Text version
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Hi, this is Navalny. Today I’ve got
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a video about how our country is structured, using
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one very irritating detail as an example.
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It’s a small thing, but
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it perfectly illustrates the attitude our
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officials have toward the people. In general, it’s all
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already clear enough. We’ve all seen motorcades for which
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an entire city can be shut down for several hours;
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an entire city can be blocked off.
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We’ve seen people herded off the streets and into buildings
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when Putin drives by. We’ve seen passengers
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kept for hours
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on a plane with the doors open and
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the window shades shut so they can’t
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see the presidential aircraft land—or
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so that the passenger on that aircraft doesn’t accidentally
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see them. You could remember plenty of other things too:
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snipers dressed up as priests, fishermen, and
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workers; a 6-meter fence; and the famous
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encrypted surnames in the Rosreestr property registry.
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But today I’ve got something
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new for you. Many of you probably remember
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that we recently bought a cool new
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drone. As soon as it arrived,
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we immediately started figuring it out,
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learning how to fly it, and eventually
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it came time for a test flight. We decided not
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to send it straight off on
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an overseas assignment or some super-
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complicated mission, but to test it on
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some old
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site we had already filmed before, though
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only in photographs.
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And the choice fell on the palace—sorry, I can’t
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call it a dacha—
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of First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Ivanovich
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Shuvalov.
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We thought we’d shoot a little footage, make
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a special unboxing video and
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a flight demo. But the plans changed
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because while filming we discovered
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something very strange. Let me test you
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right now—can you spot
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anything unusual in this footage?
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Here we are flying very close around the house—or rather,
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not a house, a palace, with numerous outbuildings,
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wings, a dome, enormous grounds, and
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even its own forest. All of this is located
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in the village of Zarechye, near Skolkovo
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right by the ring road. There’s this little
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patch of woods
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behind which all this splendor is hidden.
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As you can see, it’s more than grand.
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It’s the grounds of a former Soviet state dacha where
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members of the USSR Politburo used to live—7.5
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hectares (18.5 acres). Though their living conditions
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were far more modest than what Shuvalov has now.
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Shuvalov’s new main residential building
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covers more than 4,000 square meters (about 43,000 sq ft).
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This was built by the modest civil servant Shuvalov,
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who works as deputy prime minister in a country where 20
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million people live below the
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poverty line. Inside there are halls and elevators,
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and a special room for grooming
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his corgi dogs. But how much this whole estate costs
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is hard even to imagine.
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We think it’s at least 8 to
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10 billion rubles. And now—freeze frame.
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And as in the game *What? Where? When?* (a famous Russian TV quiz show),
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here’s a question from Alexei N. from Moscow: what
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unique architectural element or
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architectural solution
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is shown in this picture? Your time starts now.
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[music]
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What? What’s wrong?
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A minute’s up. So, the answer:
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everything is small—except there are no cars.
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Everything seems to be as it should be.
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And now, attention—the correct answer is:
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the residential buildings you see in the background,
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in the background,
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namely in the elite residential complex
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Skolkovo Park, there are no windows. I know—you
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probably think I’ve lost my mind. How can you
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build a huge apartment building and
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brick up an entire wall solid?
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Especially since it’s the south side, which means
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in our northern climate
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that’s the most important exposure for every
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apartment. But no, I haven’t lost my mind.
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We deliberately filmed these buildings up close
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so you could all see it with your own
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eyes.
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Let’s look at the footage again. Here we are approaching
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the residential complex. The apartments located on
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the southeastern end are cut off from the view of
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Shuvalov’s dacha by special concrete
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barriers.
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These barriers jut out by one to two meters (3 to 6.5 ft) and
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literally block the view like a screen,
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so that a resident can’t lean out
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of the window and look to the right. You’re allowed
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to look only to the left. Know your place.
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There’s another building behind it,
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the main one in this residential complex, and it
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literally has no windows on the south side—no
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windows, do you understand? An entire section, a quarter or
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a third of the building, was built without a single window.
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And if you think the residents of the neighboring
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buildings are luckier,
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you’re mistaken. Right in front of them stands yet
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another oddly shaped building, and one of its
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main purposes is to block the residents’ view.
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What is all this for? Why? We turn around and
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realize: so that this wonderful view of
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the private estate
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of a government official, Deputy Prime Minister
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Igor Ivanovich Shuvalov,
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Well, when we saw it,
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we couldn’t find an explanation, and as
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a joke we suggested that the building
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was made windowless because Shuvalov
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doesn’t want anyone watching him
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walking his dog around the yard.
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We laughed at that version—how could
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that possibly be? But it turned out to be
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the pure truth. Here is an article presenting
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this project from an architecture website.
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A great many restrictions were imposed on the development,
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including a ban on having windows face south,
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it was not allowed to make
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windows there for security reasons. The article goes on to say
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the article specifies
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that, to avoid views onto the private
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estate,
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located on the southeastern side,
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some of the apartments in Building 1
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were designed as single-aspect units, while Building
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6
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was oriented with its end facing southeast. And then there’s
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this wonderful quote from the architect and
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author of the whole project: “We
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did everything we could to make it work.”
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To design this complex,
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they hired several architectural firms,
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including foreign ones, spent a huge amount
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of money, had dozens of people thinking about it and
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trying to figure out how to outsmart
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physics and geometry, to invent a building of such a
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shape
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that only three sides of the compass would be visible.
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They couldn’t come up with one, so they decided to simply
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brick up one side. Brilliant. And this isn’t some
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Khrushchyovka (a Soviet-era low-cost apartment block); this is a luxury residential
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complex with apartments priced at 50 to 70 million
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rubles (roughly hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars), with its own parks and gardens,
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recreation areas, full amenities, and so
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on. And even the unquestionably very
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wealthy and well-off people
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who live there are not allowed even
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to catch so much as a glimpse of the real
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luxury—the luxury of official Shuvalov.
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So it turns out that the state, acting in our name,
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officially imposed these kinds of
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engineering and architectural restrictions
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on developers in this area:
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you may build only in such a way that no one
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can look into the courtyard of one
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high-ranking family. If you yourself
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live in a big city, then you know perfectly well
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how relations between developers and officials work here.
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They build over playgrounds,
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stadiums, and parks; they can just go ahead and
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pour
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a new tower right into the middle of a courtyard, blocking
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the sunlight for all the surrounding apartments. But that
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is treated as perfectly normal. In Moscow and
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St. Petersburg, there are protests every single day
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against illegal infill
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development, and people throw themselves in front of bulldozers,
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and the officials don’t care.
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But for Shuvalov, they are ready to build even a luxury building
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without windows.
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A perfect example of how Putin’s
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officials see their people as nothing more than
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serfs. But in essence, who is he? A bureaucrat
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living off our taxes. But first, you’re not allowed
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to drive on the same road as him; then you’re not allowed
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to live on the same floor or ride in
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the same elevator.
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I’m talking about the high-rise where Shuvalov
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bought up 10 apartments and combined them into one
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giant residence. Even Shuvalov’s dogs cannot
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fly on ordinary planes; instead,
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they travel around the world on a private jet.
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And now—now you literally
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are not allowed to look at Shuvalov. What comes next?
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Will the architects and builders of his palaces
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have their eyes gouged out? Maybe in
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other countries it’s the same?
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Let’s look at a country richer
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than Russia: you can live with a view of the home of the English
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Queen.
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Here are apartments whose windows have a perfect view of
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Buckingham Palace. And the home where
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the American president lives can be seen
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simply from a hotel or from
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a rooftop restaurant—by anyone at all.
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Even Shuvalov’s own property—but not in
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Russia—is visible if you like: his castle in
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Austria can be clearly seen from the lake.
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The windows of his London apartment are even featured on
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a bunch of tourist postcards. If you
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live in Europe, no problem. If you
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live in Russia, then sorry—here Shuvalov
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is the master and lord, and he will literally
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turn your building around and brick up your windows
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because you are not supposed to look. You must not
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see it—you might be blinded by the wealth and grandeur.
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You yourselves can see, know, and feel it: these
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disgusting Putin officials
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consider us serfs, slaves,
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insects. But there is still something they now
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really need from us: they need the “insects” to come
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to Putin’s re-election, sign for
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their ballot,
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and thereby recognize
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this manipulation as a real election. Whoever
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on March 18
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goes to the polling station, no matter whom they
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tick on the ballot, is in fact recognizing themselves as
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a rightless serf
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supporting the master’s right to deceive,
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steal, and act lawlessly. Don’t do it.
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Subscribe to our channel. Here
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we tell the truth.