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Every act of stupidity comes with an outrageous price tag.
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Stupidity is very expensive. For example,
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soon there will be a parade in Moscow, and the whole
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country is baffled: what the hell do we need a parade for?
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On June 24—what is it for, why do we need it?
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Polls show that even among older people,
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89 percent do not consider
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holding a military parade necessary
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now, in the summer. Nevertheless, tens of thousands of
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people are being brought to Moscow. Just transporting
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military personnel alone has cost 290 million
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rubles, but they also need to clear the clouds for the parade,
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and that costs 113 million rubles.
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To show the parade to the whole country, which
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apparently,
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is just dying to see yet another
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parade, they are organizing a live broadcast, and it
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costs 83 million rubles. Journalists will come
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to the parade, but so that they do not
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infect Putin, they will not be allowed into the parade itself
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but instead a special press
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center will be set up.
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Well, to entertain them there and all that, and this
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costs 135 million rubles. Just the
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flowers to decorate this press center
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were purchased for 2 million rubles. For catering
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and other needs, 118 million rubles have been allocated.
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Quite right, because a well-fed journalist
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will write about Putin’s greatness better than
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a hungry journalist. So in total, just
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this press center alone will consume 254
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million rubles.
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Hosting foreign delegations: 86
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million rubles. To cover up
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the Mausoleum (Lenin’s Mausoleum on Red Square), and once again infuriate Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov (leader of the Communist Party),
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we will pay 60 million rubles.
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Putin, in photographs with veterans, must
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look nice and polished, and for that there is
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a special photography contract worth 47
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million rubles. Little postcards all across the
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country—2 million of them will be sent out
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with Putin’s facsimile signature and greetings
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from Putin: 30 million rubles. Foreign and
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honored guests must be driven around
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in specially branded cars. I
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don’t know what that means exactly—maybe a sticker saying
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“Thanks, Grandpa, for the Victory” or “To Berlin,” but
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just this alone
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branding will cost 12 million rubles. So altogether
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we are already up to almost
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a billion rubles, and that is only according to public procurement
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data. On top of that there will be enormous
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fuel costs for armored personnel carriers, tanks,
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fighter jets, and helicopters, and those are buried inside
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the Defense Ministry budget—we do not
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see them. Plus the scorched asphalt in central
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Moscow, these rehearsals, these endless traffic jams,
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which cost the city’s economy dearly.
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Masks, gloves, hand sanitizer—and I
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have only been talking about Moscow so far.
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In some regions, the parades were canceled
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because of the epidemic, but nevertheless in 60
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regions and in most of Russia’s largest
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cities they will still take place. It is simply
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a river of money. And add to that also
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the treatment of all these people who will, of course,
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be infected at these insane parades in the
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middle of an epidemic. And do not forget that
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after all, on May 9 we already had some kind of
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parade this year. Yes, soldiers and military equipment
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did not march across Red Square—that was canceled
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at the last moment—but the rehearsals happened,
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the aircraft were there,
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the cloud-seeding happened, the fireworks happened—for all of that
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huge sums were also paid. And everyone,
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everyone in the country knows that all of this
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madness is being staged for one person. This
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parade has one spectator: he sits in
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his bunker. He sat there for two and a half
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months because he himself is afraid
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of getting infected. People are only allowed near him through
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a disinfection tunnel. Elderly
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veterans are specially kept for
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him in a closed boarding facility
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to determine whether they are infectious or not. Vladimir
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Vladimirovich demands guarantees that he
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will sit at the parade surrounded by
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safe, non-infectious veterans. And he
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personally needs this parade because he
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wants to begin the vote on resetting
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his presidential term limits with something solemn,
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something festive.
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which for our country, for every
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Russian family, has been, is, and will remain sacred,
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the most important of all. “I want a parade!” Putin shouts,
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regardless of the insane spending and the epidemic.
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And give him that parade, no matter what—just produce it.
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Give him this parade: a billion rubles, thousands
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infected—I order preparations to begin
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for the military parade marking the 75th anniversary of victory in the
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Great Patriotic War (the Soviet term for the Eastern Front of World War II). The whole country
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is twirling a finger at its temple and saying:
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Have you lost your mind?
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Buy extra medicine for pensioners with this
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money. Give people some kind of help.
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For two and a half months everyone sat
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at home; half the country was without work and without
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pay. A parade is the very last thing
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on their minds. But the old man in the bunker
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wants a parade. He needs to show himself off on the
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reviewing stand, and once again we will pull money out of our pockets
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and pay for it. One mad,
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greedy man obsessed with power
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is forcing the entire country to engage in nonsense,
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and we will keep doing it until we finally
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organize a collective pushback.
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First, do not recognize this vote.
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It is a fraud. We do not give Putin the right
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to run for another term after 20
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years in power. The very vote on this
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issue is illegal. Do not go—but if you have
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firmly decided to go, then at least be
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careful, and of course vote against it.
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Second, before we know it, September will come,
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and there will be elections in 31 regions.
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Real elections. Six cities with populations over one million
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are taking part. That is where they need to be
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hit—Putin and United Russia. Not a single one.
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votes for them, and a mass campaign for Smart Voting
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In September, in the real
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elections, we must remind Putin of
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these parades and the failure to fight the corona-
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virus—that he refused to help
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people and instead helped his billionaire
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friends. This is a simple and very
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realistic plan for the next two
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months, and everyone can take part,
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even if you live in other regions.
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If Putin loses his majority in these
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city and regional legislative
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assemblies, his power will begin
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to unravel. Voters who are already
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opposed to the authorities need to do
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just one thing: vote together
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according to the principle of Smart Voting.
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Register and do your part, or
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otherwise you will go on
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paying for Putin’s parade. They are giving an
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insulting, in my view, to our
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country and our people, piece of advice: to change
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the Constitution—they need to change their minds instead. They
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the Constitution, noth