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Yes, Vladimir Vladimirovich, we do want it to be like in
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Paris. Above all, we do not want to have
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dogs that look like Paris. That was
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the response to Putin's question about why it was supposedly beneficial
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to jail a 77-year-old
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human rights activist, giving him twenty-five
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days of arrest for a Facebook post. And thus
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one of the great memes was born: “Do you want it to be like in
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Ukraine?” It had already been used before. There is also the question of
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Ukraine.
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“Do you want dozens of people running around our squares,”
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“dozens of these, excuse me...” Another one was added to the list:
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a new one: “Do you want it to be like in
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Paris?”
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“Surely you and I do not want to have
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dogs like in Paris.” We do want that. And what, exactly,
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is actually happening in Paris?
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Let’s look at the bigger picture
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as a whole. There were mass demonstrations there against
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higher gasoline prices.
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The government said it would not
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make concessions, after which the demonstrations
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continued. There really were
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street blockades, cars were burned,
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several shops were looted, and there were
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injuries.
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But the French really do like
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taking to the streets at the slightest
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sign of discontent, and their demonstrations are
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traditionally quite aggressive and even
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accompanied by violence. There is nothing
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good about that, but let’s be honest: no
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catastrophe has happened to France. It is
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still doing very well there,
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the standard of living is still high, and
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still, Vladimir Vladimirovich, your
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press secretary Dmitry Peskov
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is in no hurry to sell his Paris
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apartment and trade it for a little house in very,
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very stable Voronezh, where no
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demonstrations ever take place.
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What is more, after people took to the
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streets, President Macron said that he would
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raise the minimum wage
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by 100 euros and at the same time
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reduce the social tax on pensioners,
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and he froze fuel prices. So
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it turned out that the minimum wage
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in that terrible, protest-ridden France
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now amounts to 120,000 rubles (about €1,300), while
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your United Russia party also recently raised
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the minimum wage by 117 rubles, and
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now in beautiful Putin-era Russia, without
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protests, it stands at 11,280 rubles
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and in every, every
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developed country with high wages,
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there are inevitably and regularly
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furious demonstrations against
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the government. But in fact, that is
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one of the reasons why the government ultimately
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answers to society and works for
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society. Unlike here. If in
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France the prime minister told people,
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“There’s no money, but hang in there” (a well-known phrase from former Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev), “there simply is no money,”
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“we’ll find it, we’ll find the money, we’ll make it happen,”
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for them.
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“You hang in there. All the best to you.”
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Have a good one.”
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Parisians would have gone and stormed
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government buildings. As for gasoline—rather,
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diesel fuel, to be precise—that is what
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started it all, because in France
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the price rose by 20 percent since the start of the year.
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Well, in Russia, since the start
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of the year, the price of diesel has risen by 16
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percent. And look, we have
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the average Russian and the average French person.
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With the average Russian salary,
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37,000 rubles, an average Russian can buy
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798 liters of diesel fuel, while the average
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French person, with their average salary, can buy
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almost twice as much—
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1,490 liters. So yes, we want it to be like in
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Paris. We want our average
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salary to be like in France. We want
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our healthcare to be like in France.
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We want our industry to be
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like France’s, because all you can offer us,
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Mr. Putin, is
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when your television, under the guise of the most
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high-tech robot, shows us
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a man in a robot costume. There is
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an opportunity to look at the most
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modern robots. I am
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mathematics.
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But I also want to
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[music]
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draw, and emotions too.
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And as for dancing, Robot Boris has already
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been taught.
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And quite well, too.
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[music]
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We happen to believe that Russia deserves
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more, and we want what they have in Paris,
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like in Finland, like in Canada, and like in
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Germany. And you are standing in our way. You have been in power for
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20 years—leave, and stop hindering
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our country’s development.