Telemost under the howl of sirens

A teleconference with Mikhail Khodorkovsky was held in St. Petersburg

In St. Petersburg surrounded by the police, under the howl of the sirens, in the dark, a teleconference was held with the head of the Open Russia project Mikhail Khodorkovsky on the topic "Elections: Boycot or Participation?"

Police to the St. Petersburg Hotel "Holiday Inn Moscow Gate", where the television station of Open Russia was supposed to be held, reported in the morning. Allegedly searched for drugs. At about 6.30, two law enforcement officers visited the hotel building and addressed the questions to one of the organizers responsible for the technical support of the teleconference. The story of this visit can be read here .

The Open Russia event in St. Petersburg, dedicated to whether or not to take part in the elections, is the first in Russia after the liberation of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Before its beginning, the coordinator of Open Russia Vladimir Kara-Murza the Younger explained:

- Unfortunately, Mikhail Khodorkovsky for quite famous reasons cannot personally be here today in St. Petersburg. While we organize such communication through new technologies. This will be a full -fledged two -hour discussion in which Mikhail Khodorkovsky will take part with the civilian and political activists of St. Petersburg. Here will be the current city deputies, participants in the municipal elections that have just passed the 2016 elections. And the topic of today's discussion: whether it was worth participating in such elections that we recently saw in the municipal elections in St. Petersburg, when there was a mass early vote, when the election committee was classified when the candidates had to overcome just physical obstacles to hand over documents, and when the United Russia party received more than 100% of the vote in five districts. The main goal of our movement "Open Russia" is to preserve and expand the space for honest, open and independent discussions about the situation in the country and about the ways of future development. This space is constantly compressed by the current government. We want to maintain this space and expand and therefore, with this meeting in St. Petersburg, we open a series of regular, discussion, educational, civilian events in different cities of our country.

A few minutes before the start of the television, it became known that the police received a message about the bomb allegedly laid in the hotel. Before, after a short introductory word, the leading Vladimir Kara-Murza ml. To present to the audience Mikhail Khodorkovsky, as the Internet disappeared in the hall. The connection was established by turning on emergency power supply.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky:

- Dear colleagues! I was informed that the Internet was disconnected. This is anecdotal! I am even surprised: why are they so afraid of us? In 2012-2013, when the authorities were faced with mass protests due to their own frauds in the elections ...

On these words, the light went out in the hall, and for some time the dialogue was interrupted.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky:

At that moment, the police broke into the hall with shouts: "Evacuation has been announced! Everything is a way out!" Everyone refused to go out

- The elections were replaced by appointments, delegation of candidates from among people in the structure of the current government. Where the elections are preserved, introduced or introduced restrictions on the registration of candidates. Today it was reported that there is already official paper prohibiting the participation in the elections to organizations included in the list of "foreign agents". This applies to our observation organizations, such as "Voice". In the St. Petersburg elections, early voting mechanisms were actively used. Moreover, this early vote was stretched by the authorities for several days and to several places in order to be impossible to control what is happening. The question that undoubtedly arises in such conditions: “Is it worth preparing for such elections? In terms of regions, they will be held in 2015, and massively in 2016, unambiguous, correct for all times of the answer to this question does not exist ...

At that moment, police officers shouted into the hall: "Evacuation has been announced! Everything is a way out!" The audience refused to leave the hall.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky continued:

- Our goal is to change the current regime as a whole. Based on these considerations, at present, participation in the elections looks preferable than non -participation. Since non -participation does not give any advantages. And leads to even greater isolation. What is elections in an authoritarian regime? .. Firstly, this is a common cause that helps teams work. This is a financial campaign. We need to learn how to collect money for democracy, and people need to understand that they need to vote not according to ballots, but also with a ruble. And finally, the election is a compromise school. School of searching for a compromise in the framework of the tragic movement to victory. And the fact that the regime will eventually fall is inevitable. All authoritarian regimes fall apart sooner or later. In these conditions, not one party will come to victory in these conditions, but a wide democratic front .... Another question: “What needs to be done so that the“ dragon of authoritarianism ”is not revived after the previous“ dragon ”is falling? A key response: legal state. Regular replacement of power. Separation and replacement of the authorities. This means an independent court and the distribution of powers of the president, the transfer of a significant part of the powers of the federal center and regional centers to local authorities, as close as possible to people, other issues. Other issues. Other issues. The question of the state of the state is also very important. The crisis was democratic Russia.

At this moment, the police turned on in the next room, forbidding to close the door, anxiety. And all other speeches took place under her sounds

The deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg Maxim Reznik drew attention to the fact that the latest strategic actions of the authorities are explained by the main principle: “But our Crimea!”:

- Crimea writes off everything, from their point of view. Today it seems to me that our discussion with the people should be conducted in this paradigm, in this political plane. It is necessary to explain to people the logic of the behavior of the authorities: "The elections are falsified, but our Crimea. Housing and communal services are growing, but our Crimea is falling, oil prices are falling, but our Crimea. And our enemies are around." It seems to me that today the democratic opposition should try to explain to our fellow citizens that Crimea will not write off everything. We must decorate our agenda.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky replied:

- I absolutely agree that now it is not the time to put the question of the Crimea at the forefront, since this topic is still not solved today. Let's hold honest elections, an honest referendum, and according to the results of this, voters will tell us what to do with all this. We have our own position in relation to the illegality of what happened, but to decide the voter, to decide people in honest elections. As for the paradigm of "revenge", and the paradigm of "reactive response", I also agree that the Kremlin, as a rule, with rare exceptions, says that it is difficult to challenge, it is another matter that it does the opposite. Let me give you an example of this, which filled the point of the question. They constantly tell us that "we are uniting the Russian world." We are for us to have a single cultural space with Ukraine, Belarus, with other Slavic states. We, of course, are for. A single cultural space is always very good. But what does the Kremlin really do? He, on the contrary, destroys this cultural space. With his actions, he pushed away from us the fraternal people of Ukraine, with whom we had to go to Europe together. And I assure you that Putin now understands perfectly well that you can’t reach the collapsing economy in the same Crimea until 2018. What he will do with this is his difficulties. And our business is to show people that there is another choice.

Deputy of the Legislative Assembly St. Petersburg Boris Vishnevsky did not agree with Mikhail Khodorkovsky:

- I do not agree that the Kremlin says what is impossible to argue with. Just the opposite. When President Putin first says that it will be better for us from the fall of the ruble, and then calls to deal with foreign currency speculators, the question arises: what does he smoke? What is applied to him on the table, how substantiated his degree of scientist in economic sciences?

Mikhail Khodorkovsky :

- I do not know how the current regime will fall. I'm afraid that no one knows this. I would also not want this to happen in a non -democratic way. But the probability of this is extremely great. Our task is to make it so that after the fall of the regime, no matter what the way it happened, the country would not break in the country, which was in the early nineties, and that people understand: there is a team that consists of people who have political experience, people who are understandable to change the current power of managerial levers. And participation in the elections is very important from the point of view of the formation of this team, and, most importantly, demonstration to people that there is such a team.

During the debate, the theme of lustration arose. Mikhail Khodorkovsky :

- At the beginning of the nineties, after the change of Soviet regime, a discussion began about whether challenges needed to be carried out. I then thought, but my voice was not heard that lustration was too much. Now I am sure: without lustration at least 10-15% of our bureaucracy, including among law enforcement agencies, we will not be able to achieve anything. This is a difficult question. Lustration must be carried out quickly. It is important not to break firewood here. Therefore, it is very important right now to think about who and how to subject this very lustration.

At this moment, the police included a warning system in the nearby hall. The discussion continued under the alarm. The volume of the house with Mikhail Khodorkovsky had to be reduced by halves.