Questions About Faith for a Mayoral Candidate: ALEXEI NAVALNY

— Two hundred new churches are being built in Moscow. But the need is much greater: in many districts there is no church within walking distance (at Prospekt Vernadskogo metro station, for example, the nearest churches are by Yugo-Zapadnaya and Universitet stations, and in Ramenki the church is packed to capacity). How do you intend to solve this problem? — The idea itself is a good one, and there is no doubt that the Orthodox community has the right to insist on the construction of new churches. What depresses me is that the program has turned into a source of constant conflict with local residents. The program is overseen by the notorious Vladimir Resin, who is doing what Russians describe as “smashing his forehead while thinking he is praying”: empty plots of land were chosen haphazardly, often encroaching on squares, parks, and public spaces beloved by residents. Building a church in a neighborhood is a classic local issue; local residents and deputies should decide for themselves where it should be located and what it should look like architecturally. There is land in Moscow for church construction. — Would you hand decisions on church construction over to local self-government, or would they still be made through City Hall? — As I said, this is a matter of local significance. You cannot govern a city with a population larger than that of an average country from a single office on Tverskaya, 13. — A question about mosques in Moscow. The situation is this: on the one hand, there are very many Muslims in Moscow, and the existing mosques are not enough; residents, including native Muscovites, cannot get inside. On the other hand, most of Moscow’s Muslims are not Moscow residents and often are not even Russian citizens. Should mosques be built for temporary residents? How do you intend to resolve this problem? — The situation with mosques is different. We know almost for certain that local urban communities will never agree to mosque construction in their neighborhoods. Yes, Moscow’s Muslim population is growing, but the Muslim community must understand that, unfortunately, our city will never be able to provide mosques for everyone who wants one. The only path is steady, painstaking work by Muslim religious leaders with local residents so that they do not fear such a neighborhood. — Will the issue of Muslims slaughtering sheep on city streets be addressed, and if so, how? — I treat representatives of all religions with respect, and if I become mayor, I will uphold their constitutional right to freedom of religion and the observance of religious rites. However, these rites must not prevent other residents from living normal lives, nor should they offend their traditions or aesthetic sensibilities. I do not like the fact that ritual animal killings regularly take place on Moscow’s streets and that major thoroughfares are blocked, worsening an already difficult traffic situation in the city. I intend to build cooperation between the city authorities and the Muslim community in such a way that Islamic holidays do not create inconvenience and problems for Muscovites. — Will you take measures, and if so what measures, to preserve what remains of old Moscow, for example the Bolkonsky House? — One of the vile and corrupt practices introduced into city life by Luzhkov is the prioritizing of the interests of investor-developers and the corrupt officials connected to them over the interests of residents. That practice has continued under Sobyanin. The city needs to preserve its cultural heritage and its historical and architectural monuments. We must finally establish the boundaries of historic Moscow in law, and protect not only buildings but also the views and streetscapes Muscovites are accustomed to. Paradoxically, historic Moscow is being destroyed, yet no one has been punished. The situation with the Bolkonsky House on Vozdvizhenka is especially outrageous: the building is being demolished despite an order banning all work, with the full connivance of City Hall. The reason Moscow is being destroyed is the total corruption of the mayor’s office and its control over the Moscow City Duma through the dominance of United Russia. For me, careful stewardship of the historic urban environment will be one of the priorities. — Will Lenin be buried? — My personal position is that this issue should long ago have been resolved by burying Lenin’s body in a cemetery in accordance with the traditions accepted in our society and the wishes of Lenin’s own relatives. However, this is an important political issue that could split society. Neither the mayor of Moscow nor the President of Russia has the right to make such a decision single-handedly. I think a citywide Moscow referendum on the subject would be the right solution. More broadly, the issue should be framed more widely. Right now the Kremlin and Red Square are under the authority of the presidential administration. The heart of the city should be returned to Muscovites, the Kremlin and its churches should be opened to the public, and the mausoleum, which is an architectural masterpiece, should be turned into a museum. — People with disabilities in Moscow, unlike disabled people in Europe, are deprived of the ability to move freely around the city. There are very few ramps, there is only one disability taxi service and it is private, and buses and the metro are not equipped to carry wheelchair users. What is being done today for people with disabilities is negligible. How will you solve this problem, and by what year will a wheelchair user in Moscow be able to travel around the city on public transport? — This issue is much broader than simply ramps and disability taxis. City policy should be aimed at making people with disabilities part of society, not objects of social services. “Nothing about us without us,” the slogan of the international disability rights movement, should become the foundation of Moscow’s policy. Based on residents’ needs as formulated in each specific district, municipalities and City Hall should pursue a common policy aimed at meeting those needs and achieving the real social integration of people with disabilities. The key problem in integrating disabled people into normal life is creating jobs for those who can and want to work. I will also pay special attention to increasing mobility for people with disabilities by making public transport accessible to them, above all the city’s main mode of transport: the metro. — Another question about public transport: metro lines are being extended, and as a result those who commute to Moscow from the surrounding region board at the terminus, so after one or two stops it is impossible to get into the train on many lines. This means that people living closer to the center and in Moscow proper cannot get to work normally, unlike residents of the Moscow suburbs. Will this problem be addressed, and how? — First, it would not be difficult to arrange for some trains to start taking passengers not at the terminus but at intermediate stations, allowing people to board calmly and find space in the cars. Second, this problem must be approached comprehensively. We need to stop building offices in the city center and encourage their construction in the zone between the Third Ring Road and the MKAD (Moscow Ring Road). We need to expand transport infrastructure, make public transport more convenient, and give priority to surface public transport over private cars. This is painstaking work that the current city administration, mired in corruption and treating its own enrichment as its top priority, is incapable of handling. — Russia’s Ministry of Health has begun work on improving the legal and regulatory framework governing hospices. Moscow has nine adult hospices, but so far only one children’s hospice with 10 beds, which is critically insufficient. Recently, the Vera and Podari Zhizn foundations were given land to build another children’s hospice with 25 places. Does Moscow intend to continue supporting the construction and equipment of children’s hospices, and the development of palliative care in general? — The attention city authorities devote to developing the hospice network is completely inadequate. I believe the optimal form of support in this area is to allocate funding not to state social care institutions, whose effectiveness is quite low, but to public organizations such as the foundations you mentioned, which have long been working with hospices using private donations. — Does Moscow need Cossack units to protect citizens? Can they carry weapons and protect holy sites and priests from desecration? — If the police in Moscow were carrying out the duties assigned to them by law, the question of involving additional civic forces to maintain order would not arise. But right now Muscovites do not feel safe on the city’s streets. I do not believe that creating Cossack units—or any other units based on a particular ethnicity or religion—and granting them special powers is a step in the right direction. Cossack units may be used to guard certain sites, including churches, but not to patrol the streets. In my public safety program, the emphasis is on creating a municipal police force accountable to residents, reducing illegal migration, and involving private security firms in patrolling especially crime-ridden parts of the city. — Families of public-sector workers and families with children cannot afford memberships to fitness clubs. Will low-cost municipal fitness clubs be built, and in what numbers? And will families with children be able to get memberships at a substantial discount? — State and city structures usually do a poor job of providing competitive services to the public, while corruption and the looting of budget funds are concealed behind rhetoric about caring for people. This also applies to fitness. The city has the ability to increase support for low-income groups by reducing inefficiency and theft from the budget. People themselves will decide how to spend that money; the authorities should not dictate priorities, whether fitness or anything else. — You said that you do not rule out the possibility of gay pride parades. But aren’t questions of children’s moral well-being above all else? And even if the majority were to support gay pride parades, the free distribution of pornography, and so on, shouldn’t one fight for morality to the very end? — I believe the attention paid to the notorious gay pride parades and to people of non-traditional sexual orientation is exaggerated. There is no real problem here; this is speculation by the current authorities, who are trying to distract people from real problems in such an exotic way. People of non-traditional sexual orientation are the same citizens of Russia as anyone else, and they have the same rights, including the right to hold assemblies or other events. My task as mayor is to make sure that supporters and opponents of gay pride parades do not come into direct confrontation and that no one is harmed. Morality in society is strengthened not by bans, but by positive example. — Do you believe in God? — Yes, and faith in God helps me feel a moral compass within myself that guides me in my work and helps me overcome hardship. Faith does not allow me to watch calmly as people lie and lose their conscience because of greed. Until I was about 24, I considered myself an atheist. Then my child was born, and I watched him grow and understood that this was nothing other than God’s miracle. Nothing sudden happened to me; no revelations descended upon me. Somehow, almost imperceptibly even to myself, I simply came to understand that I was a believer. — Why should Orthodox Muscovites support you in the election? — First and foremost because, for Orthodox Christians, the word “justice” should certainly not be an empty sound. After all, this election campaign is about whether we want the wealth and resources that exist in Moscow and Russia to work for the benefit of all, or whether they will continue to serve as a source of enrichment for a dozen nomenklatura families. Moscow does not live up to its lofty status as one of the world’s capitals; the city’s potential is not being fully used. Moscow, as a huge “commercial enterprise,” serves not the interests of Muscovites but those of a narrow group of people. I find that completely unacceptable, and I want to change it—for myself and for millions of city residents like me. Perhaps my only difference is that I feel I have the strength to lead these changes, and I am ready to take responsibility for the result. But I understand that the changes I am talking about are impossible without dismantling the system built by Putin and United Russia—namely, the irremovability, opacity, lack of accountability, and impunity of power at all levels. I will change this system: power must be replaceable, transparent, accountable, and, in cases of abuse, punishable. I will change it by peaceful, not revolutionary, but civilized means. Only in this way can we create a “system for citizens,” not for clans, and a city economy oriented toward the public good. My program does not distinguish between people by religion or nationality, but the slogan of my campaign—“do not lie, do not steal”—is in fact a set of Christian commandments. The current authorities, meanwhile, have made the trampling of those commandments the basis of their policy: they lie and they steal, relying on corruption, falsehood, and falsification. — In your view, what place does the concept of “conscience” have in the work of a mayor? In the Russian tradition, unlike the European one, there has been no social contract between the authorities and the population, between master and dependent, between businessman and worker. That is why in Russia conscience often occupies the place that in Europe is occupied by justice and relationships based on contract and law. Of course, we should strive to expand the realm of law and the realm of justice, so that the personal qualities of a superior matter less and less, but there are always moments when much depends on an individual decision. So even with a general striving for justice that does not depend on personal qualities, there are always moments not regulated by law, when personal decisions have to be made. And at those moments, those in power ask their conscience what to do. In our country, besides the clergy and the highest authorities, the courts have traditionally been bearers of conscience, because a judge’s decision determines a person’s fate. A judge without conscience easily yields to pressure, becomes corrupt, and hands down shameless verdicts. So if we want conscience to prevail in Russia, we must change the courts. That is not within a mayor’s competence, which is precisely why one of the slogans of my campaign is: “Change Russia—start with Moscow.”