Navalny's Team

whether

Hello, dear

residents of Kostroma. To be honest, I really

doubted

that there would be so many people here. Thank you very much

to all of you for

coming. Who am I? My name is Vladimir

Andreichenko. I live in Kostroma, and I am taking part

in this event called

the primaries

Since I am taking part in this,

what the coalition is proposing

resonates, I believe, with every ordinary

resident of the region and, more broadly, of the country. That

is, it means a free press,

an independent judiciary, and rotation of power

Believe me, as a former official, if someone

says rotation of power is a good thing,

that means something.

So why am I convinced

that in the

coalition’s appeals I did not see

any incitement to revolution. I did not

see calls for rallies. What I saw

were proposals and an invitation for ordinary people

to try their hand at politics and

solve their own

problems. Another thing I liked

about this principle

of the coalition—being on the side of the people—is that it may not sound

very lofty, but I believe it is a very

serious responsibility to be on the side of

the people. It is very hard to earn people’s trust,

and even harder to preserve that

trust. The program, the policy points

being proposed by the

Democratic

Coalition—I can tell you that they do not

contain a single threat to the Kostroma

region. What is being proposed? Interbudgetary

relations—that matters to us.

Direct mayoral elections are important. And I believe that

the people of Kostroma are capable of, and should, choose

their mayor. Elections for governor without

the municipal filter—that is normal.

Corruption and embezzlement of public funds as well—after all,

no one is going to say those are

good things.

For all these reasons, I am taking part in

the primaries. The primaries were organized

and their main driving forces were two

political parties: the RPR

PARNAS party and

the

Progress Party. My colleague and at the same time

competitor

in these primaries is a member of the political council

of RPR

PARNAS, Ilya Yashin. Yes, he lives in

Moscow. He will now come up to this podium and

tell you why he wants specifically to be on the

side of the people of Kostroma, what he will tell you

is that he came here not to deceive you, but

that he is ready and wants to work for

Kostroma and for the needs of Kostroma.

Thank you. Hello, dear

residents of Kostroma, I really did come from Moscow,

and now I will tell you why I

did it. Some time ago I received

a letter, a letter from residents of Kostroma

and the Kostroma region, in which they

told me, essentially, what I already

knew, what we all know: that

for a long time now we have been

conditioned to believe that we have no

rights. We have been conditioned to

the idea that who will represent our

interests in the legislature is decided by others,

who will be president is decided by others, what laws there will be

is decided by others. I was asked to come here in order

to freshen the air here. I am not

connected either to officials or to oligarchs.

I am a completely independent person, and I was

asked to take part in the Democratic Coalition’s primaries

here in

Kostroma in order to run in the elections,

become your candidate

and defend your

interests. And I have good news:

for the first time in a long while, you and I

have a chance to change something. For the first time in

a long while, you and I have a chance

to break this vicious circle, when you and I

have no ability to influence

anything. The same faces have been in

parliament, in the Kremlin, and here in the Kostroma

region for 15 years—the same faces. It is time to

change something, because the faces are the same,

but so are the same broken

roads, and the same awful

housing and коммунal services. Nothing

changes. Let us try to change that.

Right now we are holding primaries. Few people

know what that is—it is an unfamiliar word.

[music]

a list of candidates. We want

to form a people’s list, not there in the

quiet of offices, where politicians

make deals among themselves, but when citizens

themselves nominate their candidates. They

compete with one another honestly. In

open competition there emerges

a truly strong people’s list.

That list goes into the elections, wins, and

forms a faction in the Duma that

works in the interests of the people, on the side of

the people. Therefore, I ask you

to register for these primaries,

take an active part in them, and in

September come to the elections and vote

so that others do not decide for us. Because

to significantly raise the standard of living here

in the Kostroma region and in the country, we will only be able

to do so only

by pressing and forcing this government to work

in our interests. Am I

right?

Will you support a visiting Muscovite like me?

A touring outsider, convicted three times. But the man

whom you all know very well—Alexei

Navalny. Thank you very much, dear

friends. I’m very glad to see you here.

Please, everyone who’s standing,

come closer—those behind the little fence, too.

I’m glad to be speaking in your wonderful, very beautiful

city. I only have one

question: has there been some kind of

bombing in the city lately or something? I

was driving today along Prospekt Mira (Peace Avenue), and I just couldn’t

understand—what on earth has been happening in

this regional capital? I don’t

understand. And before I say

why I came, and answer all your questions,

let me tell you a little anecdote, just so you

understand. A joke—but really, it’s the real-life context

in which we work. Today the guys

were setting up the stage, the structures, the backdrop, and

they put out chairs. Then a representative

from the administration came and said the chairs had to be removed. And

the police weren’t even insisting on it. Remove the chairs. Why?

“It’s an order.”

From the deputy governor. First you put out chairs,

and then you’ll start a revolution.

So everyone sitting on a chair—you

understand that this is the prologue to a revolution. Why

did I come here to see you?

I came here so that together

with all of you here in Kostroma

Region, we could enter into a conspiracy—form

a conspiracy. And yes, a conspiracy is supposed to be

something secret, but I’m saying this

completely openly.

I want you to take part in it—you, the police officers

guarding this rally, the people

standing with placards, even

the wonderful woman who just

told me, “Go away, you with your American

passport.” I’m sure you’ll want

to take part in this conspiracy because

it will be a conspiracy of people who love

Kostroma Region against those who

hate it. Look, when I

was preparing, I went to the website of

the Ministry of Regional Development to see where

Kostroma Region stands

and what the official

information says about it now. And it says

it’s a bankrupt region. Worse than Kostroma

Region, apparently, only Kamchatka has debt

that practically equals its revenue; income is minimal;

everything depends on transfers from the federal

budget, and so on. It’s just some kind of

nightmare. I really don’t understand:

do people in Kostroma Region not

work? Are they drunk all the time? Or

did they steal something from themselves? Why

is Kostroma Region running at a loss?

Absolutely—why? Do you have an answer to

that question? But on the other hand,

if I look not at the official websites

but at normal ones, where people

actually write things, here’s what I learn about Kostroma Region.

Tell me yourselves: Kostroma is

the cheese capital of Russia, Kostroma

is the jewelry capital

of Russia,

the flax capital of Russia, and one of the

key cities of the Golden Ring (a famous tourist route through historic Russian cities), and a

major tourist city in Russia.

So the question arises: how the hell can a city

that is famous for all this, where many people

work—why is it a loss-making

region?

A bankrupt one? I want to form a conspiracy with you

against the people who are trying

to turn Kostroma and Kostroma

Region into a bankrupt region.

They take all the money away to Moscow

that is earned here, and they

simply steal every day by taking away all

the money. I know that for certain, and this is

the most important point of our program. I’m simply

looking at how much tax you pay here.

The main plank of our platform,

the one we are campaigning on, is this:

return money and powers to the regions.

The value-added tax that

you pay here—what percentage of it

stays here, and how much goes to Moscow?

Who knows?

Zero stays with you here.

We believe, demand, and want

you, as part of this conspiracy, to demand

together with us: guys, we want

40% of the value-added tax

to remain here, where we actually pay it.

These are your prices. When you pay in

a store, you indirectly pay this tax, and

that would bring in an additional 4 to 8 billion

rubles, and the problem of Kostroma Region’s deficit

would be solved immediately. Then it would be possible

to allocate not 980 million rubles a year to roads, as now,

but 1 billion or 2 billion. I think

we all want that together.

We also want excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco

that you pay here—which directly affect

your healthcare, because

people drink and smoke, they get sick from it, and you

pay for those hospitals, and so on—but

right now Moscow takes 60% of the excise tax, and 40%

stays with you. We’re not proposing to take it all away.

Our program is this:

let’s reverse it—60% stays here and 40% goes to

Moscow. And that would bring in an additional 500 million

rubles. This year your healthcare

budget was cut by 340 million

rubles. So we’re saying: let’s change that, and

you’ll have additional money for

healthcare. In Kostroma

Region, medicines that people are supposed

to receive free of charge are not being given to them. You

know there were scandals—an unfortunate disabled child

had to sue

the governor over medication, and while the case was going on,

the girl died—she couldn’t get

the medicine. The money exists—it’s just that right now

the official position of any deputies

who sit in your city assembly

and in the regional legislature, United Russia sits there, and

its official position is that

guys, we want to hand over all the money

to Moscow. Why would Moscow ever give you

any money back if, apparently,

your deputies are saying, no, we are completely

fine with it, let everything go there

Within this conspiracy, we want

to unite people who will finally

create the one party

the one political force, people who will say, well,

enough already—there is plenty of money in the federal center

as it is: oil revenues, gas revenues,

customs duties. We want

at least some of our money, the money we pay,

to stay in our region. Second,

the theft—the spoons, the dacha (country house)

Yakunin, the head of Russian Railways, the state-owned

railway company, bought himself

an estate for more than 1 billion rubles

(about $11 million). Your

Kostroma

to St. Petersburg train is being canceled from July 5, right?

That’s right? Yes, yes. So the question is: shouldn’t

we join you in a conspiracy

so that finally someone says, what the hell

is Yakunin doing spending 1 billion rubles

on a dacha when he has no such income, while you

are having this train canceled, even though it costs

far less, after all

And so we look at these

endless mugs who have

an official salary of 1 million rubles, but build

houses worth 100 million, 20 million, 50 million rubles—this is

illicit enrichment. But obviously, if

an official—look, he has

even a high salary, 150,000 rubles a month

(about $1,650)—that’s a very high salary. Your average

salary in the region is what?

25,000.

Officially, 21,000.

Officially, Rosstat (Russia’s state statistics agency) says 21,000 rubles

(about $230), though it’s probably less. An official

earns 100,000, but at the same time builds himself

a dacha for 10 million rubles—where did he get

the money? He stole it. Saved it up, saved it up—by stealing

a little at a time, and

eventually accumulated it. That’s obvious to me, it’s obvious to you

it’s obvious to the whole country, but

when we say this is illicit

enrichment, stop stealing, then this

official says: Navalny, that’s slander

you’ll go to court, I’ll have you held legally

liable. And where I got the money from

is none of your business, nor your

fellow Kostroma residents’ business—you have no right

to ask us such questions, the officials say

I want us together

to form a conspiracy of people who demand

that we do have the right to ask such questions

About this seed farm—your

newspapers all wrote that 154 million rubles were stolen

that’s a very large sum for your

region. How did the case end?

Amnesty. Nothing was built, the money was not

returned, no one was held

accountable, everyone feels

just fine. But let there at least appear in the

legislature someone who says: I demand

criminal charges. I

demand it, I demand these 154 million rubles be returned

Because right now there are no such deputies, there simply

aren’t any, that’s all. Supposedly there are

people’s

representatives sitting there, drawing salaries, doing something

but the person who will raise

their voice is not there, and that person should be there

because all of you here want that

There are probably lots of people who do not

agree with my political

position on everything. But surely each of us

agrees that crooks like these must be

held

accountable. Your roads are in

a monstrous state, but if we look

at our Anti-Corruption Foundation

which analyzes how road tenders are awarded

we see nothing but

a monopolistic scheme there—there is no competition at all

naturally there are no roads, people are enriching themselves

we need deputies who will deal with this

we need such deputies. I want

you to elect those deputies yourselves

The idea

behind the party list is very simple

for example, I am even officially

forbidden from forming blocs right now, and I don’t

want to anyway, but you have elections in 2016

in September 2015, the task before us

before all of us is how to

put together a list in Kostroma Region

that you will believe in, so that

you will come to the elections and finally send to the

Duma deputies who will demand that

your money be returned to you and that they start

fighting corruption. We have already decided

how to answer this question

in the only possible way:

you should compile this list

you—these local people, or Yashin

for example, who came from Moscow and wants

to represent your interests—they come

to you and say: guys, we want to be

the face of the Kostroma opposition, please

trust us. After that, you come to the

primaries and decide who should be

first, who should be second, who should be in

a winnable spot and become a

deputy. Do you need someone older,

younger, local, or an outsider? That is not a question

Navalny from Moscow can decide, nor

should Navalny from Moscow decide it. I

believe that you should decide that question

you, the people of Kostroma. The main purpose of my trip

is to convince you that, well, in fact

democracy really does work, and me

Journalists were asking today, "So, Alexei..."

"So who will head the party list in Kostroma?" And I

said, "Guys, I'm happy to tell you that

I don't know. I really don't know. Because

I don't know who you

will vote for. Enough already—I'm sick of all this,

all this politics and these big-headed politicians

from Moscow. When Moscow leaders decide everything

themselves, it leads to a situation where you're

simply not interested in voting for such

lists. So either you don't go to

the polls, or you spoil your ballots. As a result,

there is no opposition. In power there is only

United Russia. We all suffer, they steal,

there are no roads, and so on. We have to change

this situation. I urge you to believe in

the fact that what we are doing is genuinely honest:

to register, look at

the candidates, talk to them, ask them

questions, and choose the list that

will go to the election and beat

United Russia—the party of crooks and thieves—and

bring into the Duma people who will finally

say loudly, and make sure that

the official voice of Kostroma Region

sounds like this:

"We demand a fight against corruption." I

am sure we will do this, and together with

you—together with you—we

will break into parliament, and after that we

will definitely win, because

well, I simply do not believe that what

is happening in the country now will

go on forever.

This country extracts such enormous

amounts of oil and gas, we are one of the richest

countries, and yet we live in poverty. In your region's second-largest

city, right here in

Sharya, they shut off hot water for five months

in 2015. Come on—that's un

thinkable. Here, hot water should be shut off

for 14 days. But in practice, for how long

do they shut it off? A month. A month. Why the hell are you

paying more than 15% of your monthly budget for housing and utility services

(utilities), right?

Then why do people say, "No,

that can't be, that just can't be,

it can't be that all the nation's wealth is going

to these oligarchs." In 1990, we had

officially recognized dollar billionaires

ten or maybe eleven people; now there are 120

official dollar

billionaires in Russia. What did they

make their money on? I don't understand. They

made it on the fact that your region became

bankrupt. They siphoned everything off into Swiss

bank accounts.

So once again, I urge you: we are

forming a patriotic conspiracy with you

against the thieves, together with everyone—with the police, with

Center E (the anti-extremism police unit), which is filming us right now

on camera—with everyone. Because nobody likes

this. A patriotic conspiracy against

crooks and thieves, for the people of Kostroma. Thank you

very much. I'm ready to answer your

questions. Let's start first with the

woman who said that I have two

passports. I promise you—please, your

first

question. Go ahead, go ahead.

Tell me, I'm interested. I'll give you the

microphone, just briefly, okay? Did

the American

[music]

embassy pay you? And how much did the

American embassy pay you to come

here? All right, tell me then,

was it Obama who bombed your roads after all?

You bombed the roads. In 1991

I bombed the roads? In 1991

in 1991 I destroyed—you destroyed

the country? I destroyed

the country? Excellent, thank you.

Thank you very much. Let me give you the microphone—no

need? All right, fine. I can answer, I can

answer. What's your

name? Thank you very much for that question. I

am glad it was asked, because

here's what happens: some

people come out and say

they are against corruption, and that means the

American embassy paid them, and in

1991 they somehow

bombed something. In 1991 I was

in school, you understand? I didn't bomb

anything. And as for the American embassy, I don't

know what's in that embassy. Where is

this America? Very far away. What I do know is that

there is no hot water here. I know that here

everything has been stolen. I can see Yakunin's dacha (country estate)

right here and now. Second question.

Let's have the second question. How did the trial end

when you stole

Kirovles? How did the trial end when I stole from Kirovles?

At

Kirovles? The Kirovles trial ended very

simply: I was sentenced to five years, but the

next day, people came out into the streets of Moscow

who know that all of this is a lie,

who understand that these are corrupt officials and

crooks trying to lock me up.

The next day they released me, and as you

can see, as you can see, I am standing here before

you. And no matter how much they try to brainwash us

about America—guys, why should I talk

about America? I want to ask a question. I don't

know—there are a bunch of police officers standing here. I

want them to think to themselves

here we have a director, a former director

of the FSB, Patrushev. In our booklet, you can

see that his wife bought herself

a palace in Serebryany Bor for 100 million

Please tell me, in short, how

can an FSB director, while in government service, buy

himself a house for 1 billion rubles? Is that possible?

That is betrayal and treason. Those are

the traitors of Russia—all those who simply keep stealing

from the budget endlessly. Well, I've given you

the chance to ask two questions. So

that’s enough, we want to ask questions too. Dear

friends, we need to change the agenda.

Next. I don’t want to talk about America. I

want to talk about housing and public utilities in the city of Kostroma.

I want to talk about why you are

being robbed on the roads. I want, I want to talk

Sorry, about your great friend

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin’s friend named

Anatoly Serdyukov. Now tell me,

please, where is Anatoly

Serdyukov now? He was removed, he was removed. So let me

tell you that Serdyukov, the man we were

told on television had stolen 20

billion rubles, did not spend a single day in the

defendant’s dock. He was amnestied, and

now he heads a federal

state enterprise in the field of

defense. I don’t like that. And I’m

not interested in America or some

American embassy. I simply want

Serdyukov to be jailed. Do you

want that? Well, let’s vote: who is in favor of

bringing Serdyukov to

justice? Please...

American embassy.

That is what we will rally around.

We will unite around this. Next

question. Go ahead.

revolution... many of you probably know me.

know me.

I worked at... under Boris... I

want to speak about the roads: I fell and broke my hip. Yes, I

on November 16 of that year I fell, broke my hip, and

for three years I’ve been suing and just trying to survive.

And then suddenly, on November 8, I’m told that the

person responsible for the roads is bankrupt, some kind of

manager. We have roads, and they are all under

a bankrupt entity, which is why there was such terrible ice. He

holds two jobs, and his administration

is driving the company into bankruptcy. They do not pay taxes

on purpose; this is done deliberately. They don’t pay taxes.

He holds two jobs and receives two

salaries, and they are not planning to pay me either.

That’s how it is, and my whole body...

The point is that the enterprise that has

the roads on its books has been formally

declared bankrupt, and it cannot even

pay compensation. So what are we talking about?

How is it possible that in one of the richest

countries in the world, which has sold oil and gas

for 3 billion in recent years, our

road maintenance enterprise ends up

bankrupt? This is abnormal. This is what

we are joining together against; that is why I am

standing on this stage. Let’s have the next

question. Yes.

Please, your attitude toward Mikhail

Kasyanov? My attitude toward Mikhail

Kasyanov, toward Mikhail Kasyanov, my

attitude is good. I’ll explain: he was

prime minister in Putin’s government,

and, by the way, he served for three or four years

as prime minister in Putin’s government. And

even by Putin’s own admission, he was

prime minister—indeed, he was

the best prime minister

of Putin’s government. And in that sense,

I follow his work. I am not going to be his

lawyer; without me, he is perfectly

capable, I’m sure, of coming and answering

questions. But I follow his

activity over recent years, and I see that

he is, in fact, a fairly

sincere person engaged in independent

political activity. Kasyanov probably could have—I am

sure of it—as a former prime minister,

like all the others, headed some

state bank or something of that sort,

become an oligarch, and so on. But

none of that happened. So Kasyanov

heads the RPR-PARNAS party. You know

that my party, the Party of Progress, was liquidated;

they are not allowing us to register it.

They are too afraid. He made this

party available for holding democratic

primaries and honestly said that he was ready on one

condition: that the candidate lists be formed by people from Kostroma.

This is very important, because the

deputies you elect will be

accountable only to you—not to me, not to Kasyanov,

and not to anyone else. And that is exactly how we want it, so that

the deputies sitting there do not feel

indebted to Navalny. Because

what if tomorrow I become a bad person and

demand that they cover for

corrupt officials? And then, at that moment,

the deputy will say, ‘Lyosha, go home, get out of my

Kostroma, because I was elected on a list formed by

people from Kostroma, not by you.’ Next

question. Tell me, this young man

is shouting, ‘This country isn’t Bolotnaya (a reference to Moscow’s Bolotnaya Square protests)... go back to your own...’

America.’ Judging by appearances, you came here from

Tajikistan. Please come over here.

Come here. Go on, come over, come over. Yes, come over.

Both of you.

Come over, come over, both of you, come over.

Come on, come over.

All right, if you tell me, ‘Go back to your own

America,’ then I’ll tell you, ‘Go back to Uzbekistan.’

You, come here. Let’s take a look.

Kostroma. There you have it, you see—the wonderful

authorities took two migrant workers

paid them 300 rubles each, and they are afraid to come

up here. So come here, guys, come over.

I’m not going to eat you. This is a peaceful

rally. This matters, this matters. I’ll give you

a chance to speak. Come over, come on.

Come over.

Come here. There, you see, that’s exactly how it works.

You understand? He stood up and shouted about ‘your America.’ Once

again, please, no incidents. Just

let them stand there, let them stand there and listen, and so

on. Fine. As soon as I send you to

Dushanbe, I’ll immediately go to

[applause]

America. A local issue of interest...

I want to ask for help. In general, under the former...

Governor, damn it, so, on behalf of...

the fans of Spartak club, about the stadium...

Spartak was handed over to Dynamo just now...

all my friends go to training sessions, even...

the poor kids in Karavaevo, 7 km (4.3 miles) from

the city. Our hearts ache, we all...

the enterprises contributed, all of them, Metalist...

Mashina built Spartak—this stadium...

is 50 years old, and by some stroke of the pen, with chatter and...

empty drivel, they signed it away and handed it over to the cops.

We want this stadium back, like it was...

That’s it.

Uh...

The only way I can do this...

I can’t do it alone. You need your own deputies.

They shape the budget, they approve the budget

of the region; among other things, they also form

property committees, they elect...

their own deputies. They distribute everything, they

are the ones who should be dealing with this. You have, you have...

a lot of similar situations. Maybe...

after all, I’m not a local person, not...

entirely, but the right analogy here is...

some well-known pond here that recently...

Shai Pond, yes, the one someone tried to...

build over—the person who heads

the committee on

ecology. Well, that’s exactly why you need

to bring in decent deputies so that this

crooked nonsense doesn’t get through, because a person

gets elected in this district saying, ‘I’ll stand up for you,’

and then tries to build over your own pond.

So voters need people who

will shape the budget in such a way that

there is funding for this

sports club, who will demand, as

I’ve already said and will never tire of repeating, that

excise tax, VAT, and part of the

mineral extraction tax stay here, and then you

will have money for everything. Once again,

this is important. Today I spoke with many people,

and unfortunately you yourselves have been

sold this whole paradigm: that here

in Kostroma everything is terrible and we’re

very poor. You’re not poor at all—where did you

get the idea that you’re poor? Just look

at how much tax you yourselves

pay. If even some of it stayed with you, you’d be able

to...

to support yourselves—and that’s exactly how it should be.

Because, after all,

who is Russia for? Explain to me—what is it for?

Why do you pay excise tax and VAT here—so it can go to

Chechnya? They’re doing fine there as it is.

There’s enough money; we maintain the army, we have enough

oil money, plenty of gas money, as I already

said, and plenty of customs revenue.

A lot. Right now, Russia’s national idea

should be to let

people live normally, so that, damn it, your

money stays with you.

How

is it possible to dismantle this system when there...

after all, everything is...

like that?

There’s no clever trick—if only there were a simple button

I could walk up to and just press once,

and...

But it won’t be easy. On the other hand,

we are the majority in our

country. We’ve been sold the idea that we’re some kind of

you know, people with democratic

views, of whom there are many in every

city, who stand for elections, for

justice, for a fair

distribution of national wealth. We’ve

basically been made to think that there are

just too few of us, while some rather narrow-minded

people are very numerous and outvote us everywhere.

That’s complete nonsense.

On every issue on our political

agenda in this country, 70 to 80%

of people are with us. So how do we change this

system? By uniting, including in order

to go to the polls. Of course, the system is rigid,

of course it’s all the same old mess, if they

appointed this governor for you. What did you call him—

Zhora Bordyur or something? Like...

Gosha Bordyur? If the whole region is laughing because they

appointed some clown—a clown who simply

steals money. He’s pointless and

useless. Everyone seems to agree with that.

It seems impossible to break through the system, but we need

to mobilize, we need to mobilize. We know for sure

that if we ourselves make

a small effort, and each of you

goes up to someone and says, ‘Listen,

friend, neighbor, acquaintance, girlfriend—there’s

a party, there are deputies, and they stand for

our Kostroma money

staying here. Don’t sit at home—right now, in these elections, even if only

20% of people come out and vote—if everyone comes,

if everyone votes, that’s where the breaking of

this system will begin—not a revolution, but a normal

evolution, when we force officials

to change something. Because of course, who

would ever voluntarily give up? In our booklet,

look at the page with the salaries

of the heads of state companies. My favorite figure—

I keep repeating it, you’ve probably heard it too—you know the salary?

What is it?

5 million rubles a day (about $55,000-60,000 per day). Where have you ever seen that in a

state company? It’s simply

madness. You tell people and they don’t

believe it. I often tell

people I know, I meet people, and I tell them: 5

million rubles a day. ‘No way, that can’t

be true, it doesn’t fit in your head’—but it

is true. Obviously, they themselves will never

give it up; they will never give up

the opportunity to steal, to steal the nation’s

wealth without control. But

we need to apply pressure. That’s why I came here, and we

need some kind of group to emerge

of people who will pressure this government

and force it to change. Let’s take the next

question: do I believe in fair elections?

Excellent question. And do you believe in fair...

All right. Raise your hands, those who believe

in fair elections.

In—

Good. So, I’m facing an optimistic

audience. I

can see that. I want to tell you the facts. Fact

number one is that when it comes to

voting for United Russia,

your region is second from the bottom. One of the

lowest voting rates—that’s a fact. As for

voting for Putin, you are in last

place. In Kostroma, people do not vote for Putin.

That

is a fact. It’s obvious. Why? Because

it’s not that you’re voting for some supposedly good candidate, it’s simply that you

know everything has been stolen and ruined.

So don’t vote? From this I draw

the conclusion that, first of all, of course everything

will not be easy, but on the other hand

the conditions are there.

So the elections will be fair if we

force them to hold fair elections. If

we draw up a list and send

a fairly large number of people,

if observers take part, if we sign up

hundreds—we did this in Moscow, and we’re doing it here too.

When I ran in the elections in Moscow,

they told me too: “What are you even getting yourself into?”

“You’ve got a criminal case against you.” I was

put on trial right in the middle of the election

campaign, and I was even jailed during

the campaign. There was no television coverage,

there was no money. “What are you getting into? You’ve got

absolutely nothing.” Nevertheless, in

Russia’s largest city, where 10% of the country’s

population lives, I got 30%. It wasn’t all for

nothing. If we force them to hold

fair elections, they will hold them for us. We just need

to push them. A little more optimism,

friends. Next question.

Alexei, good afternoon. We came from Ivanovo

to be, so to speak,

part of this. And I have a question. Well,

the problems are most likely the same.

It’s a subsidized region, which means the governor

looks in only one direction—where the money comes from. So

the situation for small business is absolutely

identical, just like with the roads—maybe a little

better, but he measures his effectiveness

by his ratings, by how high he

climbs. My question is this:

after three of these announcements—it’s

such a nightmare—to constantly be ready with

a bag packed and come in. Please understand me

correctly: why

Niko’s question: haven’t I gotten tired of endlessly

drying rusks (a Russian expression meaning preparing for prison)? Well, yes, I have.

Really. If I had been speaking

here two years ago, I would have said:

“Guys, I’m a respected lawyer, I have

high fees,” and so on. Now I

really can tell you that I am

a three-time convicted repeat offender; I was expelled

from the bar association as someone criminally

convicted, and so on and so on.

But if, in order to speak the truth,

I need to dry rusks, then I’ll

dry them, because that is the most important thing

for me. What matters deeply to me is that, standing on

this stage, I know that I am not lying in a single

word. Besides, in fact I’m

saying fairly obvious things.

Yes, you looked at the little booklet. But it’s all

documents, unfortunately.

Corruption is out in the open; there’s no need even

to prove anything. But I simply get

pleasure from speaking the truth in

our country. In other countries, in

societies before ours, this is simply

the constant story of humanity:

decent people fight bad people;

bad people—crooks, thieves, and murderers—

try to stop good people from speaking

the truth. But the whole history of humanity, again,

tells us that good, sooner or

later, wins. I believe that it

will win. I simply believe in Russia. I believe—I don’t

know—even in that woman who

came up to me and talked about the embassy. I

basically believe that at some point

she’ll figure it out: when she

turns on the hot water and nothing

comes out, she’ll understand that Obama is not

on the other end of the pipe drinking up

all the hot water. She’ll understand. I believe in

people. Maybe someone will consider my position

naive, but it is truthful, and for its sake I

am ready to dry as many rusks as necessary.

[applause]

Thank you. My last name is Leontyeva. Kostroma.

So, the Kostroma Regional Duma

has more than thirty members, and yet

despite the fact that in more than

half of Russia’s cities a law on

“children of the war” has been adopted,

these leading figures, so to speak, have

settled in for three or four convocations

working in the Duma—that is, they are already

permanent fixtures.

Yes, and in April they allowed themselves

despite the fact that in neighboring

regions—around 35 or 40 regions—

this law on “children of the war” was adopted, they

They refused.

They refused.

May I make a comparison?

There are far more people in the regional Duma.

Compare it with the Moscow City Duma.

That’s how it works in our

country. Thank you very much. It’s not even really a question,

more of an opinion. But the idea is very important: the fact that

these people sit there for years—these deputies really

were in the Communist Party, then

they were with Chernomyrdin in Our Home Is Russia (a pro-Kremlin party of the 1990s), then

for a while they became

“democrats” and signed up

for Fatherland, then Unity, and now in

United Russia—the same old faces are still sitting there.

for years. At the same time, if I asked you

whether there are, in your Duma, at least, I don't know,

a couple of deputies who really

will stand up for your

interests—just one or two.

There might be one name

that comes to mind, but most often there are none.

Support for United Russia is among the lowest

in the country—30%—but United Russia in your Duma

holds

85%. How does that happen?

That's exactly the problem. That's why

we are holding this rally: it's time

to kick United Russia out of there.

If they have 30% support, then let them

keep their 30%, and let normal deputies

form the majority and pass

the right laws. Next question.

Kostroma, thank you for giving me the floor.

Thank you. Dear residents of Kostroma, for 17 years I have

been corresponding with officials at the very

highest level, up to and including the President

of the Russian Federation—no fewer than two

dozen during his third term. In total,

my appeals have been sent

regarding repression and the issue of

returning the diplomat of the Kingdom of Sweden

from the Galskoye Cemetery in the city of Kostroma

to Sweden, where he should be, in

Malmö, in the family burial place.

This is a man who, for those who do not know, saved during the years of

the war, more than 70 years ago—today already

already

around 100,000 human

lives among the Jewish population. He was

abducted by SMERSH (Soviet military counterintelligence) and taken to

the Lubyanka, where he was held, and in prisons across

Moscow, including for about two years at

the Lubyanka, where he was interrogated

before being sent to

a prison transport convoy.

While

on Red Square in 2013, I was

arrested by people dressed in police uniforms, in

a group of 13 to 15, and taken to

Kitay-Gorod, and subsequently to the district police station.

By court order, in

again. This was because I had repeatedly sent

appeals

to Prosecutor General Chaika and others. The military

prosecutor's office sends only brush-off replies everywhere; not a single

appeal has been considered

on its merits. Counterintelligence, the FSB,

the head of the military prosecutor's office openly

mock me, saying instead of giving

the answer I request in my appeal,

in writing: 'Especially important government

prisoner.'

Then in another brush-off reply: 'released prisoner.' This is

despicable. If Wallenberg

had been released, a plane from

Sweden would have

landed immediately, and he would have been escorted

back to his homeland. At present

they send me brush-off replies over the signature of General

from our FSB, who instructs them to send

these dismissive replies.

And this is

outrageous.

Thank you. It's difficult for me to comment on this

specific situation. Judging by the passion with which

you describe it, I do not

doubt that you are doing something

noble. And on the one hand,

you understand, we have huge—there are

military archives, there is the Main Military

Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Defense, which

should be dealing with this, yet they are silent. So again, I am not ready

to comment on this situation. But this is

a question about the quality of government in general. And why

are they silent? We have a fantastical number of officials

—fantastical.

It's a question of the quality of government. Let's simply

discuss this particular issue one-on-one afterward.

Next question. Would you like to ask a question?

At the rally on December 7 last

year,

you said, 'I'm scared, but I'm used to it.' What are you

doing for your personal safety? Because

we are all very

worried about you. Well, listen, who should I be afraid of?

Look how many people are protecting me—and

you too, including people in uniform, and so on. But seriously,

what can you really do here?

Even if I had the money

to hire four bodyguards

and have them stand there like in a Hollywood movie,

in dark protective glasses, big guys like that,

huge men—still, competing

with the state is impossible.

You know who killed

Nemtsov (Boris Nemtsov, Russian opposition politician). He was killed by Chechen

policemen, if you can call them

policemen—really just some kind of bandits,

bearded thugs.

Everyone knows that right now the FSB is officially

trying to question this Yeremeyev—yes, that's his

surname—who officially

helped organize it,

in a republic that is supposedly part of Russia.

They can't even come and question him. What's more, he

officially left through Grozny

International Airport. Now he is in Dubai.

So

I understand that the situation is such that

there may be, I don't know, dangerous

situations. But again, that does not

stop me, and I believe that none of

us should be stopped by it. Because

these acts of terror, including against

Boris, were carried out—they were

intended simply to kill one person

and intimidate everyone else.

We have to keep doing our work. Next question.

Yes, Alexei, I'm very glad to see you. You

know, we have great respect for

your work. My son and I came specially

from Ivanovo to see you.

live

Can you imagine—we know that you

are taking part in the elections here in

Kostroma. In Kaluga, they watched you

speak; in Novosibirsk; when in

Ivanovo—well, yes, I’ll make it everywhere.

Listen, to be honest with you,

I get so much pleasure from this. After all,

I spent a year at home under house arrest, and

by the final stage of it, my entertainment

during that house arrest

was simply opening a map and

imagining where I would go, and my wife

used to call it something like “Alexei is out walking again.” I

would look at the map and imagine where I

would travel. I’ll try to get everywhere, but that

is not an easy task in our situation—there are

a lot of obstacles being put in our way, first and foremost.

Of course, right now I’m traveling to cities where

elections are taking place. But people are the same everywhere, and

everywhere people want to hear a word of truth, and

to be honest, sometimes it even upsets me that

someone can come and say

fairly banal things—nothing I’ve told you

just now is something you yourselves don’t already

know without me—

and yet it somehow becomes popular.

That’s the wrong situation. I want

to achieve this:

I want my job to disappear, so that all

these stories of mine about corruption and so on

would no longer be needed, because I would

talk about someone, and people would tell me, well,

that’s enough talking—there he is already

sitting in the defendant’s dock. If I talked about

Serdyukov, they would tell me, stop talking about

Serdyukov—he got 10 years. If I

talked about all those United Russia party members,

you would tell me, enough already, they’ve all been

held criminally liable under

the law on combating illicit enrichment.

I will definitely achieve that. I hope

that together we will definitely achieve it,

and that our conspiracy will work, my friends. In

our team there is a doctor who

told me something: “Alexei, the meeting shouldn’t

last more than one hour, because

you’ll leave all your voters out in the cold and

they’ll all come down with pneumonia.” Thank you

so much, my friends. Thank you for

coming and spending your time

to listen to me. I urge all of you not

to delay—register and

build your list, the list from which

victory will begin—and it will begin

in Kostroma. Thank you.

[applause]

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