An Important Point Illustrated by My Own Experience

Hi, this is Navalny. Using a specific

example, I want to explain something important, but sad.

Look: a man is walking down the street, and then

someone runs up behind him and splashes his face with

brilliant green antiseptic mixed with some nasty substance.

The man suffers a second- or third-degree chemical burn to his right eye.

He is taken to the hospital, and then

in order to avoid losing sight in that eye,

he needs

a fairly expensive operation abroad.

The video immediately spreads across the entire

internet. Every media outlet reports on the attack. And

sympathetic internet users, within

a couple of hours, clearly identify

the attackers, their names, addresses, and even

their passport details. This is Alexei Kulakov,

a former or current

police officer. This is Alexander

Petrunko. He also actively cooperates

with Russia’s law enforcement agencies,

helping them fabricate criminal cases

against political activists. He

serves as the kind of witness who gives

false but very useful testimony to investigators

and in court. And this is Igor Bekitov, who

has long been known for attacks like this.

For example, look at how his group

bravely and courageously attacks

a 76-year-old

retiree, Vladimir Ionov, while he is standing in

a one-person protest. So in other words,

the crime was committed and immediately solved.

The Interior Ministry says that a criminal

case has been opened. The prosecutor’s office says it

is overseeing the investigation.

And even Vladimir Putin says immediately

afterward that no political

slogans can justify violence. Violence,

murder—no matter what political

slogans they may hide behind—can never

be justified. So it would seem

the case is in the bag. But now let’s look at this

wonderful document. The prosecutor’s office

reports that the case will not be taken away from

the police and transferred to the Investigative Committee for a more

serious investigation. And in fact,

the police themselves suspended the case because

it turned out to be impossible to identify the villains.

So, roughly speaking, the case

has been closed because the attackers

hid themselves so well that the Ministry

of Internal Affairs is simply unable to

find them. And that is how the story

of this high-profile crime came to an end.

The person who had brilliant green thrown in his face—

I’ll let you in on a secret—was me. And

I’m telling you this whole story not at all

so that you’ll feel sorry for me and once again

get outraged: "Oh, the lawlessness against

Navalny. There’s

nothing new here." Rather, it’s simply

so that you once again understand what

Russia’s law enforcement system is

and what level of protection and

safety you can expect from it. Let’s

be honest: I’m a fairly

well-known person. I was attacked, and

a lot of newspapers wrote about it. Public opinion,

human rights activists,

journalists—someone will put pressure on the police.

But even in my case,

the investigation turns out to be a dud; it is

shut down because the criminals

were supposedly not found, even though their names and photographs

were published that very same day—then what

can an ordinary person here

possibly count on? What protection can

the prosecutor’s office, the police,

or the Investigative Committee give you? Absolutely none.

And every one of you can probably tell

a story yourself about how someone was

robbed, mugged, or raped. And

there was no real investigation. How

you have to beg police officers—or even

pay them bribes—just to get them to

move a little and start doing

their job. This entire system is rotten

to the core, and it does not in the slightest

protect citizens from crime. Yes, our

opinion polls show that people are more afraid of

law enforcement officers than of

criminals. God forbid your

relative ends up at a police station at night. Your

first thought will be: "My God,

we have to save him, get him out of there—they’ll

beat him to death in there." Or at the very least,

nothing good will come of it. But the very

idea of encountering

a police officer in a city at night and, because of that,

being safer

—well, in Russia that sounds absurd and

provokes only laughter.

This is one of the most important reasons why I

am running in the election. We have everything needed

for the law enforcement system

to provide order and safety for

citizens. We spend

colossal sums on it. In terms of the number of

police officers per capita, we are

number one in the world. In other words, we have

a sea of police officers. And if we add

the Investigative Committee, the prosecutor’s office,

the FSB (Federal Security Service), EMERCOM (the Ministry of Emergency Situations), the National Guard, the FSB again, and

so on and so on and so on,

we’ll see that half the country is

in uniform. We spend an enormous, enormous share

of the budget on the security services. And what

do we get in return? In the ranking of the safest

countries, according to the World

Economic Forum, Russia is in 109th place

out of 136. And in terms of intentional

homicides per capita, well, we are

worse off than Haiti and Guadeloupe, guys.

At the same time, even the people in uniform—well, apart

from the very top brass—

we cannot provide either a decent standard

of living or decent working conditions. Instead of

fighting against

crime, and endlessly process

all sorts of useless paperwork. Or else

they go after opposition figures and

political activists. It’s clear what needs

to be done about all this. Many countries

have reformed their

law enforcement agencies quite successfully, and we can

do the same. And here in Russia,

we know how to do it. And I will do it

when I become president. But under the current

system, as long as President Putin and

his whole gang are in power, unfortunately we cannot

expect that an ordinary person,

who pays taxes and supports all

these law enforcement officers, will

receive safety for themselves and their

family in return for those taxes. If you

want positive change in the area of

public safety, in the police, and in other

law enforcement agencies, then

support my election campaign.

Sign for me right now.

Join the volunteers or make a

financial donation. Your ruble here

will definitely work more effectively than it does in

the budget of the Russian Federation.

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