At the height of his presidential campaign in the fall of 2017, Alexei Navalny released his now-legendary investigation into the Kremlin’s chief propagandist, Vladimir Solovyov. Alexei vividly shows how fervent love for Putin and hatred of the West are monetized into luxury apartments in Moscow, an ugly country house outside Moscow, and a lavish villa on Italy’s Lake Como. It was after this video that Solovyov was firmly branded the country’s ultimate hypocrite: a man who lectures Russians about loving their homeland while securing residency in “decadent” Europe.
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Today we have to talk about something
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so vile,
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so disgusting and awful that it is even
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worse than the corrupt Putin regime itself.
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regime.
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We’re talking about propagandists,
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the television and journalistic lackeys of this
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regime, those very lying parasites
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on whose backs this government survives, to a
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much greater extent than it does on the police
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or the National Guard (Rosgvardiya). They are Putin’s main soldiers,
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and we decided to introduce you to
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the lives and everyday habits of these people so that you can better
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grasp the full extent of their vileness and
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hypocrisy, and never believe a single
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word they say. Our first character is so
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repulsive that even
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his own colleagues laugh at him. We all became
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witnesses to a very comical spat on
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this subject. “Nightingale droppings,” first of all—
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that would be a good name for a show on the channel
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Russia-1 (a state TV channel).
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Within this conglomerate of liars, he stands out
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especially, and most people try
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to keep their distance from Solovyov, but
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the state
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loves and values him so much that he has
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flooded all
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public affairs and political programs on
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television and radio. And rightly so—where else
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would you find someone so
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brazen,
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who, while commenting on anti-corruption
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rallies, can say that
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the people who came out to them are, no less,
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the children of corrupt officials. If
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we’re talking about young people—did you notice,
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they all have phones?
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Of course, they’re all privileged rich kids after all.
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Stylish, aren’t they? Think about why that is.
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That can only mean one thing:
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they’re the children of corrupt officials. Solovyov has a talent:
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he changes his point of view instantly,
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changes costume in midair, and every
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time he lies with feeling,
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from the bottom of his heart. Here he is against the authorities,
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an opposition figure: “They have shown that they cannot
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make our country
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rich—this is not something to joke about lightly.”
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And here he is, a Putin patriot,
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a statist: “We believe in Putin and we
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believe in Russia.” And here he is, not long ago,
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saying, “God forbid Crimea returns to
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Russia.”
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Yes, God forbid.
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How do you even imagine that? And now
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he has done a 180 and remained
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just as faithful to his new ideas:
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“We brought this day closer as best we could. Crimea and
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Sevastopol are part of Russia.”
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Historical justice
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has prevailed. And as for me, for many years he has
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spoken about me only
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in shrieks and clucking noises,
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but don’t take him for a simpleton. In Russia, lying is
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a very profitable business. So let’s
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take a look at the lifestyle this character managed
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to earn thanks to
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a complete lack of conscience and a tongue with no
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bones.
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The story of Solovyov’s miraculous enrichment
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began earlier than you think. He didn’t just
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lick Putin’s boots, but anyone who could
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provide material support to the poor
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journalist. In 2004, for example,
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he was very fond of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov,
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and then he appealed to City Hall, saying, “I love you so much,
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and I have such a small apartment.”
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And the officials were grateful: by personal
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order of Luzhkov, they selected for him a four-room
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apartment in central Moscow,
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in one of the new luxury buildings—this one
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on Dolgorukovskaya Street. Moscow City Hall
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went to the trouble of finding a 160-square-meter apartment
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(about 1,722 square feet), valued it in three different ways, and
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ordered it sold to Vladimir at the lowest of those valuations
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for 2.5 million rubles.
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Now wait a second—something is off here.
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That’s right, because the average price per
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square meter of housing in the Central Administrative District of Moscow
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at the time of purchase was $2,600
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per square meter.
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But in a luxury new development like that, it would be much
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higher. Let’s modestly assume
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$3,000, multiply by the floor area, and it turns out that the
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true
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market value of Solovyov’s apartment
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was more than 13 million rubles. Let me remind you:
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that was 12 years ago. Thirteen million rubles
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is a large sum even now, and back then it was
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simply enormous. And with the help of
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City Hall, Solovyov bought housing for five times less than
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what it was really worth, and
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you and I paid the difference. And as of
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today, that apartment probably
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is worth much more, judging by
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the prices of apartments in that building—around 91
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million rubles. And after that, our boy
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kept working the TV circuit and making very good
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money from it. Why, the world is
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a fat [__]. Already in 2007, Solovyov
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bought another apartment in the same building,
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a two-level one, 146 square meters
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(about 1,572 square feet), and on that same day another
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neighboring one, 140 square meters
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(about 1,507 square feet). And all of this was bought not from Moscow, but from
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private sellers—
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producer Alexander Tolmatsky and his
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son Decl (a Russian rapper).
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So, Solovyov’s three apartments in this one
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building alone are worth about 250 million
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rubles today.
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Time passes, the authorities degenerate, steal more and
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more, and they need people like
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Solovyov more and more—people who will go on air and talk about
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the wisdom of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
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and the wretchedness of the opposition, because
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double standards.
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but simply cash, and she is ready to pay in
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In 2008, our journalist
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buys land in a gated cottage community
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in Stolnoye, in the nearest Moscow suburbs
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next to the writers' dachas in
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Peredelkino
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Solovyov decides to build a house there. I
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suspect it was based on his own design
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because, well, how should I put it, the house
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is very strange. It is, of course, enormous
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four stories tall, with 60 sotkas of land (about 0.6 hectares / 1.5 acres), but
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I would venture to suggest that this is the
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ugliest building that
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FBK (Anti-Corruption Foundation) has ever filmed. Here we are flying over Peredelkino
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and its dachas; around it is a fairly ordinary landscape
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houses, big and small, forest in the distance
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and then rises this white building, maybe some district party committee office
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or perhaps the local administration, or
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a clinic. No, not a clinic at all
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it is Vladimir Rudolfovich Solovyov's house
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Let's quickly circle around it because
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there is absolutely nothing to look at. It is
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literally just a four-story box with
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a couple of columns and an attached veranda
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Honestly, it looks more like some kind of office
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to be honest. Maybe from there operates
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a small secret army of tame
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thugs who periodically
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take over Solovyov's Twitter
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But of course it hardly looks like a dacha
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Still, the area of this house is 1,000
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square meters, and next to it there is also a garage and a
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guard house
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of 350 square meters. In this settlement,
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houses and plots of land of
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similar size are listed for sale, and they cost around
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400 million rubles. Well then, a huge
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house in the Moscow suburbs
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is a common attribute of Putin's crooks
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[music]
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But there must be something
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that underscores Vladimir
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Rudolfovich's special status, that he is not just some sick ghoul and
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talentless degenerate envied by
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everyone and oblivious to his own lack of talent
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After all, he is not just a journalist, he is a desperate
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patriot. That explains why Putin
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so loves giving him interviews: they share
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very similar feelings of patriotism
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The more they go on and on about how
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Russia is in danger, the more they
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talk about Europe's decline and the ring
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of enemies. If they ask me in a hundred years,
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"What was Europe doing?" I will say clearly and plainly, just as
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always: discussing new anti-Russian
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sanctions
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the more money they siphon out of Mother Russia
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and quietly invest it in their
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luxury foreign real estate and
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stash it in bank accounts. I am sure
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that most of you already
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suspect what I am about to show you and where
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we are about to travel. Of course,
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to Italy. Italy, now that's a country where
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No, specifically here, to a plot on the shore
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of Lake Como, right here at the water's edge
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of this Italian lake, where our today's hero
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has put down roots. Rumors about Solovyov's house
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on Lake Como had been circulating for a long time, but
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the happy owner himself never bothered to
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confirm them. Whenever asked, he would immediately
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start insulting anyone who asked and
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blocking them. No matter
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Now we will tell you everything, prove it with
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documents, and most importantly, show you. We take
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an extract from the Italian real estate registry
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and
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perfecto: Signor Vladimir Rudolfovich
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Solovyov
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The date of birth matches. We fly in from the side
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of the lake and immediately see a large three-story
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house with an attic
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In front of it there is a small pier, a private
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pool, neat gardens, and several other
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outbuildings nearby. This is
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Signor Solovyov's Italian home
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An ordinary passerby from the street
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would not be able to see any of this
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The villa is located several
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levels below, so until today
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all this beauty was hidden from
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prying eyes
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We turn around and fly around the house
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Its area is more than 900 square meters
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Thank God it was built before Solovyov acquired it
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so it looks quite nice
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On the tiled roof there are satellite dishes
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I am sure that with their help Vladimir Rudolfovich
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watches himself on Rossiya 24 (Russian state TV) from 2016 onward
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The property is registered directly in Solovyov's name
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In fact, the villa on Lake Como has belonged
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to him for quite a long time; it is just that previously it
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was registered to an American company
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Vladimir Rudolfovich, and
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well, of course, what kind of Russian patriot
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would be complete without a legal entity in the United States? Such a villa costs
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around 80 million euros, and the views
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all around it—judge for yourself—are simply priceless
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If you have any doubts about our footage, then
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go to Solovyov's Instagram; there you can easily
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find many photos and videos
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taken at this villa. He regularly
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goes there and spends his vacations there—they are so
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necessary for him after hard working
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weekdays
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when you hurl a pile of your own
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political ambitions at innocent souls, and
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in fact the question arises: what is it that you
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want?
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A fight against corruption, or are you simply
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trying to destroy the country? In general, even
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without cash in envelopes and without offshore
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accounts
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it is obvious to the naked eye
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that our loudmouth's assets
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amount to more than a billion rubles
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You see what I was saying at the beginning of the video
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Lies and hypocrisy in modern
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In Russia, that monetizes very well, he said.
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Spout vile lies here and there, and get paid for it.
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He talked about the rotten West and
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a conspiracy against Russia, and in return
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he made money, producing many fawning
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films about Putin's genius, and quietly saved up for himself
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little by little
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for a villa on Lake Como. That's the kind of
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simple scheme it is. But Vladimir Rudolfovich
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Solovyov would not be himself
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if he had, so to speak, put all his eggs in
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one basket.
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Selfless love for Putin is,
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of course, all well and good, but you never know how life
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might turn out—it has turned before. Even
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the Lord God gives freedom of choice, and so
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it's better to have options. You can choose—or not choose. But
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President Putin should not deprive anyone of that. And for that
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possibility—well, you know, just in case—
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Solovyov went and got himself
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Italian residency registration—something like
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being registered as a resident of Italy. Putin may be
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great, of course, and Europe may be
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rotten, of course, but no one has canceled the idea of a backup airfield (a fallback option).
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There is bad Hitler, bad Stalin,
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and a good Europe to retreat to, apparently.
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In any developed country—in the United States, where he had
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a company, or in Italy, where he has a house—
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Solovyov would have long since been kicked out to hell
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for professional incompetence, for boorishness, for
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insults, for lying. And these so-called
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journalists like Solovyov understand that perfectly well.
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That is why they guard this
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corrupt government with such fury and
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ferocity. We are lucky—Navalny is
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smart and talented, and we are a strong,
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smart, talented people.
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They know that if Putin is no longer in power,
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they will be gone too. There will be no state contracts,
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no TV shows, no apartments and dachas on
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Lake Como—Solovyov will have nothing in
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a normal system.
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His only fate is to be what he actually is:
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a talentless, third-rate
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journalist. He is terrified of that,
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and that is why, together with Putin, he will do
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everything possible so that we never live in a normal country
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and do not even dream of it. And if
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you so much as mention it, then what are you to him?
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A crowd of gopniks (Russian street thugs), spoiled brats,
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morons, you see—corruption fighters, that is,
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the eternal 2 percent of filth, a venal [__].
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They will say that you are going after corrupt officials, while he himself
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runs off to arrange residency in Europe.
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It is important to us that people stop believing
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liars and learn their true face.
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That they learn about the money they
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receive for their lies. That is why it is very
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important that you help spread
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this video—give it a like.
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Post it on social media, and most importantly,
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show it to all your friends and
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relatives who still
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watch television. Sign in support of
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my candidacy in the election. I will
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become president, and people like Solovyov,
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I promise you, will get what they deserve.
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Subscribe to our channel—here
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we tell the truth.