Alexei Navalny’s meeting with voters in Orenburg

We’re very glad to see all of you. You

probably know that it took quite an adventure

for us to make it here, and we’re very glad

to have made it. And now we are beginning our

meeting. First, I would like to invite onto the stage

the coordinator of our campaign headquarters in Orenburg,

Natalya Trubachyova.

Thank you. Hello, everyone.

I know many of you, and many of those present

here helped us prepare this

rally. Thank you very much. And I was

pleasantly surprised to see that in Orenburg and

the surrounding region, there are many people ready

to help one another. You know that our

lying administration did not want

Alexei Navalny to come to Orenburg. And

for three weeks we filed

notifications and practically lived in the courts. And

the authorities had to organize various

strange public events and spend

budget funds. They gave up, but we

did not. And today we are here.

Their plan was to give us not the city center, but

the outskirts, so that only a few people would come. But

look how many of us there are. This is truly

the largest political event in

the history of Orenburg.

Yes, it’s the biggest one. Look,

we may have different views, but all of us together

know that we cannot trust the current authorities.

And we want our

lives to get better. And every day at the

headquarters, we work to make our lives

better, both in our city and in our country. And I

believe that only one candidate,

only one person can help us

with this. The one who is truly ready to act, and

the one who is not afraid. I support him.

And I invite you to join

the work of our headquarters. Come to the headquarters,

which is located at 2 Chkalova Street,

entrance from Marshal Zhukov Street, and we will win.

Thank you.

Work.

Right now on stage are our volunteers,

who helped us here

organize everything, and helped today

put this meeting together. Please come,

everyone, to our headquarters at 2 Chkalova Street.

And without delaying any further, I

invite onto this stage the candidate for

President of Russia, Alexei Navalny.

Hello, Orenburg.

Hello, pearl of the Urals. Hi, everyone.

Thank you so much for coming. I was terribly

worried, because, as you know,

yesterday, well,

so were we

that’s all Governor Berg is capable of.

I believe you can do better. Two

little weirdos with horns. There it is, the army

of United Russia. Let’s applaud

the might of United Russia. They

have shown us everything they can do.

You know, well, the problem was yesterday.

By 8:00 p.m., well,

I already understood that I was not going to make it to

Orenburg. And as I understand it, you even

sent out a notice saying that I would not be coming,

unfortunately. But honestly, let me tell you,

yesterday I spent 9 or 10 hours at the police

station, and every time I saw

a police officer, I went up to him and

said: “Hurry up, I need to get to Orenburg.”

Hurry up, I need to get to Orenburg. And I think

that by the end they were already

saying to each other:

“Damn, of course we need to keep him in the

cell, but he needs to get to Orenburg.”

And I made it here to you. Tomorrow I’ll be in

Arkhangelsk. I will continue our

regional trips, because that is how

a normal presidential

candidate should behave, right?

Yes.

So many candidates have come here and

said things over the sound of horns from

United Russia. And that is exactly how it should work.

That is the only way a normal

election campaign works. Right?

Yes.

And do you know why they

didn’t want me to come? Why our

regional trips irritate them

so much? Perhaps more than anything

else? Because for many years this was

their picture of the world. They sat there in

their Kremlin, they sat in your regional administration

building, telling each other:

“Well, we’re so powerful, we’re here

forever.” Because, well, nobody

supports the opposition in the regions, because

it’s just some tiny

movement inside the Boulevard Ring (central Moscow). But we

are all across Russia; either we control everything here,

or our population is

so silent that it will put up with anything. And

the most terrible thing for them now is that they are simply

literally clutching their heads as they watch

this. They watch the rallies taking place across

the whole country, the rallies where people

are saying: “That’s it, guys, we’re sick

of all of you. We don’t want to put up with this. We don’t

want to be poor in a rich country.” This is

frightening for them, and you are scaring them.

Truly, all of you gathered right now around

the Dzerzhinsky monument

are frightening the Kremlin right now. They

are watching the live stream, biting

their elbows and nails, and they do not understand

what to do about it, because the ground

is slipping from under their feet. Because, well,

think about it yourselves. Or rather, answer me this.

It’s my first time in Orenburg. I don’t know

your political traditions. If there were

a rally here in support of United

Russia, how many people would be here?

One

one of the hosts of the rally for United Russia and,

probably the party leader.

How many people would be here at a rally in

support of Governor Berg?

Well, Berg himself would probably show up. Yes, I

am sure there would be a lot of people, but they

would come not even with sausages, like the ones being

thrown at me, but with some other

food products, because, well, it is impossible

to put up with this. I came here. I’ll tell you

honestly, plainly and directly. I am

a presidential candidate. I desperately need

your support. I want to win you over.

There are probably some

people here who still have doubts. I will answer

their questions. I’ll be glad to answer

questions. I want to persuade you so that

you leave here and win over the whole

city and the entire region.

And

here is what I want to start with:

to convince you that Russia needs

this kind of presidential candidate.

Why is one needed? I’ll tell you why

one is needed. Because I landed 40 minutes

ago. The first thing you see when

you walk into the airport terminal is this

nice big poster that says

“80 Years of Orenburg Oil.”

A question for you, the esteemed owners

of Orenburg oil: do you feel that

you live in a wealthy oil-producing region?

No.

What do you mean, no? It really is a wealthy oil-producing

region.

Well, look, I pull up

the tables, I pull up the statistics, and there

it says in black and white that your

region is the fourth-largest oil-producing

region in Russia.

And in theory, I mean, listen, in

normal life, in a normal world, that

should work like this: we close our eyes and

imagine

a wealthy region that ranks fourth in oil

production in Russia. I should open my eyes and

see people here wearing mink

coats. They should be standing around with leopard-print

collars.

They should be standing here with cigars. You know,

like how Texans are portrayed in

cartoons. Do you feel any of that?

No.

When the price of oil goes up, do you

feel it even a little?

This is why Russia needs a presidential candidate

who will finally come out and say that

this is a perverse system, that everything here

is broken and will stay broken as long as we,

the people of a rich oil-producing country, live in

poverty. This is not an exaggeration. What is

the average salary in Orenburg?

I ask this in every city. In

every single one. And I have never once heard

the correct answer. I’ve looked at the statistics.

I’ve heard 11, I’ve heard 15. What is

the average salary in your city?

15, 20, 11.

Well, there’s a police officer. Look. Tell me,

what is it? I can see, sir,

you’re clearly in charge. What is the average

salary in the city?

In charge? Damn,

they’re silent.

So, let me tell everyone. The average

salary in your city is 28,000 rubles.

That’s what it says on the administration’s website. That is

what Governor Berg officially tells us.

Listen, folks,

this is exactly why the country needs change,

because, well, do you consider that

a real salary, or a lie?

A lie. We call it a lie,

even though the official salary is still

a poverty wage

compared with the Baltic states, where nothing

is extracted.

Now,

Orenburg is called the pearl of the Urals,

and it was given that name back in the 19th century because of the enormous

amount of mineral wealth here. A great deal

is extracted here. More is extracted here

than in the Baltic states combined.

But in Estonia, the average salary converted

into rubles is 90,000 rubles. And here we are

demanding at least the officially

declared salary of 28,000, which

is three times lower. That means, well, that

we are all simply living on the edge of poverty.

What is the average salary here? And the average

pension, excuse me, what is it

here in Orenburg Region?

8, 10, 12,000 rubles.

And now you’ll say: “No, that’s not

true.” But even then, officially speaking, it is still

poverty. So why is it that all of us together,

understanding that in theory we possess all this

wealth, understanding that in theory everything

could be good for us, because

we have infrastructure,

educated people, everything needed for a prosperous

life—why are we living in poverty? This really is

poverty. 28,000 rubles—what kind of

money is that? You can’t live on that.

Because what our authorities do is

steal.

Steal,

steal.

They steal all day long, and nothing else

interests them. And this is not

an exaggeration. But for an official to

steal, that’s a whole, well,

you can imagine, operation: he builds a bridge,

and from that bridge he has to steal 30%

of the cost. He can’t do anything else

anymore. After all, he has to

make arrangements with other officials,

agree on the kickback, register it

an offshore company so that we could move there,

relocate, strike deals with FSB officers (Russia’s security service) and

the police,

make arrangements with the governor or the prime

minister. That’s their job.

They really do spend eight hours a day, when they come

to work, engaged in corruption.

That’s why everything has fallen apart.

And that’s why all we see is the flip

side of all this: the number of

billionaires in Russia keeps rising in every

ranking. Quality-of-life rankings,

healthcare rankings, education

rankings.

We’re falling. And there is only one ranking

that is going up: the number of billionaires

in Russia. But are you and I part

of that process?

No.

Unfortunately, no. All right, billionaires aside, I

think last week, or maybe even this

week, there was an official report saying that in terms of

the growth rate in dollar millionaires,

Russia is outpacing every country in the world.

Raise your hands if you made it into that

ranking.

If you did, please make a donation,

please, to support our election

campaign. And that’s exactly why

a presidential candidate is needed—someone who will

actually come out and say

these simple words: yes, Russia’s national

wealth is not being distributed

fairly.

That is wrong.

Corruption must be fought, and it must be fought

in practical terms. And when we see

Russia’s deputy prime minister

Shuvalov transporting his dogs on a private

jet,

why are you laughing? This is

an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF).

This is not an exaggeration. It sounds like

an absurd joke. A completely absurd joke. But in

reality, the dogs were flown to a show on a

private jet.

And Putin, Medvedev, and all the rest of them

tell us: “Well, this doesn’t, doesn’t warrant

an investigation, this is not

corruption. But you and I are normal

people.” And 99%

of people in Russia look at this and all

say: “How much longer are we supposed to

put up with this? It doesn’t matter who they support, whether they’re for

me or against me—everyone in Russia wants

a fight against corruption, and they want a fight against

specific corrupt officials. And as a

candidate, I ask the question: “Do you want

me, if I become president, to send all

these people to the dock?” Yes.

Do you want a concrete fight against

corruption?

We have systemic measures. Yes, of course,

there are systemic measures. Draft laws,

we’ve written it all up. But there is no such thing as

an abstract fight. Here they are,

specific, very specific crooks. At every press conference, sitting right next to

Putin,

is Peskov—my mustachioed friend.

How many investigations can you possibly do about

him? Honestly, we’re already

tired of it. We’ve already covered the yacht that he

rented for €80,000 a week,

and his houses, and the man’s watch worth

half a million dollars. How can this

possibly happen? And there he sits with his mustache,

looking into the camera and saying: “Yes, in Russia

there is a fight against corruption.” The fight against

corruption will begin when you, Peskov,

end up in the dock. I will send him

there. Does Orenburg need a candidate like

that? Yes,

I will be that candidate. I will do it.

Russia needs a candidate, a politician,

a president—whoever it may be—who will,

finally bring these regional authorities

to their senses. Someone who, at a meeting

of the State Council (a top Russian government advisory body), will call on your

governor, Berg, and say:

“Tell me, dear Berg,

why exactly did you raise the fare for маршрутки (shared minibuses) in

the city? What is it now? 22 rubles. Yes,

It was 20 not long ago.

So why raise it? Tell us, explain,

please. And of course he’ll say: “We

raised the prices because, well, the city has no money,

so we have to take money from the public

in order to solve the most urgent

and pressing

problems of Orenburg Region.”

And then a normal president,

a normal politician, a normal parliament

would say to him: “Dear Governor Berg, why the hell

did you buy yourself a Lexus for 5

million rubles? Why did you do that if you’re

collecting 2 rubles from each person? Why did you

do it? Who allowed you to

do that? Why did your regional

parliament allow it? How did you put that into

the budget?” But really,

this is not an exaggeration, folks. In no

country in the world, not even the richest one,

not even the richest

regional officials buy themselves

Lexus cars for 5 million rubles. Just look

at the vehicle fleet. I looked at the procurement records. There are

several dozen such cars that they

bought. What for?

Is that somehow normal, or is it

immoral?

That is why I am running in this election:

to say these things out loud. I’m not saying anything

new. You talk about this yourselves

around the kitchen table, right? You say:

“They’ve completely lost it, they’re bloated with excess, they’ve gone

mad.”

But everyone stays silent. You don’t see this on television.

No one discusses it in parliament. And

It sort of turns out, well, that this is just how it

is supposed to be. We’ve gotten used to it. But I don’t

want to get used to it.

I don’t want to get used to it. I’m 41 years old, and

I’ve spent almost half my life under

this government. I can see that it is no longer capable of

changing anything for the better. This

government is associated only with decline. Sadly,

that’s the truth. Raise your hands, those of you who are under

thirty here

there are a lot of you.

And you have spent most of your lives

under Putin, living under this

regime. Tell me, please, do you

feel that you have any prospects at all?

No.

So when it comes to prospects, do you

feel that maybe, perhaps,

the government, or your Berg (likely referring to Governor Yury Berg), or whoever else

will do something tomorrow, and you

will live a little better?

No.

And this is confirmed by hard

numbers, because in recent years

10% of the region’s population has left. What

on earth is going on?

It’s a wealthy oil-producing region. And yet

people are leaving, scattering, because

you can’t earn a decent living here, because

there are no prospects. What is your best

university here, in Orenburg

Region?

Yura,

I see there are different opinions. Well, never mind,

it doesn’t matter which one exactly, the main thing is don’t

start fighting. Wait, tell me,

please, what salary, if

luck smiles on you there, since you have a lot of

Gazprom here, and you get into some

top position, what salary could you

earn? 30,000

30,000

30,000, 30,000

25,000

50,000–60,000

25,000

40,000, 30,000

50,000

in the future

50,000

it’s impossible to get hired

it’s impossible to get hired

exactly

Guys, what we’re discussing, what we’re

joking about right now, is a description of

a national catastrophe, because it

means that young people who have received

a good education can get

a job paying 50,000 rubles. Less than the average wage in

a developed country—or even a not very developed

country. That’s an average salary. What

is 50,000, really? Especially in an oil-producing

region. We portray it as some kind of, well,

ideal. Like, if I’m lucky, if I get lucky and I

make 50,000, then that salary

still won’t let you buy an apartment,

you won’t be able to support your family properly,

you can’t. Have two children and your

salary is gone; you’re still

running around, borrowing money,

taking out some consumer loan

to buy a washing machine. Is that really

the future of a great country?

No,

no,

That’s what I’m saying: no. And obviously it’s no. But

every year they keep telling us that

we should hang on a little longer, guys. Let’s

tighten our belts. Guys, what are you doing in

Orenburg here? Sure, go ahead, tighten your belts

even more. Rotenberg (a wealthy businessman close to Putin) doesn’t have enough money yet.

Tighten your belts, put up with it.

We only have 118 billionaires.

We need to get that up to 150 billionaires.

Just endure a little longer. Come on, endure it.

One of Putin’s sons-in-law has already become

a dollar billionaire. Endure a little

longer. We still need to make another son-in-law

a billionaire. Are you ready to put up with that?

No.

I’m not ready to put up with it. I have only one

life.

I have two children. They study here. And I

hope they will stay in Russia. I

want

at least to spend the rest of my life in

a normal country, a normal

human country, not one with, you know,

crystal palaces or anything like that,

but one where things are simple, where the roads

have been repaired,

where the houses—just look around, just look around,

for heaven’s sake—you are among the top four

oil-producing regions in the country.

Look at this building. When was it

last given a major overhaul?

Never.

Never.

Never. Never. And that is the most

common—or rather, not the most common

answer when I ask. It is the

only answer. Do you understand? Everywhere,

wherever I speak, there is always

some run-down building. You ask

when it was repaired. The answer: never.

And why?

And where did all that enormous money go? I

am told: "You’re a populist, you keep talking about

money, money." But where are you

going to get money for our city of Orenburg? I

explain where I will get the money for the city of

Orenburg.

The system that Putin and Kudrin built over 18 years,

in which all the money

is taken from the regions to Moscow—it, well,

it has gone bankrupt, it has shown that it

does not work, because our regions are not

developing. What is the budget of your

of the city?

Don’t know?

11 billion rubles

What percentage of the taxes collected

does Orenburg Region send to the federal center?

71.

71, someone is prompting me correctly. You are one

of the leading regions. Almost all the money

is taken away from you. And in just the first 9

months of 2016, you sent to

Moscow 110 billion rubles. And I’m saying a simple

thing, but it’s obvious. Well,

it really is, actually. Take any

normal developed country that has

a federal system like ours. And we see that

the regions keep some

money for themselves, and retain powers. So,

let’s do something simple.

Let’s give away a little less. No, not just

keep all the money for ourselves—that’s impossible,

but instead of giving away 70%, let’s give 50%, and the budget

of Orenburg will triple.

That’s enormous money. It means that

three times more can be spent on

education, three times more can be

spent on healthcare. It

means that you could provide substantial

regional supplements for pensioners. It

means there definitely can be no talk

of any paid education. The money

is there.

It is there. It’s just being dragged off to Moscow

so that in Moscow they can do what with it?

what?

Steal it.

Steal it.

Steal it. Exactly right. That’s why we need

politicians, and we need a candidate for

president. We need governors

who, you know, when they’re sitting there—

they sit in Moscow. The State Council is sitting there, Putin

is sitting there looking very important, Medvedev is thinking about

his dacha (country house), the first one, the second, the third,

the fourth or the fifth. Someone there is mumbling

something and says: "So, we’ll build

a park in Moscow for 14 billion rubles. We’ll allocate 2

trillion rubles for renovation in Moscow,

we’ll allocate for lighting up Moscow’s trees

6 billion rubles. And at that point a governor should

stand up and say: "Guys, sorry,

of course, but could we be a little more modest

because in my city that extremist and troublemaker

Navalny came through

and pointed at a building

that needs repairs. And somehow

we probably need to spend some money

on my own region, on

my hometown. That’s the kind of

governor we need.

Yes,

I

want to become president so that

you would elect governors and elect

mayors, and they would defend

your interests and your rights, because

right now, whatever United Russia

doesn’t propose today, tomorrow it will propose

a special tax on regions that

starts with the letter O, so that they pay even more.

United Russia will say: "Fine."

And all your local newspapers will write:

"The correct decision by the party

of government. It’s long overdue, long overdue

to do this, because if we don’t,

then of course NATO soldiers will come

because, of course, this is what we’re doing

in order to fight

the Americans. We need normal government. I’m

running to become president

and create normal government. I’m running in

the election so that these

wonderful people in uniform,

all turning away from me, and in peaked caps,

would get higher salaries.

You, my friends, dear police officers,

should vote for me. Your candidate,

Alexei Navalny, because I will free

you from this idiocy. Look

how many police are here. You

taxpayers,

do you want to spend money, police

forces, and effort on having them deal with

this?

No.

Do you have crime here?

Do you have corruption here?

Are there issues here that

the police really do need

to work on? Yes.

Yes.

Why are they needed here at this rally? What

are they protecting? Why do we need these

anti-extremism departments? For

whom? Yo—

do you want to spend money on this or not?

No.

That’s why I will become president. Those

gigantic, gigantic budgets that

are allocated to law enforcement agencies,

I will spend properly, in particular

so that police officers receive

a little more, and in particular so that

they are given apartments.

So, respected people in uniform, as soon as

you finish this rally,

cursing to yourselves that you were

made to stand out in the cold, go home

and the first thing you do is search for Navalny

2018 and leave your signature in support

of me, because I am the only

candidate who supports you.

The only one. Tell me, please,

as taxpayers,

are you willing to spend money, even a kopeck

of your own money, so that they can jail

some bloggers?

No.

So that people can be jailed for likes

or reposts?

No.

Does this even concern you at all,

in any way?

No.

You sit there and think: "Right then. My

money is going to be used so that someone

can go and saw down a blogger's door in the name of

fighting 'magic.'" No.

You don't want that?

No.

No. Well then, I suppose I'm your

candidate, because in cases like this I

always step up to the podium, make a campaign

promise, and straighten the podium.

When I become president, I will shut down

Roskomnadzor (Russia's state media and internet censor) once and for all.

We don't need it.

It's a harmful, disgusting organization,

a bunch of idlers sitting on

our backs, spending our money and making

our lives worse. We don't need them, just as we don't need the huge

number of other officials who

are constantly inspecting something. Did you know

that in Russia every year there are

2 million business inspections?

Do you feel that any of this is somehow,

well, for your benefit? No.

Is it easy, easy in Orenburg Region

to do business? No.

Just like anywhere else, it's impossible. The moment

you start doing something. Say you start, I don't

know, knitting Orenburg down shawls

(a traditional local wool shawl). You're just a grandmother,

making these shawls and selling them, but when the state

comes knocking at your door, what

will it say to you?

You, granny. Criminal,

you're an illegal entrepreneur. You're an enemy

of the state. We've opened a criminal case

against you. I'm running in this election,

and I want to become president in order

to free small businesses from taxes

altogether. I will free small business from

all taxes, period. I promise you that. I

will free small business from any

permits, any licenses. Why are they

needed at all? All the taxes, all the taxes

they pay amount to just 0.5% of GDP.

Why hassle them at all if a person

is running a small business and

just wants to feed themselves, feed their family?

And the only task

of President Navalny when it comes to

small business will be to send it

certificates of honor. Because we should

say: "Thank you for doing at least

something. Thank you for helping at least

someone, for paying a salary to one

person or even to yourself, because you

increase the public good."

Tell me, please, are you

satisfied with our television?

No.

Are you satisfied with our mass

media? How do you even feel

when you turn on

the TV? What's the first news story there?

About Ukraine. The second is about

Ukraine. The third is about the U.S. The fourth, about

Syria,

Korea,

Korea, ISIS, and everything else. And we sit there

thinking: when are they ever going to say anything about our

Orenburg Region,

when will they talk about my Moscow, when

will they talk about housing and коммунальные services, when will they talk about some

problem, when will they say that

10% of the population has left Orenburg Region,

when will they talk about

healthcare,

when will they say that a city in your

region is among the leaders in

HIV infection rates?

20th century

We built, well, we spent all that time building

a country, building our civilization. Well,

it seems that a lot of things

did work out for us. I mean, we launch

rockets into space, right?

Yes.

We have nuclear power plants,

we have nuclear weapons. That means

that, well, overall,

we're an advanced people. We're an advanced

country. We've done what most

countries cannot do.

But why have we now ended up in a situation

where, in terms of AIDS, we are overtaking

developed countries, developing countries,

African countries? Is that normal?

Why doesn't he talk about this on television?

People should be shouting about this. This

really is a problem. The problem isn't in Ukraine,

not in

Syria, not in America. This is

the problem. Tell me, I see a lot of

people here, well, adults already.

Is it easy to get an ultrasound for free? How long

does it take? Say you've decided to go

get an ultrasound. Something hurts, you need

an ultrasound. How long does it take to get

a free ultrasound?

A month,

a week, and so on.

And an MRI?

Oh.

Oh.

That's why

I want to become president. Yes. I don't

want that in the 21st century, in 2017, this

it's just an MRI,

they've been doing them for decades in every

country. This is, really, a simple, simple

medical procedure. And you say 'MRI,'

and everyone goes: 'Oh,' as if I weren't saying 'MRI'

but as if I were sending you

to Mars.'

This simply cannot work like this. Now I’m going to

move on to questions and answers. It cannot

work like this. It’s an idiotic

perverse system where we sit on

oil money and still can’t provide our people with

MRI scans. And this matters in connection with

oil money, because

the only thing you here, in

Orenburg Region, get from your own

resources is what? Illness. Look

at the disease rates here, in

the Orenburg Region. They are monstrous.

One of the worst environmental situations in the country.

Cancer is detected at the final stage. We

all of us, we are all poor and sick, as

horrible as that sounds. I do not want to and

I refuse to understand

why a rich oil-producing country should

keep its population in such conditions.

I refuse to understand why 85%

of the national wealth belongs to 1%

of the population. That is a direct consequence. Well,

that’s how the pipeline is built in our country. There go

the oil money, the metals money,

the gas money, whatever money you like, uh,

fertilizers and everything else. And all of it

is converted only into income for oligarchs

and officials.

And everyone stays silent about it. Everyone

stays silent about it. Listen, there are other

presidential candidates—maybe they

came here. Did

Zhirinovsky come here?

No.

No.

Zyuganov?

No.

Sergei Mikhailovich Mironov?

No.

No.

It’s a pity they didn’t come. And I wish

they would come and say these things. We

recently had a single voting day (a nationwide election day),

right?

And I turn on the TV,

and I see Zyuganov at a polling station, they stop him, and

they run up to him. Gennady Andreyevich, well,

say something, there’s an election going on. I

think, now he’s going to open his mouth and

really let them have it.

A microphone is put in front of him, he opens his mouth

and says: "Well, these Americans have completely

lost it."

They’ve become totally outrageous. So, they’ve

surrounded our country from all sides."

So what? Is he right? He is right

to say that. Maybe he is right

to say it, but I don’t understand. There are

probably other problems too. If we

want to talk about America and Americans,

fine, talk about Americans as your sixth

or seventh point—but first say

that you do not understand why

the country’s prime minister, caught up in

corruption, is still sitting there and remains

prime minister. Have you seen the film?

Well, I presented convincing facts.

What else can I possibly prove? We already filmed

that dacha, we already filmed that yacht, we already

showed everything. So go ahead, jail him,

or at least remove him from office. But he

stays put. And he keeps buying. And he

keeps making money. And who ended up on

trial?

Me.

As usual, just as everyone joked right at the start

when the investigation was published, that

the only consequence would be yet another

case against Navalny. And that’s exactly

what happened.

What did we all hear? Well, what I heard—and probably

everyone heard through me—when we

caught oligarch Usmanov giving bribes, what did we

hear?

Pah on you, Alexei Navalny.

This is why I want to become president:

so that, representing you, I can say to all these

people: "I’ll tell him: ‘I’m not going to

spit on you—none of this “pah on you.”

Pay your taxes, pay your taxes properly.’" I

will ban

keeping raw-material revenues in offshore accounts. I

will ban this transfer pricing scheme

under which all the profits stay there. I

will ban all these schemes that are plainly

visible. Everyone knows about them, and

the president knows about them, and the tax authorities

know, everyone knows, but they still don’t stop

the money from being siphoned out. It is siphoned out

every year; this has gone on for years

and on and on and

on. It is easy to stop, and I

will stop it. I will do it. I am running in

the election in order to apply

elementary,

simple measures that will make our lives

more prosperous as soon as tomorrow. Russia has enough

money for Russia to live twice as

prosperously tomorrow, without

any exaggeration—there is still a sea of money. I

am running in the election in order to

represent you, represent those

people whom the authorities said

do not exist at all, that they are absent, or

that they are

Hold on a second,

wait, wait.

your vice-governors,

whatever chant or little slogan they give young people

on the streets, that’s what they repeat.

This means only one thing: these people need

a thrill. Young people

have taken to the streets, and this is a designed,

very professionally engineered political

campaign. Big money came into the country

for this campaign. But raise your hands, those

who came here for money.

This is a risky moment for me, but as you can see,

No one came here for money. So

how much longer are we supposed to put up with these lies?

How much longer can we tolerate this? We know that

most people in this country are unhappy with what is happening,

and they will never prove to us that this is

part of some campaign or anything like that.

It's a lie. We are that silent

majority. In fact, the majority,

even those who may not

support me because they know about my

work from television, where

they said that I stole the entire forest and that I am

a foreign agent, are still

unhappy with what is going on because, well,

you cannot be satisfied with these roads in the

21st century, because you cannot be

satisfied with this healthcare system in the 21st

century, you cannot be satisfied with this

law enforcement system in the 21st century.

We are the majority.

And the most important thing I want to say,

before I move on to answering

questions. Friends, we must realize

our own strength. This is the most important

task of the election campaign. Everyone is on

our side. Everyone is on our side. We are the majority. We are

active, politically engaged people.

We can do anything. Here I

see here, in this square, enough people

to per-

to win over the entire city of Orenburg in 2

weeks.

It's just that we have been convinced, it has been hammered into

our heads, that we can do nothing.

You know, it's like there's a wall there, some kind of

impenetrable wall. They've always

been there, they always will be. And we were born,

grew up, and will die under them. And we are doomed

to poverty.

Well, I don't think so.

Do you agree with me?

Yes.

I am running in the election to represent those

people who do not believe that we are

doomed to poverty, who do not

believe that they have to die in this

poverty, who do not believe that

the only way to achieve a normal

life is to emigrate or flee to

another region. Here and now, we can

build a normal country. And here and

now, we will achieve a great deal if we

believe in ourselves and take action.

There are more of us than there are of them. We are smarter than

they are. We represent the majority

of the country's population. We will win this

election, and we will build our beautiful

Russia of the future. Thank you very much. I am

ready to answer questions.

Guys, as I promised, without any

pre-moderation, without prepared

questions—any kind, flattering,

critical, whatever you want.

Hello, Alexei. I'd like to ask,

I'll repeat it for everyone afterward.

As far as we know, there are three

taxes related to gasoline and roads.

What will you do with them, and how will you

develop the road sector in in our

Russia? How will I develop the road

sector in our Russia?

and what will I do with the three taxes?

Well, I will direct these taxes

toward road development. I will abolish

the Platon system. It is unfair,

corrupt, and nobody needs it. But

look, this is the Kremlin's position. Our

roads are bad, our bridges are bad.

So let's invent the Platon system,

which works like this: they took

the son of Putin's friend Rotenberg,

a private company, and now all

truck drivers, and through them all of us, pay them

taxes.

That's how it works.

It's a twisted, bizarre system. Why

should we be paying them? We already have an excise tax

on gasoline, we have a vehicle

tax. The third one—which tax do you mean?

tax?

I meant the transport tax, the excise tax,

and Platon.

Well, the transport tax, the excise tax, and Platon. Platon

is not needed. We will scrap it once and for all.

We will open criminal cases

against everyone who brought in Platon. It is

a scam. It was a violation of the tender process. It was,

essentially, fraud. The excise tax and

the vehicle tax should go toward

roads. We have enough

money to repair roads. The road

problem has basically been solved in all

countries. In Africa it has largely been

solved. And only here, in Russia,

do we walk around saying: "My God, how are we ever going to

fix the roads?" It must be,

impossible. And it's impossible because our

road construction costs are 10

times higher than in China. And why are they 10

times higher than in China?

Because they steal. They steal. So we will break up

the road-building monopoly. We will hold normal

honest tenders. We will

invite foreign, including foreign,

contractors, and then we will solve the road

problem.

I heard someone over there shout out

this question to me: "And you won't steal, will you?"

Good question.

Well, what do you think—will I steal or

not?

No,

probably not. Probably not. Hard to say,

we'll see.

But look, I'm standing here, I am

a candidate, and, well, I am confident in myself, I

know that I am a decent guy and that I will not

steal, but should you believe me?

believe?

Power corrupts people. Power corrupts

people. And one well-known person said

that after 10 years in power, anyone goes

crazy. Who said that?

Putin.

So, well, if we apply that quote

to him himself, it turns out

that for the past 7 years the country has been run by

whom?

Madmen. Yes, that's exactly right. They

really have gone crazy over money,

privileges, and their own

sense of impunity.

Well, I'll do something simple.

First, I know, I agree with him that

people go crazy. And not even after 10 years, but

sooner. So if I become president,

I will cut the presidential term back to

4 years. A maximum of 8 years. You do a good job

in the first 4 years, you get another four, and then

goodbye. Goodbye. No matter how

good you are, whether it's Alexei Navalny or some Petya

Semyochkin, it doesn't matter: you've done 8 years, so

goodbye, go do something else, write a book.

Play sports, have fun, pick

mushrooms, do whatever you want. You cannot

be president forever. That's first. Second, I

will reduce my own powers.

Parliament will be able to investigate

me and my actions, because I will give it

those powers. I will create

independent prosecutors who will be able to

investigate the president's actions.

You see it on the news all the time, how

before a U.S. congressional committee

the FBI director, a cabinet secretary, and even

vice presidents, members of the president's cabinet, all

meekly

answer questions on live camera, and

all of America watches them. We want

the same thing in Russia. That's how it should

work. The government must be accountable

to the people. If there are questions for you, answer them. So

President Navalny

will be open to

investigation. If you suspect me

of corruption, a parliamentary commission will be created

against me, and against me

an independent prosecutor will work, you

will impeach me, and when I come here

to try to prove my case to you, I

will be standing here alone,

because the free media will tear me

to pieces,

because I simply will have no

support left, and no one will ever

elect me again, and most likely they'll even

put me in prison. That is the one and only

way to fight corruption: make it so

that you yourself can be imprisoned for

corruption. And that is exactly what I will do, I promise you.

Question.

Let's do the press later. Yes. Yes.

What am I going to do with all the property

of the oligarchs and dollar billionaires?

Well, of course, I'd like to say I'll give

everything to the residents of Marenburg.

So, look. Oligarchs are different. Just because

a person is a dollar

billionaire does not mean he is our

enemy. The creators of Yandex are dollar

billionaires. They created something good.

We say to them: "Well done, we love you,

dear dollar billionaires." There are

people of another kind. Usmanov, who

made his money through an illegal tax-evasion

scheme. Then there are the Rotenbergs,

and Timchenko, and all the

other friends of Putin—they

quite obviously made their money

through corruption and corrupt schemes. So,

we will hold these people

accountable. Since their money and

property were obtained by criminal means, we

will seize them for the state budget. Second, all those

lovely palaces will be sold through fair

auctions. The money will go into the budget.

Third. Fourth.

I will become a president

who brings back from abroad all

stolen assets. I will do it. I

know how to do it. Why isn't it happening

now? Well, have you seen who was

put in charge of finding

stolen assets abroad?

Chaika.

Prosecutor General Chaika.

The very same guy we

published an investigation about, showing that his family

was moving money to Switzerland. Well,

naturally, he is not going to do

that. And we get replies from

Switzerland saying that when we

send complaints there, they say: "Well,

guys, how do you expect us to

investigate if your prosecutor's office

says everything is fine?"

Funny how people with the same last name do that.

A certain Igor Chaika tells us that

Artyom Chaika is doing just fine. But that is how

it works, and it should not work that way, and it will not

work that way. Many countries,

African ones, for example, have recovered from

Switzerland and France stolen money—

billions. And we will recover it too. I know how

to do it, and I will be able to do it. Let's take

a question from this side.

Elections. There are no elections.

There are no elections.

It used to be $500, now it's $250.

Question. How will you be able to stabilize the dollar

because my wife used to

earn $500, and

now she earns $250. The thing is,

the dollar is already stable.

The ruble

It's the ruble that's unstable.

But that's an excellent question, my friends. So,

tell me, please, are prices going up?

Yes.

Do you feel prices rising?

And obviously, they are. Over the last,

probably couple of years, food prices alone have gone up by about 60%.

But if we

look at the Central Bank's data,

we see that the Central Bank of Russia

says inflation is now 4%, or even

3.8%. Oh,

so apparently it basically doesn't exist, and according to

that logic, if your wife was earning $500,

she should still be earning $500. But that's

not true. It's a lie. So what am I

going to do about this and about

the ruble? If inflation is, well,

it really does look like inflation

is heading toward 4%. But we don't

feel that. Do you know why? Why can't you

get a loan at 4% annual interest?

Because on average you're getting them at

11, 12, or 15%, because they give out

loans at 0%

to their relatives. Putin's son-in-law got

a $1 billion loan at 0% interest. You

are bailing out these banks at 0% interest,

so they get money for free. And that's why

you and we get it at 16%.

I will put an end to this bacchanalia

in order to stabilize the ruble. I will stop

bailing out these bankers. Do you want to bail out

bankers?

No.

Here you are in Orenburg

— whether you came to the rally or you're against

rallies, whether you're blowing a whistle, or you're

a police officer, or an FSB officer,

or from the local administration, whoever you are — do you

want to bail out Moscow bankers?

Do you care about B&N Bank or Otkritie Bank? But

you're the ones saving them. In your view,

over the last 2 years, how much has each of

you paid to rescue these banks?

16,000 rubles from each person. A total of 2.5

trillion rubles. That means 16,000 rubles from

every elderly person, every infant, every woman,

every man — 16,000 rubles taken from every single person.

I'm sure you could find a use for 16,000 rubles.

And so could I. But for me,

with a family of four, that's a substantial

amount. I'd spend it on myself, and I

will put a stop to this, because this is

what rising prices are, this is real

inflation — the kind they say doesn't exist, but

for us it very much does. And it hits us right in

the wallet. Yes. Next question.

We have no elections in this country.

And we have a rather perverse form of

journalism in this country. Will there be

changes in this sphere? You're putting it too mildly.

"Rather perverse" is too soft for these

people. It's completely perverse.

The local media are the same. Well, I don't know

how many people are here right now, quite

a lot. But really, without

any exaggeration, tonight you'll go

home and read reports from your

pro-governor media saying that there was

nobody here at all, that it was a

pathetic rally. They'll show a photo from a

drone that was taken

20 minutes before the rally started. And you, and everyone else,

understand that it's a lie. And you

understand that it's a lie. But they will

write it with a straight face and will

collect their salaries out of your pocket.

So here's my position, very clearly:

I will stop funding all of them. I do not

understand why we should spend 30 billion

rubles on Russia Today. Do you want to spend money

funding Russia Today? No,

I don't. Do you want to buy a villa for

Vladimir Solovyov?

No.

Now that was a powerful shout. A loud no from over there. Well,

do you want to pay for that Tolstoy,

Kiselyov? Kiselyov lives in an apartment worth 3

million euros on Tsvetnoy Boulevard. Do you want

to pay for that apartment? No.

So that is why President Alexei

Navalny will remove as many restrictions as possible

from the media, stop

funding the media, stop keeping media outlets in

state ownership,

for example, the city of Moscow has 300 newspapers.

What the hell for? Why do they need 300 newspapers? What

do they need 300 newspapers for? We'll sell it all off,

get rid of all of it, remove any

restrictions on the media, and let them

compete freely with one another.

Question. I saw someone here shouting. Yes,

just ask your question.

Elections.

Elections.

Fair elections.

Fair elections. Not your elections.

Excellent question. Do you really think that

the Kremlin is full of fools and you're the only

smart one?

That's a great question.

So, here's my answer to your

question. I do not think the Kremlin is run by

fools. I think the Kremlin is run by

very smart crooks and thieves. They are very

smart. Very, very, very smart. Just

look — they seized control of the largest

country in the world. They've been in

power for 18 years. They very skillfully took over

the media. They are very skillful at rigging

elections, and of course elections are rigged

here too.

Look, Governor Berg is genuinely

popular with the people.

No.

And what percentage did he get in the election?

I think he got 80%, right? Somewhere around there.

about 80.

These are cunning, smart people who,

have something to lose. They are

billionaires. But the question is,

maybe they are smart, of course, very

smart, maybe even smarter than us,

but I think by now all of us already

have enough sense to understand that this is

the wrong system. Right?

We have enough sense to understand that, guys, you

schemed and schemed and schemed and schemed, but

that's enough scheming here—go do it somewhere else.

You can't fool us anymore. If

people's real incomes have been falling

for the fourth year in a row, we feel it.

That's right. We feel it in our own wallets.

Are we really prepared to keep swallowing this

same old chewing gum about

Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine? Don't think

about money, think about America,

about Ukraine. Is that what interests us?

No.

That's why I don't think I'm smarter than

they are. I don't think I'm the only

one who's the smartest. But I do think I'm

normal. And I think there are

enough normal people in this country

to throw those cunning crooks out.

Question. Alexei, Alexei.

Just last week, here,

two faculty members from two

of the biggest universities in our region were detained.

The question is,

all within a single week, but that's just a drop in the

ocean. What can actually be done about

corruption in the education system?

The question is this: last week here,

two people from the education sector

were detained. What can actually be done about

corruption in education?

Well, let's start with the big things.

The Unified State Exam. Who here has had to take it?

Who here has taken the Unified State Exam?

Who likes the Unified State Exam?

Nobody.

Uh-huh.

And yet the Unified State Exam, in principle, sounds fairly

reasonable. Why was it

created? So that you from Orenburg, and

someone else from Moscow, would have equal

chances of getting into the best university. But

in practice, which regions have

the highest Unified State Exam scores?

Dagestan,

Chechnya.

Chechnya and Dagestan. That's right. Why?

Because they buy them. So it turns out that

if the Unified State Exam doesn't work in even one region,

then it doesn't work for

the whole country, which means it has become

meaningless. Right? Therefore,

our number one task in fighting corruption in

education is to stop this cheating around

the Unified State Exam. Task number two is to properly fund

Russian education. It receives

very little money. If we look at

any developed country, we will see that

they allocate about 4% of GDP, while we

allocate half that. Until

we fund

proper education, we won't have it.

Our education system is really heading

off the rails and toward total collapse. I mean,

of course, you can jail teachers.

Sure, you can. You can take the approach

of simply going around catching them

for taking $100,

5,000 rubles, 200 rubles, a box of chocolates.

You can do that, but that's not how we'll defeat

corruption. So the task is—and let's be

honest—are teachers really the main

corrupt actors in the country? There, as in

healthcare, there is widespread

corruption, but to say outright that

we live badly because of them—no, that's not it. The task

is different. We will properly fund

education and healthcare. The money exists for that, but

after that, if you're still dissatisfied

and keep taking bribes, keep

rigging the Unified State Exam, then jail them without

mercy, regardless of the fact that they're a teacher and

so on—just jail them. That's the only way. I

see someone here I recognize with a question.

Let's take questions. North

Caucasus.

Will you push the issue?

Go ahead, speak.

If I become president, will I

insist on reopening

the investigation into Budanov's murder?

There are quite a lot of murders like this.

And we can see that these high-profile

murders, especially those in which, obviously,

members of Kadyrov's entourage are involved,

are not being investigated. Budanov

is definitely not my hero. But

nevertheless, I believe that no proper

investigation was carried out there. Do you think

a proper investigation was conducted into Nemtsov's

murder?

No.

No.

I will become president. I will investigate this.

I will investigate

Kadyrov's involvement in these murders.

I will investigate the activities of all

these strange people who sit there in the

President Hotel in Moscow, all of them

loaded down with pistols, gold ones and

non-gold ones. And no one even understands

whether they're security services or police, who

they even are. Just some kind of armed bandits

with assault rifles. Why are they allowed to do this?

So I'm not afraid to do that. I

will absolutely investigate it.

Someone was shouting loudly from over here. Yes.

Question.

the Cabinet of Ministers.

What should be done about unfair elections?

The Cabinet of Ministers, and the logic

of an election campaign is that

I still have several months. I

hope—and we can see how the authorities

are trying to obstruct things—that I will still come here to Orenburg

again. And preferably more than once.

So all these personnel matters, these staffing

appointments—the logic of the campaign is that

they are announced at the end. So I will

talk about that closer to the election date,

but I assure you that we definitely have people

better than those who are now sitting in

the Kremlin and the White House (the Russian government building). Next question.

Question

Question.

A question, a question about agriculture.

In agriculture,

there is one main problem. They cannot

get credit. Agriculture

is structured in such a way that they

need money. And when they go to

a bank, they are told: "Well, pay 10%.

Impossible." That's problem number one. Agriculture

also runs into the fact that

it is impossible to connect either to

electricity or to gas. What's the situation there?

Agriculture. Now tell me,

who here has a dacha (country house)? Raise your hand. And who has

a dacha connected to gas?

There you go. Exactly. In a region where

Gazprom operates—the so-called national

treasure—and yet it is hard to get connected. How much

does it cost to connect to gas? A house—

100,000, 150,000

100, 150, 200 thousand, the person says. And

can you imagine what it means for a farmer

to get connected—he has built something,

to heat, I don't know, a cowshed or

whatever, any kind of building—it is impossible.

So infrastructure, the development

of infrastructure, and normal access to

credit resources will make it possible

for agriculture to develop. Without that,

nothing works. But besides that, once

again, excuse me, there is corruption. Who

heads

Rosselkhozbank?

Not Tkachev. Tkachev heads

the Ministry of Agriculture. One

of the country's biggest corrupt figures

heads the Ministry of

Agriculture. The biggest milk producer.

Who is it? His family. And who is the biggest owner

of agricultural land? The family

of the minister of agriculture.

And who heads Rosselkhozbank?

Patrushev,

the son of the former head of the FSB (Federal Security Service). Why

does he head it?

Because the former head's

Because he is the son of the former head

of the FSB. Every year this bank records

a huge hole in its finances and receives state money. He is

a bad banker, he runs

the bank badly, but he still continues

to sit there because the kickbacks are enormous

amounts of money. That is what we will eliminate. Agriculture

will begin to develop. Let me take one from

this side. Yes.

Why isn't he giving him the mic? Please, let him speak.

Yes, yes, yes.

What should be done about Crimea and Donbas? A difficult

question.

What should be done about Crimea and Donbas? A difficult

question. Well, listen, it is, of course,

a difficult question indeed, but on

the other hand, it is also an easy question,

because I answer it honestly.

I believe that the Crimea issue has

no solution. It cannot be resolved.

It is a territorial conflict. Obviously,

Crimea is effectively financed from our

budget. It is effectively now

part of the Russian Federation. This will not

be recognized by anyone in the foreseeable future. And

like the issue of Northern Cyprus, like

the issue of the Palestinian territories,

like the issue of the Falkland Islands, and

all the other territorial disputes

on the globe, in the foreseeable future,

it has no solution. Everyone will

suffer, everyone will struggle. More than

anyone else, Crimeans will suffer from the fact

that the sanctions will remain. Honestly,

I could lie to you

right now and say: I have a plan,

I won't tell you what it is, but I have a plan,

a great plan, and I will solve the Crimea issue.

It cannot be solved. As for whether it is Russian,

it has always belonged to Russia.

Fine, fine. Fine. Are you ready to give up part of your pension

for it? Are you ready to give up part of your pension?

Are you ready to give from

your pension? Fine. And are you ready

to finance Syria out of your pension?

Are you? What else?

And what else are you ready for? Afghanistan too, out of

your pension?

What does Afghanistan have to do with this?

Well then, let me answer you, my friends.

Then let's talk about

foreign policy. Here we have

a person who, obviously, is unlikely

to vote for me, because he wants

to finance out of his pension

Afghanistan, the fight against ISIS, Syria, and everything

else. I can tell you this: many people

criticize me for this position. Once again

I come to the podium and tell you

my position absolutely precisely, clearly, and plainly:

President Alexei Navalny

will stop forgiving other countries' debts,

and will stop financing other countries.

What the hell for? I mean, listen, yes,

look at how many problems we have.

Why are we— Who here has been to Syria?

Raise your hand. Well, maybe you have been there,

You weren’t. And why should we have to pay

for it? Are you a pensioner, judging by your

age? That’s right.

So, you’re a pensioner. Uh, are there any other

pensioners here? Raise your hands.

There, there, there, there,

there are pensioners here. So, let me tell you,

dear pensioners, that over the past 15

years Russia has forgiven

debts owed by other countries in an amount that

has cost every pensioner in Russia

260,000

rubles. Do you want to pay 260,000 rubles out of

your pension? I don’t want the citizens

of Russia to. I don’t understand why debts were forgiven for

Cuba, Mozambique, Angola. We forgive everyone

everything. And who is going to forgive us?

And who has ever given us anything here? No one has ever

forgiven us anything. We see

small countries. The Czech Republic, for example, the Czech Republic

squeezes money out of Cuba. If they can’t

pay in cash, they pay in rum, they pay in sugar

cane, somehow or other. And we say:

"All right then, we forgave these people $20 billion,

forgave those people too." So, I

love all countries very much; I care about

the fate of Palmyra, I care about the fate of

the residents of Aleppo and everyone else, but I am not

going to finance it, because we

don’t have money ourselves. A lot of people won’t

agree with me on this, but those are the people I will

represent in the election. Question. Yes.

It so happened that

one of the people at the institution where

I study,

one person said, someone with a high po-

high-ranking position, that anyone who goes to this rally

will be expelled from it.

All right, so the question is this. A student

at an educational institution was told that

if you go to this rally, you’ll

be expelled.

Who has heard things like that before?

They were just threatened. Threatened with what?

Then threaten them back. Everyone

who does this is a criminal.

They are real criminals. We will

fire them, and we will jail them for this. There’s

nothing to be afraid of. It’s all lies.

First of all, because, well, this is

isolated; we hardly know of any cases

where it actually happened.

But of course they do try to intimidate people. Of course,

they intimidate people, they walk around filming with cameras. "We’ll

put your faces online." Well,

go ahead and put our faces online. Who

here is afraid to show their face? Who is not

afraid to show their face? I don’t understand

why, in our own country, we can’t

go to a rally. So the people who

say such things are, without question,

criminals. And they need to be told to their faces

that they are

criminals. And don’t forget to film it

on camera. Because that’s what they’re

afraid of. As soon as it was posted on YouTube, when someone there

had threatened to expel someone, that was it—

the principal was already apologizing, already behaving

as meek as can be. These people are

brazen and aggressive, but in essence

they are, of course, very cowardly, because this

is itself a display of cowardice. So,

you go to a rally and we’ll expel you. Yeah,

right, we’ll be the ones to expel them. That’s the issue everywhere.

Yes. Question. Yes.

We don’t have elections; we have dishonest elections.

They’ll just write down some fake result for you, so what are you going to do with

these fake elections?

The question is this: we don’t have elections; we have

a sham instead of elections, and as your

results they’ll write down all kinds of fake numbers. What

are you going to do about that?

Well, that’s a fair question,

right?

We really do have a sham instead of elections.

This government really does

stay in power by falsifying elections. That is,

if before they merely brainwashed people,

now even that is no longer enough. They need

to rig elections.

Look, I earn every vote

through hard work. I woke up today at

3:00 a.m. to come here. From here

I’m going to Arkhangelsk, then I’m going to St. Petersburg

for a rally, where they’ll probably once again

lock me up for 30 days, or I don’t know what

will happen. I fight for these votes like

a normal candidate, and I am not going

to hand them over so someone can steal them. So

for the first time, in fact, in Russian

elections, we are really going to prepare

100,000 real observers. At

every election people say that they will

prepare them, but no one actually does it. I’m

a sensible person, not a fool. I

understand how they will fight, but we

will fight back. At every

polling station we will place several observers.

I’m going to appeal to you, guys. I’m going

to come here and say, "So, do you

want your votes in Orenburg

to be stolen?"

No.

No? Then we’ll stand at every

polling station. However many people we can

mobilize—and I know that we can mobilize more,

than any other political force,

that’s how many we’ll send to

the polling stations. So, well, we’ll fight.

Of course, they won’t just give up

their billions or their power that easily, but we

will fight. Question.

the design of our cities for our people is usually

a quality environment that Europeans have been creating

for many years already, but for us it seems like some kind of nonsense.

How are we going to improve the quality of Russian

cities? Because for our people

a European-style lawn is seen as nonsense. Look,

First, I do not believe that our people are

somehow especially uncivilized. After all, you have

a bridge here between Europe and Asia.

So we have, in a way, claimed a little bit of Europe,

right? And

exactly, claimed

I certainly believe that the residents

of Russian cities are, of course, ready for

a standard of urban services

that is normal by European standards. It is simply

that this quality does not exist.

Enormous amounts of money allocated for urban improvement are stolen.

That is why we must transfer

all these issues to local

self-government, and second, we must organize

public oversight. I, I am absolutely

convinced that if tomorrow we create

some kind of amazing flower bed here, it is not as if

the people of Orenburg are so wild

that they will come running and rip out the flowers. That will not

happen. That is all nonsense. They probably said

that in Zaryadye Park (a major park in central Moscow) people stole some

flowers. But that is a lie. We are all

normal people. I do not see anyone here who

would immediately run off to dig something up there

like that bush and plant it at their dacha (country house).

Of course, there are occasional excesses, because

well, we are somewhat used to living like this,

with terrible urban improvement all around us. But I

know that there are cities, including in the provinces,

where there is a normal quality of

urban management and public improvement.

The main thing is simply to make sure that the money there

is not stolen, because in

urban improvement they do not steal 30 percent, but

90 percent. Question.

But what will happen

once again?

So, I have a question about Kadyrov, and it

is formulated as follows: are you prepared

to make it so that these people who

stand with you would go kill and fight for you?

So, I am talking about Kadyrov. I

certainly believe that there are grounds

to believe that he was behind the murder of

Nemtsov. I believe, personally, and I am telling you

directly, without any of that, you know,

without trying to avoid being sued. I

believe that Kadyrov ordered Nemtsov's

murder. Yes, that is what I think. And I think

that his activities should be

investigated. But there is no need to kill anyone or

frighten anyone with all that. Why?

Why would anyone need to run out tomorrow and

kill someone, to fight? Do you remember there was

such a mayor of Makhachkala, Said Amirov. He sat

in Makhachkala for many years, and there were the same

stories then too: he could not be removed. He was

a terrible corrupt official, a murderer. But

he had his own army. Everyone said that as soon as

we removed him, tomorrow

a war would start in Dagestan. Troops would

have to be sent in, all of Makhachkala would

rise up, and so on. And what happened?

They came, arrested him, and took him to

Lefortovo (a Moscow detention center). Zero reaction in Dagestan.

In Dagestan, in the North Caucasus, and

everywhere else, people want the same thing as in

Orenburg: slightly higher

salaries, normal

justice, a normal judicial

system. They are even poorer than people here. I

asked you here about salaries, and you

said 15,000 rubles. If I asked there about

salaries, and I will ask, they would say

8,000 rubles. So they simply need

a normal life. No one is planning to

fight anyone or kill anyone. And there is no

need for such a question.

Let us start here, and then I will move over there

afterward. Yes.

What, what?

Demographics.

Demographics, immigration.

Possibly one of the most serious

issues facing our country. We are dying out. From

your region, as I have already said several times,

10 percent of the population has simply left.

The Russian authorities believe that

population decline can be offset

by migrants from the North Caucasus and

by migrants from the countries of Central Asia and

the South Caucasus. Do you think so?

Do you think that, so to speak, you can be

replaced by Tajiks or Uzbeks, with all due

respect to them?

Therefore, regarding migration, I have

an absolutely clear position. I support

introducing a visa regime with the countries of

Central Asia and the South Caucasus. I will introduce this

visa regime. People have been talking about it for a long time,

but only after every terrorist attack. Whenever

some problem happens, everyone

starts saying: "We ought to introduce

a visa regime. We ought to bring in a visa

regime." And then they forget. I will introduce

a visa regime. That is number one. Number

two: in general, the demographic problem cannot

be solved without solving the problem of economic

growth. There is no such thing as, you know, pressing a

button and suddenly you start having twice as

many children. That is not how it works.

It is about quality of life. Right now, a person

understands this; we discussed it at the beginning,

say I have a salary of 40,000 rubles. I would

like to have three children, but it is

impossible to feed them on that money,

right? Only economic growth,

which will bring higher wages, I

apologize for such a banality, but it is what

will lead a person to say:

"Well, perhaps I can afford

a third child, or a fourth." Only

that way. There is no other path. That is this side of the

issue. Yes.

the development of the military industry, or will you

reduce funding?

Will there be development of the military industry

or will I reduce its funding overall?

Excellent question. And my answer to it is, well,

this: military industry will continue to develop,

but I will reduce its

overall funding, because this is

not opposition politician Alexei Navalny saying it, but

the Accounts Chamber of Russia says that

roughly every third ruble allocated

to the state defense procurement program,

is cashed out within about two

months. In other words, quite literally, we

allocate trillions there, and those trillions

turn into wheeled suitcases

stuffed with cash. Corruption in Russia is monstrous everywhere.

But in state defense procurement,

because it is closed off,

the corruption is unbelievably monstrous. I can see

how much money is allocated to

military and police spending overall. That money

would be enough for state defense procurement,

and for raising salaries

for the police and the military, and for providing them with

apartments. It would be enough for all of that, if only

the money were not simply being stolen. We

will do exactly that. We will defeat corruption. At the very

least, we will significantly reduce corruption there,

and that will allow us

to do many things. Miss,

will Russian

science be funded?

Will Russian

science be funded?

Let me ask you: should

Russian science be funded? Yes.

Yes.

Obviously. And this is an important question,

because if we look at how much

money is currently being allocated to Russian

science, it is a laughable amount. What

we are seeing happen to the Russian

Academy of Sciences, which is being torn apart, which is

not being allowed to properly elect its leadership,

is a crime against science. I

was in Novosibirsk recently, and there

I met people from Akademgorodok (a major Soviet-era science and research hub in Novosibirsk).

We are proud of Akademgorodok, right?

When we talk about Russian science, very

often what comes to mind is Novosibirsk’s

Akademgorodok, with its supposedly top-tier

physicists. And then you ask those

physicists—I saw this, you can

watch the video—how much does a

physics graduate student in Akademgorodok make?

15,000 rubles.

Can science exist on that kind of

money?

Well, of course not. Because this

young person understands that if he moves to

almost any country, he will earn 30 times

more—any country at all.

We train these physics students,

these physics graduate students. We have

nuclear physicists; there are only a handful of countries

you can count on one hand

that train them, but we do not

fund them, and very soon we will

run out of them, because they simply

leave for other countries. And the point here is simple.

I can talk about how we will cut

spending here and cut spending there, but

if we do not fund science, it simply

will cease to exist, it will die out, and we

will need another 100 years

to rebuild it. So we will fund science

at the level of the countries of the

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, several

times more. And again, this is the

refrain of my speech: there is money in this country,

there is money for this, for everything, if we

spend it properly. Next question.

Question.

I’ll come to you afterward.

How long will my candidate keep walking around

without security? The level of provocation is high. If

you were to...

you should be kept safe. So the question is:

for how long will my candidate

go around without protection? And who is your candidate?

- who is that?

Oh, thank you very much. That’s me. So,

my friends, look, here’s the thing.

First of all, at rallies—you

can see it now—I do have security there.

I mean, I do have it in everyday life too, but

I cannot compete with the state.

How much security would I need

to counter the police? All the people

who carry out attacks are

organized by the security services. So, well, who

here has funded the election

campaign? Who has ever sent money to

the ACF or to the election campaign? There are

many of you here. I could spend your money

on surrounding myself with security. And

that would not help me one bit. So

I am a normal person, I am not crazy.

I do not take pleasure in the fact that

there is some kind of risk. But

I share those risks with you. You

do not have security either. Who here has gone to rallies?

You have had unauthorized rallies here

here in 2016.

Yes,

You had authorized ones too, but

there are unauthorized ones as well, and you go to

them. If I call you to an autho— to an

unauthorized one, will you go?

Yes,

You will. You will bear that risk, and I will share it

with you. That is the only way this

works. Because if, you know, I

call on you to do something, to march somewhere,

while I myself have gone abroad

and surrounded myself with several layers

of security—yes, I would be safe, but

would you believe me?

No, that is not how politics works, and I do not

want it to work that way. The question about

an apartment.

Housing. How are you going to address it?

Housing. That is exactly why, in

our platform, well, some people

are surprised: "Why did you put this

mortgage issue right at the beginning of the platform? It

seems strange. Usually everyone buries it somewhere

further down." I believe that, unquestionably,

the housing issue is not even

an economic issue; it is a question of the country’s future,

because is it possible to buy housing in

Russia? No,

no. People up to the age of 40 live with their parents,

because it is impossible. What is the mortgage interest

rate?

13.

19.

13. Well, not 25, of course. That is, if

you really try, you can find 11%. And

even then, it is still impossible to pay.

Right? It is simply impossible to take out

a mortgage loan. That is why this is a matter of

state policy. Number one:

reduce market regulation so that

apartments become cheaper. As it stands, they are very

expensive. And number two: subsidize

mortgages, so that all of you, as in any

normal European country, could

take out a mortgage at 1 or 2%

annual interest. Until we do that,

our country will not

develop, because how can people have

children if they have nowhere to live? That is the reality.

Yes, let’s go to this side now. Yes,

yes.

What are we going to do with the draft offices and military units?

A question about conscription, as I

understand it, judging by the front rows,

this is a pressing issue, right?

So,

since 2005,

the budget of the Russian Federation has been able

to afford a professional contract army.

Therefore, President Alexei Navalny

will stop drafting young people. I

will transition Russia to a professional contract army,

and do what people have been talking about for many years. This

is truly necessary. What is conscription

today? It is a tax on the poor. Where

do they not take people from to serve in the army?

The North Caucasus and Moscow. Why from

Moscow? Because in Moscow everyone

buys their way out. So your chances of going

into the army are

100% if you live in a village, if you

come from a poor family. The wealthier your

family is, the lower the chance that

you will end up in the army. It is a tax on

the poor. It is unnecessary. All modern

armies in the world are professional armies,

so we will, without question, move to

a professional army. As for

your question about what to do with draft offices and

everything else, well, we will cut the unnecessary part.

And, well, look, draft offices

are still needed in some form, because

if, God forbid, war breaks out,

draft offices are responsible for mobilizing the population

for war. So I could say, "I will shut down

all draft offices." But that would be

foolish. We will reduce the number of

staff, but nevertheless the system of

conscription in the country must

be scaled back. But with a professional

army, that issue changes. Yes.

Yes.

And on your channel there was, if I remember correctly,

Alexei Shatsov, and one thing he said that I liked in

your team was this. One of his remarks

was that corruption can only

be stopped with the utmost

severity.

The question is whether I believe that

corruption can be eliminated or prevented

only through the death penalty?

Well, let me ask a risky question.

Who here thinks corrupt officials should be shot?

To be honest, I disagree with you.

I am a principled opponent of

the death penalty. I know that it is

popular. It is popular among

the public. Most Russian citizens

support the death penalty. But tell

me, please: do you trust our courts?

No.

Can you allow Russian courts

to execute people? No.

Damn it, tomorrow the first person they would

execute would be me. Do you understand? So,

I believe the death penalty solves no

problems. Where do we see the lowest

levels of corruption? In which

countries? Norway, Finland, New

Zealand. There is no death penalty

there. The inevitability of punishment—

that is what is needed, so that a corrupt official

understands that sooner or later he will be caught,

sooner or later he will go to prison. But in Russia

how does it work? A corrupt official

knows that if you steal 20,000 rubles,

you will be jailed, but if you steal

a billion, you will be promoted. That does not

work, and it should. Next question.

Will microelectronics be developed in Russia?

For so long, phones in China and Korea,

televisions?

A question about microelectronics. Will we

develop microelectronics in Russia?

Listen, are we not developing it already? Have you

heard of an organization called Rosnano?

Have you heard of it? That is rather strange if not.

Strange, because have you heard of an

organization called Rostec? Its head, Chemezov,

showed Putin four years ago the "iPhone killer,"

and yet why did you not buy it? And

that famous textbook for Russian

for schoolchildren, the one like that, the one that

would replace paper textbooks. Did you see it on

TV?

Yes.

So where is it? And where is everything else? And

maybe you saw, maybe someone saw my

debate with Chubais,

and he even gave me a whole little suitcase. Yes.

And in that suitcase there were lots of supposedly useful

things. And where are they all? And on this, on all of this,

billions were spent, tens of

billions, hundreds of billions, without

exaggeration. So we will

develop all of this, but not by the methods

that the Russian state is using now,

because it simply

dumps enormous amounts of money into a state-owned company,

which cannot do anything. You yourselves

said it: Korea, Singapore, and everything

else. Competition. The number one word

for why all this worked in these

countries. And it is the same in China.

Competition. We will stop squeezing

business, we will encourage business,

that manufactures things, including things like this,

we will stop pouring money into

state-owned companies, and then, well, probably,

gradually—because we do have the foundations, we

have Zelenograd, we have many

factories—microelectronics in Russia will also

start to develop. Let's take a couple more

questions. Yes,

Navalny, Navalny, can you give

your word as a man that you're not an American pawn,

that you are not an American pawn?

Excellent question. I would give it to you right now,

yes. Alexei, can you give your word

as a man that you are not an American

pawn?

And also, I even posted on Twitter

about this. You can look later. Here

someone photographed a woman. She had

two great signs. Sign number

one: "Don't believe the State Department puppet."

People, don't believe the State Department puppet. And

sign number two, in her other hand,

said: "Appoint Navalny as head of a

as governor of a depressed region. So

if you combine them, it means appointing

a State Department puppet

as governor of a depressed region. So

even in the minds of such people, something

is going on—things are so

wrong that, well, let's

take a State Department puppet

and put him in charge of a depressed

region. So, I give you my word as a man,

that I am nobody's puppet. I

give you my word

that there are real people behind me. Those

people are you. I give you my word that I act

in the interests of the residents of the city of Orenburg and

the Orenburg region. I give you my word

that I do not need any other people,

any other support, in order to

get up on this stage. As long as you

support me, I give you my word

that I truly believe that sooner or

later, Russia must, after all, be led by

an honest person. I want to become that

honest person at the head of Russia. I

will become him if you

support me. I give you my word that I will do

everything so that I do not let you down,

guys. I give you my word that later

someday, looking back, you will think:

"It wasn't for nothing that I came on Saturday at 12:00 to the

outskirts of the city." This is the outskirts of the city,

right? And stood there listening to him, because

he really was doing something in my

interests. So I give you my word that I will work

for you. I have a question for you. May I

consider myself the candidate from the Orenburg

region, from the city of Orenburg?

Yes.

Thank you very much, my friends. Thank you

so much for coming here. I have to

wrap up, because otherwise I'll be late

for a flight to Arkhangelsk.

Thank you so much. Believe in yourselves, and we

will definitely win. We will turn all this

right side up. We will build everything.

We will achieve everything. This is our

country, it will belong to us, and we

will live and prosper in our beautiful

Russia. Thank you so much, guys.

Thank you very much for coming.

I am very grateful to you. Good luck. I will come

here again. One. Thank you.