Text version
0:00
Hi, this is Navalny. Putin is heading for his
0:03
first third term, or his first
0:06
first term, because the previous ones
0:08
have been reset. Everything that came before me no longer counts. This is,
0:17
in principle, the kind of reasoning that might go on
0:19
in the mind of a schizophrenic, but that is
0:21
how politics in Russia works. Here, truly
0:23
insane and absurd things happen. In 2000,
0:26
Putin became president for the first time. In 2004,
0:30
Putin became president for the second time. In
0:33
the Constitution it is written: no more than two
0:36
consecutive terms.
0:37
Now they'll probably throw two strikes at me for this.
0:40
No more than two. In 2012, he became
0:43
president for the third time, this time for 6 years,
0:45
after a break, so that was supposedly allowed. And in
0:48
2018 he again became president, for the
0:51
fourth time.
0:52
And now he walks onto the stage, with
0:54
150 million people watching him, and he
0:56
says: well, alright, whatever, that was under
0:58
a different Constitution before. Now we'll
1:01
do a little legal sleight of hand,
1:03
add a couple of phrases to the Constitution, and
1:05
I'll reset everything that came before. In principle,
1:08
this option would be possible, but under
1:12
one condition:
1:13
namely, if the Constitutional Court
1:18
of the Russian Federation
1:19
issues an official opinion that such an
1:22
amendment would not contradict the principles
1:25
and fundamental provisions of the law,
1:27
of the Basic Law, the Constitution. Forget
1:30
that I've been at the head of the country for twenty years.
1:32
I will be president for the first time. Reset.
1:36
And everyone has already voted: the regional
1:41
parliaments across the country, and
1:43
the Constitutional Court snapped to attention
1:45
and reset it all. And now you and I have to
1:48
decide how to view this and what
1:50
to do about it. Deciding
1:54
how to view it is easy, because you and I
1:57
are not insane. Everyone knows that
1:59
you can become president for the first time
2:01
only once.
2:02
Just as there is only one first love, one
2:06
first child,
2:06
one first heart attack. And no corrupt judges
2:10
of the Constitutional Court, having traded away
2:12
the fate of the whole country for
2:13
their official dachas (state country houses), can change that.
2:16
They cannot. Therefore, the only proper response to
2:19
Putin's constitutional amendments should
2:21
be the words: we do not recognize these amendments.
2:24
They are null and void. And we will nullify them at the first
2:28
opportunity, under the first honestly elected
2:30
parliament. As for the vote on the
2:33
amendments,
2:33
its absolute illegality is not even
2:35
up for debate. A million legal analyses have been written
2:38
about this. I will cite only one simple fact. Under
2:40
the law,
2:42
under the law,
2:43
each amendment must be put to a
2:45
separate vote. Do you want
2:48
God to be mentioned in the Constitution? Vote yes or no.
2:51
Do you want Russia to be renamed
2:54
Putinland? Vote
2:56
yes or no. But here they simply took
2:58
several hundred completely unrelated
3:01
amendments. There is God, the powers of the
3:03
State Duma, pension indexation, the resetting
3:06
of Putin's terms, the status of the Russian language, and
3:09
a whole lot more. And they tell us:
3:11
vote yes or no, yes or no. For
3:14
what? I support pension indexation, but I oppose
3:17
resetting Putin's terms. Atheists are against
3:20
God in the Constitution but support parliamentary powers. And
3:23
believers, for example, may support God but oppose
3:26
the strange State Council. So what are they supposed to
3:29
do? And Putin's real answer to that
3:32
question is: I absolutely
3:35
don't care. It makes no difference what you do.
3:38
The result has already been fabricated in advance.
3:40
That is exactly why this is not being held as a referendum,
3:43
where the entire procedure is clearly laid out:
3:45
observers, voting, counting,
3:48
official tally sheets. Putin is afraid of a referendum
3:51
because he would lose it. I would have
3:54
called on you to take part in a referendum with a clear
3:55
question: are you ready to reset Vladimir Putin's previous
3:58
presidential terms?
3:59
Instead, there will be some strange
4:02
nationwide vote that
4:04
does not exist anywhere in the law. It will be held without
4:07
observers, with electronic voting.
4:09
It will last several days, and
4:11
it will be impossible to monitor anything there,
4:13
as Ella
4:15
Pamfilova
4:16
cheerfully said: this is a unique one-time event with no reference
4:19
to existing legislation.
4:21
It is a unique, large-scale
4:24
socio-political phenomenon.
4:26
It is absolutely cynical and vile. And when
4:29
all pensioners are told,
4:31
come vote for pension indexation,
4:33
of pensions,
4:33
they will come and vote for Putin's lifelong
4:36
presidency. And most importantly,
4:39
what many people do not understand is that these amendments have already
4:42
been adopted. Putin signed them. They entered into
4:45
force after, under current
4:48
law, they were approved in the regions.
4:50
So now Putin simply needs
4:52
to create the appearance that the people
4:54
support this reset. But that is
5:03
of course not all. To a certain extent, this is
5:06
just the beginning, and the result of the vote
5:09
is already known: it will be completely
5:11
falsified in Putin's favor, and we will not
5:14
recognize either the outcome or the procedure. Now
5:17
to the question of what to do. First, even though
5:20
we do not recognize this vote, we
5:22
must destroy its legitimacy
5:25
in the eyes of the people. Therefore, all facts
5:27
of falsification, all facts of coercion
5:29
forcing people to take part in it, all facts
5:31
vile campaigning paid for with public budget money
5:34
I think this amendment to the
5:36
Constitution of the Russian Federation on
5:38
the protection and preservation of the Russian language
5:42
On April 22, please don't miss this
5:48
It concerns all of us
5:53
must be made public and spread widely
5:57
We must publicly ridicule this vote and
6:00
despise it, telling people about this
6:02
deception. We know, for example, that all
6:05
state employees are simply being herded there. If you
6:07
are yourself one of these coerced public-sector workers, then
6:09
let everyone around you know how
6:11
you are being forced to take part in this
6:13
sham. If they do force you
6:14
to go there, then vote against it, but
6:17
of course, don't expect that your vote
6:19
will actually be counted. Of course they will
6:22
steal it
6:25
I'm sending you my warmest regards
6:29
Pay attention: here the chair of the
6:31
commission is filling out the ballot papers
6:33
Well, speaking of the vote
6:35
it must be said: if the authorities really
6:38
go ahead and hold it on April 22 in the middle of
6:41
the coronavirus epidemic, when the whole world
6:43
has gone into quarantine, then this will simply be
6:46
a premeditated crime against
6:48
pensioners. They will be the first to be dragged out
6:51
to vote, they transport one another, and you
6:54
know that coronavirus is deadly precisely
6:57
for elderly people. For a 30-year-old
6:59
the estimated fatality rate is 0.2 percent
7:03
for a patient over 80, it
7:06
reaches 22 percent. Second, we must
7:09
strike at those who made Putin's
7:12
"reset" possible. It wasn't Putin himself
7:14
who stepped up to the podium and said, no, I am resetting it
7:17
United Russia first proposed it
7:20
either to remove the limit
7:23
on presidential terms, or to write into
7:26
one of the articles of the bill a provision
7:29
stating that after the entry into force of the
7:32
updated constitution, the incumbent
7:35
president
7:36
like any other citizen, has the right
7:39
to run for the office of head of state
7:42
Then they voted for it in the State Duma (the lower house of parliament), not
7:45
oil and gas
7:46
our advantage, our advantage
7:48
to Putin, we must protect him. Then
7:51
it was approved by the Federation Council (the upper house of parliament). This
7:54
means that the president's initiative on
7:57
introducing amendments to the Basic Law
7:59
the innovations he proposed reflect
8:02
the pressing needs of the further
8:05
development of both the country as a whole and
8:07
the constituent regions of the Russian Federation
8:09
Then, in each of your regions
8:12
United Russia held
8:14
a special session of the regional
8:16
parliament and approved these amendments, as
8:18
required by law. Yesterday we gathered for
8:21
our session and discussed in great detail
8:22
once again the law that had been
8:26
adopted by the Federal Assembly and made the
8:27
decision to support
8:29
the law on amendments to the Constitution
8:31
of the Russian Federation, and only after
8:33
that did Putin sign everything. You see, right?
8:37
Putin relies on compromised officials
8:39
on security-service men, on corrupt judges, on lying
8:42
journalists, but his main instrument
8:45
with which he usurps power is
8:47
United Russia
8:48
They are responsible for everything bad that
8:51
is happening in our country. And of course, when
8:54
I tell you now, guys, that in September
8:56
there will be elections in Cheboksary, let's
8:59
use Smart Voting to crush
9:01
United Russia there, you'll answer me: oh, but that's
9:04
somehow too small-scale, not interesting, and doesn't
9:07
look like real political struggle
9:12
But nevertheless, in September there will be
9:15
elections in 28 regions, including very
9:17
large ones like Novosibirsk or
9:19
Chelyabinsk Oblast
9:20
We need to push ourselves and work, using
9:23
Smart Voting, to crush United
9:25
Russia in each of these regions. But
9:27
look: right now, when in the regions
9:30
of the federation they were voting for Putin's
9:32
amendments, the only regional
9:34
parliament where there was a real fight was
9:36
Moscow
9:36
because there, in the elections last
9:38
September, we fell just a little short of
9:41
taking the majority away from United Russia. If just
9:43
a few more people had taken part in
9:45
Smart Voting, then Putin and his
9:47
amendments would have been defeated in Moscow
9:49
We must not adopt amendments to the
9:51
Constitution that were drafted solely
9:53
so that Putin can rule Russia for another
9:56
16 years. Putin has already ruled longer than Brezhnev
10:00
I will vote against. All these
10:03
new nobles, lifetime senators—this
10:07
is already a sign of where they are leading us
10:11
This is an outright anti-constitutional
10:14
coup
10:15
We need to make sure that there appear in
10:18
Russia regions where Putin and his party
10:20
can be defeated. Putin and the Kremlin want
10:24
to convince us that the vote on the
10:26
amendments is important
10:27
and regional elections are nonsense—don't bother
10:30
what do some local deputies matter anyway?
10:32
But we must remember the formula: in elections, we
10:34
participate; in fake non-elections, we do not
10:38
participate. You know, my campaign—it
10:41
wasn't about the result. The result
10:44
was clear: people with liberal
10:47
views in our country today, unfortunately,
10:49
are in the minority. Yes, there is fraud in elections too
10:53
there is deception too, but there
10:55
it is possible to have some influence, and in the most recent
10:58
regional elections, you and I
10:59
proved it. It is hard, painstaking work
11:02
but without it, nothing will work
11:04
campaigning, rallies, Smart Voting in
11:07
the regions this year, and next year in the
11:10
State Duma elections, where there will be
11:11
a decisive battle for our country
11:13
between us and a gang of occupiers
11:16
only a week has passed since the scoreboard
11:19
showed that Putin agreed to reset his term limits, and you
11:23
just look at how the tone has already changed
11:25
among the Kremlin propagandists—they are in all seriousness
11:27
saying that Russia without Putin
11:29
is not viable. Let's be honest: Russia
11:33
without Putin is still not viable. That is,
11:37
the people built the country, suffered, went hungry
11:40
died, perished
11:42
created all of this, created all those factories and
11:45
plants that Putin's friends stole
11:47
created a great culture, the Russian language
11:49
built the Kremlin, where Putin now sits. And he—
11:53
he used to be just a petty thief in
11:55
the St. Petersburg mayor's office among other petty crooks
11:57
accidentally received power from Yeltsin's hands, and
12:00
now he comes out to us and says: without
12:03
me, you are not viable
12:05
why are you in such a hurry? For now, nowhere
12:07
in Siberia—they have all genuinely gone mad from
12:11
money and power. Putin considers himself a tsar
12:14
and Kiselev, Solovyov, Mishustin, and
12:16
Volodin think they are not courtiers, while we are their
12:19
serfs, their bonded peasants
12:21
a slogan from a hundred years ago has once again become
12:23
relevant: down with autocracy. But to that
12:26
slogan we must add
12:28
daily work against this
12:29
autocracy from each and every one of us
12:32
subscribe to our channel
12:34
they tell the truth here