The beauty and the Beast

Why does the Kremlin need Ksenia Sobchak and how it could end

It must be admitted that over the past many months this is a rare smart move for the current government.

And indeed: for 10 months in a row, the Kremlin was forced to passively watch as Navalny throws a political net from Moscow to the very outskirts, mobilizes previously silent regions, brings young people to unauthorized rallies, which is always and everywhere the engine of change, and could not do anything with it to do, despite the arrests, terms and the National Guard. And then it turned out that the population younger than retirement age stopped watching propaganda programs, switched to YouTube, and, consequently, those tools that worked so well three years ago have now stopped working.

And it was then in the inflamed brain of pragmatists - whether it was Kiriyenko, or Peskov - we do not know the authorship, this idea was born: Sobchak!

Smart, talented, young, with millions of audiences on social networks, and at the same time - thrown like a fish on the sand from federal channels after a speech on Sakharov and processions in Astrakhan in 2012, ambitions and energy - the city will feed. What need to do? That's right: to throw the wires, or rather, to shift the vector of interest of those who are now watching whether the Navalny Kremlin will squeeze or not, whether they will register him as a candidate or not, whether they will imprison him or not, in the other direction, to where "I, Ksenia Sobchak, your candidate Against everyone".

And what? Fresh, bold, unexpected. A variety of people - from the presidential press secretary to Pozner and Khodorkovsky - liked it. In the musty world of Russian politics, where the entire space has narrowed from Tverskaya (or the Field of Mars in St. Petersburg) to the cell of the temporary detention facility, an interesting object for observation has indeed appeared.

“The joy that her nomination caused is a party in the zone about the easing of the regime,” documentary filmmaker Andrei Loshak wrote on his Facebook. - Under the strict supervision of guards and the owner - the head of the camp. Moreover, some of the prisoners also rub their hands in anticipation of profit. Sorry sight". Well, pathetic - not pathetic, but the boss promised a movie? Here they brought it.

In the meantime, "cinema" - it is unlikely that the series (why - about that a little lower) will be shown, you can do what the authorities were going to, but everyone did not dare. Namely: to clearly make it clear that there was no Navalny - there was and will not be a candidate for the presidency of the Russian Federation, he will start to be impudent - and it will be difficult for Navalny not to radicalize in these conditions, because all the newsworthy events will be created in other places under the slogan "Ksenia Sobchak" - continue to put them on exhausting, but so far short arrests of 20-30 days. And there - how it goes.

At the same time, to twist his headquarters in the field - there will be options, but they will not be phony. Moreover, the “candidate against all” will loudly and quite sincerely be outraged on social networks and, possibly, even on federal TV channels, to call to stand under its banner, and among those “who are not ready to go out under batons in the square” (something like this Sobchak expressed herself in her first interview with the Dozhd cable TV channel), along with fear, confidence will grow: there is no way out, either beyond the cordon, or continue to earn money and remain silent.

In other words, the role that Ksenia Sobchak will be called upon to play is to become a cover for a special operation, the purpose of which is to deprive fellow citizens of even hope for a possible alternative to the current president, who, let me remind you, has been in power for 18 years - more than Brezhnev, but even less. than Stalin.

At the same time, it does not matter at all what goals will be announced by her headquarters, or she herself - sincerely or not - thinks that she can achieve, despite all the red flags that are predetermined and set.

The role that Ksenia Sobchak will be called upon to play is to become a cover for a special operation, the purpose of which is to deprive fellow citizens of even hope for a possible alternative to the current president.

What will happen later, after December 8, 2017, when applicants for the post of chief of the country, including the incumbent president, must declare (the law requires - no later than 100 days before voting day) about their intentions - it doesn’t matter.

Because with all the flights of fantasy, it is difficult to imagine that Vladimir Putin will compete with the girl who once sat on his knees and whose dad he worked for - it is difficult to imagine.

Especially from a 65-year-old man who still likes to undress in public. This is surrounded by Zyuganov (73), Mironov (64), Zhirinovsky (71), Yavlinsky (65) - Putin looks great, and against the background of 35-year-old Sobchak - well, of course, we can do without barbs.

This means that signatures - 100 thousand from the party, or 300 thousand as an independent candidate - Sobchak, most likely, will not have to be collected. That's why there won't be a series. In extreme cases, we will be shown a sequel to 2012 a la Yavlinsky, when something collected as a signature will not be accepted, and viewers will be shown a show called: “Sobchak. Exposure".

Because with all the flights of fantasy, it is difficult to imagine that Vladimir Putin will compete with the girl who once sat on his knees.

However, God forbid such a development of events - God forbid for Ksenia Sobchak: here all the propagandists, including those who, like Solovyov or Shevchenko, who so far rather favorably (following Peskov) spoke about the self-nomination of the TV presenter, will bring down on her all the stream of dirt and insults that they always have at the ready. As they did when, after the protest rallies of 2011-2012, demonstrative searches were carried out in her apartment: they will beat her in such a way that it would never be more repulsive for anyone from the world of popular and recognizable people to get into politics.

Is Sobchak herself aware of these risks? I think he knows.

But, probably, this is the case when it was impossible to refuse. Or - it seemed that it was impossible. Or - a prize such that you want to believe that you can beat it.

There is no need to talk about reputational costs.