Yuri Pronko: Why I decided to break with the liberal opposition

Chesnokov:

Hello people. May 9th is approaching, and with it a new wonderful tradition is approaching. The Immortal Regiment, which will be supported not only in the cities and towns of Russia, but also now in many other countries of the world. Nevertheless, doubts are being expressed in certain circles - is it necessary to join the Immortal Regiment and why is it needed at all? This is exactly what we will talk about with our guest, TV presenter of the Tsargrad channel Yuri Pronko. Hello, Yuri.

Pronko:

Hello.

Chesnokov:

The fact is that on these same Internet sites there is a very interesting text under the following heading: “Pronko’s incident. How a famous liberal radio host became an ardent conservative and monarchist.” And this text compares the statements of my respected guest, for example, from 2012 on Facebook: “The opposition has applied to hold a march of millions in Moscow, I will go, and you?” Next - April 2016. Again Pronko’s statements, but diametrically opposite. “It turns me inside out from the so-called dissenters who pour streams of dirt on their country, on the holy Russian Church, on the Immortal Regiment.”

Yuri, these are the metamorphoses that would do honor to The Golden Donkey - this is a novel of such a classic of ancient literature, if anyone doesn’t know, what are they connected with?

Pronko:

In fact, I am grateful to you for this message. And radio station “KP” - for the opportunity to respond. Because you only cited one of the many publications that have appeared over the past last days, weeks. No, in fact, it was not me who changed, but those people who self-proclaimed themselves to be the opposition, who called themselves liberals, who actually had nothing to do with either liberal theory or liberal practice, changed. So, you know, this is actually a very easy question because I get asked this a lot. I am a person who at one time, to put it mildly, helped a certain circle of so-called oppositionists; and I’m not beating myself in the chest with my heel here, it’s really true: there were years when I did a lot for these people. And at that time, colleagues who considered themselves independent journalists were afraid to invite them to their broadcasts; they openly told me that after these broadcasts you would be closed, you would not be allowed to work, etc. As you can see, I worked after loud broadcasts, and after loud memes that came to life... [it is believed that the expression “Party of Crooks and Thieves” became widely used after a debate on the air of Yuri Pronko’s radio program in early 2011 - approx. ed.]

Chesnokov:

You had an interesting broadcast with Navalny.

Pronko:

Yes, this is one of them, by the way. There were a lot of different people there, who, by the way, some of them are sitting now. And some are free, but this is also a very interesting situation: some are in prison, others are at large, while those who are free, as I understand it, are not concerned or puzzled by those who are in places not so remote, but that’s not the point important. Although this is also important - it characterizes people.

So, it’s not me who has changed, I’ll emphasize again, but the situation and people have changed. Behind last years I see what a massive drift of the so-called opposition has taken place, not towards real polemics with the authorities, not towards real politics, but towards loud statements. And, in fact, that’s it, no more politics, and no more dialogue. These people do not want to live in Russia. These people do not associate themselves with Russia. I know these people. The majority are even listeners of Komsomolskaya Pravda; I know them personally.

And what have I seen in recent years? These are tubs of slop that poured on all opponents, regardless, by the way, of whether they were monarchists, red, or white. There is a certain pattern by which these people live. Now, if you don’t correspond to this tracing paper, this stencil, then you begin to be, at the very least, an enemy or opponent. So, thinking, at some point I could not understand what was happening. Because people have really changed. And the answer turned out to be very simple. They do not associate themselves with Russia. The louder you scream, the more hysterical you scream, the more slop you pour - on the government, on its policies, on the country - the higher the likelihood that you will receive a green card or residence permit. And I know specific examples, specific people who brought the situation to this hysterical level and now they live in the West.

Chesnokov:

Well, since you started, can you name these people?

Pronko:

These people are actually all on Facebook. In the Internet. Moreover, some of them tried to present their departures as some kind of political pressure.

Chesnokov:

What is the result of this?

Pronko:

Yes. Bloody regime. Well, that's bullshit. Because when you start even a little bit, not to mention digging, but just a little bit of scratching the surface like this, you find out that one has a son who has been living in America for a long time, another has a wife who has been living in Paris for a long time. And so on. Do you know what private courses were in demand in neighboring Ukraine?

Chesnokov:

Probably English courses?

Pronko:

Courses Polish language. Here! In every regional center of Ukraine there are courses, not just one, but several, specifically in the Polish language. All this talk about freedoms, human rights, etc. - how did they end? The final destruction of the neighboring economy, its collapse in fact, is also this decoy that the European Union periodically holds out to the Ukrainians - I mean the abolition of the visa regime. And now again there is talk that this is...

Returning to your question, I can honestly say that this was a difficult stage in my life, because I am not going to change my country. I have my own Fatherland and I say this without pathos. I'm not going to leave Russia. These people, I assert, do not commit their fate and do not intend to live here. Look where their children study... By the way, in this regard, they are absolutely no different from individual representatives of the bureaucratic community. These are birds of a feather. For me, both of them, Edward, are the same thing. I have not changed in relation to power; I still formulate topics and questions to which I demand clear answers. But I don't intend to support more people who do this to their own country.

Chesnokov:

Yuri, I understand correctly that you are an economist and when you criticize the economic course of the current government, you criticize it based on certain knowledge. What are your complaints?

Pronko:

Let's separate the professional view from the philistine one. In a good sense of the word. Each of the listeners of radio “KP” has already felt the full-scale economic crisis that occurred in the country. I claim that it is man-made, that it was created precisely by those people who are now in the financial and economic bloc of the government and their predecessors. Again, I will not hide this, I know these people personally. But it's not about personalities. In the end, each of us can control this or that process - we are on the radio, on television, each radio listener in his place performs a certain functional responsibility. So, these people do not fulfill their functional responsibilities. We look, for example, at the policy of the Central Bank of Russia. The Constitution and the basic law of the country stipulate the duty of this regulator to control and in every possible way contribute to a stable financial situation in the country. Are we watching her? No. For a year, all our listeners have seen this highest volatility in the foreign exchange market. In Russian speaking, there is a big difference between what you saw and what happened a year later. By the way, the situation is stabilizing and you should be well aware that there are people, there are beneficiaries who, to put it mildly, have made a lot of money from these fluctuations, from this volatility.

For example, look at the founders and owners of the Moscow Exchange. Who is the formative element of the exchange rate? If central bank stepped aside and, as Mrs. Nabiullina says, their main topic is now inflation targeting - let me explain, the inflation level, which, for example, at the beginning of the year or at the end of the previous one is indicated, for example, 4% - it must be fulfilled by the end of the next year . If the inflation target is not implemented, the board of directors and the entire composition of the Central Bank resigns. Have you ever seen this?

I return to the Moscow Exchange - look, who are the beneficiaries there? This is a private institution. I am not against private business, it doesn’t matter to me whether it is large, medium or small. But private business cannot shape the monetary policy of an entire state. And this is exactly what is happening now. Because it is on the Moscow Currency Exchange, in the currency section, that the level of fluctuations, the level of the exchange rate of the ruble against the dollar, against the euro that we have every day is determined, and based on these data, the Central Bank approves its official exchange rate. Who is the chairman of the board of directors of the Moscow Exchange, do you know?

Chesnokov:

Not aware.

Pronko:

Alexey Kudrin.

Chesnokov:

Even so?

Pronko:

Yes. Alexey Kudrin received a very serious reward based on the results of the past year. That is, the country simply must know its heroes. You must understand that you do not live in an airless space, you live in a space where there are specific interests, where conflicts of interest arise periodically and where people, hiding behind this or that political, by the way, such tinsel, earn very serious money. Answer me the question, why is the Russian Minister of Economic Development, Mr. Ulyukaev, meeting with the US Ambassador? Explain why there is such a great need that the person who is responsible for economic development in the country, did you meet with the ambassador of this state? At the same time, there are veiled messages about the topics of their conversation. Periodic trips by the Minister of the Financial and Economic Bloc to various summits for very unclear purposes. After all, we should all understand perfectly well that the same International Monetary Fund is the Rothschild Fund. This is what you need to know. You need to know the history. All these funds, which seem to be institutionally global institutions, actually have beneficiaries. That is, specific individuals, citizens who receive for this, let us put it mildly, a certain reward. The same goes for the Moscow Exchange.

Chesnokov:

100 years ago, Professor Miliukov, speaking from the podium State Duma, threw his famous accusation: “What is this - stupidity or betrayal?” In this case, maybe it’s not betrayal, but still incompetence?

Pronko:

No, this is definitely not stupidity. I am not ready to agree with the second thesis. This is how to formulate it harshly on air. But this is definitely not stupidity. This is a very cynical calculation. I will give you another example so that you understand what is happening in the country. Two examples. A statement not from the economist Pronko, not from the journalist Pronko, but from the state corporation Deposit Insurance Agency. This is the regulator that is designed to compensate...

Chesnokov:

I would say a mega-regulator.

Pronko:

- ...yes, as a result of the bankruptcy of one or another financial credit institution. So, here is the DIA statement. Bankers withdrew 550 billion rubles from deposits.

Chesnokov:

For what period?

Pronko:

In a year. Over the past year.

Chesnokov:

And is this an official statement? So, they admit it?

Pronko:

This is DIA. You and I can go off the air now, and I’ll show you...

Chesnokov:

I believe you.

Pronko:

80% - again, the DIA statement - are criminal schemes. Scary numbers! There are a million here that many people can’t imagine.

Chesnokov:

Yes, many cannot even imagine a hundred thousand...

Pronko:

And half a trillion rubles? 550 billion – 80% of this is criminal schemes. Once again - a statement from the state corporation “Deposit Insurance Agency”. I was just as confused as you, despite the fact that I am a professional economist, I was in shock. But I began to figure out where this figure came from. Here are two banks that are on everyone's lips; their bankruptcy brought in 400 billion. One bank - clean water crime, pure crime in general. I had a conversation with one of the lobbyists of the banking community, I asked him - what are you doing? You will bring down everything that can be brought down. And he told me that even during the time of the previous chairman of the Central Bank, Ignatiev, he expressed a desire to send a group from the Central Bank of Russia to this bank, which went bankrupt. If the listeners have the desire, I think you will find it - I think the newspaper itself wrote about it, and the radio also talked about it...

Chesnokov:

But you still don’t mention the name of the bank?

Pronko:

No, I can name it. Vneshprombank. 240 billion.

Pronko:

Moreover, the money of very serious people disappeared there. Not ordinary, so to speak, not ordinary. I can’t stand it when they say “ordinary citizens,” because the question immediately arises in my mind: “complex” is that with a third ear, a third eye and a tail at the back, or what? However, it is not ordinary Russian citizens who lost money there.

And the second bank is Probusinessbank. 120 billion. Do you see the order of the numbers? The total is almost 400 billion. And 150 billion in losses that were transferred, according to DIA officials or DIA employees, to other institutions. That's all. I have a question - Mrs. Nabiullina and the company, I mean the Bank of Russia, as with daily - banks hand over the daily balance, that is, any transaction - so you went and bought bread with a plastic card, your transaction was immediately displayed in the balance of that the bank that issues your card. Here's every transaction... 550 billion - how can you not notice?!

Chesnokov:

I do not know how.

Pronko:

This is the answer to your question.

Chesnokov:

Okay, do the governments in the economic bloc know how or are they not aware, as you think?

Pronko:

Firstly, there are different levels of management; I’m not sure that the very top even knows what’s going on. Although, of course, conceptually they understand. Point two – they don’t finish speaking. Because, well, you see, indeed, the banking sector, like any area of ​​finance, is, firstly, closed, and secondly, it is very sensitive. Any such things could bring down the banking system, but, gentlemen, you will take care of your direct responsibilities. But there is another example related to the financial and economic block, and perhaps a little later I will tell you about it.

Chesnokov:

The broadcast continues, our guest is Yuri Pronko, and in addition to such important topics as the Immortal Regiment and May 9, we also discuss what it is impossible to live without: this is bread, this economic policy the current government. Yuri, you criticized the entire previous bloc, criticized harshly and, in my absolutely amateurish opinion, rightly, economic policy...

Pronko:

I haven't given you all the examples yet. This is so that you and our listeners understand where the financial and economic bloc of the government is leading our country. You all know that from time to time the state cuts off the so-called windfall profits from oil workers and directs them either to gold and foreign exchange reserves, or - attention! - to help the American economy. That's exactly it and no other way. To date, more than 90 billion US dollars that belong to Russian Federation, invested in US government bonds. What is this? When I hear remarks from Mr. Siluanov, the Russian Minister of Finance, that he has no money for anything - and at the same time, over the past three months, 16 billion US dollars have been invested in treasury bonds. This is helping America. In its purest form. Russian, Russian money, which is directed into the American economy. Not from a great mind, you say? No, from the big one. This is cynicism. People carry out the instructions that are given to them.

Chesnokov:

But China, which cannot be suspected of national treason, holds 10 times more in these than...

Pronko:

Look at the Chinese economy... Yes, it’s not even 10, there’s even more...

Chesnokov:

There's one and a half trillion [of Chinese investments in American securities].

Pronko:

But firstly, the Chinese economy is an export-oriented economy. That is, it cannot consume everything it produces. Now can you name me at least one sector of the Russian economy that produces more than we can consume? It's only oil and gas. All. We have brought down all industries and sectors of our own economy over the past 25 years.

Here is such a vivid example. There are several areas that are considered high value added industries. The highest added value is the space industry. Thank God, they are smart enough to invest there. I see what scandals, I see criminal cases - I mean the Vostochny Cosmodrome. But I take the position that if it was necessary to invest not even 400, but 500 billion, then it should have been done. This is the highest multiplier effect that one industry gives, because there are many related sectors that work for it in one way or another.

Chesnokov:

By the way, even the Americans still buy our engines for super-heavy rockets. Or rather, Soviet ones, which are still according to old drawings...

Pronko:

Well, ours, ours, yes. By the way, now you remember Soviet Union. What planes did I fly on as a child?

Chesnokov:

Even I managed to fly on Soviet planes...

Pronko:

This is Tupolev -154, this is Ilyushin -62, this is Ilyushin-86, this is Antonov -24, which (I’ll tell you a secret!) has been flying for 60 years, for example, in Yakutia. If these planes are not there, there will be no communication at all in the Far North of Russia.

Chesnokov:

Yuri Pronko is from Mirny.

Pronko:

No, I’m originally from Zhigulevsk, from Samara, but I lived in Yakutia for a very long time. Where is our aircraft manufacturing? All attempts to restart it through the creation of the SLA state corporation ended in nothing.

Chesnokov:

No, but still there are 104, in my opinion, Superjets produced.

Pronko:

Well? This is not just a drop in the ocean, it’s a nanodrop in this sea of ​​aviation...

Chesnokov:

However, the Mexican company Interjet did buy 20 Superjets...

Pronko:

It's nothing. Once again: we go into any Russian airport now, even though here in Moscow we see only planes from two global aircraft manufacturers [Boeing and Airbus]. All. Why don't we create our own aircraft industry?

The second example is the machine tool industry. Look at the graphs that show how many machine tools the Soviet Union produced and what we have come to. I'll illustrate it with an example. In 2016, the Russian government decided to allocate as much as 20 billion rubles through the Industry Support Fund for all support for Russian industry. Remember how much I told you was withdrawn through banks?

Chesnokov:

550 billion.

Pronko:

And here it’s 20 billion for the entire industry. For machine tool industry - 3 billion! I meet people (thank God that we still have factories that produce machine tools) - they have tears in their eyes. This is funny money! What can we talk about if you seriously live in the country, are involved in your own country, and develop your own economy. Or are you developing a different economy? Or are you interested in maintaining this status quo here and moving everything else there?

Chesnokov:

- Do you mean the “World Gas Station”?

Pronko:

Yes, sure.

Chesnokov:

Okay, you criticize harshly. What should I do?

Pronko:

There is a specific option - stimulating demand. If there is no demand, there is no supply. They made a shameful decision regarding working pensioners and canceled their indexation. Listen, these people deserve it! But, nevertheless, they will say that this is some 4%. No, this is more than one hundred billion rubles, which would actually be invested in the development and promotion of demand in our own country. This was not done. It's such small example. Great example. Now we see a sharp decline in income - more than 20 million of our compatriots live below the subsistence level. That is, they live on less than 10 thousand rubles a month. Who stimulates them? Where is the food card program that would stimulate both demand and support for producers?

Chesnokov:

In the USA, by the way, 50 million people receive food cards.

Pronko:

Absolutely. There's just some chatter here. Here, I mean in the federal government. They cannot find... Moreover, by the end of the year they will now be coordinating amendments, additions, changes between different ministries and departments, and all this will fade away, mark my words.

Third option. If, thank God, we still have separate sectors, separate industries that can provide a synergistic effect, let’s finance them directly. When I hear remarks about the fact that this is an issue, what the average person knows about the issue, they tell him that, they say, the more money they print, the inflation will be higher - this is stupidity.

Chesnokov:

Why stupidity?

Pronko:

And because you use this money to produce goods, you produce goods. Your industry is starting to take off. And you get this synergy.

Chesnokov:

Where is the guarantee that they won’t be stolen?

Pronko:

There is no guarantee. This is an institutional issue. Moreover, the problem now is not theft. This is old news. Now there is a new scheme, which the head of the Accounts Chamber, Tatyana Golikova, is very actively talking about. When allocated public funds are not stolen, but they are simply placed in a bank deposit.

Chesnokov:

And they scroll, receiving interest.

Pronko:

Yes. Famous story- this is the report of the Accounts Chamber, every listener of radio “KP” can find: 54 billion are allocated, after three years an audit is carried out, not a ruble was stolen, they were all as they were bank deposit, so they lie... I don’t remember now whether they were supposed to build a road, or some kind of infrastructure project. At a minimum, these beneficiaries received half a billion real rubles without doing anything. So don’t steal – it’s no longer fashionable. It’s fashionable these days to put it in a bank deposit.

Chesnokov:

Oh... And what do you propose to do? Stimulate demand, right? But look, after, for example, the Baltic states joined the EU, Western banks - Swedish, German - entered there and stimulated demand through unlimited consumer lending. As a result, now in the Baltics, in my opinion, there is a per capita debt of 20 thousand euros per person - is there no such danger?

Pronko:

No. Develop your own financial market. Why do you need the European Union? Why do you need these Western institutions? The country is self-sufficient, the country has everything – human, natural, territorial – resources. What else does? Why should we look back there? If you want, I'll formulate it harshly. Even tougher. Let's declare a policy of isolationism in the economic sphere.

Chesnokov:

Well, we just don't have that many people. There were 250 million people living in the USSR, and we have exactly 100 million fewer.

Pronko:

And what's the problem? We must improve the quality and standard of living of our own citizens - this is the task. If our citizens knew in proportion to how much they consume and how much, for example, the average American consumes, they would clutch their heads.

Chesnokov:

But we definitely can’t live without Ecuadorian bananas.

Pronko:

Do we need this? These bananas? Wait, I don’t want us to go into exaggeration – these bananas and pineapples, I’m not suggesting that they should be grown here, in Russia. But what can be grown here is one, what can be produced here is two. And plus, yes, the policy of expansion. We declare isolationism. But this does not mean that we do not go further into the world, it does not mean that we do not promote our goods and services.

Chesnokov:

We have talked a lot about the economy, but still we will not shy away from what is on the near horizon. This is May 9, this is the Immortal Regiment. Yuri, I have a suspicion, returning to the topic with which we began our conversation, that this point, after which you became disillusioned with certain representatives like the liberal opposition, although they have nothing in common with liberalism, was precisely the first The Immortal Regiment, when completely unexpectedly streams of mud poured down on it.

Pronko:

This is true. A year ago, our whole family - I big family- we decided to go to this action. I'm very worried because this is very exciting for me. There are several topics that can unsettle me. It was very important for me to walk with my grandfather, who has been gone for a quarter of a century, until Red Square... I always have a photograph of my grandfather in my briefcase, because he was the person closest to me and he left very early, and at the same time on June 22, 1941 Deputy regiment commander, Colonel Osipov Ivan Tikhonovich, this is my grandfather, entered the fight against the Nazis who attacked our country. I tortured my grandfather very often, well, like any kid, I was interested, he told me practically nothing, he told me that it was scary...

Chesnokov:

Real front-line soldiers, by the way, don’t talk much.

Pronko:

So he couldn’t rudely push me away and say that I wouldn’t talk, he was telling me something, but I could see from him that he didn’t like to talk. There was such a vivid example for me. My mother left Samara for the North, we lived in Mirny, and once my grandfather came to visit us. And already saying goodbye to him, he could not pass the control, he was ringing on the frame. They removed everything that could be removed. And the fragments rang in him. And so it was important for me to go through this stage with my grandfather, and a year ago, on May 8, I learned about the fate of my great-grandfather, already through my Ukrainian line. Although I will say right away that for me they are one people. Russians and Ukrainians. For me this is one nation. And what is happening is beyond my understanding. So, I learned about the fate of my great-grandfather Mina Pronko - that was his name. He died in February 1944 - his father didn’t say anything at all, and his father has been gone for three years now - he died liberating right-bank Ukraine. This is my great-grandfather. His son, respectively, my grandfather, Vasily Pronko, was captured. Then I reached Budapest. In the Pronko family it was not customary to talk about the war at all. Whether my grandfather is Russian or Ukrainian, they didn’t tell me anything at all. They didn't push away, but they kept away.

Chesnokov:

Too hard?

Pronko:

Yes. And when we passed a year ago, for me it was... Well, in general, anyone who was at this action last year will understand me. Because you have to experience it, you have to be there, you have to be inside, on Tverskaya. We walked from the Belorussky station, to Manezhka and then entered Red Square. I saw the absolutely sincere faces of my compatriots, by the way, of different nationalities and different religious views... And now I’m telling you, it gives me goosebumps, because this is really very serious and very important. And then, yes, I found out not on that day, but, in my opinion, the next day, after... We passed, for our family this is a very big celebration, for me in general there are two such dates - this is Easter, as for a believer, and this is May 9, Great Victory Day. And I learn about statements that, it turns out, there were supposedly some fake people, some abandoned portraits. I was so shocked! I received a huge number of messages that, as a type of advanced journalist, Pronko can participate in such, forgive me, this is a quote, “obscenity, PR,” etc., where the president is present. That is, there was such a mess... It was a mess in people’s heads that they were ready... And the worst thing, I see now, exactly a year later, I see what’s happening again in in social networks. I don't understand what's going on.

Chesnokov:

Possession is happening.

Pronko:

For what? Who needs this? Some caricatures appear, some caricatures appear... Yesterday I saw a Polish caricature, which means the wedding of Nazi Germany and Bolshevik Russia - in the literal sense. And this is written by the Poles. Don’t the Poles want to talk about how they destroyed Czechoslovakia? How they once tore her off Nazi Germany? The topic is so painful, the topic is so conceptual, the topic is so solemn, that this husk, this, forgive me, non-essential word “husk”, it should still step aside and, if a person considers himself Russian, if a person considers himself a citizen of Russia, and he is not in a vacuum, he remembers his ancestors, then how can he not go to the Immortal Regiment? Well, this, you know, is the foundation. For me, the Russian Church is the same foundation. There is a Russian church - there is a Russian nation. No church - no nation. It's the same here. There is an awareness of the greatness of the victory of our compatriots on May 9 - this is the foundation. There is no awareness - the borders are open, you can go to all four directions. But no one will be happy with you there. Nobody needs you there. This is a very big misconception that when people here pour slop on their own Fatherland, then in the hope that they will get something there, this is great stupidity. I don’t know whether they will return or not, but the fact that they will be unhappy is reinforced concrete.

Chesnokov:

Still, I promised our audience that my guest Yuri would tell us what kind of TV channel he works on as a presenter - “Tsargrad”?

Pronko:

This is a patriotic channel. This is a Russian channel. This is the imperial channel. For some, this may again become a revelation, and after our broadcast, publications will begin again that Pronko is an imperialist... But I have never hidden my position. The channel on which I work, maybe this may seem strange to some, but I am very free in topics, in guests. I can absolutely invite different positions, different opinions, well, of course, I discuss finance, economics, politics - this is my specialization, but this is a cool channel from the point of view that a person can, taking his own position, having his own opinion, come into contact with presenters, with guests, discuss with them, albeit in absentia, because there are no interactive programs, this is still television - this is more difficult than on radio - but this is different from everything that is now on Russian television. Because every presenter has his own opinion. And most importantly, the channel has its own opinion on the events that take place. We don't close ourselves off from anyone, but at the end of the day, it's time to respect ourselves. Here is the Tsargrad TV channel for those who respect themselves and their Fatherland.

Chesnokov:

To summarize, here is Yuri Pronko, that average reader, listener of Komsomolskaya Pravda, who was now listening to your monologue about the difficult economic situation, that 550 billion was missing, and a person has a question - here I am, a common person, what can I do?

Pronko:

Love yourself. Love your loved ones, relatives, value your family! Big things begin with small things. If you have harmony in your family, then there will be harmony in the world around you. This means there will be harmony in the country. We must be clearly aware that life is built with our own hands and our own brains. There is no way to do without this. I won't give you a recipe for a happy life. But I will be brave and say that if you are in harmony with yourself, the world will change for the better.

Chesnokov:

Pronko Yuri- presenter of the Realnoe Vremya program on the Tsargrad TV channel.

Laureate All-Russian competition business journalism of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in the “Journalist of the Year” category (2011), winner of an honorary diploma of the Association of Russian Banks for achievements in the field of financial journalism (2011).

Let me make a reservation right away that I am not against the rich and successful, but I am categorically against those who have turned our country into an “experimental testing ground” where they pump out raw material wealth, sell them overseas, and in return buy “slippers and beads” for the local aborigines.

ABOUT obviously, the Russian “elite” (without quotation marks these people cannot be called such a high epithet) has rotted. She left the country, remaining in it. It is difficult to understand why those who have succeeded in domestic business are so hostile to the place where this success became possible.

You can say that any person has the right to choose the point of application (in this case, the place of residence) where he and his family feel comfortable and convenient. Everything is true, but not so, because we are talking about people who control more than 2/3 of the domestic economy and “fatten” in front of those who eke out a miserable existence. In this category of “spectators” there are at least 20 million people living on incomes below the subsistence level.

The showdown around Norilsk Nickel, when the oligarchs who received a unique asset as a result of the “scam” of the century - the so-called. Loans-for-shares auctions, which then take them offshore, are a striking example of how those who claim to be the Russian elite are outrageous. Or maybe they don’t apply anymore? The same Mr. Deripaska bought himself Cypriot citizenship for “convenience of doing business.”

Apparently, they are no longer ours, they are already “their boys” for the West. There are their accounts, real estate and wealth, and here is the industrial zone and its inhabitants, who allow them to lead a comfortable existence and participate in oligarchic wars. They have long since moved their legal disputes, some to London, some to Stockholm, “forgetting” about the Russian legal system.

I already wrote that

The Russian elite has become a laughing stock for the West. Her behavior causes bewilderment even among our geopolitical opponents: they do not observe such corruption among their own, those who are considered the “master of life” there.

Here are a few examples that confirm this thesis. Hundreds of wealthy Russian citizens, including Boris Mints (O1 Properties), Arkady Volozh (Yandex), Pavel Grachev (Polyus), etc. each paid at least €900 thousand and received Maltese citizenship.

Further - more: in a new report on the distribution of wealth in the world, the World Wealth Report, by the consulting company Knight Frank, it is noted that Russian multimillionaire citizens are among the leaders among the world's super-rich in terms of having a second citizenship.

58% of the rich and wealthy from Russia already have a second passport (dual citizenship), 45% are considering moving from Russia to another country for permanent residence.

At the same time, more than 70% of Russian large-scale industry belongs to foreign offshore companies. This fact has a direct correlation with another indicator - the annual increase in millionaires in Russia. The World Wealth Report shows that

the number of our compatriots with a capital of more than $50 million was 2,620 people. They own $1.2 trillion, which is 73.5% of the country’s GDP in 2017.

It turns out that almost the entire domestic economy is managed “from over the hill”, while its wealth is controlled by a narrow group of influential and wealthy who live there and work here. They control more than 2/3 of the national wealth, but are not national Russian elite. The elite is not in patriotic praise, but in real deeds and investments.

The current federal government considers this fact normal. How else can one explain the decision of the “Shuvalov Commission” that it is impossible to carry out forced deoffshorization, because it will lead to a systemic crisis in the Russian economy?! Shuvalov is right:

now existing system, which he and his brothers (Kudrins, Dvorkovichs, Grefs, etc.) implemented in Russia, will literally collapse. The system, which is designed only for pumping money out of Russia, but not for its breakthrough industrial growth, will collapse.

These gentlemen don’t care about the development of the economy, the impoverishment of the country’s population, what is important for them is to get cash here and send the “earned” billions there.

How long can this situation continue, when the “elite” openly despises Russia, but, receiving foreign citizenship, does not forget about its assets in the hated country? How can I explain from the side of the “successful and accomplished” in the 90s, and it is this factor that I explain their actual betrayal of the Motherland, the sectarian worship of the so-called. Western values ​​and showcases?

The answer is obvious - to send these figures to the mother of history in March 2018, when each of us will come to our polling station and support the national sovereignty and national interests of Russia through personal voting.

The time has come for the nationalization of the elite: if you don’t want to be with Russia, work for its benefit, get over the hill, the borders are open.

If you stay in your country, if you want to join the cohort of successful and rich people working for the good of the Fatherland, no problem. Earn honestly, invest in business development in your own country. It is precisely for this group - the real, not the ephemeral elite - that the most comfortable (“greenhouse”) conditions should be created. Conditions for the prosperity of Russia and its people.