Anger Blister

People are investing everything they have accumulated over the years in the boycott of LUKOIL. If it were not for this accident or a human shield on the Moscow Ring Road, there would be another reason

In the past, things were done slowly. Now quickly. A video appeared on YouTube last Tuesday morning. In it, motorist Stanislav Sutyagin was indignant at the impudence of traffic police inspectors who built a barrier of private cars on the Moscow ring road to catch criminals. By Wednesday evening, the commander of the special traffic police regiment, who was in charge of this section, flew off from work, the head of the Moscow traffic police was reprimanded, and the investigative committee opened a criminal case.

At the same time, Dmitry Medvedev gave instructions to look into the circumstances of the accident on Leninsky Prospekt in Moscow. The next day, the head of the Moscow traffic police already reported to the Duma on both occasions.

The policemen were again caught by the hand. In one case, they helped the manager of an oil company wrap up a monstrous accident, in another, they literally covered themselves with unsuspecting townsfolk from bandits. In parallel, a public boycott of LUKOIL gas stations was unfolding - the car of this company caused the death of two female doctors on Leninsky. A wave of indignation washed away any other news from the horizon. Hundreds of thousands of people wrote blogs, exchanged links, watched appeals on YouTube.

When speculative bubbles appear in the economy, it usually means that the economy is not in order and market agents do not have enough tools to invest. Public opinion is structured in a similar way. It is unlikely that the police have degraded since Major Yevsyukov staged a massacre in a supermarket. The militia, if it has decomposed, has been for quite a long time, it's just that the decomposition has become more pronounced. It quickly became clear that human shields were common practice. But any news about the police - and the agencies now issue them at least two a day - responds in the public mind with a surge of deep furious protest.

If there hadn't been an accident on Leninsky and a human shield on the Moscow Ring Road, there would have been another reason. Before the crisis, investors invested in real estate in the hope of a quick good profit. In exactly the same way, people today are investing all their accumulated emotions into the boycott of LUKOIL. And, apparently, they achieve success: the state surrenders one chief after another.

For what had previously been ignored at all, now they are called to the carpet and even prosecuted. The President personally gives instructions. It used to be different. Vladimir Putin was silent when - oh, a rare case - a popular wave of protest rose in defense of Oleg Shcherbinsky. Although it was a flagrant injustice: an innocent driver was given four years for allegedly not giving way to the governor's motorcade.

Perhaps the fact is that Dmitry Medvedev is an active blogger and navigates public issues by summaries of queries in Yandex? Probably partly so. But why were people silent before, and now they are united by a lively protest? Why did the traffic police stumble on this particular human shield? This is hardly a coincidence. And it's not just that the Internet has become more accessible. The swelling blister of anger is a consequence of some tangible change in the climate. Something has happened in the last few months.

Fingers seem to be easy to bend. Governors, including old-timers who seemed to be eternal, are being replaced in batches. A revolution in justice: at the suggestion of the Kremlin, the Duma cancels arrests on economic charges. Again, reductions in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. But the matter is not only and even not so much in them. Another thing is more important: what used to be stupidity or even heresy now sometimes sounds from the stands, and no one frowns. Political scientists in such cases say that the agenda has changed. Somehow, by itself, the general angle of view on what constitutes today's Russia and what it needs today has deformed.

It used to be fashionable to talk about Russia's prospects in terms of its oil and gas might. And teenagers with Vladimir Putin on T-shirts threw eggs at everyone who disagreed with this concept. Today, the money goes not to elections and not to fight the opposition - the state finances modernization and innovation. Who used to look for enemies, now draws projects for science cities. Yesterday it was supposed to show strength and increase pension payments. Today softness is in common use, and the Prime Minister asks the tax authorities not to go too far.

Again, just like two years ago, when Dmitry Medvedev first became president, the word “thaw” is in the air. The only problem is that again something prevents you from saying it out loud. Probably, the fact that the thaw implies not only a warming of the attitude of the state towards citizens, but also a certain unity of purpose. And this is bad.

Khrushchev's thaw was accompanied by public enthusiasm for future achievements. Even communism was rehabilitated. Perestroika in the mid-1980s had a positive meaning that was obvious to everyone. It was not only about the abolition of censorship, but also about renewal. Today, if we draw an analogy, the motto of change would be the modernization announced by the state. Alas, there is no one who would believe in it. There is only a rumble of protest, growing as the soft line wins. It's not a thaw. These are conversations in the ranks. More precisely, in a live shield.