"I'm mentally ready to sit down today"

In the new season there will be an increase in protest street activity, at least we are guided by it. The next major event is the “March of Millions” on September 15.

Now all polls and sociological studies show that the rating of Putin and Medvedev personally, and the government as a whole, is falling, not to mention the rating of the State Duma. Trust is falling and will continue to fall. People will participate more actively in protests. And the authorities will somehow react to this. The reaction may be negative: increased repression, further attempts by the authorities to crush the civil movement. In response, there may be the most unexpected manifestations of activity, even other forms of protest. I hope this doesn't happen.

Our task, by strengthening street mobilization, is to force the authorities to enter into dialogue with society and stop the repression that has clearly been going on since May 6 : criminal cases and tightening of legislation, fines, searches, intimidation. But the agenda of street actions remains the same: political reform, electoral reform and early elections.

Of course, there will still be regional elections, elections of a number of city heads, as, for example, in Khimki. And these will also be important events in addition to street activity. They will go somewhere in the background and even intensify this activity.

About the “Bolotnaya Case”
It could be worse with the “Prisoners of May 6th” than with Pussy Riot. They will try to split it into episodes and punish the maximum number of participants. It is obvious to me that our authorities only respond to force. If society shows strength, then the authorities somehow begin to take this into account. If there is no strength, they will continue to press. Everything depends on ourselves, on the citizens. If on September 15 there will be a lot of people in Moscow and other cities, then this is perhaps the only option when the authorities will think about whether they should organize a demonstrative massacre in the “Bolotnaya case”.

About elections to the Coordination Council
Elections to the Coordination Council are also an important area, although not the main event of the fall. We want to show that we can hold fair elections. Let's work on the technology. And the result will depend on several factors.

Firstly, how fair and transparent these elections will be. Secondly, how wide the circle of voters will be. If 10 thousand people vote, then there is no point in holding them at all. If it is 100 thousand or more, which is what we are targeting for now, then it will be quite legitimate. Thirdly, it will depend on which candidates will participate. The main thing is that there are not many refusals. Because if many famous people, for various reasons, do not want to participate in this, it may also make sense to postpone these elections so as not to cause a split. If we see some risks, then maybe we shouldn’t rush. The main thing here is to behave carefully.

If all these factors are met, then I think the elections will be useful: they will give the Coordination Council more legitimacy and show that we can hold fair elections.
church

About clerical politics
The church is increasingly being introduced into all spheres of state life, although this is contrary to the constitution. These questions also need to be raised at our super-massive actions. I think the louder we talk about this there, the more representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church and officials will understand that there is no need to go too far. That is, again, everything depends on what kind of opposition there is to these processes. If society reacts silently, then the expansion of the church will intensify. If there are protests and disturbances, then I think it can be stopped. The church itself and its hierarchs are, of course, interested in strengthening their influence. This is beyond doubt. The benefits here are different, including material ones.

About criminal cases against opposition leaders
People coming out is our protection. The only one, perhaps. Only if we do not collude with the authorities and do not give up our demands. Then they will leave us behind, and that’s not a fact. These people are vindictive. How the situation will develop depends on the activity of all citizens. If we can, we will repel the attack; if we fail, they may imprison me, Navalny, and a number of other people. No questions asked. In principle, I am mentally prepared, unfortunately, even today, no matter how sad it sounds.