Text version
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Hi, this is Navalny. The recent
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Putin inauguration has stirred up even more excitement in
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the most hardline part of this regime—
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the liars and propagandists working in
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the corrupt media. They fawn over their ruler
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with such zeal that
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the spit is flying from every screen at anyone who
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dares to turn on the TV or open
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a pro-Kremlin media website.
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“But we have almost no other news. The main
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event today is the inauguration of the President
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of Russia. Ceremonies
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like today’s are
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completely above politics. This is a great
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constitutional
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story—beautiful and solemn.” And leading
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Western newspapers showed that our
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president is the strongest man in the world.” And this
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hysterical joy from Putin’s
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lackeys reminded me that it’s time—oh yes,
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time to release the second episode of our
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series about propaganda hacks.
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[music]
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We believe in Putin, and we believe in...
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Russia is the only country in the world
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that is truly capable of turning the United States
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into radioactive ash, basically.
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Give me one example—just one example.
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Come on, give me one concrete example. Putin...
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[inaudible]
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[inaudible]
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But our people live longer. Those boring
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[inaudible] are more fun. But before we
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begin, I’m happy to share some wonderful
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news: right after this video comes out,
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I’m going to Paris.
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Because thanks to this very
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investigation, I now have
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a superb luxury apartment there in a prestigious
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district. By the way, you can drop by
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any time, with whoever you like, because it’s
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your apartment too. Make yourselves at home.
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I don’t mind—the former owner gave this
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apartment to both of us.
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As they say, it’s not the gift that matters so much as
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the thought behind it. So, have I intrigued you?
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Can’t wait to see where you can
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head off on vacation? Let’s begin.
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[music]
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Today’s investigation is
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a continuation of the fight against state propaganda—or,
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more precisely, against the propagandists,
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the professional liars who, day after day,
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with their well-groomed faces,
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tell us what traitors we all are
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and how we’re supposed to properly
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love Russia and Putin. Endlessly
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and shamelessly, they lie to us from the pages
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of newspapers and on TV channels. And when it comes to lying,
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today’s hero has no equal.
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You remember that in the first episode
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we flew over Solovyov’s Italian
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nest on Lake Como, of course.
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For the second episode, we wanted to find
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someone even more disgusting than
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Solovyov. That’s very difficult, but we
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managed it, and today we’re flying to
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Paris together with Aram Ashotovich
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Gabrelyanov, the longtime boss and
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owner of the main journalistic trash heap
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of modern Russia—the LifeNews media holding.
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“For donating to FBK (Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation), you’ve gone off to warmer climes.”
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“But you’re unemployed, aren’t you?”
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“Lyosha (diminutive of Alexei), I’m giving you a big, big hug.” Nemtsov
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“vacationed in Dubai with an escort,” while
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before a new opposition rally, Boris Yefimovich
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“was preparing on an elite beach in the United Arab
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Emirates.” “Militia fighters report that they
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have managed to shoot down another transport
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aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force.”
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“This happened over the city of Torez, and over the
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city an An-26 was flying.”
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[inaudible]
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If the previous hero of the series,
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Solovyov, is merely a thieving hypocrite and liar,
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then today’s hero is simply
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some kind of animal. Damn it—
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[inaudible]
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You see, even by the standards of Putin’s
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Russia, he is a liar, a scoundrel, and a bastard
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of a kind you’d have to search hard to find.
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And Aram Ashotovich, among the outstanding figures of
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the LifeNews media, with 200 employees, is also
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not exactly hard to understand: he
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specializes in the most revolting
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methods to feed his pathetic
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website and, thank God, now-bankrupt
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TV channel. If someone needs to pry
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into someone’s bedroom or bathroom, leak
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operational materials through someone,
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publish an illegal
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phone tap or hacked correspondence,
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bribe a local police officer or a doctor in order
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to get into a nursing home or a hospital—
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for this dirtiest kind of media work,
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Putin, so to speak, always has someone ready
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for any service: Aram Ashotovich.
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For money, this man is ready to do
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things that are disgusting even to think
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about. And he understands perfectly well that the biggest
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money a journalist in
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Russia makes is by praising
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the Kremlin’s chief crook—namely,
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Putin. “Putin wasn’t yet the Putin he is now.”
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“He had only just become president. There are a million
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pieces of evidence and witnesses proving that I
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supported him even before the moment he
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became great—truly great.”
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[music]
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Well, to expose him—I’ve disliked this creep for a long time.
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For many years, his pet
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monkeys, who for some reason call
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themselves journalists,
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have broken into any place where I
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happen to be, followed me and my
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family, paid money to have me
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photographed on vacation,
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and when even that doesn’t work, they simply
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they make up stories about some
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Michelin-starred restaurants and foie gras, while I
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constantly... um, and here is the difference
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between Navalny and Putin: one
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view is that no one believes Putin.
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They believe him because he is honest, because he is sincere,
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a genuine person. Well then, Aram Ashotovich,
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and my dear viewers, let us
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figure out who is who. I love these
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short, simple investigations where
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there is nothing to explain, especially
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no need to draw complicated diagrams.
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Here, everything is simple and very elegant.
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First, we will need a tweet by Gabri-
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elyanov.
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Here it is: "Honestly, I have no
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real estate abroad!"
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And then we will need this extract
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from the French land registry, which
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states that Aram Gabrelyanov, together with
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his son Ashot—who is the same kind of vile
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crook, just on a smaller scale—own
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a 150-square-meter apartment in Paris
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in that very city which lies at the center
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of the hated Europe, in the heart of the terrible
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decadent, rotting West. That is where
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everything worst is found, everything that
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a true Putin-style patriot claims to hate.
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The Europeans are dying out, do you understand that or
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not? Once again: the tweet, and once again: the extract.
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How can that be? So he lied, then?
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He wrote "honestly," after all. And what about
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patriotism? How is it that it keeps turning out
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that
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the louder a propagandist shouts about
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Russia's special path,
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the more likely it is that you will discover
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luxury real estate abroad in his name.
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As for everything concerning the president,
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you must not criticize your father in the family; he
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here is like the head of the family, that is, the father
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of the country.
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The country cannot be strong if everyone
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starts nitpicking over every little thing.
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Like, something happened somewhere now in
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a kindergarten or at a factory—"Putin is to blame"—that
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sort of thing must not be done. But what will
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the great Putin say when he watches this
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video? I am not ashamed of my friends. We are
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flying over sunny springtime Paris. On the
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left-hand side you can see the Bois de Boulogne,
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a gigantic city park. It is a very
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old and famous park. During the day,
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crowds of Parisians and tourists relax there, but
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at night it, let us say, transforms.
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The Bois de Boulogne is widely known for having become
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Paris's red-light district.
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Every day, hundreds of sex workers offer and
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provide their services there, of all genders
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ages, and orientations. And it is very
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symbolic that the apartment of Ashot and Aram
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Gabrelyanov is located right on the edge
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of this forest, closer to their colleagues. This
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building is at 74 Boulevard Maurice Barrès,
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an apartment on the fourth floor with
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a balcony overlooking the Bois de Boulogne.
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The total area is 149 square meters (about 1,604 square feet). In the
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apartment there is a large living room, a study,
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and two bedrooms.
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The apartment also comes with
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a parking space in the underground garage.
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If this building happens to seem
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unremarkable to you, do not rush to judge—better look
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at the Paris property of the Gabrelyanovs from
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a bird's-eye view.
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Not far from the center of the European capital,
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with a huge park right in front of the windows,
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which you can admire from the balcony, a quiet
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gated inner courtyard, and of course
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the Eiffel Tower. The Gabrelyanovs bought this
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apartment in 2009 and paid
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1.8 million euros for it, or 80
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million rubles. If you dig through the
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documents, a whole host of other
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interesting details about this
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remarkable apartment come to light. For example,
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it was originally purchased not personally by
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the Gabrelyanovs, but by their Cypriot offshore company.
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There are no records of a mortgage or loans either, which
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allows us to assume that these
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modest journalists had, in 2009, at least
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a couple of spare million euros in
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offshore accounts. Nothing surprising, of course,
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for a true patriot and lover of Putin
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that is apparently normal. It is also interesting that
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recently, in September 2017, the Gabrelyanovs
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liquidated their Cypriot offshore company,
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and they had to re-register the Paris apartment
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from the legal entity into
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their own names—the son and father, the Gabrelyanovs.
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I personally do not know why they decided
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to expose themselves like that in France,
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but evidently the reason was very compelling,
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because for transferring the apartment from
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the offshore company into their own names, they paid into
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the French budget 300,000 euros in taxes alone.
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That speaks to the question of which country
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they are really prepared to serve in a law-abiding way. Well,
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there are also all sorts of amusing details there
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besides the cost of the apartment.
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Gabrelyanov also paid another 50,000 euros for
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the furniture that was there—the kitchen set and
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some shelves made from oak barrels,
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as well as 27,000 euros for an oak bookcase.
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For books. Clearly, he is a rich man,
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no questions there. This is... my point is:
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this is luxury. This is how this Putinist mug
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and devoted defender of the new tsar arranged
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a quiet old age for himself—but for some reason not in
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Russia, in France. He found himself a bookcase
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priced like a two-room apartment in the Moscow suburbs,
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an apartment by the Bois de Boulogne, and in his old age he will
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live there, chuckling at
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those fools who read his
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trashy publications.
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And at home, in his luxurious apartment, all the cups...
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First of all, there is nothing luxurious there,
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he says. I am not boasting now—here is my...
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That’s just how life is — I leave for work.
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I get back around ten o’clock, eleven at the earliest.
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Off to work at ten — what home, where home, ah.
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Oh, I almost forgot — at the beginning of this video I
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invite all of you to come stay in this
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apartment, and not for no reason, because
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this apartment now rightfully ought to
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belong to us.
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Because just look at this view.
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Look at this public promise. I
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understand that technically these Paris
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apartments are not a penthouse, but
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nevertheless, from a legal — or, if you
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prefer, from a street-code point of view — this was
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a public promise of a reward to whoever
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found the hidden luxury real estate
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of Gabr... Leonov... Bublik. As
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compensation for the imprecise wording, I
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am prepared to give up my claim to the bookcase.
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You can take the cupboard for yourself — fine. Aram
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Ashotovich, Gabrielyanov can send the keys
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to the address of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) in
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Moscow.
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And you can support FBK with your
13:10
donations, and we would be very
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especially grateful if you help
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spread the information from this
13:17
video.
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We really want as many
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ordinary people as possible to learn who
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these people really are — the ones on whom
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Putin’s regime rests. Subscribe to
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our channel.
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This is where the truth is told.