Text version
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Hi, this is Navalny, and you're watching my
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first video of 2019. I want to make it
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completely different. All last year I
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got on your nerves. I wound you up.
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I made you hate the authorities,
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officials, and corruption, and all my videos
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were like: here's a palace, that one stole this,
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this one embezzled that, these bandits, these scumbags, and here
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are some liars and hypocrites. Toward the end of the year, I
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could feel that you were hanging on
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by your last thread. So in 2019, you and I
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will start with some relaxation. For the first time,
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the resources of the Anti-Corruption Foundation and
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our drone
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have been used to film
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a very beautiful,
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peaceful video. I'll play it for you now,
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you just watch and relax,
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but please don't switch it off before the end.
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[music]
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We are flying over Lake Como,
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one of the most beautiful places on our
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planet.
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Come on, you have to admit, the views are simply fantastic.
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It's no coincidence that people like
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Madonna have bought homes here,
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George Clooney, Gianni Versace, footballer
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Ronaldinho, Sylvester Stallone, and many,
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many others. What we are seeing right
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now is the commune of Menaggio,
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one of the best places on Lake Como. It is surrounded on all
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sides by mountains, which creates its own
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special microclimate.
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Look at these wonderful houses,
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what beautiful architecture. And from, say,
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that house on top of the hill,
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the view must be simply
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breathtaking.
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You could envy whoever lives there and,
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as we can see, is building a swimming pool. By the way,
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look at this lovely detail: we can see
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some clothes hanging on a washing line.
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Clothes.
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And let's, out of mischievous curiosity,
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zoom in and see what exactly is there.
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Could this happy Italian, enjoying
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one of the most beautiful views in the world, be
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drying some kind of uniform or jacket?
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Let's take a closer look.
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Wait a second, yes, that's some kind of tunic, and
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I think I've seen it somewhere before.
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Let's bring in an
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artificial intelligence system.
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Oh no.
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My God, no. I really, honestly wanted
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to make a relaxing video for you, but
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instead, you and I have found ourselves in episode 4
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of the series *Propagandists*. I know perfectly well
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what you want to tell me now: "Alexei,
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you've got something mixed up. That was the first
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episode of *Propagandists*, where you already
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talked about Vladimir
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Solovyov's real estate on Italy's Lake Como."
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And I answer: what can I do, guys, if
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— you'll laugh — this fiery
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patriot, for whom patriotism is supposedly as natural
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a human feeling as love for one's mother,
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this Putin fan, whose real emotions
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come through when he talks about people,
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you can see how important
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communicating with people is to him, how much he sees himself
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as the people's envoy in power,
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this fighter against the opposition — "these two
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percent of shit think they have the right
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to explain something to someone in Moscow" — this
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pillar of the regime, it turns out,
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amid all this inherited mad chaos,
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has bought himself
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a second estate in Italy, on this very
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Lake Como, which he quite obviously likes
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far more than any place on the
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territory of our country. This estate
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is located 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) from the villa
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we already showed you.
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It consists of two houses on a plot of
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3,700 square meters (0.37 hectares / 0.91 acres).
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Vladimir Rudolfovich, and here there is
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the main house, whose area, excluding
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the balcony and veranda, is almost 300 square
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meters (about 3,230 sq ft), and according to the registry it has 14
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rooms: five bedrooms, five bathrooms,
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a living room, a kitchen, an entry hall,
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and a storage room. There is also a guest house
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with an area of 90 square meters (about 970 sq ft). It has
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three rooms, two shower rooms, a basement, and a covered
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veranda.
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As you can see, at Solovyov's second Italian
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estate, major construction is underway.
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Vladimir Putin's loyal soldier is building
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himself an outdoor pool like the neighbors' and
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carrying out extensive landscaping work.
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Interestingly, our TV propagandist is not
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the least bit shy: right on the estate's fence
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hangs a large sign on which
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the name Vladimir Solovyov is plainly written.
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And really, why should he be embarrassed if
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in the purchase agreement Solovyov
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is listed as a resident?
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It's also amusing that in the profession field
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Solovyov states that he is an artist. Well, you can't
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argue with that — an artist indeed.
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"In Ukraine live a brotherly people,
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absolutely close to us in spirit, by blood, by our shared
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history. For us, the most terrible crime imaginable
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is... Don't shout
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'Sevastopol is ours,' don't shout 'Crimea is ours'".
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We know the exact cost of the residence: it
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is stated in the contract. In 2013, Vladimir
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Rudolfovich Solovyov paid for all of this
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1,021,000 euros.
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After he finishes
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building the pool, all this
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splendor will probably be worth
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about 1.5 million euros, or 114
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million rubles. The best cure for laziness is
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greed.
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The moment you want to earn more
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money — that's when your desire will begin.
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They know how to do something, and they do it better—don't be
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greedy. You have to be very greedy, I think.
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That it's just wonderful: a person spends entire
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days shouting themselves hoarse, but look how great Putin is,
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and how terrible Western countries are. We had
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a very romanticized view
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of the West and its morality. Unfortunately, practice
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did not confirm it. He explains to us that, well,
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the Western way of life does not suit us.
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Russian people need a tsar; our values are different.
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Russia has gone its own way apart from Europe.
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Yesterday, on the one hand, Ukraine took
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a step toward European values
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by holding a gay pride parade, while on the other hand
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the state apparatus needs a firm hand. There's nothing
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terrible about corruption, nothing terrible
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about poverty and destitution, because right now
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these are difficult times, and we must unite
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around the national leader. Putin
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is very seriously different from many
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others. When you speak with him, he is
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completely engaged. This is not work; it is
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service. For Putin, it is such a deep
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professional and emotional
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involvement that he cannot allow
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himself the luxury of being a pessimist. We pay him,
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Solovyov, enormous sums
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from our own pockets, from the state budget, because he
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works on a federal TV channel. And this
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gentleman, without batting an eye,
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buys up real estate on Italy's
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Lake Como as if he were not a propagandist,
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a patriot from Russia, but a Hollywood star. But
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to be fair,
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even to Vladimir Solovyov,
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Italian real estate is not
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the only thing he spends money on.
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For example, recently he spent
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a fairly large sum at home. On February 14
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of last year, on Valentine's Day,
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Vladimir Rudolfovich decided
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to delight his most beloved
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person—himself—and bought a brand-new
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Maybach. One like that costs 15 million rubles (about $160,000).
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So that you have no doubts left,
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we even found the company's Instagram post
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from Mercedes, where they congratulate the talented
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journalist on the purchase and wish him
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good luck on the road.
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Under the Mercedes-Benz star, I too would like
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to congratulate you all and wish you luck under
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the Mercedes-Benz star, but I suppose that
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a Maybach
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belongs to only one viewer of this
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video—Solovyov himself.
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Hello, Vladimir Rudolfovich, you've really
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landed on your feet. Help us spread
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this video so that every viewer of the Rossiya channel
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better understands who this man
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on television really is,
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the one teaching them to love the motherland.
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Subscribe to our channel.
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This is where the truth is told.
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I support Putin. Putin believes in Russia, and he believes
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in himself, and we believe in Russia, and we believe
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in ourselves.