Text version
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[music]
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Hi, this is Lyubov Sobol. You probably
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know that over the past several months I
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have devoted myself to becoming a deputy
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in the Moscow City Duma. Or rather,
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for many years now I have devoted myself
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to anti-corruption and political work.
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You have all seen this very well. I
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have published dozens of investigations,
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canceled tenders worth more than 8 million rubles,
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have worked as a lawyer for years, and have been engaged in public
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activity—going to court, filing complaints, defending
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our shared interests. But over
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the last couple of months I have been running
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an election campaign, collected 6,000
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signatures from Muscovites, fought and defended
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every single one of them when they were declared
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invalid, went on hunger strike, was
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detained I don't even know how many times, and was
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fined five times for more than
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1 million rubles. You surely saw all of this yourselves.
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It was happening right before your eyes. This is how I
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defended my right to run for office, and your
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right to have a choice. In the same way,
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about a dozen other
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normal, reasonable people tried to become deputies: they found
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supporters, opened campaign offices, collected
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signatures, and demanded on lawful
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grounds that they be allowed to run. Where are these
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normal and reasonable candidates now? Either
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they are in jail, or they have only just been released after
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a month under arrest. What conclusion can be drawn?
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Yes: the only normal, lawful
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way to get into the Moscow City Duma is impossible.
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We have tried everything. It simply does not work.
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The system is broken. Now let us
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look at a real example of how
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one can become a Moscow City Duma deputy, and who
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actually occupies the seats that
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we are fighting for. Take Kirill
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Shchitov, for example.
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Born in 1985, roughly my
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age, he is now running in electoral district
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number
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—this is the southern edge of Moscow, the districts of Brateyevo
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Zyablikovo, and part of the district of
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Orekhovo-Borisovo. He is running for the Moscow City Duma
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for the third time already. The first time he became a
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parliamentarian was in 2009. He was then
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24 years old. Impressive, isn't it? How
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did that happen? Some outstanding
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achievements, presumably, on the part of the representative of the residents of
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Zyablikovo and Brateyevo, Kirill Shchitov? Well,
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his first and main achievement, posted on
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his official website: in 2003, at age 18,
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he joined the United Russia party.
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He made his choice while a student, either in his
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second or third year at MGIMO (Moscow State Institute of International Relations). Then
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look: for another three years Kirill was involved in
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youth politics in the Young Guard of
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United Russia, and by 2006
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he was already running from United Russia
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for the State Duma from Moscow—and he was 21 years old.
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He did not make it into the State Duma in 2007. But
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2009 was not far off. He spent a little more time
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doing youth politics, and then there he was,
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a Moscow City Duma deputy on full
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state support. Now that's a career path.
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Now that's a fight for a deputy's seat—not
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like what we have. Let us take a close look at
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the leaflet that Kirill Shchitov
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is distributing right now in Zyablikovo,
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Brateyevo, and Orekhovo-Borisovo. Maybe it contains
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answers to our questions about his
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outstanding political career. Kirill
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Vladimirovich Shchitov was born on April 14,
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1985, in Moscow. His father, Vladimir
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Nikolayevich, was an engineer; his mother, a philologist,
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taught at school. Father an engineer, mother
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a schoolteacher—how close to the people
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Deputy Shchitov seems, if you believe this leaflet.
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Yes, but you cannot believe it. Shchitov is lying to his
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voters. Here is Shchitov's father, Vladimir
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Nikolayevich Shchitov: in the early 2000s he
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worked in the Presidential Administration's property management department and
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related structures—not as an
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engineer, but as a deputy head of the
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Main Directorate. Here is his declaration
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for 2009. From it we learn that,
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despite the modest salary of an official—
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90,000 rubles a month—his wife,
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a schoolteacher, has a rather sizable
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apartment of 180 square meters and a Jaguar worth 4 million rubles.
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Let us take a look at the apartment. Here it is:
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5 Ostozhenka Street. It would be hard to imagine anything
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more central or more expensive in Moscow.
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That is where our
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Brateyevo
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deputy lived. Here he is in the photo,
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23 years old, walking into the entrance.
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He parked his Audi A6 in the courtyard. In
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the caption to the photo, for some reason, it says
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that he is proud of it—as if that were something to be proud of. And here is
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a photo in the interiors of those apartments:
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carpets, Louis XIV-style furniture,
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and of course a white grand piano. Who among
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us hasn't had that? These photos
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were taken in 2008, when Shchitov, for some reason,
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gave an interview to an American publication in which
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he talked about how much he loves Putin, Peter
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the Great, and Stalin. And in 2009 he became a
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deputy and moved into an official apartment
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that we pay for.
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I feel I should add something more about his mother,
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the schoolteacher. After all, she is the wife
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of an official; her income and property are
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a matter of public importance. If you were
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impressed by the 4 million-ruble Jaguar, then wait:
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starting in 2013, the deputy's mother drove an Aston
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Martin worth more than 6 million rubles—almost
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like James Bond. Look, here are
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photos of her grandson inside that car,
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with the touching caption: 'Thanks, Grandma, I'
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I will deliberately show you the leaflet once again.
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For the residents of Zyablikovo it says: 'Mother—
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a philologist and schoolteacher.' In
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reality, she owns an apartment on Ostozhenka
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worth 110 million rubles and an Aston Martin worth 6 million.
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So, Kirill Shchitov is one of our “successful”
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parliamentarians from Zyablikovo district.
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He’s a typical Moscow golden boy, with all the
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usual attributes, living off his father’s money.
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His father is a government official; he lives on Ostozhenka
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in central Moscow and drives a red Audi with
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a privileged license plate, using the dedicated lane.
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He’s lived at his parents’ expense. And by the way,
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that raises a separate question: where did
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that parental money come from? His father is an official from
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the Presidential Administration, and his mother
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earns 30,000 rubles a month (about $330). But 10 years
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ago, Kirill Shchitov switched over to living at our
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expense. Now it’s not his mom and dad
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giving him money — it’s us. And he’s perfectly
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happy about it, laughing all the way for another five years.
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So what exactly does he do there in the Moscow City Duma?
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Does he earn the money that we
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pay him? I don’t think so. He serves as
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chairman of the most useless of all
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the useless commissions in that institution — the one on
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physical fitness, sports, and youth policy.
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Youth policy — that’s what it is, dear
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Kirill, just so you know. Here’s something else this
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“servant of the people” was doing in 2013: he
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officially wrote, on Moscow City Duma letterhead,
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a denunciation of Navalny to Alexander Bastrykin regarding the case
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against Alexei and Oleg Navalny. At the time, they
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were being unlawfully charged under two articles,
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including money laundering, and he asked
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Bastrykin to add four more charges, saying
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the investigators had missed them. But deputy
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Shchitov was on guard, a true guardian of justice.
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With such vigilance, the city can sleep peacefully.
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And we pay him well for it: 7 million rubles
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a year, nearly 600,000 rubles a month (about $6,600), and that’s not
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counting the official dacha, car, and
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other parliamentary perks. But even that
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very large sum still wouldn’t be enough to buy
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the 120-square-meter apartment in the Filigrad residential complex
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that he owns. It costs more than all of his
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income over the past five years combined. Looks like someone
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helped him out again. So, 10 years have passed since
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deputy Kirill Shchitov climbed onto
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our backs, dangled his legs, and settled in.
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“Pay me for this, pay me for that.”
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Shchitov can’t even set up his own campaign cubes (street campaign stands)
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himself — other people do it for him.
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Janitors from the state-run utility service "Zhilikshnik" do it, all at public expense.
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We paid for those campaign materials too,
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by the way: 20 million rubles (about $220,000) for this campaign.
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This self-nominated candidate got the money from two front
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foundations operating out of the same office as United
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Russia. Honestly, it infuriates me.
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What infuriates me is that this Moscow boy,
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who has never worked a single day in
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a real job, just out of nowhere took
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a deputy’s seat that dozens of decent people fought for,
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people who ran campaigns,
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collected signatures, and had obvious
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support from Muscovites. Who supports this Shchitov,
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other than his mom and dad?
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It’s disgusting to pretend that you care
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about some resident of Zyablikovo
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or Brateyevo when you yourself spent most of your
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life in a huge apartment near the Cathedral of
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Christ the Savior and have never ridden in
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a car worse than an Audi A6. I can tell you for sure:
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he’s running for office a third time now, and there will
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be a fourth, fifth, and sixth. He wants
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to live his whole life like this, doing nothing,
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and once every five years become active for
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a month and campaign using our own
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money. “There’s no one more honest or reliable,”
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“Come on, on the 8th let’s all vote for Shchitov.” I
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urge the residents of Brateyevo, Zyablikovo, and
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Orekhovo-Borisovo not to vote under any circumstances
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for this spoiled rich kid. Whether you’re an ordinary resident or
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a so-called state employee, just don’t
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vote for him, that’s all. No one can force you.
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Go to the Smart Voting website,
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enter your street and
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building number there, and find out which candidate
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has the best chance of defeating the United Russia candidate.
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Come to the polls this Sunday,
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on the 8th, and vote
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smartly.