Translated material
"What's next?"
"Solidarity" gathered those who want to rid Moscow of Luzhkov
The opposition movement Solidarity held a conference “Moscow without Luzhkov” on Monday evening, which brought together opponents of the capital’s mayor. The organizers invited everyone to sign an appeal to the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, exposing the city mayor as a “corrupt official.” At first, opposition politicians, human rights activists, lawyers, and architects scolded Yuri Luzhkov for corruption, nepotism, falsification of elections to the Moscow City Duma and the ugly appearance of the city. But at the end of the conference, voices were heard asking: what, in fact, can the opposition itself offer Muscovites?The event was opened by the co-chairman of the Solidarity movement Boris Nemtsov, who recently wrote a high-profile report “Luzhkov. Results." He said that during the years of Mr. Luzhkov’s rule in Moscow, a kind of unspoken code of honor for corrupt officials was formed consisting of five commandments: “1. While in the civil service, get rich. 2. Be loyal to your boss - you won't get jailed. 3. Souls of competitors. 4. Destroy the opposition. 5. Destroy the independent press." He also quoted a letter received from the presidential administration: “We received the report that you sent to Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev. We wish you and your family health and well-being."
Co-chairman of the Right Cause party Leonid Gozman spoke next. He complained that citizens had long been deprived of the right to elect regional heads. “We can't choose them, but we can talk. If people do not express their attitude to what is happening, then they deserve it,” said Mr. Gozman. Later, oppositionists noted that they were also deprived of the right to be elected. The Moscow Election Commission refused to register seven members of the Solidarity movement as candidates for the Moscow City Duma in the elections to be held on October 11. Only Dmitry Kataev is running for election from Solidarity, and even then on the Yabloko list. Only Elena Guseva is registered from Right Cause, three were rejected.
Director of the Institute of Urban Economics Nadezhda Kosareva spoke about the inconsistency of the Moscow town planning code with federal legislation. Architect Alexey Klemenko called Luzhkov “a virgin in matters of architecture.” “There is no restoration in Moscow. There is a boorish, disgusting restoration with an element of kitsch,” he concluded.
Lawyer and member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Elena Lukyanova emphasized violations of election legislation and proposed eventually introducing collective criminal liability for election commissions “like criminal communities.”
The former head of the Presnenskaya council, Alexander Krasnov, “calculated” Mr. Luzhkov’s fortune: $50 billion. He called on the opposition to look for supporters among Moscow officials and police officers.
An unexpected guest at the conference was the writer, author of the novel “Guest Worker” Eduard Bagirov, known for his dislike of the opposition. He also spoke about fraud in the Moscow elections, called the existing procedure in Moscow for registering visitors from other cities, which, in fact, is a feeding trough for city officials and police officers, unconstitutional.
One of the leaders of the “People” movement, municipal assembly deputy Pyotr Miloserdov, whose candidacy for the Moscow City Duma elections was also withdrawn, criticized the Solidarity program and the democratic opposition in general: “Why did we lose these elections? Not because we were filmed. If we had not been removed, what would have been the result? I don’t believe that Solidarity would take a significant percentage. I carefully read her election materials. There is a lot of liberal propaganda and demagoguery, but little about the problems of the city. I saw only sensible things on the topic of the transport problem, and nothing more.”
Further, Mr. Miloserdov noted that Solidarity was in vain to avoid the topic of illegal migration for ideological reasons. “The problem is acute. This is shown by the DPNI actions, which attract thousands of people,” noted Mr. Miloserdov. He is convinced that the opposition’s attempts to encourage people to take to the streets are doomed to failure: “They won’t come out. They don't care about this election. We need to get used to operating in an atmosphere of total social apathy.”
According to the co-chairman of the “People” movement, the opposition needs to move from slogans to mastering the tools of grassroots democracy, working with the population at the municipal level, and helping in solving specific problems. “This is a difficult, painstaking path that will take years,” Mr. Miloserdov said.
Director of the Levada Center Lev Gudkov partially confirmed the words of Pyotr Miloserdov with the data of sociological surveys, according to which only 17% of Muscovites know about the timing of the elections. And 36% are ready to take part in them. Of these, 52% are going to vote for United Russia. According to the sociologist, the lowest turnout in 20 years is expected in the upcoming elections. Mr. Gudkov also confirmed the importance of the problem of illegal migration for Muscovites. According to the Levada Center, this topic is among the most worrying residents of the city in second place after rising prices and declining living standards.
Representative of the Solidarity movement Dmitry Kataev asked a question: “We gathered for the conference “Moscow without Luzhkov,” but we talk all the time about Moscow with Luzhkov. What without? Well, they’ll remove him or he’ll leave on his own, and then what?” There was no answer.
On Monday, Leonid Gozman began collecting signatures for the resignation of the head of the region. The mayor's office responded to this action yesterday. The press secretary of the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Tsoi, called the letter from “Right Cause” slander, bordering on a “crime against society.” The counter on the party website recording anti-Luzhkov votes was declared by Mr. Tsoi to be a “scam.”