Text version
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Remember how it was in *Harry Potter*?
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You push a trolley through an ordinary train station, and then
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you crash into a wall, and some magical force
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transports you away.
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That’s exactly what’s about to happen with us now, except
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in the air.
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First, we’ll show you how the rich live.
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Every year, money is collected from these rich people—
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new taxes, new utility and housing service rates every year.
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And then we’ll find ourselves above the modest home
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of a public official, a minister in Medvedev’s government
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(Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian prime minister). In fact, you’ve already
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seen it.
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Two years ago, we showed you
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Minister Abyzov’s Italian estate.
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He was arrested just the other day.
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But we decided to repeat this amazing
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aerial journey because, first of all,
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first,
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I was personally infuriated by the statements
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from the FSB (Russia’s security service) and the local committee saying that
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it turns out Abyzov was robbing the residents
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of Siberia and moving money abroad.
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Just imagine—what a surprise. As if
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the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) hadn’t said exactly that
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two years ago. And secondly,
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last time, when we looked at Abyzov’s place, we saw a construction site,
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and we’re all extremely curious to know what
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he has there now. But maybe
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the economic crisis that affected
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everyone
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somehow brushed against him too. Let’s fly over
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the homes of the wealthy sponsors. Here they are, these
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fat cats who are supposed to fork over money.
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In 2017, the government, United
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Russia, and even Novosibirsk mayor Lokot
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all insisted in unison that Novosibirsk residents could
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afford to pay even more
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for housing and utility services.
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They’re living just fine, after all—nothing to complain about.
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Just look for yourselves at these solid
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buildings. Why shouldn’t Novosibirsk residents
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financially support the companies of the then-minister
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Mikhail Abyzov,
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who owned the entire energy sector
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in the region? The spirit of magic has dropped us right by
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a beautiful cypress-lined avenue that
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leads to Mikhail Anatolyevich’s residence.
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This is the same man who so strongly insisted that
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the residents of Novosibirsk Region should keep
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paying even more money—because apparently he didn’t have enough.
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Still, special technology will help
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our drone, at times, simultaneously
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observe both the rich people of Novosibirsk
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and the home of the modest minister. Familiar places,
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familiar landscapes—but ahead of us
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a surprise awaits. Instead of
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perfect Tuscan landscapes and
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architecture, we see some kind of wreckage. In place of
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the lawns, there’s dumped gravel, some
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unidentifiable vehicles, metal
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site trailers.
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The main house has been dismantled. Instead of a beautiful
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inner courtyard, there’s a pit; the pool
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is empty; the fountain—are they working on it? Could it really be
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that the fairytale Italian life
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has come to an end? Did Abyzov really
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become so embarrassed after our last video
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that he abandoned this unpatriotic Tuscany
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and moved somewhere closer to
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Tuapse? Of course not. It’s exactly the opposite.
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Abyzov is expanding. And so that the construction work wouldn’t
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disturb him, he built himself another
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full-fledged estate. Here we see
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some neat enclosure—most likely
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it’s a riding arena for horses.
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His new wife is into horses.
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An artificial pond of simply
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an incredible color, and of course a freshly
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renovated house.
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About 1,000 square meters (roughly 10,764 square feet). Behind the house
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there’s a helipad and a reservoir for
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irrigating the vineyards, which we’re flying over
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right now. Let me remind you that the total area
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of Abyzov’s Italian holdings
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is 34.5 hectares (about 85 acres). But
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you saw it yourselves: two years ago, we
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exposed the whole scheme.
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Two years ago, the residents of Novosibirsk, led by
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Sergei Boyko, through rallies
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and protests, forced the authorities to cancel the decision
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to raise utility rates.
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I myself was at one of those rallies, and
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even then all of Novosibirsk was saying:
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Abyzov is robbing us.
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He’s moving money abroad so that
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to go from
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being a millionaire to becoming a billionaire. But all
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this time,
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while serving as a minister, Abyzov kept
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building his Italian villa. Obviously,
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to do that, you have to move money
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abroad, and you also have to
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have personal bank accounts, accounts for members
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of your family.
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And he was a minister in the government of Putin and
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Medvedev.
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He was absolutely forbidden from doing that, but he
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did it anyway. He simply didn’t care
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about anyone. And only now, when some
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crooks
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have decided to devour other crooks, and
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someone decided to seize Abyzov’s assets,
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which had themselves once been stolen,
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they suddenly start putting on
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this performance for us and telling us:
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Can you imagine? Abyzov was robbing
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Siberia and moving money abroad.
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Oh, we can imagine it perfectly well. I want
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to say that the people who, over the course of
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two years after our
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investigation, did nothing—they are just as much
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thieves as Abyzov himself. This September,
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there will be elections in many regions of our
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country, including Novosibirsk.
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Sign up for Smart Voting (an opposition tactical voting project),
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go out and vote against people like Abyzov
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and his kind, and we’ll help you do it.
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The right choice—subscribe to our
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channel
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They tell the truth here