Alexei Navalny’s meeting with voters in Moscow’s Oktyabrskoye Pole district. Part 1

Yes, but let's just not

block those who are still

sitting down, so they can see.

I am very grateful that you came.

I’m very glad that people come to these

meetings. I hold a lot of them. I hold

three such meetings every weekday and

five such meetings every weekend.

People come, and by doing so they confirm that

our campaign team was right when we said

that this is the candidate’s main task.

A candidate’s job is to come and meet

with people. Maybe some think

that there’s no need to go around courtyards and

meet in groups of 80 people, and that

all you need to do is use television to

brainwash people. But I am absolutely

convinced that the most important duty

of a candidate who wants to gain

power is this: come and talk to

people. If you want power, then

go to those people. No one but them will

really help you.

I’d like to begin by

briefly telling you about myself, and then I’ll

be very happy to answer any

questions you have.

My name is Alexei Navalny.

Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny.

I am 37 years old. For the past 17 years I have lived in

the Maryino district with my wife. We now live

as a family of four: me, my wife, and our two children. In

that sense, we are a completely ordinary

Moscow family. My son is 11 years old, and

he goes to the local school. My daughter is 5

years old, and she goes to an ordinary local kindergarten.

By profession, I am a lawyer. I have two

higher education degrees. I graduated from

the law faculty of the Peoples’ Friendship University

and also graduated from the Financial

Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation.

I come from a military family, and throughout my childhood

I moved around various small military

towns from one place to another until

I moved to Moscow. And my parents still

live in one of the military towns outside Moscow.

If you’ve heard anything about my

activities over the past few years,

then you’ve probably heard of me

as that controversial minority

shareholder. Navalny sues

Gazprom, Navalny sues

Rosneft, Navalny demands that

Yakunin be held accountable. Navalny

wants to jail this one, Navalny wants

to jail that one. Maybe you’ve heard

that we created our Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF),

which works on

monitoring public procurement. We challenged,

successfully challenged, and got canceled

corrupt tenders worth hundreds of, probably,

millions of rubles. And the exact figure, if

you count all the procurements, is 59 billion

rubles. And I’m very often asked: “Why

do you do all this?” Friends, could I ask this

section over here to move a little?”

Because I can see that over there, there are rows of people

sitting and they can’t see anything. There, that way

it’ll be more convenient for everyone. Thank you very much.

And I’m very often asked: “Why

do you do all this, and why are you always

going after them?” Well, everyone understands that

there is corruption everywhere, everyone steals, but you’re the only one

who keeps going around filing complaints against everyone with the

prosecutor’s office. The prosecutor’s office refuses, and then

you sue the prosecutor’s office. And it’s this endless

hunt for all sorts of

corrupt officials. What, do you need it more than anyone else?

Did someone personally steal something from you

or what?”

So I’d like to begin our meeting by

answering exactly that question

so that all of you understand why

I keep going after all these Gazproms,

Rosnefts, and government officials.

If I can explain that to you, then you’ll probably

also understand why I ended up here, on this stage

in the first place.

I truly believe that

they stole from me personally. I simply

calculated everything in terms of myself and my

family.

And it seems to me that if you now

do the math with me,

everything will become clear. Look,

Russia is the number one seller of oil, gas, and

basic processed metals. That makes up 80% of our

economy. Unfortunately, for the most part

we do little else. We sell

raw materials.

Over the past 15 years, from selling raw materials

Russia has received $3 trillion. During

these Putin years, that’s exactly the $3 trillion

we received. Is that a lot or

a little?

A lot.

Quite a lot.

Quite a lot. It’s actually hard even to say

whether that’s a lot or a little, because

the amount is enormous. But it’s also

hard for an individual person to grasp. I can’t

grasp it either. I can’t imagine

what $3 trillion really means. But there is another

figure I can imagine very clearly.

If I take those $3 trillion

and divide them among every citizen

of the Russian Federation, then we find out

that for each and every one of us, from

infants to hundred-year-old seniors,

the share comes to 640,000 rubles. That is the share

each of us has in the oil wealth

that was extracted and sold: 640,000 rubles.

And I took a calculator and worked out that

for my family of four

that comes to 2.5 million rubles.

And I go after Gazprom, Rosneft, and

the Russian government because I want

an answer to the question: where are my 2.5

million rubles

Well, yes, you can't collect them in cash at a teller's window

in cash. You can't just come in and

say: "Give me my share of the

oil and gas in cash right now."

You can't do that. But then I at least want to understand

where that money was spent. It was supposed to be

spent for the benefit of me and my family, and

for the benefit of you and your families. If we

calculate 640,000 rubles for each person, the total

will be enormous.

There is no answer. I can see people of the older

generation sitting here. You remember

how in Soviet times, in the era of

Brezhnev, the Soviet Union also received

a lot of money from selling oil and gas.

A huge amount of money—less than

now, but still a lot. Where

those Brezhnev-era

petrodollars were spent, we know. We can

argue about whether they were spent wisely or

not, but we can definitely

see the results. We can just stand up,

look around, and we'll see the remnants

of those Brezhnev-era petrodollars.

Entire residential districts were built with that

money, where apartments, by the way,

were given out free of charge. There were built

huge factories,

giant plants were built across the

country, Soviet science was created. And

these research institutes (NII, Soviet scientific research institutes), which are now

being rented out, are located all across

Moscow and throughout the country.

Railways, ordinary roads.

The army. We maintained an enormous

army, supported it, built it, armed it.

We subsidized the countries of the socialist

bloc around the world—half of Africa,

half of Asia, half of Latin

America. We know where that money

went.

But where have Putin's petrodollars gone,

the ones that belong to us? A question for everyone

gathered here. Who knows—who can

name for me even one major

industrial enterprise built in

Russia over the last 15 years?

I ask this question at every meeting.

Every single one. This is already my thirty-

fourth meeting like this with voters.

And at not a single meeting has anyone

named one for me. Well, because no such

enterprise exists.

I want to see where the railways are,

built with Putin's money—or rather,

with our money, received during Putin's

time in office.

I know the statistics showing that Russia

builds as much railway in a year

as China builds in a week. Even though

China has neither oil nor gas.

Show me my—our—modern

space industry. All I see is

a rocket that takes off and then

crashes. Show me the science.

The science that we are funding with those 3

trillion dollars we received.

There is nothing. All I see is the reform of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN),

whose purpose seems to be to take away from those

elderly academicians their real estate.

Where is the infrastructure, where is the healthcare,

where is the education that belongs to me, to my

children, and to you. That is why I believe that I was

personally robbed by all these people. I mean,

I can see this list of billionaires in Russia.

I see the statistics: in 2000, do you know

how many officially recognized dollar

billionaires there were in Russia? Six. And now

do you know how many there are? 121.

The main record that Russia has set

is the rate of growth in the number of dollar

billionaires.

The main record Russia is setting

is that all the houses in London

worth more than a million pounds

are being bought by Russian officials. Am I supposed to

be proud of that? No. I believe that

I was personally robbed. It's as if

I were riding on a trolleybus and had

my 640,000 rubles—my share of the oil

rent—in my pocket, and someone stuck a hand into my pocket and

pulled it out. They took it from my family, and from you, and from all of

you as well. That is why I will never

leave Gazprom alone, nor

Rosneft, nor Transneft, nor this whole

other group of people

that simply took the 3 trillion dollars received

from the sale of our natural resources

for themselves. And here, at this

point, I am addressing you now as

a candidate for mayor of Moscow who wants

to earn your support. I want to earn

your support. I want you to vote

for me.

I want you to tell others about

me. I came here to persuade you.

I am telling you that I am standing here

first and foremost because I am the most

ordinary, simple Muscovite, living

in an ordinary building, the life of an ordinary

Moscow family. And all the problems I am

talking about here are not even problems that

you experience—they are my problems.

These are my problems. I want to solve the problems

my family has faced.

I am talking to you here about housing and utilities services. Not

because I know that this issue

worries you. It worries

me. For my apartment in a

panel apartment block, I get a bill for 9,500

rubles. It's outrageous. And I

understand that I am not receiving services worth

that amount. I understand that the tariff

keeps rising. I want to become the mayor who

will finally conduct an audit of housing and utilities tariffs,

so that we can finally understand why we

are paying so much. Why does Mosvodokanal

the state-owned company made

a profit of 3 billion rubles in 2011,

and in 2012 they still

raised the water tariff? They operate at a

net profit. Our company operates

with a net profit of 3 billion, and the tariff still

keeps going up. I want to conduct an audit,

so that everyone can see it—you can see it, and I can

see it too.

The things that happen

when tariffs are set are astonishing. Did you know,

for example, that when last year you

paid for electricity and heating in your

home, you were also paying for sponsorship support to

United Russia (the ruling political party) in the amount of 200 million rubles. Mosenergo

transferred them a donation of 200 million

rubles, building it into the tariff.

They justify it, they come to City Hall,

and say: "Here are our urgent expenses,

without which we cannot survive."

And there is a line item there: "Support for United Russia

200 million rubles."

I want to become the mayor who will carry out

an audit of this tariff and expose,

once and for all, all these nonexistent

investment components, these construction projects

that exist only on paper, which they include there, but in

reality no one ever carries out. I do not want

to pay for that. I am sure you do not

want to pay for it either. The example I

give at every rally is about the head of the district administration in my area,

from Maryino. You may have

seen how a month ago he was removed from

office. He was removed because his

wife—you probably saw it on television—while in

an SUV, ran into pedestrians.

The pedestrians filmed the whole thing. There was

a scandal, and the district head was fired. That SUV,

remember? It was a Range Rover with

the license plate 999.

And this man, the district head,

has spent his whole life in municipal service. He

was head of the district administration in Nekrasovka,

then in Lyublino, then in my

district, Maryino. His whole life in

municipal service. He has a decent

salary, but by his official level of

income, he should, generally speaking, be worse off than

me. But he openly lives the life

of a dollar millionaire, without any

embarrassment before me, or all the residents

of the district, or anyone. And I do not want to pay for

through my 9,500-ruble utility bill his

millionaire lifestyle. That is why I want to become

the mayor who will put a stop to all this. I came here

to your district and climbed onto this

stage.

Because, just like you, I go to

an ordinary city clinic. And my

wife goes to an ordinary city

clinic

or to a children's clinic when she

takes the children. And just like you, I can be

shown a TVC (Moscow city television channel) report a million times,

with the triumphant, beaming Sergei

Semyonovich Sobyanin telling us that we have

this wonderful electronic appointment system.

Come to this electronic registration desk and

you will get to see a doctor right away. Well, that is

nonsense. I have gone to an ordinary clinic, I do not

live on Rublyovka (an elite, wealthy area outside Moscow). You are all nodding

your heads, because everyone knows this. We, we

go to ordinary clinics,

but we cannot get in to see a doctor. And do you know

by how much

more funding for healthcare any

resident of Moscow receives compared with

any other Russian? By how much more

is allocated to a Muscovite, by what percentage more

is allocated to a Muscovite than to any

other person? Who knows?

By 70.

By 70%? Any other ideas?

Four times as much. Four times

as much is allocated for every person sitting

here as for any other

citizen of Russia. For every person,

everyone standing here, and every Muscovite,

the amount allocated for outpatient clinic

care

is 20,000 rubles a year. So for my family

of four, that is 80,000 rubles.

That is a huge amount of money. And I am simply

curious. Please raise your hands,

those of you who went to your local

clinic in the past year.

I see. Some of you did. And who did not go to your

local clinic? Aha. Let me tell you,

my friends, 20,000 rubles was also written off for each of you

as well.

I want to become the mayor who will direct these enormous

funds that are already being allocated toward making sure

that, at long last, general practitioners,

internists, and the doctors

Muscovites need in 90% of cases are actually hired.

Just tell me this: is it easy to get an

ultrasound in an ordinary clinic?

You all tell me: "No, go

to any metro station, and there is

one of Sobyanin's little campaign booths there, and under

Sobyanin's achievements, the first thing listed

is: 'Bought 1,200 ultrasound machines

for Muscovites.' It gives the impression that he personally went out

and bought us 1,200 ultrasound machines. But I

know that it is impossible to get an ultrasound. We

are all forced to go to private, paid

ultrasound providers, because getting one at a clinic

is extremely difficult.

I want to become the mayor who will make sure that the enormous

amounts of money allocated for equipment

are not spent on buying

that equipment at twice the price, but instead

on making it possible

to actually get an ultrasound. Because sometimes an ultrasound is needed by

my wife, my children, and me.

And apparently, as I get older, I will need ultrasounds more often,

like any other

person. This is about caring for a normal life.

I am standing here before you because

the issue of migration does not simply

concern me,

it has become part of my life. Because

when I was preparing for this meeting with you, I

looked at what people here are writing about

migration issues, all these outcries. Here you have

that former state farm right here,

what is it called?

Teplichny

Teplich,

where an illegal migrant camp has been located for two years

of migrants,

and I looked into its history carefully

several times orders were issued

stating that it had to be

shut down, that all of it was illegal,

and yet it is still there.

Funny thing, right? At the Matveyevsky

market, what happened? Dagestanis

beat up a police officer. In response,

the Moscow government created

a concentration camp where 200

Vietnamese people are being held.

What is that supposed to be? Please, go to

that Teplichny place. I invite Sobyanin as well,

and everyone else to my district, Maryino,

to take a walk in my Maryinsky Park after

9:00 p.m. Then he will understand why

the women living in my building are afraid

to go outside in the evening.

And then he will learn that for me this

crime statistics are not just numbers

on a sheet of paper. I know because I personally know

several people, several women, from whom

these migrants snatched handbags.

And I know it very well.

Why do migrants come here? I want

to become mayor because I know that

migrants come here not because

there are jobs here, but because people profit

off them. So let us simply

take a quick poll. Who knows how much

their district janitor earns? Who has

asked a janitor what his salary is?

10.

10

7

7

21

4, 21

10

10

And how much is he allocated for that?

15

12

Here is the interesting part. If all of us

read together the interview with

Sobyanin's deputy Biryukov, who

is precisely responsible for this area, or

simply look at the official standard, which I

have looked at. The current official

pay standard for janitors tells us

that there are no janitors in Moscow

who earn less than 30,000 rubles.

Yes, the funny thing is that any real, live

janitors we

speak to give us figures like 10, 15,

8, 4, 5. My janitor told me 18.

And this is the kind of secret all

Muscovites know: these migrants are brought here

in order to keep them virtually as slaves

30 people to a basement. Because

each of them, out of his salary,

kicks back 10,000-15,000 rubles every month.

And this is a colossal—just imagine it—

river of cash. It is hundreds

of millions of rubles that simply every

month flow like a huge, full river.

Along the route: the management company, the housing service,

the district administration, the prefecture, the police precinct,

the migration service, and so on, and so

forth. I want to become the mayor who will

change this, because I do not want

migrant-related crime and

so on. This is my problem, one that I

personally face. I do not live like Sobyanin behind

a fence on Rublyovka (an elite area outside Moscow), with reports brought

to me. No,

this is part of my life. I am standing here

before you because I follow the budget

process very

closely, I watch carefully how

money is spent in Moscow. I know the size

of the Moscow city budget. Who can

tell me what Moscow's annual budget is?

1.6—1.6 trillion rubles. Moscow's budget

is smaller only than the budgets of

New York and Shanghai. All of us sitting and

standing here must understand one

important thing: we live in one of

the richest cities in the world.

And the richest cities of Europe and America

simply cannot even come close

to comparing with Moscow in terms of

wealth. With the money we already

have right now,

Muscovites could already have good

healthcare, quality

education,

roads where traffic jams are being successfully

fought,

a small number of migrants on the streets

and all the other things that residents

of major cities around the world enjoy.

They have all of that there; they have problems too, but

they deal with them successfully. And I am standing here

before you because I have written

a program that was prepared for me by the best

specialists, based on the experience of

how other cities successfully solved

all these problems. We can solve them all,

and we have the money

to solve these problems. You know,

if I were standing here

running for mayor of Kostroma,

and all of you were residents of Kostroma, you would say to me:

"Navalny, here you are

you're running for office, and we demand that you

build us another outpatient clinic." And I would tell you

— my dear residents of Kostroma — there is no money

in our budget. You won't be getting

a clinic, and I won't make easy

promises that can't be kept. But I'm

running for mayor of Moscow. So I tell you

— my dear Muscovites — in our

budget there is more than enough money for everything.

We have everything we need to live normally in

Moscow: we have a city, we have

infrastructure, we have a very

highly educated population that

is capable of managing all of it. We have

everything. The only thing we lack is faith in ourselves. For some reason

we've simply decided that

nothing can be changed. At every

meeting, someone comes up to me,

shrugs, and says: "Well,

all of this is true. We know all this.

Everything you've said is already known.

But nothing can be changed."

But why can't it be changed? I came here

because I believe it can

be changed. But why have we accepted

that there is this system of power

that robs us, insults us,

simply despises us,

and we just say, well, fine, that's the

way things are. Show me — I don't know —

is there an army standing here guarding us? No, I

think there's maybe one police officer somewhere here

keeping watch over us, and that's all. Meanwhile, here

through your own district runs this

North-Western Chord (a major Moscow highway project), right? Yes.

Yes.

And everyone says about this whole North-Western Chord

in unison that it costs 83 billion rubles. And

all transport experts tell

us that, first, from a transport

standpoint it's fairly pointless,

and second, it costs twice as much

as it should. Its original

estimate was 30 billion rubles, and now it has risen to

83.

But we all know that in the construction of

the North-Western Chord, this one project,

enough money will be stolen to pay for

the construction of additional outpatient clinics

and schools — not just in the

North-Western District, but across

all of Moscow. We know all this, we

understand all this. We shrug and say:

"Well, nothing can be changed." That's the course of

things. But why is that the way things are? Are we

the stupidest? The most cursed,

the most pointless inhabitants of the planet,

or what? No — I'm standing here because

I believe that here is the source of power:

people choose the authorities. And mayors are

chosen by people — not the Central Election Commission,

not television, not Churov (former head of Russia's Central Election Commission). People choose.

This whole gang entrenched at the top

doesn't rule everyone through fear, but simply through

passivity. Because we

shrug our shoulders and think: "Well, nothing

can be changed." Everything can be changed. I

don't have the opportunity to appear on television.

I don't have the opportunity to plaster billboards everywhere.

But somehow you made it here.

I did let you know about my

presence. I announced it in my

program. And the persuasive, campaigning

ability of each one of you is

tremendous.

I believe that through you, through meetings like these,

I will speak with hundreds of thousands,

with millions of Muscovites. And in order to

elect the mayor of Moscow, we need 1.5 million

people. Moscow has a population of 15 million,

with 8 million voters. And in order to

elect a mayor, taking turnout into account, you need 1.5

million people. There are 1.5 million people in

Moscow who know everything and understand everything.

Each of those one and a half million could stand here

with me and say

exactly the same things.

Our task is simply to reach those

one and a half million. I am absolutely certain

that, relying on you, through you, I

will speak to hundreds of thousands. If we

cast off this stupor,

if we finally understand that on the

North-Western Chord they are stealing not just

billions, but our billions — they are depriving

us of clinics and schools, they are depriving us of

roads without traffic jams — then we can change

everything. We simply need to realize our

strength. We will realize it, without fail. And I

am absolutely certain that with your help we

will put pressure on the authorities. We will force them

to change, and we will make sure that the authorities in

Moscow are worthy of its wonderful

residents. Thank you very much. I'm ready to answer

your questions.

Please. Thank you. Thank you. I'm very

pleased. All right, you're asking that, and I'll

repeat it for everyone afterward. So, I,

well, I've been fighting this for 19 years. This

North-Western... according to all their

documents, they took my apartment away from me

illegally, and my children were minors.

Uh, so they privatized it, and they

had me thrown into a psych ward, you know. No,

Well, the question is about the housing waiting list. I

understand.

No, not about the queue, but the thing is that

I'm on list number twenty-nine.

And I went to Churov, and they told me,

"Don't eat, don't drink, save up 3

rubles at a time and buy yourself a little house outside Moscow." So

that's how it was — I went to everyone. And, uh,

Natalia Alexeevna, I understand. Natalia

Alexeevna has a question. I'll answer

now. Thank you. The question is that she

has the right to receive an apartment.

Natalia Alexeevna, there are just a lot of us here,

a lot of people. If I spend too long listening

the question, then I’ll say it. And Sobyanin sent me,

well, the president sent me, well,

a letter to Sobyanin so that he would look into it, and

Sobyanin wrote back to me: "Why don’t you go to another

city of mine and look for housing there."

Sobyanin told Natalia Alexeyevna,

when she asked for the housing she is entitled to under

the law, that she should go to

another city and look for housing there. Am I

quoting that correctly?

Yes.

Well, listen, you recently read

Sobyanin’s statement saying that we would

build wonderful towns for

pensioners beyond the Urals and in the Russian Far

East.

Well, it’s funny, yes, a funny thing, but it

simply illustrates how much they

despise everyone, if they can make

statements like that, after which they

should get zero votes, but they are not

embarrassed at all. And as for the issue

of apartments, housing allocations, and

waiting lists, which I’m asked about at

every meeting—this is actually very simple.

Tell me, can any of you

go online or to some

library, look up the list, and

see the queue? Who is first in line,

who is second, who is third? Can that be

done right now?

No,

no.

I want to become the mayor who does

one simple thing.

Publish the entire list, so there is a list

of everyone waiting, from first to last,

a list of beneficiaries, a list of

super-priority beneficiaries. And so that everyone can

see it and monitor it, because

we buy a huge amount of housing

for beneficiaries. Only somehow all these

beneficiaries turn out to be

city hall employees. Here, at a preferential

price, you know, TV host

Vladimir Solovyov bought, as a beneficiary,

an apartment for 3 million rubles (about 30,000 USD), even though it was worth

30 million rubles (about 300,000 USD). Our TV host Andrei

Malakhov received an apartment on

Kropotkinskaya. That’s how this government works:

for some reason TV presenters, as beneficiaries,

get apartments even though they have their own

money. But you, Natalia Alexeyevna,

are being told to go to another city. And I

would be told the same thing if I had

the right to receive housing. That’s what they tell

everyone. So I want to become the mayor

who simply makes this transparent.

Just let everyone see it, and then no one will be able

to shove anyone into the line. It seems like

an elementary measure, but it’s an obvious one. Yes,

just publish the waiting list—but no one

does it. And do you know why they don’t? Well,

just go, quite simply,

for example, to the city

election commission’s website and look at

the list of candidates’ assets there. You’ll see mine,

for example. I have

a 78-square-meter apartment in Maryino. You’ll see my wife’s

car, some VAZ-2108,

which I bought back in 1996

and which is still listed under my name

because I sold it by power of attorney.

It’s all there. Look into me and my

property, and then go to the section for

Sobyanin, and you’ll see that, remarkably,

Sergei Semyonovich Sobyanin’s minor daughter

owns

an apartment of 308 square meters. I’ve

never even seen an apartment like that.

Explain to me how a person

who has been in public service since 2001 could

buy an apartment in the city center on

Rochdelskaya Street measuring 308 square meters.

If he came from Tyumen, an important

official arriving from Tyumen, then he should have been

given official housing, which perhaps

he might later be able to privatize.

Not his daughter—he himself. But I think

everyone here has dealt with housing

problems. Remind me, please,

what is the housing standard per person?

How many square meters?

18.

You all said it in unison. Eighteen. So how many

family members does Sergei Semyonovich

Sobyanin have, if he got an apartment of 308

square meters? That’s why the waiting list is opaque.

Because they give apartments to themselves.

That’s all. I want to become the mayor who

does one elementary, obvious, and very

simple thing. It could be done tomorrow:

just open up the waiting list, and then it will be clear

who is actually in line and who are these dubious

daughters with these mysterious 308-square-meter apartments.

Next question.

Please,

please tell me, for a year now we’ve been going

to rallies over this chord road (major arterial highway project). And now

they’ve already started building it. You say

that a huge amount of money has already been allocated. If

you become mayor, I have two questions. Will you

be able to stop this construction?

Probably not. And one more

question related to these events.

It’s very easy to fight this

migration by shutting down all the markets. But you

understand that Moscow can’t function without

markets. Today I went to Vykhino,

to the Vykhino market, where pensioners have always

bought everything at the lowest possible prices

all this time. So if you become

mayor, what will your policy be on

this?

Question number one. Thank you very much.

Excellent question. Question number one: what

to do about the chord road? The chord road is being built. So

if you become mayor, what will you do with

The chord? Question number two. So what would you

do about migrants? We’re all

unhappy. What will we do? Let’s start with

the chord. The markets and migrants.

Well, the markets. And that’s connected to

migrants.

With the chord, as with any other

construction project. The chord is not

the be-all and end-all. It’s

just very expensive, so people cite it as

an example, right? With the chord, we all know,

30 billion rubles will be stolen. There’s the Southern Rookada, which

costs 10 billion rubles. And everyone says that

it too is twice as expensive as it should be. On the Southern

Rookada, someone will pocket 5 billion

rubles.

The mayor’s job is to make sure the biggest

construction projects are approved or not approved

only after proper calculations are done. That seems

elementary, obvious even, right.

But if you take the issue of Vedomosti (a Russian business newspaper) from the day before yesterday

and read there

Sobyanin’s interview, he is asked:

"Sergei Semyonovich, what is your greatest

achievement?" And he answers: "My

very great achievement is that in

Moscow we launched three of the most

expensive construction projects in the world."

"We’re building roads." And it was very hard for us to do that

because there is no

strategy, no plan, no calculations.

I’m not joking, go read it. I’m not twisting

his words. He literally said: "I want to be the kind of

mayor who, before spending

38 or 83 billion rubles on something, will first make

a strategy, calculations, and a plan. That’s it.

The mayor’s job is to make sure that

the contractors are normal, legitimate

construction companies. Who is our

main road construction contractor

in Moscow right now? Who knows?

Rotenberg.

Rotenberg.

Rotenberg is one of those people from Putin’s circle—his judo coach

from the Soviet era.

Back in Soviet times he was a judo coach, and now he is our

main road builder in Moscow. And who, remind me,

please,

is the main contractor for metro construction

in Moscow right now?

Timchenko.

Timchenko? You know everything without me. He lives...

Timchenko,

the very same guy I’m constantly

suing, the main trader of Russian

oil. He gave up Russia,

a Finnish citizen, he gave up

Russian citizenship. A citizen

of Finland, living in Switzerland and

through his Swiss offshore

company selling Russian oil and

becoming an official billionaire with

a huge amount of money, he is now

building the metro for us. And, amazingly,

it also costs twice as much as it

should. So my task as

mayor is to make sure construction

projects are properly justified, that first

everything is calculated, then those who want

to criticize can criticize, and we understand

what the real cost should be. Then

we hire a real, proper

contractor, not Timchenko and Rotenberg,

who win these tenders with no real

competition at all. And only then do we start

spending money. That’s all. Well, in other words, nothing complicated...