The minister’s Italian residence — and how you pay for it

Hi, this is Navalny, and now I’m going to

reveal one secret about life in Russia. And

while I’m at it, entertain you with new footage of

Volodya. That’s what we call our quadcopter.

That’s its nickname.

Wherever I go, people constantly

ask me: "Alexei, why do we pay so

much, and why do we keep paying

more and more even though the quality of services keeps getting

worse and worse?" Of course, they’re talking

about rent and utility bills, because there isn’t a

single Russian family that doesn’t, once a month,

receive one of those little payment slips,

look at it, and say:

"Good grief, what am I even paying for? Where did

this amount even come from?" And the most interesting and

strangest thing right now is happening in

Novosibirsk, where utility charges were raised all at once by

a full 15%, and cold water rates by

20%. I was in

Novosibirsk recently, and people there asked me a million

times: "Listen, can you

explain why? There’s no

calculation, no proper

explanation for why the tariff suddenly went up

by 15%. Why not 5, not 7, not

70? I’m explaining it to my beloved city of

Novosibirsk—and the rest of

Russia, you should watch too, because the same thing

is happening everywhere. On your

screens, you see Novosibirsk.

I can practically feel 10,000 people on the other side of the

screen shouting at me all at once:

"No, Alexei, this isn’t Novosibirsk,

but believe me, guys, it’s practically

Novosibirsk." Formally, of course,

this is Villa Il Tesoro—literally

"The Treasure"—in the Italian province of

Grosseto, Tuscany. But everything you see

and are about to see—every stone, every

leaf, every piece of roof tile

on the roof—was paid for by you, the residents of Novosibirsk

and the Novosibirsk region. Because for the first time on

your screens is the Italian estate of

Russian government minister

Mikhail Abyzov. The very same

man who owns the entire

energy sector of the Novosibirsk region. At one time

he acquired it, by some crafty means,

during privatization. And now

there is an energy monopoly there,

SIBEKO, which is, broadly speaking, the one

raising the tariffs. This monopoly is part of

Abyzov’s RU-COM holding. After

Mikhail Anatolyevich became a member of

the government—incidentally, at the

invitation of our dear Medvedev—he

supposedly transferred these shares into

trust management, into some

offshore structures, but he still receives

a very substantial income from them. You can see that

from Abyzov’s official disclosures.

Look: formally, he has been a government official since

2012, but officially his

income in 2013 was 282 million rubles,

in 2014 it was 221 million rubles, and in

2015 it was 455 million rubles. From the company

RU-COM, these Abyzov-owned

Novosibirsk energy assets form

a direct chain leading to the company Zora, which

owns the Italian estate. All

the documents can be viewed via the link in

the description, but Abyzov doesn’t really even

hide that it’s his property.

It’s just that no one had seen it before. And now we

are going to show it to you.

[music]

We’re surveying a plot covering 346,000

m² and worth approximately 750 million rubles.

We begin our flight at Abyzov’s gates and

move along a classic Italian

cypress-lined avenue, heading toward the main house, surrounded on all

sides by olive groves.

Not even one house, really, but several. The size of these

houses ranges from 200 to 630 m². Next we see

a tennis court. We turn past it and

are immediately greeted by a private

golf course, and beyond that, vineyards.

There’s also a fountain here. And here’s another one,

a little farther away, right in the middle of the area

in front of Abyzov’s houses. Slightly to the right

we can see a huge covered garage

for about 15 cars. And of course,

what kind of estate would it be without its own

artificial pond? It looks as though it was

transported here straight from Russia’s

Rublyovka (an elite luxury suburb outside Moscow). They’re very fond of those there.

Though in the middle of the Tuscan landscape it

looks a little strange. But that’s not

all. The most interesting part lies a bit farther down.

Why, it’s a construction site. Mikhail Abyzov

apparently decided the houses you’ve just

seen weren’t enough, so he’s building yet

another estate, new houses, so they’ll be

built to his own design. The existing ones were bought from

the previous Italian owners. And here

you can see that very pond and a helipad.

Well, now you’ve seen it with your own

eyes. Maintaining all this is quite an expensive

undertaking, especially with the new construction

the minister is carrying out, along with all the

cute little luxuries like

having his own homemade

olive oil. Personally, I

have no doubt that Abyzov brings to

government meetings little souvenirs—

jars with labels that say

Oleo Damisha and a photo of him

smiling. And he says to the other

members of the government: "Take it, guys,

natural, first cold press." And they reply:

"Misha, you’re such a fine fellow,

a real man of хозяйство (a practical, competent manager)." And he clearly has his own wine too,

judging by the

number of vineyards. And all of this

requires money—serious money. After all,

Italian workers have to be paid

Italian wages." That is in

In Novosibirsk, for a full working

day, you can pay 18,000 rubles a month. But in

Italy they will quickly tell you: "Well, signore,

in our country, it is customary to pay

a decent wage for work. The average

salary here in Italy is 96,000 rubles."

So pay up, Russian minister, and look for people

you can rob somewhere else.

Well, he found them in Novosibirsk. He picks up

the phone and calls faraway

Siberia: "Hello, guys, raise the tariff.

I'm short of money to finish building my house here." And

this is not an exaggeration or a metaphor. That is

exactly how it happens. Or do you think

that all these private jets are paid for

some other way? Yachts, villas,

fancy Dolce Vita-style parties,

where a toast is made: "To Vladimir

Vladimirovich Putin, who gave us

all this."

All of that is built into every housing and utilities tariff

in every city. After all, they,

the Putin elite, created nothing,

started no new businesses. They simply

privatized monopoly enterprises

and latched onto the stream of our monthly payments

for housing and utilities. And their choice is very simple:

either every year they will force us

to pay more, or they themselves will be left without

money. It is obvious whose favor

their choice will be made in. For example, in the United States

the price of electricity has remained

at roughly the same level for more than 20 years. And

it is even impossible to imagine

a sudden 15% increase, like the one

just imposed in Novosibirsk. But in Russia

it happens, and even Putin

expresses outrage, saying that our

manufacturing will soon flee to the States

because electricity there has become cheaper

than it is here. For years we have been fed

fairy tales that supposedly in Russia housing and utilities are very

cheap, but that has not been true for a long time,

especially given the atrocious quality

of the services. So what exactly needs to

be done about this? First, in Novosibirsk itself. And

here, by the way, everything is very clear. On

Sunday, March 19, there will be a rally at

Lenin Square at 12:00 noon. It is very

simple. Either you come to this

rally, the authorities see that there are many people,

get scared, and cancel the decision to raise

the tariff. Or you do not come and

continue paying for the upkeep of

Abyzov's Italian estate. That is your

choice. Very simple. Second, for all of

Russia. And here, of course,

forgive me. It is not nice to brag, but I am

the only candidate for the office of President

of Russia who has for years advocated

for making fully public all data on how

tariffs are set. I drafted such

bills. I have repeatedly gone to court against

energy companies and their

managers. I support audits of housing and utilities tariffs,

the fight against monopolies, and the fight against

corruption. If you want change in this

sector, vote for me. And right

now I need your signature in

support of my nomination. Below, in

the description, there is a link. Follow it and add

your signature. I need you, as a

volunteer, to work in our shared

election campaign. This is the only

way to achieve anything. For 17 years

Putin and the Putin government have been talking,

talking and talking about housing and utilities reform, but over

all these years things have only gotten worse. Just

look once again at this Italian

splendor belonging to a government minister,

and ask yourself a simple

question: will he give all this up

so that your rent and utility bill can be

a little lower? Subscribe to our

channel — this is where the truth is told.