Candidate for the post of mayor of Kaliningrad Igor Pleshkov: I am outside the system. I'm against the system.

Igor Pleshkov was the only major businessman in the Kaliningrad region who openly supported, both personally and financially, the protests “For Fair Elections” at the beginning of 2012. It was the cars of his company that took part in the February motor rally “For Fair Elections” in orderly columns, forcing the whole country to once again pay attention to Kaliningrad. After this, Igor Pleshkov had problems with his business, but he resisted and on the eve of the elections of the mayor of Kaliningrad, he told the editors of the BusinessBerg magazine about his vision of the pre-election situation.
BusinessBerg magazine kindly allowed the use of interview materials as part of introducing the Russian public to the likely candidates for the post of mayor of the city of Kaliningrad, and the position of the political forces in the region on the eve of the most important elections for the city.

So, meet Igor Pleshkov.

Igor Pleshkov: Do you know the joke about people who stand up to their chins in shit? And when one of them tries to climb out, they shout at him - don’t move, don’t drive the wave! Now we have a situation in our region similar to that joke. And you look at this entire pre-election miracle zoo and want to say: the circus has left, but the clowns remain. There are always problems: governor-mayor, mayor-governor. And how can this epic end? The city will simply fail to participate in the World Cup. Well, no one will invest money in a period when feudalism is flourishing in the region, when every princeling is trying to snatch it for himself.

Is there really no hope of improving the situation through democratic means?

In any case, of those people who have so far declared their desire or intention to participate in the elections, I don’t even see anything close to what the region needs. After all, a good person does not mean a good governor or mayor. There are candidates - just small wheels of one big system.

Many of those who call themselves politicians today simply went and bought themselves this position. And we know all these names very well. And at one time they offered me to buy: one party named 10 million, another called 12 million, and the third even reached 20 million. If I had agreed, I would have had a deputy’s mandate, bought for millions of rubles. Yes, I received more satisfaction when I spent it on the development of motorsport! And I would join one long chain of those scoundrels who are systematically destroying an entire nation.
If you are not elected to this position, then you have nothing behind you. Today, only a popularly elected deputy has a chance to change something - precisely one elected by the people, by these people from Baltrayon with its pissed-off entrances and non-working elevators. Because only in this case does he have a powerful resource in the form of public support.

By the way, about election by the people. I re-read the March news on the topic of the Thomas Beton conflict with regional officials. And in the comments several times I came across the call “Pleshkov for mayor.” How do you feel about this?

I'm the most inconvenient person for everyone. You can’t cut the budget with me, you can’t come to an agreement with me. I can’t give a bribe, I can’t ask for a bribe. That's why no one will ever let me go there. I'm outside the system. I'm against the system. I have been against it since 1986, when I was given an ultimatum - either join the Komsomol or we will be kicked out of the technical school. That is, from the age of 16 I was already in disgrace with the official. Who needs me there? Yes, Baltrayon may need me. Because if money was allocated to repair this entrance, then it will be used to repair this entrance. I have long since outgrown the level of being hungry. I have everything in this life: a family, a house, a good car, a luxurious office.
If people came and said: we will follow you, then we could think about this issue. But being a lone wolf makes no sense. After all, I don’t need anything for myself. Moreover, in my life, if I took on something, I always devoted myself to it completely and completely. And I understand that if you go, you really need to give up your whole life, that is, just put it on the altar of the city.

You leave Kaliningrad quite often. We can conclude that you are simply sick of local reality...

My nerves last exactly two weeks. Then I need to breathe. Because I clearly see the difference between “there” and “here”. Our people are afraid of the police. We are afraid to turn to the traffic police inspector for help. Not a single official has answered for anything. We have millions of people who, while receiving salaries, made illegal decisions and did not bear any responsibility for it.

Well, here is an example before our eyes. The head of the city built this building in which we are now (Baltic Business Center - BB note). This building was built with hundreds of violations. Nothing about it works. Well, how?! A person cannot build one single building! Put it into operation normally! The project has 13 floors and 2 floors of parking. But why do we need to make such a parking lot? Let's make some retail space better! After all, they can be sold at a higher price! Why do we need 13 floors? Let's do all 15 on the same basis. It’s good that we supplied concrete to this facility, and I am sure that the foundation will not burst or sag, there is a 30% safety margin. But the 15th floor was built - there was no fire exit there, except for the elevator. Yes, Bashin designed it himself! And where, you ask, is this person now? He designs again and again manages in the construction industry! Well, what are we talking about then?!
In general, I come to the conclusion that our entire society is affected from the inside by a cancer, the nature of which no one knows. Cancer cells, destroying healthy ones, will eventually die themselves. Because the body will die and they will have no nutrition. We have the same thing now in our country with entrepreneurship. Recently, our prime ministers and presidents said: green light for business. What's the green light? When 10% of the time I’m doing business, and 90% of the time I’m fighting administrative barriers.

Based on materials from the magazine "BusinessBerg"

As it became known, Dmitry Demushkin, the leader of the “Russians” organization, one of the permanent organizers of the “Russian March”, gave preliminary consent to run for the post of mayor of Kaliningrad. His candidacy will be supported by a coalition of regionalists and nationalists of the Kaliningrad region.
The elections on March 14 for the post of mayor of Kaliningrad will apparently be one of the most interesting.

Tomorrow, Oleg Mitvol, at a meeting with bloggers, will apparently announce which of the candidates for the post of mayor of Kaliningrad he will support.