The unofficial state ideology of Russia – liberalism – has led to the fact that the Russian government is sabotaging the economic development of its own country. About this, as the correspondent reports RIA "New Day", leading experts and politicians said today at the Moscow Economic Forum. According to them, changes are necessary, but they are unlikely to happen - they need to prepare for a new crisis.

President of the Industrial Union "New Commonwealth" Konstantin Babkin drew attention to the fact that the “teaching of liberalism” is strangling the Russian economy. “There is an ideology in Russia, it is liberalism. The government lives in the ideology of liberalism, although this doctrine pretends to be a non-ideology, but, one way or another, our government puts the interests of individuals and global corporations at the forefront. At the same time, the interests of the state are relegated to the background and third place,” Babkin said.

At the same time, he emphasized that the financial flows built by the government continue to withdraw capital abroad.

“We see that stratification is growing, the world financial elite is extracting resources from Russia, extracting money from Russia, while the money does not then go to the development of our country. This movement fits into the ideology of liberalism. Is this the ideology that meets the interests of our country?” - said Babkin.

Member of the Budget and Financial Committee of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg Oksana Dmitrieva for her part, she noted that the economic situation in the country is really deteriorating. According to her, several more have been added to the negative trends that have been observed in the economy since the beginning of the 2014 crisis.

“Continuing trends from the very beginning: expensive credit, lack of tax incentives and a reduction in the solvent population. Over the past two years, new trends have emerged: devaluation, which provided certain opportunities for growth, but since 2016 it has been replaced by a strengthening of the ruble. We see that in 2016 the only and main source of growth is exports and rising oil prices. A sad factor has appeared - the growth of profits has been replaced by a drop in profits,” stated Dmitrieva.

In her assessment, “the country does not have not only a strategy, but also tactics, and there is not even a clear analysis and diagnosis of what state the economy is in: growth, stagnation or an ongoing crisis.”

Former presidential candidate, director of the state farm named after. Lenin Pavel Grudinin, speaking at the Moscow Economic Forum, emphasized that the situation in the country is equally bad almost everywhere - production has been destroyed or is being destroyed.

“The situation is the same everywhere. Plants and factories were destroyed, they were rebuilt into shopping centers, the main driver of growth is trade, not production. Production has been killed by tariffs, taxes, and guys in uniform,” stated Grudinin.

He drew attention to the fact that economic development is being slowed down not only due to external pressure, but also due to the actions of the Russian government.

“In 2008, the state said that we have a state project for rural development, gave money to buy cows, gave money to build farms, and after that they began to import palm oil. In 2017, a contract was signed that we would supply aircraft to Indonesia. And from there we receive palm oil as payment, and it becomes a dairy product. Who is to blame for this? One minister says that we will shoot to the last bullet and fight counterfeit. And others quietly import huge amounts of palm oil and ruin the industry,” Grudinin said.

“The government, which is obliged, in my opinion, to do everything to ensure that the economy develops, is doing everything to ensure that the economy dies. And the President of the Russian Federation comes out and says: Listen, they are not bad guys, they did a good job, they overcame inflation... We are all sitting and waiting for changes, and changes cannot but happen in such conditions,” he said.

At the same time, Grudinin expressed hope that when forming a new government, the head of state will take into account the current situation. “You can plaster this wall as much as you like. But it's rotten, it's falling apart. If we don't do this, I'm afraid the same thing will happen that happened to the Soviet Union. Let’s hope that the new president will choose a new government and provide us with a new economic course in the near future,” said the former Russian presidential candidate.

Moscow, Maria Vyatkina

"A Just Russia" promised to collect 10 million signatures for the resignation of the Prime Minister

The A Just Russia party, which in recent years got rid of all the prominent politicians in its ranks (having expelled Gudkovs, Dmitrieva, Ponomarev and other media characters), began to think about who will vote for it now? The current chairman of the Socialist Revolutionaries, Sergei Mironov, decided to attract the votes of those voters who do not like the head of government, Dmitry Medvedev. On Wednesday, the Socialist Revolutionaries put forward a written ultimatum to Dmitry Anatolyevich with a spectacular slogan, and began collecting signatures for his resignation. Simultaneous press conferences in 75 regions of the country were dedicated to this action.

The letter is written in the signature style of Sergei Mikhailovich Mironov: lick in the first lines, and kick in the last. First, dear Dmitry Anatolyevich is reminded that last year the party most humbly asked Him to stop collecting payments from citizens under the heading “overhaul.” Then new requests are added: to cancel the transport tax and property taxes for individuals. There is already an accusation here that Medvedev and his government make decisions “with absolutely no attention to the interests of Russian citizens.” At the end of the text, Mironov switches to “you” with Medvedev and demands that his conditions be fulfilled: “I say: “Do it or leave.” But from the last lines it follows that Medvedev no longer needs to do anything. Late! Mironov reports that he was the first to sign for the resignation of the head of government, and the party will collect 10 million such signatures.

Secretary of the Presidium of the party's highest body, State Duma deputy Alexander ROMANOVICH, who presented Mironov’s letter in Moscow and the Moscow region, told a MK correspondent in a private conversation that A Just Russia has become a serious and mature party that plans to take second place in the State Duma elections. Therefore, the Socialist Revolutionaries will no longer engage in cheap populism, attract artists and popular politicians into their ranks, but will immediately put the question bluntly: either the government will fulfill the party’s demands or resign.

The corruption allegations against the Minister of Economic Development dealt a serious blow to the reputation of the government as a whole. Leaders of opposition parliamentary parties - Vladimir Zhirinovsky(LDPR) and Gennady Zyuganov(Communist Party of the Russian Federation) - have already announced the need to resign the entire cabinet of ministers. Head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin, on the contrary, does not rule out that after the investigation is completed, all charges against Ulyukaev will be dropped and he will return to his duties. According to experts, the official accused of corruption will be forced to resign, but it is still premature to talk about the resignation of the entire Cabinet of Ministers.

“Undoubtedly, the blow to the government’s reputation is very significant. There are already players in our political system who are ready to take advantage of this. In any case, the parliamentary opposition will definitely play this card. The LDPR and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation have already hastened to announce that they are going to discuss the issue of the resignation of the government. But personally, I think that he is in no danger,” says Head of the “Political Expert Group” Konstantin Kalachev.

According to him, already in the morning there was information in the media that Dmitry Medvedev discussed the situation around Ulyukaev with Vladimir Putin and stated the need for a thorough investigation of all the circumstances of the case.

“That is, it is clear and obvious that the detachment will not notice the loss of a fighter. There are no irreplaceable officials, and responsibility for this incident lies with Ulyukaev himself. The most important question now: who will take his chair? This is an interesting intrigue. After all, the Ministry of Economic Development is involved in the development of the state economic strategy. It’s enough to remember the role of Ulyukaev with his forecasts and statements, assessments, analyzes to understand that this ministry in the government bloc is very important,” says Kalachev.

The expert does not believe in returning to this post Alexey Kudrin, but most likely it will be an already familiar figure.

“This situation will not strengthen Dmitry Medvedev’s position, but I would not rush to bury the government,” says Kalachev.

Head of the Agency for Political and Economic Communications Dmitry Orlov believes that it is necessary to wait for the results of the investigation.

“In any case, we will learn about the motives for changing the position of the Ministry of Economic Development on the privatization of Bashneft. For me, for example, it was inexplicable. As for the government, I think this is a serious challenge for them. It will be necessary to decide on your attitude towards the Ulyukaev case. For example, Dmitry Medvedev stated the need for a thorough investigation, but he will still need to assess this case and the corruption trend in Russian politics in general,” the expert argues.

According to him, formulating a response to this challenge is now the main task facing the government.

“Personally, I do not expect serious changes in the government or its resignation. Although, of course, with a high degree of probability the figure of the head of the Ministry of Economic Development will change. There are already several contenders for this post,” argues Dmitry Orlov, noting at the same time that Ulyukaev’s case now looks very much in the media.

According to him, apart from the statement of the Investigative Committee, there are no facts: where, when, under what circumstances the bribe was given.

“Of course, when detaining an official of this level, this detailed information is very important,” the expert notes.

Political scientist, member of the Public Chamber Sergei Markov also notes the weight of the reputational blow to the government and the prime minister.

“This is one of the key ministers. I would say that this is also a blow to the reputation of the Central Bank. According to the reputation of the entire economic bloc of the government. It is very serious. So much so that early in the morning Dmitry Medvedev met with Vladimir Putin and stated the need for a thorough check so that there was a proven fact of corruption, and not a hit-and-run for political reasons,” says Markov, who believes that he does not believe that this is a fight against corruption a lot of people.

According to the expert, this is evidenced by a striking example ex-Minister of Defense Anatoly Serdyukov, who is not in prison, as well as a number of other major officials.

“I do not rule out that this is the result of a political struggle against the use of bribes,” says the expert.

Head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin does not exclude the possibility that after the investigation is completed, the charges against the head of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Alexei Ulyukaev, will be dropped and he will return to his duties. Shokhin stated this in an interview with RBC TV channel.

“I think there is potentially such a possibility, and I really hope that in the absence of evidence of a crime, Alexey Valentinovich will not only be released, but will also return to his position. This was the case, for example, with Sergei Storchak, who was under investigation for quite a long time, and nevertheless returned to his post as Deputy Minister of Finance. This would, in my opinion, be the right decision, if there really are no grounds for incriminating a crime,” said the head of the RSPP.

Shokhin also did not rule out that Ulyukaev was provoked into accepting a bribe, given that, judging by reports from law enforcement agencies, it had been in development for a year already, and nothing else could be found on it.

Meanwhile, the Investigative Committee announced that it had opened a criminal case against the minister.

“The circumstances of the crime are related to the receipt by Alexei Ulyukayev, a government official in the Russian Federation, on November 14, 2016, of two million US dollars for a positive assessment issued by the Ministry of Economic Development, which allowed PJSC NK Rosneft to carry out a transaction to acquire a state stake in PJSOC Bashneft in the amount of 50 percent.” , - reported official representative of the Investigative Committee of Russia Svetlana Petrenko.

A well-known economist on whether the arrest of the Magomedovs will lead to a purge of the liberal clan and whether Navalny has been written off

“If Medvedev leaves the post of prime minister, the Magomedovs will be released on bail, and he himself will be offered the post of chairman of the Supreme Court as compensation,” predicts economist and political scientist Mikhail Delyagin, commenting on the case of the businessman brothers. Delyagin spoke in an interview with BUSINESS Online about who will join the renewed government and why Russian politics is not chess, but a game of cards in a dark room.

Mikhail Delyagin: “I don’t think that as a result of these events, the president learned anything about his subordinates that he did not know before. But I would not expect any systemic measures to be taken on this basis.” Photo: BUSINESS Online

“NO, PEOPLE ARE NOT YET AGGRESSIVE AGAINST OFFICIALS”

— Mikhail Gennadyevich, a little more than half a month has passed since the presidential elections, and the events that happened during this time would have been enough, it seems, for six months: Volokolamsk, Kemerovo, the arrest of the Magomedov brothers... Usually after elections, political life calms down, but here the opposite happened.

“Let’s not forget that there was obvious manipulation of emotions around the Kemerovo tragedy. Moreover, this was noticeable not so much in Kemerovo itself as in Moscow on Pushkin Square, where on the second day after the fire in the “Winter Cherry” a spontaneous rally gathered. Most came there quite sincerely, but after some “political animals” began to work out their numbers, many simply left. As for the rally in Kemerovo, there were physically fewer opportunities for manipulation due to underdeveloped social networks, so I would not pay attention to the hysteria of the local authorities and statements about “PR on blood.” By and large, the place of these authorities is on the bunks, but things, of course, will not come to that. Kemerovo officials are doing great - however, Aman Tuleyev fired his deputy Alexei Zelenin, and then he himself resigned with the preservation of his personal residence and benefits, but the rest are doing well.

I remember Amangeldy Moldagazyevich Tuleyev in the 1990s and at the beginning of the 2000s - he was a completely different person ( it is known that in 1999, Aman Gumirovich refused to receive the Order of Honor from Yeltsin with the words: “I simply cannot, on principle, accept awards from the government, which plunged the country into poverty,” — approx. ed.). And now, if he really made the statements that are attributed to him, if this is not a cut-off quote, as with Mizulina, not a provocation... Then I am inclined to perceive this as insanity, and not as a manifestation of contempt for people or something else. Well, some people fall into insanity at the age of 100, some don’t fall into insanity at all, and for some it happens right at work. But you need to understand the specifics of the Kemerovo region - it is very different even from its neighbors, and Tuleyev, who could “keep” it and ensure internal stability and some kind of order, even in a difficult state, could be better than any understandable replacement.

But still, here is a question for those who kept such a governor in office for so long, and a question for the deputies and his entourage, who took advantage of this and manipulated their leader, and then accused people whose loved ones died of political sabotage. This is an automatically aggressive attitude towards one’s own citizens, automatic aggression against the people - “oh, how dare you be dissatisfied with me, who brought things to a disaster! So you are an American spy!” - speaks for itself. I remember this well from the times of Bolotnaya Square - this is a common conditioned reflex on the part of a significant part of corrupt or not even corrupt, but simply stupid and aggressive officials.

- But then this is dynamite: when two irreconcilable social forces come into contact (I’m talking about the so-called Bolotnaya and the so-called “corrupt officials”), a social explosion usually occurs, which hits all participants in the conflict.

— No, people are not yet aggressive towards officials. Yes, there is wariness, rejection, even sometimes hostility, but not yet aggression. When the governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, came out to people in Volokolamsk who were protesting against a toxic landfill, they shouted: “Quiet, quiet! Let the man speak!” Not the governor, not the big boss, but a man! And only after he refused to communicate with people did he threw snowballs and, according to a Kommersant correspondent, they almost beat him up ( The head of the Volokolamsk municipal district, Evgeniy Gavrilov, suffered a little more - they grabbed him by his clothes and swung at him amid cries of “Don’t, guys!” — approx. ed.).

As for the attitude of officials towards people... If, for example, I am a liberal official and I destroy this country along with these people, if I rob people and treat them as “meat”, at the expense of which I must make my career, even being honest and not corrupt, then, naturally, then I despise people, hate them and at the same time fear them. There simply cannot be any other feelings here.

— Will the Volokolamsk and Kemerovo events really not push Putin to change, to the need to more radically restructure the Russian government? After all, Putin personally came to Kemerovo and saw the eyes of people whose children died.

- Hardly. I don’t think that as a result of these events, the president learned anything about his subordinates that he didn’t know before. Perhaps he was shocked not so much by the eyes of people (he had to see a variety of eyes in his life), but by the level of inadequacy of his system of government. But I would not expect any systemic measures to be taken on this basis. After Tuleyev left, his “gang” will most likely be dispersed. Some will go to trial, some will not, some have probably already left for some Australia or London. But these are not systemic changes. And before that there were many other disasters, and everyone said “oh, what a horror” - and that was the end of it. To paraphrase Maxim Gorky, we can say that it’s wonderful for them there, it’s warm and damp for them, everything suits them ( in “Song of the Falcon” he already answers the “free bird” calling him to the sky: “I feel great here... warm and damp!” — approx. ed.). And the president clearly doesn’t want to quarrel with them. I will be glad to be wrong, but so far I do not see any signs that would indicate the possibility of fundamental, systemic changes.

— One gets the impression that Putin simply took on the role of a “settler” in conflicts between officials and the people.

— Certain forces use it, excuse me, as a “gasket.” He can't like it. Judging by his completely shocked and frantic eyes in Kemerovo, he understands everything perfectly. But I think he’s understood everything for about 10 years now.

“SHUVALOV WILL TAKE CHUBAIS’ PLACE. LET CHUBAIS HEAD THE PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION"

— Doesn’t the arrest of the Magomedov brothers, who are usually classified as people of Medvedev and Dvorkovich, give us at least a faint hope for change and for a new government?

— As I understand, Mr. Magomedov was nevertheless detained due to the fact that they did not complete the construction of the Arena Baltika stadium, which is being built in Kaliningrad for the 2018 World Cup. So far they are talking about the theft of 300 million rubles. As far as I can judge, this no longer gives the impression of banal theft, but of cynical mockery. The Magomedovs seemed to be saying to those who might make claims against them: “Guys, you are not here at all, and there is no state as long as we have our prime minister.” Of course, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich is included in this group. Dvorkovich got away with everything back when he, together with the businessmen Bilalovs, was engaged in Olympic construction in Sochi. So why not continue further? And this simplicity has probably already fed up everyone.

I think that the arrest of the Magomedovs was not some kind of conscious action specifically against Medvedev’s group. It’s unlikely that anyone wanted to make a political show out of this. It’s just that Ziyavudin and Magomed Magomedov behaved in such a way that it became clear: they do not understand any other language other than the language of force. And then, since these brothers are inevitably figures of high political significance, events began to take on additional meanings.

Probably, today the situation is quite simple: if Comrade Dmitry Medvedev leaves his post in an amicable manner and does not show off, then the amount of bail indicated by the Magomedovs’ lawyers of 2.5 billion rubles will certainly be accepted. If Medvedev resigns, then the businessmen can be released on this deafening bail, after which they board planes and do everything with a pen, once again defying all the current laws of the Russian Federation. They are not, as they say, the first. But if Comrade Medvedev wants to fight, then the Magomedovs can begin to testify.

However, as compensation, Medvedev may be offered the position of Chairman of the Supreme Court, and even combined with the Constitutional Court. But given his ideas about the law and his level of legal consciousness, this is where we will howl and regret the times when he was just a technical prime minister and a technical president.

— Are the Magomedov brothers really so affiliated with the Medvedev clan - through Dvorkovich and his wife Zumrud Rustamova?

— I didn’t hold a candle. As I understand it, Zumrud Rustamova is clearly a more influential person than her husband Dvorkovich, although the latter may have been the direct operator of these Dagestani families. By the way, the actions of Vladimir Vasiliev in Dagestan, who began clearing the Augean stables there, could have been one of the reasons for the arrest of the Magomedovs. Those detained in the “Dagestan cases” could begin to testify, after which the investigators probably learned a lot of interesting things about the businessman brothers. As for Dvorkovich, he was once from Alexei Kudrin’s team, but he has also been with Medvedev for a very long time. If you look at his biography, he has long come somewhere and left with Dmitry Anatolyevich ( During Medvedev’s presidency, he was his assistant, participated in Skolkovo projects, etc.— approx. ed.). Most likely, they are connected; they are one political and financial group.

— But will this group remain in the government?

— Surely Medvedev won’t be there soon. Igor Shuvalov will probably take the place of Anatoly Chubais as the head of Rusnano. Where Chubais will go after this is no less interesting: the main thing is that he does not head the presidential administration. But he can. Maxim Oreshkin and Anton Siluanov will definitely remain ministers. Nikolai Nikiforov will probably stay too. But the point is not even about personal factors, but about the fact that, most likely, the previous socio-economic policy will continue. It is very strictly fixed, on the one hand, by Nabiullina at the Bank of Russia, and on the other hand, by the budget for the current 2018. And under the previous socio-economic policy, it is not so important who is who in the government. I would even prefer Medvedev to some super-creative manager - Dmitry Anatolyevich, after all, is not pursuing such a destructive policy as he could. The absurdity of today's situation is that Medvedev is better than Kudrin, Kudrin is better than Chubais, and Chubais is better than Kiriyenko.

— Could the arrest of the Magomedovs open a new era in the work of the domestic repressive apparatus?

— At the moment, we have quite a lot of governors in prison, and a new era was opened by the case of Alexei Ulyukaev. But Ulyukaev was not just a minister and executive - he was such a locally revered liberal saint due to the fact that he had previously been an “orderly” under Yegor Gaidar. But he did not have independent financial and political significance, but the Magomedov brothers have this significance. And this is a completely different level, because they seem to have been a tool for securing very influential circles. It is very important whether they are released on bail or not. If they start talking, they can greatly change the existing political configuration.

Testimony from people who can tell how everything worked in Dagestan can already change something. Although Dagestan had no independent significance, it was simply a money “laundromat” for Moscow officials. All the luxury that we saw in the houses of those arrested in the Dagestan case ( like the golden pistol of the acting prime minister of the republic Abdusamad Hamidov — approx. ed.) - nothing compared to the luxury of the Moscow officials who organized all this. If they really start to unwind this, it could result in the destruction of the entire liberal clan. I think they will defend themselves very vigorously, and we will see rotations of different levels - at least among members of the government. Because, I repeat, we are talking about the survival of the liberal clan and the fact that they can answer for their crimes - albeit for an insignificant part of them, but still answer. And they know very well about themselves who they are, what, why and why they did it, and they naturally do not want to allow anything like that.

— By the way, could the Dagestan arrests become an analogue of the Uzbek “cotton case” with which perestroika began? After all, once again the whole republic is “on its ears.”

“This is not a very good example, because the famous “cotton case” was characterized by monstrous cruelty towards those under investigation in Uzbekistan and, by the way, in Turkmenistan too. But this wave of the fight against corruption did not reach Moscow. Everything was localized on site. In addition, there were big problems with legality.

— Yes, the former 2nd Secretary of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan, Viktor Lobko, who later served as vice-governor of St. Petersburg under Matvienko, told me about the torture used by the investigation.

— People associated with Uzbekistan at that time, even from the KGB, were outraged by how this happened, because the “Moscow brigade” behaved quite harshly in the republic. Whether she could have behaved differently in conditions of total corruption is an open question. But here a fundamentally important point: after that, corruption in Uzbekistan remained the same, but the matter did not go to Moscow. It turned out to be fictitious and demonstrative, despite its scale.

But in the case of Dagestan the situation is different. On the ground, we do not see any protests regarding violations during arrests and investigations. This is not the 1980s, and if there really were any serious violations, we would certainly receive complaints and varied reactions. After all, many influential groups, including ethnic ones, most likely have their own militants in Moscow. But, thank God, no one has used the services of the militants yet. This means that the rules are still being followed. On the other hand, we see that the process launched in Dagestan has already come to Moscow, since the Magomedov brothers are by no means a Dagestan level, but a Moscow one. Therefore, this is more than the Uzbek “cotton business”. On the other hand, under Soviet rule it was impossible to imagine that people would be arrested for corruption and then released. And we may well have this now. But I believe that when Russia returned to Dagestan, starting to fight corruption there, the genie of the law was released from the bottle. And now it will be very difficult to push it back. You can burn with indignation against the Dagestan thieves as much as you like, but at one time influential people came to them and said (I am not responsible for the accuracy, but such a version exists): “We can give you money, but then you will return 40 percent to us.” I cannot insist on the accuracy of the figures - it is clear that different proportions were used for different schemes. The more respected a person is, the more he takes for himself and the less he gives to Moscow. But the fact that such verbal agreements existed is very likely.

“Dmitry Medvedev is a unique person who was given power, and he returned it. Real power! Medvedev was not a fictitious ruler; he really had all the levers in his hands.”Photo: government.ru

“It’s AMAZING THAT AMONG THE LIBERALS THERE ARE A HUGE NUMBER OF DESCENDANTS OF STALIN’S EXECUTIONERS”

— And yet: what will be the fate of Dmitry Medvedev? As you know, this is a person who cannot simply be fired, but can only be promoted. But why should he be promoted when he has managed to sit in many leadership positions, including the presidency?

— As I already said, he can be transferred to the Supreme Court, to the place of the current chairman Vyacheslav Lebedev. Or to the Constitutional Court. Is it possible to unite these courts, as was proposed ten years ago. There are tons of options here. And then - why can’t he be fired? I think it is possible. Although Dmitry Medvedev is a unique person who was given power, and he returned it. Real power! Medvedev was not a fictitious ruler; he really had all the levers in his hands. And he could dismiss the government headed by Putin. And he could dismiss Putin himself, after which this decree would be published in newspapers and come into force. And he would have everything. But he didn't. And this is a truly unique quality, it is worth a lot. But judging by the fact that Putin did not share his election victory with Medvedev, he apparently realized that in this case the damage from this man is much greater than any possible positive results.

As the experience of Ukraine has shown, simply firing a bad person is not enough. We still need to appoint someone who will be better in his place. If Alexei Kudrin is appointed instead of Medvedev, which is unlikely, if Elvira Nabiullina is appointed, which is also unlikely, we will not change anything. Then it would be better if Boris Titov. But most likely, Medvedev will be removed.

“And then he will be able to return to his homeland in St. Petersburg, where they are going to transfer the Supreme Court after the Constitutional Court.

- Yes, even abroad. How can we know which place which liberal considers his homeland?

— This is a very strange phenomenon in late Soviet or recent history. Where did this generation come from that refused (and now refuses) to consider Russia their homeland?

— Yes, the Soviet generation came onto the political scene with liberal values—relatively speaking, the generation of Anatoly Chubais. These were people who could not realize themselves within the Soviet system. Read the memoirs of Peter Aven about Boris Berezovsky ( book "The Time of Berezovsky" — approx. ed.). There, one of Aven’s main tasks is to prove that Soviet science did not exist, that it was a fiction, he repeats this to almost every interlocutor. Because Aven did not find a place in this science that corresponded to his ambitions and, perhaps, level. In the book, he shows the ineffectiveness and inadequacy (from his point of view) of the second level of Soviet science. Aven himself did not reach the first level, but was on the second. And he makes titanic efforts to smear all of Soviet science in this mud, to show that the trash heap in which he was sitting was the entire Soviet Union and there was nothing better in it. And this is a very deep personal feeling. Not to mention the fact that among the liberals of that wave there were a noticeable number of descendants and relatives of the executioners of Stalin’s repressions. And the descendants did not forgive the Soviet government for punishing these executioners.

This is an amazing phenomenon! It is clear that in 1937, more than 90 percent of the victims were innocent. But I talked to different people and was amazed that among liberals there are a lot of descendants not of innocent victims, but of executioners. This is amazing! A classmate of mine told how in the late 1920s his grandmother drove a personal car. And I knew that at that time the great commander of the Red Army received a bag of millet for a week as a ration. Everyone lived very modestly. And then I read the memoirs of a relative of this boy, who ended up in the camps, survived there and took up his memories. And only later I became aware of what this relative did with other people when he was in the NKVD. For me it was such a multi-layered revelation of the truth. There was such a Lev Razgon - “an innocent victim of Stalin’s terror” ( writer, human rights activist, one of the founders of Memorial, worked for three years in the special department of the OGPU under the NKVD, during which time he married Oksana Bokiy, the daughter of his boss, security officer Gleb Bokiy — approx. ed.).

— But what about the special humanity of our Russian civilization, which you talk about in your speeches, “mercy for the fallen” and so on? We forgave our executioners, but allowed an unspeakably large number of victims to be tortured...

“In England there would simply be no relatives of the executioners—all the relatives would be exterminated there.” If, of course, we take as an example in the history of Great Britain not the 1920s–1930s, but the Middle Ages. In France, immediately after the war, a million people were repressed for collaboration, and a hundred thousand were killed. And in our country, even Bandera’s supporters mostly returned from the camps alive, healthy and ahead of schedule. And if, after all, relatives remained, they would, like the children of the Decembrists under Nicholas I, be taken in by the state and grow up strangers to their parents. This would be deliberately drilled into them. And only our humanism allowed the descendants of the Soviet executioners to grow up and destroy the country.

— I can’t agree about the Decembrists. Both Trubetskoy and Volkonsky refused to place their children in state care, and their children, such as Volkonsky's son Mikhail, revered rather than hated their parents.

- Yes, they didn’t hate, but they understood that their parents were lost. And this was one of the tasks of the state - to explain to them the errors of their fathers. This was completely successful - the children of the Decembrists did not participate in any liberation movement, did not organize terrorist attacks and did not plot.

“Ksenia Sobchak was presented in a favorable light and continued to make curtsies in her direction even when she gained her insignificant percentage in the elections”Photo: BUSINESS Online

“SOBCHAK, WHO SAYS THAT SHE WOULD BAN THIS COUNTRY IS THE FACE OF THE CURRENT LIBERAL AUTHORITY”

— How big a threat is now hanging over Londongrad in connection with the Skripal case? Will this “hornet's nest”, which the so-called emigrant community from Russia has created in Great Britain, be burned out by the British themselves?

— I still wouldn’t call it a hornet’s nest, because along with thieves and swindlers (and London in this context is one of the two centers of Russian thieves and swindlers, along with Israel), there live many people who actually fled to the kingdom from the lawless persecution. Yes, on the list announced on this occasion by business ombudsman Boris Titov, there were several thieves and scammers who are known throughout Moscow ( we are talking about a list of those wishing to return to the Russian Federation — approx. ed.). And this was confusing - it’s still shocking when a defender of the rights of businessmen defends not-so-honest entrepreneurs against honest entrepreneurs. But on this list there are also those who truly suffered illegally. Roughly speaking, when the head of a corporation stole money, and the accountant turned out to be extreme. Or when the head of a corporation brought the company to bankruptcy, ran away, and the financial director had to answer. And there are many of them in today’s Londongrad. Because Russian liberals are quite capable of punishing honest people, but never swindlers, because a raven can’t peck out a crow’s eye. And the London authorities understand that impunity for criminals in Russia is their competitive advantage. If a thief here, in our country, knows that he will always be received with open arms in London, then he will calmly steal, thereby undermining Russia in favor of Great Britain and taking his money to London. There is some excitement in London right now, but I think it will pass.

— Will this excitement push Moscow to make some new chess moves?

— I wouldn’t talk about Russian politics as chess. I would say that even small towns in this context are too intellectual a sport. These aren't even towns. This is a kind of card game in a dark room, where sometimes the lights are suddenly turned on. Those who play do not see not only their cards, but also the cards that are on the table. And, of course, each self-respecting player plays by his own rules.

- According to the description, it is more like Malevich’s “Black Square” - a fight between blacks in a dark cave. But then it is generally unpredictable.

- Absolutely right. When I say that President Putin most likely will not undertake any systemic changes, I emphasize that there are no signs that this will be done. But Putin can take these measures. After all, he wants to live. As it was said in Rogozhkin’s famous film: “If you want to live, you won’t get so excited.” The signs are not visible yet, but with him nothing is ever visible in advance, he knows how to do that.

Although, since Vladimir Putin received unprecedented support in the elections, the aura of this support seemed to spread to all the people he appointed. And this is not only the Minister of Defense and the Director of the FSB, but also the Ministers of Economy, Finance, Prime and Deputy Prime Ministers, the Chairman of the Central Bank, etc. If people had voted differently, expressing categorical disagreement, then policy would have to be changed. In the meantime, we see that it is enough to somehow intimidate Rosstat - and immediately economic growth magically appears!

— Lately we have heard practically nothing about Navalny. He appeared at a Moscow rally in memory of Kemerovo, but somehow it was not convincing. Is Navalny blown away?

— He failed to attract attention to himself on Pushkin Square. And this is not strange at all. When a person clearly demonstrates that only power is important to him, and he despises even his supporters, what kind of solidarity should be expected with him? Alexey Navalny has been in the “circus arena”, in public politics, for almost ten years now. And he convinced everyone that he didn’t care about his supporters or people in general. Everyone understood this. That’s why Navalny refocused on schoolchildren, because he can no longer deceive anyone except schoolchildren.

“But schoolchildren do not have the right to vote. So this is work for the future.

- Not only for the future. If children are thrown into a meat grinder, it will have a very strong emotional effect on any society. The Americans calculate this quite prosaically. But Navalny has not yet been written off. If he had been written off, he would probably have gone to prison. Neither ours nor the Americans wrote off Navalny - he is, so to speak, a “joint venture”: half of the investments are ours, the other half are American.

— In your opinion, has Pavel Grudinin left the political scene?

— Three weeks have passed since the elections. Have you heard anything about Pavel Grudinin other than the fact that he shaved his mustache and spoke at the Moscow Economic Forum? And this is the answer to your question. The man has left the level of presidential ambitions; now he dreams of becoming the governor of the Moscow region and, perhaps, will not be so bad in this role. But all the words about social justice and development that he had previously uttered went into the sand. Did they mean anything to him? And the federal and regional agendas are fundamentally different.

— Grudinin was “washed out” by the federal media, and this could have caused him to become tired of public politics. But Ksenia Sobchak, on the contrary, was presented in a favorable light and continued to make curtsies in her direction even when she gained her insignificant percentage in the elections. Is she a promising politician for the Kremlin?

- Certainly. For the liberal part of the Kremlin, including representatives of Yeltsin’s “family,” it belongs to them. When she says that she would ban this country, when she talks about Russians as genetic garbage, I think many liberals in power are completely in agreement with her. And this is evidenced not by their words, but by their deeds. It is impossible to pursue a liberal economic and social policy without treating people like trash. It is impossible to carry out the policy regarding motherhood and childhood that is being pursued now if we do not treat our children the way Sobchak treats them - “little bastards” (if I’m not confused). It is impossible to pursue a foreign policy of these pitiful mirror images of the strikes being carried out if one does not identify with Sobchak’s words that “I would ban this country.” Among voters, just over one and a half percent voted for her, and in power, I think, more than half of the officials voted for her. Because Ksenia Sobchak is the face of the current liberal government. It’s just that this government cannot tell people what it thinks about them and what it wants to do with them, but Ksenia Anatolyevna can.

“Zhirinovsky is a wonderful person, but he says a lot of plausible things that rarely come true. This thing most likely won't come true. A State Council with an unelected leader cannot rule Russia.”Photo: duma.gov.ru

“THE PERSON WHO WILL BE APPOINTED PREMIER IN THE MIDDLE OF PUTIN’S NEW PRESIDENTIAL TERM WILL BE A SUCCESSOR”

— More and more experts say that there is a smell of war in the air. Not local, like in Donbass or Syria, but real, global, world.

— The technologies that we now see used against us are war. She's just a hybrid. I'm afraid we will have terrorist attacks disguised as accidents, and there will also be undisguised terrorist attacks.

— Kemerovo, perhaps, is not such a case?

- This is an open question. Maybe this is Putin’s “pumping up”, and he is being “pumped up” the same way Mikhail Gorbachev was “pumped up” in his time ( under the last General Secretary of the CPSU, a record number of emergencies occurred, including the Chernobyl disaster — approx. ed.)? Or was it some Kemerovo elites who tried to get rid of Tuleyev in such a cynical way? Or is it still an accident that happened at such a good time for some cannibals? Don't know.

— In a situation of global war, what should we do with our local “hot” conflicts in Syria and Donbass, where Russia is present, albeit indirectly?

“We will be able to maintain Syria in this state for a long time.” There is a dysfunctional state there, and we have not yet set the goal of restoring statehood in the SAR. Although this is exactly what we should be talking about. Therefore, in Syria there is a kind of dead end, but it is not terrible, because it is far away. And in the east of Ukraine the situation is the same as in South Ossetia. After all, Medvedev did not allow genocide to be carried out in South Ossetia not because he is a humanist, but because even he understood that if this was allowed to happen, it would be impossible to hold on to the North Caucasus. It’s the same in the east of Ukraine - if Bandera’s followers and Americans are allowed to carry out a massacre there (and they want to carry it out at least in order to destroy the Russian government), then the Russian Federation will simply disappear. Because it will lose the moral foundations of its existence, even the most law-abiding and loyal citizens will simply stop obeying the state and no matter how they relate to it.

Of course, there will be another attempt to start a war in Donbass. A similar attempt was avoided during the presidential elections, as I understand it, during the visit of the heads of the Russian special services to Washington ( Read more about the trip to the USA by the heads of the FSB, SVR and GRU). But it is not at all a fact that the Americans will not return to this topic in order to ruin the 2018 World Cup for us. Because, judging by the statements of US officials, they are not very sane and it is not clear what and how you can talk to them about.

— Do you think the recent elections are Putin’s last? Has he entered his final term as president?

- Yes. There are age restrictions and there are emotional ones. I think that the person who will be appointed prime minister in the middle of Putin’s current presidential term (or maybe in a year or two) will be the real successor.

— But what about the rumors from Zhirinovsky: that after 2024 we will be ruled by the State Council with an unelected leader?

— Vladimir Zhirinovsky is a wonderful person, but he says a lot of plausible things that rarely come true. This plausible thing will most likely not come true. A State Council with an unelected leader cannot rule Russia. Our power is formalized. The State Council can be the arbiter of last resort, akin to the emperor in a classical constitutional monarchy. For example, in Spain for some time after Franco there was already a parliamentary democracy, and then the military staged a coup. And then the king comes out from somewhere and says: “No, you know, a coup is not good, I don’t agree with it.” “Well, if I don’t agree, that means I don’t agree,” the Spanish military responds. - No problem. Then we’ll quickly do it the way it was.” This is the kind of power an arbitrator may well have. But if we talk about the real completeness of power - strategic and operational, then no. An arbitrator is primarily a moral authority. But this is not running a country.

Clouds are gathering over the head of the Russian Prime Minister. Rumors surrounding his resignation began to spread with renewed vigor. After a series of image blows, including the arrest of the Magomedov brothers, Dmitry Medvedev’s upcoming report to the State Duma will be decisive for him. That is why he is looking for an alliance with faction leaders, they say on the sidelines of the State Duma. However, ordinary deputies are in a different mood and are waiting for a change in the prime minister. Details are in the FederalPress article.

The chair under the prime minister began to shake. Rumors that Dmitry Medvedev will not head the new cabinet; they have moved from a fantasy field to a real one. In this sense, the upcoming report of the head of government to the State Duma will be decisive for him. If the deputies “defeat” Medvedev, and the opposition factions vote against the report, this will be the last nail in the coffin of the career of Prime Minister Dmitry Anatolyevich. This was stated by several FederalPress sources in the State Duma. +

Medvedev seeks alliance with opposition +

According to one of the agency’s interlocutors, the current prime minister is seeking support from the leaders of opposition factions before the annual report. According to the source, the nature of the prime minister’s consultations with representatives of the LDPR, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Socialist Republic, which have been taking place over the past two months, is unusual for such meetings. The Prime Minister takes note of all the proposals of opposition deputies and promises to implement them.

For example, consultations with the Liberal Democratic Party took place in a positive manner. Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture, Sports, Tourism and Youth Affairs Mikhail Degtyarev said that Medvedev asked the government apparatus to formalize some of the factions’ proposals in the form of instructions. +

“We noted serious positive changes in the treatment of infertility under the compulsory medical insurance program, the construction of kindergartens, and the continuation of the maternity capital program,” said Degtyarev. +

Communists were asked not to “drown” +

Oddly enough, but in a similar vein, the prime minister met with the communists, who for several years have been demanding Medvedev’s resignation and sharply criticizing him on all fronts. Deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Nikolai Kharitonov called the meeting constructive. According to him, the discussion was mainly about the development of the agro-industrial complex.
“There was a constructive conversation about milk for students, and about support for all forms of property, about meat, about bread,” Kharitonov noted. +

Following the results of the April 2 meeting with the communists, Medvedev also instructed the relevant departments to formalize the proposals of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in the form of instructions. The conversation passed calmly, in the format of an exchange of opinions. But where is the anti-Medvedev rhetoric familiar to the Communist Party? As one of the interlocutors of FederalPress, close to the leadership of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, reported, Gennady Zyuganov prohibited anyone in the faction from giving a political assessment of Dmitry Medvedev. Another source in the State Duma said that the Communist Party of the Russian Federation was asked not to “drown” Medvedev. This caused bewilderment among some deputies. +

But it is a mistake to believe that the communists will “lick” Medvedev from head to toe on April 11. Sources say they will ask about the reasons for the failure to implement the May presidential decrees. The intrigue lies only in the rigidity and categorical nature of such questions. +

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is convinced that Medvedev will be replaced in the government by Alexey Kudrin. Based on the principle of two evils, the communists prefer Medvedev. In addition, his presence as prime minister is politically beneficial for the Communist Party: after all, being the first opposition force, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation needs an object of criticism among senior officials under the conditions of the embargo on criticism of Putin. Medvedev has always been such an object. +

The Social Revolutionaries split

Things are not much simpler in the ranks of A Just Russia. Faction leader Sergei Mironov stated on April 4 that following the meeting, Medvedev supported the idea of ​​the Social Revolutionaries to extend the renovation program to all regions of the Russian Federation. +

“He agreed that it would be unfair if renovation took place only in the capital and did not affect other cities,” Mironov noted. +

The Prime Minister also promised to solve the problem of hostels in residential buildings after the World Cup, which was reported by the Social Revolutionaries. +

At the same time, as FederalPress learned, deputies from A Just Russia intend to raise the issue of Dmitry Medvedev’s resignation within their faction. The deputy shared this information with our agency Anatoly Greshnevikov. He stated that he had many complaints against the prime minister. +

“There are a huge number of claims of an economic, social, environmental nature. What to expect from the report? We know how to report. I will personally vote against the report and will insist on the faction that the question of Medvedev’s resignation be raised,” Greshnevikov said in an interview with a FederalPress correspondent. +

Such a sharp difference of opinion within the Socialist Revolutionary faction can be explained by the systemic crisis in A Just Russia and the loss of authority of its leader Sergei Mironov. +

Grounds for resignation +

It is also worth noting that the Speaker of the State Duma was present at all these consultations with factions Vyacheslav Volodin, who often acts as a mediator and lightning rod for criticism of Medvedev. This was the case during the prime minister’s last report to the State Duma, when the deputy chairman of the Communist Party faction Nikolay Kolomeytsev asked Dmitry Medvedev what was stopping him from defending himself from Navalny’s attacks. Volodin intervened in the conversation, declaring that such questions were inadmissible. He also then called on the communists and other deputies to rally around the prime minister in the face of attacks on him. +

FederalPress sources do not deny negotiations between certain elite groups and the leaders of opposition factions about leveling the critical agenda during Medvedev’s report in order to get the latter out of the way in anticipation of the formation of a new government. +

Political scientists consider this logical and note the political importance of the prime minister’s upcoming speech on April 11. As the director of the Center for Political Science Research at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation told FederalPress Pavel Salin, Medvedev's report is very important from the point of view of his prospects, but not as a reason, but as an indicator of relations in the elite. +

“I would say that the context around Medvedev’s report will become, rather, not a factor that determines his future, but an indicator, a reflection, an indicator of his future. It is clear that the decision on the prime minister will be made solely by the president. But all elite groups catch signals and, if the president sends these informal signals to replace Medvedev, groups of elites who have their own views on this post will immediately, through their protégés in the State Duma, try to formulate tough questions,” Salin noted in an interview with a FederalPress correspondent " +

At the same time, the expert suggested that, judging by the nature of Medvedev’s consultations with Duma factions, Putin is still on his side. +

But at the same time, one cannot help but notice the attacks on the current prime minister, which are appearing more and more often in the run-up to the report. Today, a number of federal media outlets reported that Russian ministries ignored more than half of last year’s presidential decrees. It is reported that 52.6% of the instructions of the head of state for 2017 were not carried out within the agreed time frame. Compared to last year, this figure increased by 3.8%. +

The arrest of the Magomedov brothers, associated with his closest associate, did not add any bonuses to Medvedev’s karma. Arkady Dvorkovich. +

“I would call the Magomedov case a continuation of the anti-corruption campaign, which at the same time attacks the positions of Dvorkovich and Medvedev. It’s not that it was somehow intentional, but it turned out that way. All this is of interest to the elites, primarily because the process can affect the balance of power in the government. If a few months ago there was a firm belief that Medvedev would remain, just like Dvorkovich, now there are no such guarantees,” says the political strategist Dmitry Fetisov. +

Famous economist and publicist Mikhail Delyagin In general, I am convinced that the arrest of the Magomedovs directly means the departure of Medvedev. Delyagin wrote about this in his telegram channel.

“A blow to the Magomedovs means one thing: Medvedev is leaving the government. But very few people care about Dvorkovich’s fate, so it may linger. At other times, it’s good to be a pawn,” writes Delyagin. +

We must not forget that all representatives of the elite and ordinary citizens no longer remember the film “He’s Not Dimon for You,” which can be considered a powerful image blow to Medvedev. The Magomedov case only revived and intensified the negative information background around the head of the Cabinet of Ministers. In these conditions, he really can only seek support from State Duma deputies, who were asked not to drown him. Will they respond to this call? The future of the Prime Minister's office depends on this. +

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