The World Cup, the retirement age hike, and 4,000 rubles from you

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Hello everyone, it's 8:18 p.m. in Moscow, in the studio.

Alexei Navalny, or the man with a 1, 2, 3 percent

approval rating, as Vladimir Putin called me

in an interview with Austrian

television, once again refusing to say

my last name. I'm incredibly, incredibly glad to be

back on the air after a month-long break.

Every Thursday I sat there in my cell and

sadly said, "Hello, Moscow, it's

8:18 p.m." I missed our broadcasts terribly.

Thank you so much.

Many thanks to my colleagues who hosted these broadcasts.

And huge thanks to all the viewers who

watched them—I hope

we'll see now that I haven't lost any

of my live broadcasting skills. I'm

terribly nervous and very happy to begin with

some great news and congratulate everyone on

the Russian national team's victory.

5-0—absolutely amazing. I didn't watch

the match, I was preparing for the broadcast, but I

knew perfectly well what the score was, because

we're sitting on the fifth floor, and after every goal

you could hear the roar from the street—people shouting.

That's really great. I'll drink this still

water to the victory of the Russian

team.

Of course, much more

difficult contests lie ahead, much more difficult

matches, but still, you have to admit,

it's great. I mean, obviously

there was plenty to mock the Russian

team for, to joke every time before every

match—it was just a whole set of absolutely

brilliant jokes, and there were—or rather,

there weren't—I didn't meet a single

person. But over the month I saw police officers

or detainees, and neither group thought

the Russian team would win even one

match. And it's great that they did manage it.

Just imagine what it would be like for us now

—we'd be making sad jokes again,

about how we'd failed again, how

awful it all was, how hopelessly clumsy we are,

and so on. But at least now we have

one guaranteed great

victory, and right now people are walking through the streets of Moscow

chanting, "Russia! Russia!" And

that really is very cool, very

wonderful. Congratulations to everyone, and I wish

our

team to keep playing this well.

The World Cup taking place right now

is always, of course, a very important

political and foreign policy

event for any country, and it's very

interesting to watch what's

happening in Russia right now. Yes, this is—

sorry, I'm smoothly moving on to less

joyful news than our team's

victory. For any country, it's always

a very significant foreign policy

event, and for Russia, of course, it's also a

foreign policy event—a chance to show

how great we are, to say that the boycott of

our football celebration failed. But

today it became clear just how much the World Cup

was planned by the authorities and

carried out by the authorities as, among other things,

a domestic political event, because

today two things happened that

will have enormous long-term

consequences for the whole country, for every one

of those watching this broadcast, and both of these

pieces of news

were slipped in today, during the day,

buried somewhere on pages two, three, four, five.

And after this 5-0 victory, the news won't

say anything about it at all.

First of all,

raising the retirement age. Second,

tax increases—raising VAT by 2

percentage points. This is very important; later

I'll explain why it's so important. And

notice: no discussion,

no debate—just cheering, 5-0,

Cheryshev, go! All of that is fine and

great, but

just appreciate this kind of trickery, this

meanness, you see.

To hide all this on the opening day of

the World Cup in Russia, on the day when

our national team is playing—this was all deliberately

designed so that it wouldn't be discussed

at all. But we will discuss it, and I

urge all of you to discuss it too,

to explain it to people. In fact, after

some time, people will of course

understand for themselves what's happening, and here it's very

important—important for each of us—to

explain why this happened and who

is to blame. There are a lot of questions.

Let me remind you that you can ask me

questions on Twitter using the hashtag #Navalny2018.

On this broadcast, we're continuing

to raise money. All of it will go toward

paying fines for those who were arrested for

participating in the May 5 rallies in

their cities. And we've now enabled

Super Chat. I don't even know how this

thing works myself—they turned it on while I

was under arrest. In short, there's some kind of

Super Chat. I don't know what people do with it, but

you'll probably figure something out yourselves.

There are a lot of questions about my

detention center, my arrest, and a lot of

questions because today I—well, it's not

that it was exactly planned, although yes, I had intended

it—I just didn't expect there to be such a

reaction. I'll make a little

sensation: I got out of the detention center, but

today, with the World Cup starting, I thought I'd write a quick

update, and I posted on Instagram about

how I'd gotten out, and the entire

detention center—and in fact the whole area for

those under arrest—had been completely transformed.

because of the World Cup, they would be

arresting foreigners, and so there

they redid everything. Well, I didn’t want to

completely deceive people; I understood that once it was out,

all sorts of outlets would start reprinting the story.

So I basically built into the story

what seemed to me completely obvious, and

well, these little clues showing that this

could never be true. For example, I

wrote that now there was a completely different

menu, and if the detainee wanted, a waiter would come in.

That “waiter” was supposedly a cadet from a police academy (militsiya, the former Soviet/Russian police).

They’re fed borscht, and

offered a choice of dessert, including

tiramisu. And it seemed to me that

a Russian jail cell

“Russian jail cell” and “tiramisu” are two phrases

that simply cannot exist,

in the same universe, and any person

would of course understand immediately. Still, just in case,

I thought maybe someone wouldn’t

pick up on the tiramisu part.

So I added a paragraph saying that now

in the special detention center, specially hired

female students from foreign-language institutes

dressed as flight attendants

came in to hand out

phrasebooks in foreign languages. Then I also

added a point saying that in every cell

they had installed a huge LCD

screen so detainees could watch

football.

Well, at that point it was already completely

obvious that this could never be true.

Nevertheless, a huge number of media outlets

published the story, saying that Navalny

had described how the special detention center had changed.

Some absolutely

respectable media outlets did it too. I apologize to everyone.

Just now, on my way to the broadcast, I found

that public radio—the main radio network in the U.S.—

had also carried it, quoting these

reports as if they were factual accounts.

The opposition leader described how the Russian

police had transformed the detention center.

I apologize to everyone. It seemed to me

that it was obvious, but apparently it was

only very obvious to those who have actually been

in a special detention center, or under arrest at all.

Anyone who has had that kind of negative experience in jail

understands that this could

never happen. There is no such thing as tiramisu

there, there cannot be, there simply cannot be

anything like that in those interiors,

or any girls from foreign-language

institutes.

Nevertheless, there were many news reports. It was all

made up from the first word to the last.

Fiction. There are no toilets—there are still holes in the

floor.

There’s no amazing food, no

TVs, no goals and balls in the

exercise yard, and no one is given

gifts after being released from detention.

That’s how I wrote it.

Sorry, guys—everyone who believed it, well,

that’s my own

little funny story about the World

Cup.

I served 30 days—30 days, longer than 25.

It was my longest arrest so far, and

as I said in today’s video with you,

which I already posted on the main

channel, yes, there was nothing good about it, but

again, nothing super-extremely

terrible happened to me. And if

that is the price that has to be paid

for telling the truth in Russia, then

I will pay that price. And I urge everyone

not to be afraid of it. There is nothing so horrible in

detention or arrest itself. What is frightening is

what is happening to our country right now.

What is frightening is when the retirement age

is raised the way it is being raised.

And of course I should also say that

quite a few of my colleagues

are still in detention centers—Kira Yarmysh,

my press secretary, is still there now, with a little

time left; she got 25 days, for the first time ever.

Also, we had an episode when in

Bashkiria (Bashkortostan), the head of our штаб, Lilia,

got 30 days. Kira got 25.

Usually women aren’t given that much time, but

times are changing. Ruslan Shaveddinov is in the same

detention center for 25 days, and Sergei

Boyko, I think, got 30 days.

He is also still serving time now. In

Irkutsk, Sergei Bespalov is in jail; the head

of our headquarters in Krasnoyarsk was just released today; in

Krasnoyarsk, Daniil Markin...

In St. Petersburg, our unfortunate

Denis Mikhailov, who is simply the head

of our St. Petersburg headquarters, walks outside

and they grab him and lock him up for 30 days. But in

St. Petersburg

and with the local authorities, we will wage

a fierce struggle, because this is

a gang of crooks and thieves, and the local

police—

they have effectively declared war on

our headquarters. But we accept the fight; they’ll

have a lot to answer for, and we will deal closely with the St. Petersburg

officials and the St. Petersburg police

and everyone else quite

intensively. So to all these

people who are still locked up, I send them

a virtual greeting. Of course they can’t

hear me—naturally, they have no access to

the internet. They’re doing great, and many

thanks to everyone who took part in the protests

on the fifth, and who also went through

these unpleasant moments involving

detentions. I can see the first

donations coming in—2,018 rubles have arrived

2,018 rubles have come in to pay the fines.

As for the World Cup, just to close this

topic: many people think the opposition is against

the World Cup, or that I am against the World Cup.

the world against it being held in

Russia because of the costs and all that.

No, I’m not against the FIFA World Cup

and I’m not against it being held in

Russia. It’s great that Russia is hosting this

football celebration. The only thing I don’t

understand is why it absolutely has to

cost you and me $14 billion

when presumably we would have played just as well against

Saudi Arabia even

if the total cost had come to

say, $8 billion, or

$6 billion, or $10 billion, but

some more reasonable amount. I’m

looking, for example, at the cost of this old

sporting event in other countries, and I

see figures like this: in 2002, $4 billion; in 2006,

$2.9 billion; in 2010, three and a

half billion dollars was the cost of

the FIFA World Cup in

2014. In Brazil, the World Cup

also cost a very

high amount—$14 billion, slightly

cheaper than ours, which is the most expensive.

But in Brazil, afterward there was a

massive scandal, because the whole

country came out—really, the whole country

took to the streets and said: you stole a large

part of that money. And as a result of those

unrest, the government ended up resigning.

The government resigned.

The president resigned too, and even in

Brazil this was one of the few

World Cups where the head of state

did not speak at the opening ceremony. Now,

today Putin spoke, and many people

were indignant: why is Putin speaking? But he

was supposed to speak—that’s the tradition.

The head of state speaks at the

World Cup. In Brazil, that didn’t happen.

They just released doves there, because

well, it was impossible

for anyone

to speak in a situation where the whole country

was going crazy. Just imagine:

Brazil, where everyone is obsessed with football, and

all those football-mad people

were coming out into the streets by the hundreds of thousands against

the FIFA World Cup because of

corruption, because of theft.

I would like the World Cup

to be held for some reasonable amount of money,

and for the remaining money saved

to be directed elsewhere.

For example, if we need the tournament for

tourism growth,

just imagine how great it would be if

we did everything, say, for a huge but still

much lower amount—$8 billion,

and then another $6 billion

could be used to make two regions—Kaliningrad and

Nizhny Novgorod Region—

ideal from the standpoint of

tourism, investing several billion in each

and simply lifting those regions up,

giving them new development, making it so

that hundreds of thousands of

tourists would go there because the airports are great,

renovated, and there are attractions,

leisure options, and everything else. But we

didn’t do that. Instead, we have

the same thing again. I’m already so tired of every

time talking about construction—I’ve already

told you all about Rotenberg and

Timchenko, but

still, what else is there to say?

Rotenberg and Timchenko made

tens of billions of rubles here

—“made” meaning, really, stole,

because the official amount of

money they earned in profit is

relatively

small—well, not small, but we

know that looking at the cost of this

construction, we understand perfectly well that

a significant part of it was simply

stolen, and these people became fabulously rich

off the FIFA World Cup.

That’s what I’m against, and I will never

agree with the idea that if you want a championship,

you have to accept whatever comes with it.

Like the saying goes: if you like sledding, you have to haul the sled too.

And Rotenberg and the kind of “sled” that

comes by default with any construction project

in Russia—send that to hell.

With or without your Rotenberg, could you

hold something at all? Besides, well,

of course, on some things I’m not a big

expert. In football, I don’t claim to be one.

Yes, people have laughed at me many times

when they asked me who I support

and I said Spartak. In fact,

I do support Spartak because I consider it

a real Moscow team, but honestly

I don’t know much about the internal

life of Spartak

or anything else. Yes, I’m not very

interested in football, but even to me it’s not

clear, and I really want an answer

to the question: why did we build a 45,000-seat

stadium in the city of Saransk?

I’ve been there—it’s a good city, good people, but

what possible use is a 45,000-seat stadium there, even

considering that when people start criticizing

Mutko and everyone else, they say, well, why the

hell did they build, in Saransk, a small city,

a 45,000-seat stadium? They say, well,

we’ll rebuild it later, reduce it, and it

will have 30,000 seats. Fine—but if I don’t

understand this stuff, I go online and look up

where in Russia we consistently get 30,000 people at

football matches.

And I see that Zenit can do that,

but even Spartak and CSKA can’t

boast those kinds of regular numbers—

30,000 in the stadium. So I understand that

30,000 is an enormous, colossal

capacity for a stadium, even in a city

In a city of over a million people, what do I do next?

Not being much of a football expert, I go to

the specialized website Sports.ru

and look at the attendance figures.

For football matches in the city of Saransk,

where we slapped together this fancy stadium for

many

billions, I see that in 2015 and 2016

the average attendance was 6,026

people, and in the 2016–17 season, after three matches,

the average attendance was

3,762 people—ten times less

than what they’ve built now can hold.

Sure, the assumption is, of course,

that this cool new stadium will become

a driver of growth, that it can be used for

other sports.

But tell me, what sports in Saransk

I’m not criticizing Saransk right now,

I’m just saying it’s still a relatively small

city. What sports, other than literally handing out

money from a helicopter, could attract 30,000

people in Saransk? None.

And even in Moscow, almost none can.

And yet they built it. And I don’t—

I don’t have an answer, and no one has an answer to

the question of what the hell this is for. Maintaining

this stadium will cost colossal

amounts of money. Maintaining this stadium will eat up

the entire budget of the city of Saransk. They’ll need

federal subsidies so it doesn’t

fall apart.

They’ll have to come up with special programs,

and, for all I know, they’ll start dragging in soldiers or

police officers by force so they

sit in those empty stands. At the same time,

in Krasnodar, where there’s a magnificent stadium

built with private money—this

stadium, just type “beautiful stadium

in Russia” into Google and you’ll see photos of

Krasnodar’s. I myself would really like to

go see that stadium—everyone praises it.

There’s also some amazing park in front of it.

Galitsky, the former owner of Magnit (a major Russian retail chain), built all of it.

He built it himself; he’s obsessed with football.

There’s also the Krasnodar youth academy, by the way.

And again, if we look at

the numbers, it ranks third in Russia for

attendance. So there is a new

great stadium that holds a lot of people,

but it wasn’t included in the World Cup program.

Why? Because they needed

to build a new stadium, because

construction is an opportunity for old hands like

Rotenberg, Timchenko, and the rest to steal

many, many billions from us. And I really

don’t see any problem with both

celebrating the Russian national team’s victories

and enjoying football in general,

enjoying the World Cup, supporting

the idea of the World Cup being held in Russia,

and at the same time being outraged by corruption. That’s

exactly how it should be. A true patriot of Russia, I

believe, should act that way.

He should ask our government

questions: the World Cup is great, but

let’s figure out why

this happened. Let me remind you that with

the hashtag #Navalny2018, you can

ask me questions. Go ahead, I’ll

answer them, and then we’ll move on to the next topic.

So, I see people are asking me—right now we have

1,500 people watching the stream.

They’re asking whether there will be a list

of the books I’ve read. Yes, there will be a list

of the books I’ve read. This time I actually

wrote everything down and added a short review,

because last time I let everyone down and

never made the reading list.

I got through a lot. Some books were

complete trash, some were very

good and I’d like to recommend them.

So yes, there will definitely be

a post like that on my blog. Makar asks:

“Hello from the headquarters in

Cheboksary—we’re watching

together with the volunteers. Hello to everyone.

We’re getting ready for the weekend.” Yes, we

really are currently organizing

a nationwide campaign, and our headquarters across

the country will be carrying out this weekend

an action through RosYama (an anti-pothole civic service), that is, we

through our RosYama service will be

documenting road surface problems, because

again, the World Cup is great, but

we mustn’t forget that roads in many of Russia’s

major cities are destroyed,

and we need to draw attention to that. Our

RosYama service does exactly that: it lets you

file complaints about damage to road surfaces,

because this isn’t just a pothole in the

road—incidentally, it’s actually

a legal violation over which the traffic police (GIBDD)

are supposed to draw up a report. Vorobyov asks

me—this just flashed by on the screen—

what I think about the detention

of a British LGBT activist who was standing

in a one-person protest. I think it’s

complete idiocy. I saw the photos—

there was this man standing there with a sign

about LGBT activists.

You should treat it as a one-person protest:

you read it, say “good for him,”

or say “not good for him, we don’t

agree,” and move on. He has every

right to stand there with that sign.

He isn’t bothering anyone, absolutely no one.

So his detention is an obvious

violation of rights. Is it normal that—also in

the same question— is it normal that in

Russia, human rights are being defended by

foreigners? First of all, it’s not only

foreigners—Russian citizens, too,

speak out on this issue.

By the way, today, to show the difference

between a Russian citizen and a foreigner—I don’t remember

the name, unfortunately—at lunchtime today, a man came out

with a sign near a monument.

So, Zhukov insisted on Manezhnaya Square (a central square in Moscow).

He was given 15 days of administrative arrest for a solo picket, but

foreigners were detained for the same thing, as I understand it,

and they’ll be released, but where foreigners were involved,

they just scolded them, while our guy got 15 days — but that is

obviously, of course, obviously unlawful

actions.

So, the next topic — and if it weren’t for

the triumphant, fantastic victory

of Russia over the Saudi Arabia national team,

this would undoubtedly, it seems to me, today be

the number one topic, despite the fact that it was

completely undeservedly overlooked

by many people. I see that economists, people

who understand this stuff, are writing about it,

they’re talking about it a lot, but ordinary people haven’t

really grasped it: VAT was raised from 18% to 20%.

Let’s listen to what

Dmitry Medvedev said when announcing that it would be

increased. I want to stress once again

that during these presidential elections

the Russian government, including

Medvedev, repeatedly said that

there were absolutely no plans to increase the tax

burden. Nevertheless, today, deliberately,

on a day when this would not really be

discussed, they raised it. Here is what

Medvedev said: the rate of the tax on

value added will be changed.

The basic VAT rate is currently 18%.

It is proposed to make it 20%.

So that this burden does not fall on people,

all VAT benefits

for essential socially significant

goods and key services will be

preserved.

These are reduced rates for

food,

children’s goods, medical goods, and

zero rates for domestic

interregional air travel.

And so an ordinary

normal person looks at this — someone who is not

a tax specialist, not

an economist — and thinks: well, what kind of

nonsense is this VAT thing?

I don’t pay any VAT. I’ve never

seen myself paying any VAT. That’s something

for legal entities, some kind of

VAT offsets, accounting tricks, whatever.

It doesn’t concern me at all. Some

factories will pay it, the average person thinks.

And then — it was 18%, now it’s 20% — also

some kind of nonsense. It was 18 kopecks, now it’s

20 kopecks, or it was 18 rubles,

now it’s 20 rubles — doesn’t affect me at all,

the average person thinks. Besides, as

Medvedev also said, the reduced VAT rate

for food and children’s goods will remain

as it is, no one will touch it, absolutely nothing

will change. Well,

it will change, of course, absolutely for sure. I’m

not going to go

into a long discussion now about the economic

nature of VAT. Vladimir Milov, in his

program today, talked about it,

and there will be a lot more said on this subject, a lot will

be written. The nature of VAT, the properties of this tax,

are such that

all goods will become 2% more expensive,

guaranteed. But let’s say you don’t

believe me — let’s believe this very

Russian government today.

The Russian government gave two figures.

This 2% VAT increase

— just two percent — will bring the Russian budget

first, they said, 2 trillion rubles,

according to the government’s estimate, and then

Finance Minister Siluanov gave the lowest

figure: 600 billion rubles. That is,

from 2 trillion

down to 600 billion. Let’s not even

discuss the 2 trillion, although I

think it will most likely be 2

trillion. Let’s discuss 600 billion. At the same time,

we understand that VAT is included in the price of the

final product, so those 600

billion will be paid by us, by you and me. 600

billion is 4,000 rubles from each of

us. So I guarantee you this is

inevitable: this year you will spend

4,000 rubles more, and next year you

will spend more too, because they say, well,

we only raised it a little.

And this is not my assumption — once again,

Medvedev said the tax would be raised, and

Siluanov said this is how much we will receive

as a result of implementing this

tax increase. In other words, we will pay more. You

will pay at least 4,000

rubles more. Is 4,000 rubles a year a lot

or a little?

The average salary in Russia,

according to official data, is 36,000

rubles. In reality, of course, it is

lower, but officially it is 36,000

rubles. So 4,000

— if we take annual income — is

almost 1% of annual income. One

percent of your annual income you will have

to pay — just like that. Notice:

there has been no public discussion at all. I mean,

a tax increase — that’s a big deal.

The right and the left should be battling over this.

There should be debate in the State

Duma, the Union of Industrialists and

Entrepreneurs should be saying one thing, experts

another, and the Communists should

come out — in theory, the Communists should

support higher taxes, while United

Russia, which by the way claims that

it is a right-wing party and defends

the interests of business, ought to be

against this tax. But there is nothing at all,

no discussion whatsoever.

That means each of us will pay at least

4,000 rubles, and most likely much

more — remember, up to 2 trillion rubles.

The upper estimate will be much higher.

paid

But we see no public

discussion. This was the fourth news item on the day of the opening

of the World Cup, so this is a very important

issue. They have already even said that

inflation will rise because of the increase

in pension—sorry, because of the

increase in VAT, that is, inflation

is rising, and we will pay 4,000 rubles more

and the overall economic

impact on our incomes, on our

situation, will be quite

substantial. And the poorer you are, excuse me,

the more significant that impact will be,

because, again, the nature of VAT is such

that poor citizens suffer from its

increase first and foremost.

The smaller your salary already is, the smaller

your family income is,

the more you—specifically you and your family—

will pay as a result of the VAT increase. What irritates me

is that no one is saying this.

Somehow, that is just how politics is arranged in

this country: no one discusses it, no one

discusses it. Well, I don't know—I devoted my

internet program to it, people said a lot on

the radio, something was said in the newspapers,

they wrote about it, but nowhere else. We have

a whole bunch of state TV channels,

billions of rubles are spent on them, yet on something that

will affect tens of millions, there is absolutely no

discussion at all. But we should be having this

discussion, and people need to have it

explained to them that when, following the rise in the price of

gasoline, gasoline gets more expensive because of VAT,

so will food products. And all that is a lie, what

Medvedev says—that food prices have

0% VAT or 10% VAT and therefore it will not

be affected. It will be affected, because that is simply how it

works: it is present everywhere, in every

product, and food will become more expensive. When

food gets more expensive, your grandmother

who voted for Putin will come and say,

"Grandson, somehow, well, bread

has gone up, cabbage, carrots..."

You need to explain to your grandmothers that

"Dear Grandma, this is specifically Medvedev and

Putin.

Despite what they promised, they made it so

that this year you, Grandma, lost

4,000 rubles

and got approximately zero in return,

except, dear Grandma, a stadium

30

and a quest in the city of Saransk. It is not easy

to explain, I agree. It is some kind of

construction that is not entirely obvious, but

please explain this to your grandmothers. It is

very important and will have very large

consequences. Well, since I am on this topic, I

see a question—"Cheburek..." wow, how do you

come up with these names? They are asking me specifically:

Ilya Yashin has submitted documents to Mosgorizbirkom (the Moscow City Election Commission).

Will there be support for Yashin?

Will Navalny's team help collect

signatures? Well, it is probably no secret to anyone

that we certainly support

Yashin. We supported the primaries.

The primaries did not take place. Dmitry Gudkov

was afraid to take part in them, despite the fact

that, as far as I know—I did not see those appeals myself,

I was under arrest—but I did read

newspaper articles about how Yashin appealed to

Gudkov, and Gudkov refused. We support him.

In the end, there will be support from us for him.

For him, from us. Well, right now, as I understand it,

he is still in a difficult situation. I

will talk about it in more detail a little later, when

I speak about the Moscow elections. But

Yashin does have a difficult situation after all.

He wanted some kind of unifying arrangement,

he wanted primaries.

His idea of taking part in the mayoral election was based on that,

because he would go to the primaries,

win the primaries,

but that arrangement, by and large, does not exist. Still,

we will see what decision he ultimately makes, but we

will of course support him, not only

because Yashin is an excellent

and decent person who is often unfairly criticized,

simply...

Yashin's interests coincide with ours.

We also wanted primaries,

we also wanted and still want a common united arrangement.

We will all die before reaching

retirement age. Well, rather,

of course, with the increase, all of us

will die before reaching retirement

age. But while I was sitting here, they brought me

a great statement,

from the Russian Confederation of Labour,

the largest independent trade union in Russia.

They put out a very good statement

about raising the retirement age

even before it was announced today

officially. And there is statistics there, and

it is statistics that everyone should know.

Remember this, please: 40

percent of men in Russia do not live to

retirement age. Twenty percent of women

currently living in Russia will not live

to retirement age. So this

decision is also astonishing, unbelievable.

The decision has been finalized, and today, on the

day the FIFA World Cup opened, a decision

was made that completely contradicts everything

Putin has been saying for 18 years, and how

categorically he said it. If you

remember, then on almost every

Direct Line with the President (Putin's annual televised Q&A), these

sorts of things they like to do,

he was always asked questions about

raising the retirement age. The setup

was always the same: they would say, "Well, Vladimir

Vladimirovich, there are these evil, evil

liberals in the government, Kudrin and

all the other scoundrels, those people..."

They want to raise the retirement age. What do you

think about that? And after all, he kept

saying all the time: no, I will never do that

as long as I am presi-

dent, this will not happen. No exaggeration—I

showed this clip in my video

today. Let's watch it here once again

and keep watching it until we're

blue in the face.

And let's show everyone this—one of

Putin's many statements—word for word, and

keep bringing it back up. Let's watch: "I am against raising

the retirement age, and as long as I am

president, such a decision will not be

made.

And in general, I believe that we have no

need to raise the age for

retirement."

Look at that—what a tough man,

true to his word: "I am against raising

the retirement age. As long as I am president,

this will not happen." And all the elderly women go,

"Oh my God, what a fine fellow, thank you, it's so

wonderful that our president Vladimir

Putin is like this." And now they went into the elections

thinking that too, saying, well, Putin has

been in power for 18 years, and for all 18 years

he has said the same thing: I am against raising

the retirement age, and he will never raise it.

And a month after the inauguration

had passed,

the World Cup flags were raised, the fireworks

went off, and then very quietly, very quietly, they announced: well,

the retirement age is being raised. And at that,

they chose the harshest possible scenario for raising

the retirement age. There were many

transitional options

where it would go up by six months, and then by another

six months—they wanted to stretch this out over

several years, and as far as I

understand, that was the preferred approach:

to spread it over several years so people wouldn't

get outraged.

Because, again, 40 percent

of men currently alive will not live long enough,

and they most likely know that they will not

make it.

And to put it bluntly, guys, in effect

they were told: you'll work until you die

and you'll never receive a pension. Forty

percent—if ten people are watching us

right now,

then for four of them, no

pension is coming. You work your whole life, and a pen-

sion—you won't get one.

That's what they told them, and

[music]

obviously they won't like that, so

that's why all this was done so briskly, precisely

on these days. And this is an absolutely outrageous

violation,

and it is a completely senseless and harmful

measure. Of course, some people will

say: that's populism, what you're saying.

The retirement age needs to be raised, and

United Russia (the ruling political party) will tell you that now, and already

look—even the

human rights ombudsman

has issued a statement saying how

right it is—she supports raising

the retirement age because it

apparently has a positive effect on the state of

human rights. Kudrin today—this is our

wonderful systemic liberal, Alexei

Kudrin—declared what a proper,

good measure this is, and that as a result people's

pensions will increase. Yet when we look

at the adopted decision, it says that

pensions will be increased, the retirement

age will be raised—but by what mechanism will

pensions increase?

From these documents, absolutely nothing

is clear. Something about

1,000 rubles a year (about US$11 a year)—1,000 rubles a year, as we

just discussed, while in the course of

the VAT increase we will spend far

more. So for now it's not clear how

pensions are supposed to rise.

But it is completely obvious that they have already

raised it—the reason for raising the retirement age is very

simple: the state has no money, and they

say so directly. The issue here is not

unemployment, or

whether there are many jobs, or whether we

need new labor resources, or any

other such reasons.

It's not as if the whole country is full of energetic retirees

who don't know what to do, going

out into the streets and doing—what's it called—

Swedish walking or Nordic walking

with poles, walking around like that.

You can't get away from them, these retirees,

they won't let you walk down the sidewalk, so

let's raise the retirement age and make them

go work. No, those are not the reasons being

given. There is only one reason: there isn't enough money. We

need to collect more money, so let's

pay out fewer pensions. That's also a raising of

the retirement age: we simply

won't pay pensions to several million people.

That's all. But if that's the case, then

let's save money by fighting corruption,

which is exactly what I talked about during my

election campaign. Guys, if there isn't enough

money in the budget, then by your own estimates

1 to 1.5 trillion rubles a year (about US$11-17 billion a year)

is stolen through public procurement alone. Let's

save money there. Let's look at what

crazy expenses we have, like these

projects costing two or even several times more than

they should—stadiums, for example, or enormous budgets for

state television, and so on

and so forth. If there is no money,

then let's look for it—but let's not make it so that

40 percent of men do not live long enough to reach

that pension. That cannot be done, it is

impossible. Besides, let's honestly

say—especially, probably, this will be

It’s obvious to older people there,

where are they supposed to find a job at 55?

A 55-year-old woman in Russia will not find

a job anywhere, ever.

Let’s be realistic, really

and face reality head-on.

Sorry for the tautology, but in fact

go right now, don’t wait,

listen to me, go to any job search website

to prove me wrong, and

look — everywhere it will say up to

40, everywhere it will say “up to 40 years old.” For

these people whose retirement age

has been raised to 65, and to 63 for women, there is nowhere

for them to get hired. The idea here is very simple:

it is simply about not paying them

a pension, that’s all. They cannot work.

Besides, I was asked a lot about this

during the election campaign, and we

will talk about it a lot, a great deal, precisely

because everyone got scared and is staying silent,

even the Communists. Look at the trade unions

— apart from the KTR (Confederation of Labor of Russia), everyone is silent. So we

will of course speak about it a lot, and

the Anti-Corruption Foundation, our party

Russia of the Future, our headquarters, will become

probably the main political force

that will oppose this

decision. And we have a great deal on this subject —

figures, all kinds of data.

But the healthcare system is such that

by the age of 60, people are already disabled — 30 percent

of them are disabled, they cannot work.

When Kudrin and all the others say, well,

65 years old — they imagine some kind of

these

sprightly people who work with them

in neighboring offices, with huge

salaries, an excellent standard of living,

great healthcare, low

stress levels, low alcohol consumption

or at least moderate

alcohol use. But these are people living in cities, with

higher education — everything is great for them, well

yes, they live to 75.

No question about it. But whether we like it or not,

our country is mostly made up of

very different people who live in it,

and for various reasons, historical

reasons,

if we are talking about 60-year-olds, they do not

have a good education, they have never

received in their lives

proper healthcare, they do not

eat very well, they very often

abuse them

alcohol, and life for them

is not exactly

let’s say, much less

cheerful than it is for Alexei Leonidovich

Kudrin. Not because — I just said

that they abuse

alcoholic drinks — not because they

abuse them

as a cause; very often the relationship is the other way around, and

they began abusing

alcohol because, well, life is like that. You

live in a city, even

in a regional capital, and your salary at work

is no more than 30,000 to 35,000 rubles a month (about $330–$385),

you can go work at a factory with hazardous

working conditions, even up to age 55,

and make 35,000–40,000 rubles (about $385–$440), but

if you want to work in normal

conditions, then fine — work for 22,000 rubles (about $240). That

is Russia.

And in this Russia, to raise the retirement

age now — we will not accept it, we will

oppose it however we can. So

you too, please — I know that my

program and my videos are watched by younger

people, and please do not

think that this somehow does not

concern you at all. It does concern you, it

will affect you, it will affect your

parents too. You see, the thing is,

it is all very tightly interconnected. If the government

deprives several million people of their pensions,

that means it will affect your

salary, your salary prospects,

your small business, medium-sized business, any business at all.

These things are interconnected. So they

are hitting you with measures like this — hitting

you specifically. And when

we hear all this talk that

United Russia (the ruling political party) will be pushing, saying,

“we will create a more balanced

pension system” — no.

The priorities should be different. I am

sure that if, in your city,

you look for the Pension Fund building, it

will be the most beautiful, the fanciest,

the most glass-covered building in your city.

Let’s at least sort out the Pension Fund’s spending

first, and only then

talk about raising the retirement age. I say this

as the head of the organization that released

an investigation into the apartment of the head

of the Pension Fund. I don’t remember anymore

how much it cost there on Patriarch’s Ponds (an elite neighborhood in Moscow),

something like a billion — no, half a billion

rubles a few years ago — but some kind of

100-room apartment that the head

of the Pension Fund, Drozdov, obtained

from who knows where, bought it or somehow

acquired it. So there have to be priorities.

And among those priorities, among the possible

courses of action,

raising the retirement age may be one option, but

it is far down the list.

First, let’s optimize Pension Fund spending.

Then let’s

try to reduce corruption. Then

let’s look at where we have unnecessary

government spending. Then let’s try

to make it possible for entrepreneurs to bring

their taxes out of the shadow economy, and help them do it,

and so on and so forth — and only then.

If nothing works, then we’ll start thinking about

raising the retirement age. Right now,

to raise it would be a direct

crime against citizens, without any

exaggeration. So please, guys,

help us spread the word about this, talk

about it. Alexei asks me

when the trips around the cities will resume. Kurgan

is still hoping for a meeting. Once again

I apologize to Kurgan.

It’s the only city I planned to visit

twice.

There were authorized rallies there, and

our volunteers were working there, but I didn’t make it

either the first or the second time. I really

want to get there, but the trips

around the cities will resume. You can see how

everything is set up now: you can’t even get out of

a special detention center. Over the last 12

months—if we don’t count by calendar years

but just take the last 12 calendar months—

I spent 75 days

under arrest in a special detention center,

which comes out to every fifth day. That’s a lot,

and it really, really affects my plans

because after serving 30 days,

I’ve got a whole bunch of plans that need to be

started

and finished here, and with the headquarters too.

I’d also like to go somewhere with my family,

take care of some things. All of that

has an impact, but I’m trying to do what I can and

I’ll keep doing it, especially with things like this

going on. “How did you celebrate your birthday?”

Elena asks me. I had

a cellmate—a great guy, by the way,

a very well-read person, even more

well-read than I am, and we really

spent 10 days together, just the two of us in the cell

for 10 days, because I was in a non-smoking cell.

Most of the people who end up

in the special detention center are smokers, so

there usually aren’t many people

in the non-smoking cells. Though by the end of my detention,

there were already four people in our five-

person cell. So yes, he was a very good,

wonderful person to end up with.

Very well-read. Our cell really

felt like a literary salon, and

it was all, “Have you read this? What do you think?”

“Well, this is what I think.” “Have you watched…”

“Did you manage to get through Joyce’s *Ulysses*? I couldn’t,”

I just couldn’t handle it.

“What about you?”

Those were the kinds of conversations we had—very

pleasant, really wonderful. It’s always

nice when an interesting person

ends up in a cell with you. So

I invited him to celebrate my birthday with me.

My wife brought me a care package—

well, some permitted food items,

cookies and things like that. We poured some tea,

clinked our cups of tea, and

he made a toast and wished me a happy birthday.

So yes, I celebrated it well—very well, in fact.

I know people came to the detention center

to congratulate me—many thanks to them.

A few people were even detained there,

in fact.

And now I’ve turned on my phone and I see lots

and lots of birthday messages. Thank you

very much. It’s a good place to celebrate

one birthday in your life—one is enough,

you don’t need more than that. Once, for contrast,

for a change of scenery, is very полезно.

Actually, I’ve said many times before,

and I’ll say it again: I would recommend that every person

end up under arrest once

for a short period—not for long,

10 days, 15 days at most—

in order to reassess many things in

life. It’s a great,

useful exercise: to be under arrest once.

But be careful not

to overdo it, because 15 days is

fine,

a year is bad, two years is bad, and beyond that it gets really

bad. So, Alexei asks:

“When is your brother getting out?” Well, speaking

of 30 days—I’m telling you these stories here

about 30 days of arrest, but he

has already been locked up for almost three and a half years.

He’s supposed to be released at the end of June.

My brother Oleg is currently in a PKT (cell-type facility within a prison),

but somehow

we all very much hope that he really will

be released at the end of the month, and that finally I’ll

see him again. He’ll return to his family,

to his two children, his wife,

his friends, and the rest of our relatives.

We’re all waiting for him very much. And by the way,

I’ve just gotten out, and they handed me a letter from him.

He sends his greetings to all of you as well.

Arkady Babchenko.

Well, I don’t know whether you’re interested in

discussing this. It seems to me that

Arkady Babchenko has already been discussed from every

possible angle.

And it was impossible not to discuss it,

of course. It was an absolutely shocking

story—personally, a shocking

story. I turned on the radio in the cell in the morning

and they were saying that someone had been killed,

some Arkady Barchenko or something, and I thought,

some nonsense journalists had made up

again.

Some Barchenko—who even is that?

And then they said “Arkady,” and I realized

it was Babchenko. I was just in

complete shock. I sat there on my bunk

and remembered how, at an FBK (Anti-Corruption Foundation) meeting,

I had talked about how, when he had just

emigrated to Ukraine,

saying that he was being threatened here, I

said, “What nonsense—he made it up and left,” and

of course no one was threatening him; who here

would even need him? Then he was killed. I simply

could not believe what was happening.

terrible and monstrous crimes, but also

we were all in shock, and then, by the way, I was saying

now I’ll watch Channel One with you, I

I read it, of course, I’ll watch it, you

the first time he saw it in the millions, and I

I’ve read this 100,000 times in newspapers, this

this is the episode when they brought him out at the

press conference, I asked them to turn on

the program, let’s watch it, there are a few

seconds of it, how, how it was a deep accompli—

and Arkady Babchenko

and I’ll be your work, I’m here for amusement, what

rules, and you, his homeland, your all that

you’ll find out in Syria, so they repeat after this

act, and they will bring in Arkady Babchenko

zero 3, happy birthday

[music]

Arkady, to the studio

[music]

honestly, this is the first time I’m watching the clip with

of course, well, I was sitting there, it was on the radio

some Echo of Moscow (a Russian radio station) program was playing in the background

they interrupt the broadcast, and then strange

news comes from Kyiv

Arkady Babchenko survived, and a few

seconds later

strange news comes in: Arkady

Babchenko—an explosion, and a few seconds later

again the broadcast says that Babchenko is taking

part in a press conference, so I mean

once again, sorry—you all went through this

a few weeks ago, all of this was

discussed, I’m sure, on Twitter and everywhere, I

it was especially much discussed, well

what can I say, it’s foolish, and even

to say that I’m glad Babchenko is alive

of course I’m glad Babchenko is alive, but I can’t

say that this story looks

very good; putting myself in the place of

Babchenko—by the way, I was followed for

some time, and these were such

obvious Chechen guys when they were tailing me

when police surveillance tails you

or the FSB (Russian security service), you can’t tell—they’re people who

at least try to hide, and it’s funny, they

change the license plates on their cars, whereas for

several months I was followed—it was

2012, I think—for several

months, it seems to me it was in 2012

they were just driving foreign cars

these shaggy-haired guys with distinctive

Beatles-style haircuts were driving around

not really hiding, BMWs and Audis and all

that sort of thing—it’s pretty unpleasant, and I

put myself in Babchenko’s place: some

representatives of the security services come to me and

say, listen, we have information that you

have been targeted, they want to kill you, and now

you have to cooperate with us if you don’t

want to get whacked, and on the one hand

there is a simple axiom

you must never trust representatives

of the security services, because they constantly, endlessly

lie—it’s part of their job. I’m not even

trying to offend

security service officers or insult them

and statistically get punished for some notes

about their activities

it’s simply a fact: disinformation, that is

lies and deceit, are their main tools

in their work, always. But of course, maybe

they’re lying—but what if they aren’t? So

the fact that, in principle,

Babchenko agreed to take part with them in

this operational game, this operational

experiment—that was the right thing. Another

matter is that

well, the way it was done, of course, all of it was not

very elegant, probably

it was staged with these theatrical effects

when Babchenko’s—I was shown

a printout—before this supposed death of his

he writes a post about his second

birthday, about how you never flew away on that

helicopter, the helicopter crashed, understanding that

tomorrow everyone would be writing, if you survive, that

Arkady wrote this before his death, we can see how

he felt—and then this appearance at the

press conference. But it’s obvious that these

dramatic devices, these theatrical

effects

probably played an even

bigger role in this than everything else. When

all this happened, we expected that there would be

some kind of explanation, some account of it, and that there would be

actual evidence

as you understand, I’m not a big

fan of the Russian security services—ask

me whether I believe that the Russian

security services carry out killings abroad

—one hundred percent. And do I believe

they killed Skripal? One hundred percent

that’s so. Do I believe they carry out

killings in Ukraine? Well, it’s kind of

pointless even to deny it. Voronenkov (Denis Voronenkov, a Russian ex-MP killed in Kyiv)

I absolutely do not rule it out, and I think

the Russian

security services were most likely involved

but what they showed us rather suggests

that you simply can’t trust anyone

you can’t trust the FSB for a second, but even less

can you trust this

SBU (Security Service of Ukraine), given that half of its

employees are undoubtedly some kind of

recruited FSB agents—well, that too

is just how history turned out. The fact that

they showed some chubby guy

who says, I

was both the client and also took part in

the operational game, and then this one—I

read an interview with this

alleged killer, who was also

part of this operational

experiment

well, ha-ha, hee-hee—none of this looks

serious or convincing at all

not in the least like some kind of mastermind, he

Putin—let’s carry out something brutal too

As a thought experiment, let's say we want

to kill Arkady Babchenko. We, as FSB officers,

want to kill Babchenko.

And do it in such a way that the blame falls on

some Ukrainians there, on Right Sector (a Ukrainian far-right nationalist group).

Well, we'd probably start by

recruiting, through some front people,

a crime boss who would

enter into some kind of relationship with Right

Sector. Right Sector would come in, or

this person would simply say: Arkady

Babchenko, you're writing posts there and

money is needed, and the price of a life there,

let's say, is $30,000. And then

two weeks later he would say: I've changed my mind,

give me back my thirty thousand dollars. But

Babchenko—well, not being a fool—would have long since

spent it. And then he would go and hire

some thugs and say: well, he doesn't want

to return the $30,000. They

would kill him, the murder would be solved, and

it would turn out that Arkady Babchenko was killed over

$30,000, some Right Sector people

and so on and so forth, Ukrainian crime.

And we'd be rubbing our hands with satisfaction, supposedly. But

would we really sit down and compile a list of

30 or 60 victims and hand it over

to some terribly strange, unhinged

fat guy who's somewhere out there

working, who then passed it on to someone else, and

then all of Ukraine

already knows who's supposedly killing whom?

Have you seen that cartoon, *The Italian Job*,

where a guy is walking along and

someone asks, Antonio, where are you going? I'm going to rob a bank.

To Roberto. Fine, I'll come with you. And so

he keeps walking, and gradually the whole town

knows that he's off to rob a bank.

Everyone supports him: Antonio, good for you,

you're going to rob a bank. That's what this is like.

This murder case is a very strange thing.

So once again,

I absolutely understand why Babchenko

cooperated with the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine); he had no

other option. But the fact that you cannot

believe a single word from the SBU, just as

you cannot believe a single word from the FSB,

is an absolute fact, and I don't think

that can be questioned. What we have now,

unfortunately, as a result,

is nothing good. Babchenko is alive, he stayed alive,

and that's the best part. But afterward,

what do we have? No links to the Kremlin were proven.

But next time, God forbid,

someone really is shot, and then for five days

instead of discussing how they were killed,

there will be jokes and snide comments about how

let's wait a bit—maybe he's actually alive

after all. That's exactly how it will be, you'll

see. That's why I'm very,

let's say, disappointed by the behavior of the authorities

in Ukraine, who staged this kind of

clown show, despite the fact that they undoubtedly

have sufficient grounds

to carry out this kind of work. All right, we're already

short on time; there are 1,200 people watching in 2018.

Still, I should say something

about the Moscow mayoral election, because

it was one of the two stories I was following.

First there was the tragic,

then strange story with Babchenko, and

then this completely surreal

story, really, with the nomination of a candidate

for the mayoral election by the Yabloko party (a Russian liberal political party).

Because hardly anyone

wrote about it in the newspapers; there was only a little about it. People

came to me defending it, and I was saying at night,

well, there are primaries going on there,

there's a contest between Mitrokhin and Yakubovich, and

Mitrokhin will win. Then bang—they tell me

Yakubovich won the primaries. Then Yakubovich,

who, if I'm not mistaken, is the head of the Tarsky district,

refuses to make use of his victory. What the hell?

Why did you run then? What was the point of any of this?

What new

circumstances could there possibly be? An hour earlier

you were saying: go ahead, support me,

I'm running for mayor. And now you're saying: I'm not ready.

Then he said that he had been

forced by the Yabloko party or something like that.

He stepped aside in favor of Mitrokhin. Mitrokhin

came in second, so obviously he should be nominated.

But the Yabloko party no longer wants

to nominate Mitrokhin; it wants to nominate Rusakova.

Fine—by the way, she's also an excellent candidate, just like

Mitrokhin. I like Mitrokhin, and Rusakova is

excellent too. But for some reason, the one

who came fourth in the primaries

is then approved by them at the Moscow conference.

They approve Rusakova, even though Mitrokhin wants it, and well—

that is, I understand that this is, on the one hand,

the life of insects,

and I think most of the people

watching this broadcast aren't interested

in politics; they don't even know about these

twists and turns. However you look at it, nobody cares.

But I do follow it,

because first of all it's the Yabloko party,

and second, whenever I go anywhere, people come to me

all the time with questions: let's unite,

and it's assumed that I

am supposed to unite, including with

the Yabloko party. So guys, tell me please,

how exactly can I unite with them?

I'm in favor of primaries, I want

primaries all the time.

But these people, first of all, held them inside

the party. In all these primaries,

fewer than 1,500 people took part in

a city of 10 million. And on top of that, damn it,

the winner withdrew, then the runner-up wasn't

approved, then they approved the fourth-place finisher, then didn't approve her either.

They did everything possible to drive

voters away from themselves. And of course we'll hear:

Alexei, give up your personal

ambitions, your egoism, your

narcissism, as Dmitry Peskov says

— Navalny is such a pathological narcissist, and...

Join forces with the Yabloko party? But they...

Democrats? What kind of democrats are they? I...

have a very good attitude toward them. I don't know Yakubovich,

he didn't seem very decent. He made

the right statements when there was one of

the rallies in support of us, but he really disappointed

me with his behavior. I know Mitrokhin

very well — he, he, he is a good man. I know Rusakova

fairly well too, she's excellent. But overall, this

structure...

What kind of democrats are they? How can anyone

join forces with them if they publicly tell their own

voters who took part in the primaries

to just go to hell,

that you're nobody to us, we don't care

about the result, and whatever you voted for — well,

if I join forces with them, then that means I too

am telling everyone to go to hell.

Those people will never support me. Why

would I need that? That's why I don't want

to unite — not with them, not with some

PARNAS either, which hasn't even nominated anyone at all,

and with Yavlinsky's people saying, basically, 'we're not going to

nominate anyone,' and with, pardon me,

God forgive me, Ksenia Sobchak.

Because they stay silent about the pension

age, they stay silent about VAT,

they supposedly want to take part in the mayoral election, but even then

they're participating in such a way that it looks

ridiculous. It only turns

voters away from us, and what mattered was

simply taking part.

Well, at one time, according to the official

figures, I got 27 percent;

in practice I got 30 percent. It would be possible

to come out strongly now and talk about

the Moscow mayoral election. But, sorry,

that once again I have to tell you the same

thing — it's basically a copy of what I

said during the presidential election. September 9 is the election,

and today is June 14. Which

of the candidates is actually fighting Moscow's mayor,

Sergei Sobyanin? Yashin, as I see it.

He's the only one who is. Who else? All the others

are doing God knows what.

I see one person. He's not in an easy position,

but he criticizes the authorities substantively,

he criticizes them on specific points, he

calls for primaries for a united

democratic candidate. So I see that he is the kind of

candidate who, despite being in the most difficult

position — he doesn't even have his own party, and

so on — while all these others do have parties,

registered or unregistered, money,

clearly more of everything — and they never do a damn thing.

Most importantly, they don't say a word against

Sobyanin, even though there's plenty to criticize him for.

You have to admit, criticizing Sobyanin — Sergei

Semyonovich — is exactly what they should be doing.

So, a huge number of

questions came in about the Moscow mayoral election.

What can I say, guys? Well, simply this:

since there will be no second round, you

need to go vote for

someone against Sobyanin, because no matter

who you vote for, if it's not for

Sobyanin, you lower his result. But

honestly, right now, from what

I see happening, there is no

real fight at all, except Yashin. If he

gets registered, then of course I will

actively support his

campaign. If he doesn't get registered, well,

okay then. I can't be more active

than the Moscow mayoral candidates themselves. They are silent,

they do nothing. I very much hope, and

that's partly why I'm speaking rather harshly

about them right now — in order to

push them toward some kind of active

work. Right now, after all, no one is

stopping you. Sure, there's the municipal filter and

so on, but no one is stopping you from making videos

against Sobyanin, exposing

his corruption, speaking out on this

issue, I don't know, latching onto those

curbs of his that another

6 billion rubles effectively went into

through procurement, looking at what's

happening with metro construction,

looking into and analyzing how

all these programs like *My Street* have actually worked.

Do that — that's what a candidate's job is.

But again, nobody does a damn thing.

Of course, that makes it look as though

I'm constantly criticizing everyone

because I think I'm the greatest,

that our team is the greatest, that we in Russia

of the Future, in the Party of Russia of the Future, are the greatest,

and everyone else is stupid. Well, that's

how it is — we are the best.

Because we work. We simply

do actual work. Look, I wasn't around for a month,

and videos were still coming out, investigations were still being

produced.

Across the whole country, the campaign with sails is

underway right now. We work, and that's why

we are the best. You're the best for watching

these broadcasts. Thank you very much. I've already gone

a little over time. One more

topic I haven't touched on but absolutely must

mention: of course, I've written about it,

but I want to say once again that I support

Oleg Sentsov's hunger strike. He must be

released immediately.

He is literally at death's door, and

it cannot be otherwise. Believe

me, when you're starving in a prison cell, it's

a completely different experience. Probably each of

you has tried not eating for a day or two

at home, refusing food. But

believe me, in a cell it's completely

different. So Sentsov is now alone

in his suffering, and he is dying, and we all must

demand

the immediate release of him and other

political prisoners, both Ukrainian and

Russian. Thank you very much for watching

this broadcast. See you next week.

for now

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