary, and once a month someone comes to him

and takes that salary away,

takes most of it away — can that person

become rich? It’s a stupid question, obviously not.

A person can’t get rich. Can your

region?

They take away from you

70 percent of the taxes that you

collect — can you become prosperous?

Can a region develop? It’s absurd.

And then they hold meetings about the development

of the region.

Special economic zones, blah blah — none of this

makes any sense.

Leave them their taxes. You send to

Moscow four times more than Moscow

sends back to you. Is that normal?

I’m a Muscovite, so I’m all for the prosperity of my native

city, but this is an absurd situation. And then you

tell the region, “Oh, you’re a poor region.”

If you only sent half of it, you would

live — we would live in this region no worse

than in any surrounding country.

Starting tomorrow, if

in a more or less fair way, at least half

of the taxes were left there, it would be several times larger

the budget would be several times bigger.