Alexei Navalny’s meeting with voters in Moscow’s Krylatskoye district. Part 2
Text version
0:00
We can resolve this contradiction.
0:02
There is indeed a slight contradiction.
0:04
I agree. But we did resolve it once before,
0:07
didn't we? I was jailed once already.
0:10
I was. And yet here I am, standing before you.
0:13
I stand here at every rally, and when
0:15
people ask me about it, the first thing
0:17
I say is thank you, my dear friends,
0:19
to all of you who came together and helped secure my release.
0:22
I was released solely thanks
0:24
to you. And I know for certain that if
0:28
I am elected in these elections, which
0:31
are already clearly not fair, under
0:34
all these conditions, in conditions where
0:37
they refuse to debate, where
0:39
some migrant climbers are cutting our banners off balconies,
0:41
and so on, and so
0:43
forth, most importantly, I will rely
0:46
on the support of Muscovites. If behind me
0:48
there stand hundreds, thousands, millions
0:50
of people, if you stand behind me,
0:53
Putin will not see me where he wants
0:55
to see me. But all of us may well
0:57
see him, and the Rotenbergs, and Timchenko,
0:59
exactly where they belong.
1:03
Another question, please.
1:05
Fairy-tale, fairy-tale.
1:21
Good question. You say that
1:22
we should make the city convenient and comfortable for
1:25
Muscovites, but the sun is shining right
1:26
in our eyes, while you're standing comfortably. If
1:29
you take a look at how tanned
1:31
I am, I assure you, I have spoken
1:34
facing the sun, from the side, from the left, and so
1:36
on. Unfortunately, not now,
1:38
nor when I become mayor of Moscow, will I be able
1:40
to control the movement of the sun. You have one square.
1:42
It is what it is,
1:44
and we'll just have to put up with that.
1:46
Question, please.
1:57
Soon it will be 7 rubles
1:59
for every square meter for major building repairs.
2:01
How do I feel about that? I don't know
2:02
where you got those figures. The numbers are completely different.
2:06
When I was speaking on Svoboda Street,
2:08
a man came up to me. At every rally,
2:10
someone comes up with a folder full of papers like this.
2:12
He brought this folder of papers,
2:14
and started showing me photographs
2:16
of a ruined entrance hall. I said to him:
2:18
"Right, I see, this is a story about how they didn't
2:20
carry out repairs in your building entrance." He
2:22
said, "No, no, no." This is a story about
2:24
how they did carry out repairs in my building entrance.
2:26
They wrote off 1 million rubles on his entrance.
2:29
He showed me the completion certificate for the work. And it
2:31
was just as ruined. They simply did nothing
2:33
for us. I already gave you an example here,
2:35
in Mozhaysky District, where the price was inflated
2:39
fortyfold. Right now, major repairs in
2:42
Moscow.
2:43
Hello.
2:44
Do you know that we are supposed to pay for major repairs
2:45
out of our own pockets? Right? The city
2:47
subsidizes repairs on one condition:
2:50
if we collect 5% of the cost. Has anyone
2:53
ever tried to do that?
2:55
Yes. It's impossible. This is simply a kind of deception
2:59
that is obvious to everyone as well. The rules
3:01
are set up in such a way that the residents of a building,
3:04
for example a large one like this,
3:05
[clears throat] could never, under
3:07
the rules, even if they wanted
3:09
to chip in and raise 5%, they would not be able
3:11
to do it. And they will go to the district administration
3:13
and say, "We want major repairs." And in response
3:15
they will be told with a smile, "Well, go ahead,
3:17
fill out everything properly, collect 5%,
3:19
and we'll do the repairs." This is a deception that
3:22
we must put an end to. In the Moscow city budget
3:25
there is money for carrying out
3:27
major repairs on residential buildings, if prices are not inflated
3:30
fortyfold, if they stop doing the things
3:33
I was talking about. I already gave here
3:35
the example of the amount we pay
3:36
for housing maintenance: 25
3:39
rubles. We are already paying enormous sums.
3:41
The money exists. And in our platform we
3:43
state this absolutely clearly. The city
3:45
must pay for major repairs itself.
3:47
And there is no need to mislead Muscovites with this
3:50
5% nonsense. Next question.
3:52
Yes. What will you do about fraud
3:55
in the upcoming elections? How will you
3:56
fight it?
3:57
What will I do about fraud in
3:59
the upcoming elections? And how will I
4:00
fight it? And what will you do about
4:02
fraud in the upcoming elections?
4:04
How will you fight it?
4:05
I will monitor it.
4:07
You will monitor it?
4:08
Well, yes. Through the camera.
4:09
And I will monitor it too. But it has to be not through
4:11
a camera, but in person. Do you understand? Every
4:14
vote we receive
4:17
comes, generally speaking, through hard
4:18
work. Not that I'm complaining, but it is
4:21
not easy work. It is my job, and it is
4:23
the responsibility of any candidate to go to
4:24
meetings like this. But it is not the easiest
4:26
thing in the world. The people who
4:28
help me and hand out these leaflets
4:33
near every campaign stand like this, near
4:35
the metro, not one of them gets paid,
4:37
not a kopek. They are there not because they
4:39
love me, but because they love themselves, their families, and
4:41
want a normal future.
4:44
It is hard, serious work to win
4:46
every single vote. And of course, every vote
4:48
we will defend to the very end. We have already
4:50
appointed 2,500 commission members with
4:53
full voting rights. We intend
4:56
to mobilize thousands of observers, no
4:58
fewer than 14,000 people. And here, without you,
5:01
Of course, we can't do without it.
5:03
It's important to us
5:06
that everyone join in this work.
5:08
How many people live in your district?
5:11
9,000.
5:12
And who falsifies the elections in your
5:13
district?
5:15
Three women, teachers. Just three women
5:18
in the district administration rewrite
5:20
the final tally sheet, and 100,000 people
5:23
vote, and three ladies just take it and
5:25
rewrite it. Is that normal?
5:27
No, it's not normal. And it happens
5:28
solely because of our
5:30
passivity, because we put up with
5:31
it. In this election, we will have 10
5:34
observers at every polling station and 10
5:36
people near each station as
5:38
backup. And we will not simply hand over
5:40
our votes. And we will not simply hand over
5:43
your votes either. Please, your question.
5:48
I'll repeat it for everyone.
6:21
Thank you very much. An unusual, unusual
6:22
question from a member of the clergy about
6:26
black realtors (fraudulent property scammers), but the issue
6:28
is very relevant. Black realtors
6:30
are thriving, people are being stripped of their apartments, and
6:32
so on and so forth. Tell me,
6:33
please, after all, we all live in
6:35
apartments. We understand how the
6:37
process works: utility accounts, residence registration,
6:40
inheritance, and so on. Can
6:43
black realtors exist without direct
6:46
help from the district authorities?
6:47
No.
6:48
No?
6:48
Can black realtors exist
6:50
without direct help from notaries?
6:52
They cannot.
6:54
Can black realtors exist
6:56
without direct help from local police officers,
6:58
who process fake documents, the deceased, and so
7:00
on? This is just an ordinary mafia
7:04
group. And, as with any mafia, it
7:07
must be fought in one way. Fight
7:09
it, finally. Simply identify these people
7:12
and put them in prison. That's all. This needs
7:16
to be done, and we will do it. It's just that
7:18
right now the authorities turn a blind eye
7:20
to all of it.
7:21
Let me, excuse me, perhaps
7:24
I'm taking a long time to answer the question. I'll simply
7:26
give you another example. It is
7:28
obvious to everyone. I bring it up at every
7:29
rally. It simply shows, well,
7:32
just how much corruption really is
7:34
the backbone of the state. Tell me,
7:36
please, what is now
7:38
the main corruption case in Russia,
7:41
besides the Kirovles case?
7:43
Oboronservis.
7:44
Oboronservis. Yes.
7:45
Remind me, please, my friends, is
7:47
Serdyukov in prison,
7:48
no.
7:49
No.
7:49
Has he even been charged?
7:50
No.
7:51
More than that, we know that Serdyukov
7:53
gets around in a Mercedes with a flashing beacon,
7:55
still assigned by the Ministry
7:57
of Defense. And is his girlfriend Vasilyeva in prison?
8:00
No.
8:01
Well, she's sitting at home in a thirteen-room
8:03
apartment. She gets 3 hours a day.
8:06
Exactly. She goes for walks, and she's
8:07
photographed in jewelry stores during
8:10
these walks of hers. Let me add,
8:12
as a lawyer, in case anyone doesn't know, that her
8:15
house arrest is a restriction of
8:17
freedom that will later count toward her sentence at one day
8:19
for two. And if later the court sentences her to 2
8:23
years, she will be released immediately,
8:25
because she will have, so to speak, already served her time,
8:27
already suffered, and so on. Is what I've just
8:29
told you news to you?
8:31
No.
8:33
Well, for most people, no. And I am sure that
8:35
if we conducted, for example, an opinion poll, we
8:38
would see that 99%
8:40
of the country's population is simply furious
8:42
about this. Truly
8:43
furious. But this is happening
8:46
completely openly, because this is
8:48
an important principle and a signal that
8:50
the authorities send to all officials and all
8:53
residents. This is how we run
8:55
the state. You can be
8:58
an incompetent fool, a former
9:00
director of a furniture store,
9:02
who has wrecked half the army and stolen from it. You
9:05
can steal, loot, and skim, but
9:07
if you keep quiet and pay your cut, then
9:10
you'll be just fine. That is why any
9:13
mafia, from black realtors
9:15
to Oboronservis, exists because
9:18
the state protects it, because the state
9:20
does not fight it. I want to become
9:22
the mayor who finally starts fighting the Mafia
9:24
for real.
9:26
Please, the next question. [applause]
9:31
polyclinics, so that they would compete
9:34
with each other, like in a market, and accordingly,
9:35
the inefficient ones would go bankrupt, and so on. Are you
9:38
aware that a similar policy has already
9:41
been carried out in education and has, in
9:43
fact, directly
9:46
education no,
9:49
right?
9:51
Excuse me, what is your name?
9:53
Igor, have you read my platform? You
9:55
are saying that my platform
9:56
calls for polyclinics to go bankrupt.
9:58
Well, listen, look, what I propose is this:
10:02
there should be transparent performance indicators for every
10:04
outpatient clinic. You know, you live in this
10:06
district.
10:07
Your clinic belongs to a clinic of
10:09
what level? Do you know?
10:11
Your clinic belongs to the so-called
10:13
second-tier clinics.
10:15
And people from your
10:17
district, and from the Dorogomilovo district,
10:19
which is exactly what happens.
10:19
And so they merge clinics,
10:21
consolidate them, split them up again, reorganize them by
10:24
different types of care. Right now I see no point
10:27
in any of this. I think it is
10:29
nonsense, just as I think what you said
10:32
about schools is nonsense, because for me this is not
10:34
some abstract issue. My daughter
10:36
goes to a school that is being merged with
10:39
another school, and on top of that they are attaching
10:41
a kindergarten to the whole thing. And no one at all understands
10:43
what kind of monster this is going to become. My
10:46
wife is on the parents’ committee, and no one explains it to her
10:48
either. And no one explains it to local deputies
10:50
either,
10:52
while colossal amounts of money are being allocated
10:54
both to healthcare and to
10:55
education. Just out of curiosity,
10:58
does anyone here know how much a school principal in Moscow
11:00
earns?
11:01
No.
11:02
No?
11:02
50.
11:04
70?
11:05
200, I think.
11:06
100.
11:06
Around 200.
11:07
Anyone higher?
11:08
200.
11:09
A school principal in Moscow earns from 150,000 to 300,000 rubles a month (roughly $1,600–$3,200).
11:12
That’s what a school principal in Moscow makes.
11:14
Well, that’s a lot.
11:15
If they work that well, then
11:17
I don’t mind them earning it. The main thing is
11:19
that we get good
11:22
education for our children in return,
11:23
reliably strong results on the Unified State Exam (Russia’s national school-leaving exam) and
11:25
so on. Are we getting that? No. That is why
11:28
my program specifically provides that
11:30
all decisions about moving clinics
11:33
from one category to another, about
11:35
consolidations, and about changes to schools
11:37
must be made at the school level by
11:39
parents’ committees, local
11:42
residents, and local deputies. And
11:44
Sobyanin sitting at 13 Tverskaya (Moscow City Hall) cannot simply
11:46
draw a circle on a map, you know, and
11:48
say, “We’ll merge everything here.”
11:50
That’s nonsense. And if you believe that
11:52
a clinic should operate as a
11:54
first-tier clinic with access
11:56
for all local residents, then it should
11:57
remain that way. That is my
11:59
program. Any more questions? Please.
12:03
Is the price of public transport fair?
12:09
Is the current price for the Moscow
12:12
metro reasonable? What do you think?
12:14
Yes, it seems fine. Sort of.
12:16
Some people think it’s reasonable, some
12:18
think it isn’t. Can we
12:20
see the calculation behind it, or
12:22
the price of the Moscow metro? Where does it
12:23
even come from?
12:24
No, we can’t.
12:25
And here’s something related, a question about
12:28
whether it’s reasonable. Tell me,
12:30
please, my dear Muscovites, who is
12:32
currently the main contractor for
12:34
building the Moscow metro?
12:36
Kazan Metrostroy.
12:37
No, there are many companies involved.
12:38
Well, the specific person behind it
12:40
all. Timchenko, the very same guy I spent years in court with,
12:43
the main seller of Russian oil, Putin’s
12:45
friend, a citizen of Finland,
12:48
who gave up Russian citizenship,
12:50
and lives in Switzerland,
12:52
having become a billionaire from selling
12:55
Russian oil. And now
12:57
he is building our Moscow metro. And
13:00
everyone—our metro builders and all
13:02
foreign experts—say that he is
13:04
building it at twice the cost. For the same
13:07
money, we could build twice as much
13:08
metro. So any fare on the Moscow metro
13:12
right now is, in
13:14
principle, unreasonable—completely unreasonable.
13:16
It’s just pulled out of thin air. There are
13:18
so many obviously
13:21
corrupt elements
13:22
built into the metro’s costs that
13:24
it’s hard even to discuss it. I
13:26
want to become the kind of mayor who makes sure
13:28
that roads in Moscow are built not by
13:31
the Rotenbergs,
13:32
but by actual road builders; who makes sure that the metro in Moscow is built by
13:36
people who actually know how to build it.
13:38
By metro builders—our own and foreign ones.
13:40
The foreign ones may even build it more cheaply; they are not
13:42
Timchenkos. I want to become mayor so that
13:46
our money works for us.
13:48
My friends, this is my second meeting today. I
13:50
still have three more like this today. I
13:51
am very grateful that you came and
13:53
stuck it out in this blazing sun. Thank you
13:56
very much. I would really like to rely on you,
13:58
to have your support. It is very important to me
14:00
that you talk
14:02
to your friends and acquaintances, persuade them,
14:05
help us, bring people with you, and come yourselves
14:07
on the eighth. We will definitely win
14:09
and prevail. Thank you.