Channel One, 12.03.2018

Grigory Yavlinsky, presidential candidate of Russia, spoke at the next round of debates on Channel One The topic was “Public Security, Counteraction to Terrorism”.

Transcript of the speech:

Grigory Yavlinsky: Friends, if we talk briefly about everything related to the threat to national security and, in particular, about terrorism, then, I would say, the fundamental reason [of all this] is corruption. First, corruption does not allow to efficiently combat terrorism. Second, corruption largely finances terrorism. Third, corruption contributes to organised terrorism.

And the situation develops in such a way that, because of so much corruption, which everyone knows, citizens simply do not trust their own state. Without trust on the part of citizens to the state it is impossible to truly defeat terrorism.

I will give several examples. So far, no one has finally explained what was there behind the acts of terror when 307 people died in September 1999 when blocks of flats were blown up [in Moscow]. So far, no one really explained why after [the act of terror in a theatre in the] Dubrovka [district, Moscow] 119 people died in hospital because the [secret services] refused to report the antidote to the poison that was used there. Why and who decided on the storming of the Beslan [school in the North Ossetia where schoolchildren, their parents and teachers were taken by hostages by terrorists], and 364 people, including 188 children, were killed there?

What does this demonstrate? [This shows that] a state where a person’s life does not come in the first place in the fight against terrorism will always face a big threat of terrorism. [That is why] my prime goal is to create a state of trust.

Anatoly Kuzichev [the anchor]: Grigory Alekseyevich, you in your electoral programme say that the security of the state should be based on the security of its citizens. This is a thought that is difficult to argue with. But what do you think, is it possible to limit the rights of the individual in the context of fight against terrorism, in the conditions of real [provision of] security? I am asking not only for your opinion, for your thoughts in this respect, but I also recall, for example, the famous American Patriotic Act, according to which, as the Americans themselves admit, for the sake of security many of those same rights can be infringed, because security is more important. Could you give us your opinion on that, please.

Grigory Yavlinsky: First of all, I would like to tell you frankly that the Americans in this matter are not at all a model for me on this problem, as in many others. Now with regard to limiting [the rights]. This is a matter of the quality of the state. If you have a state that you trust, it has many opportunities to solve many issues. If you have a non-transparent state, a corrupt [state], where the security service protects only officials and only the authorities, rather than citizens, then in such circumstances you can not rely on it, because it is always done mercenary, always done in the interests of some groups, and, most importantly, in the interests of maintaining the power forever. This is how it is today.

But I would like to speak also about the third element of public safety in Russia – this is the economy. There must be a powerful economy in order to feel safe. Today the economy of Russia is less than 2 per cent of the world economy, and yet it has been falling. Today we are in a situation when the entire Russian economy (and I affirm it) depends on how oil is traded in Washington and London. Literally from what the weather is like there. When it is warmer there, prices are falling, when it is colder there, prices are rising. This is where we must find a solution to the problem of our security. Russia can not be a country that is absolutely dependent on such conjunctural things as oil prices, because they are manageable.

Now one more thing. Could you explain me why until present the State Duma has never considered how security services work, how they provide security, why Russia is ranked the third in the world as of the number of murders, it is ranked the third in the world after Mexico and Brazil.

Grigory Yavlinsky: I have spoken about corruption, about the quality of the state, and about the need to create a modern powerful economy. And now I want to tell you what concerns all of you – that is food security. In Russia 30 per cent of dairy products are falsified, 50 per cent of cheeses are fake. Over 50 per cent of the red caviar is also falsified. Growth of palm oil constitutes 25 per cent for the past three years. Thousands of children annualy are poisoned from malnutrition. These are real security issues.

And at the same time, just look what has been happening. Over the past five years, 24,000 schools, 10,000 libraries, 10,000 hospitals and out-patient hospitals have been closed. It will be very difficult to restore later on. And all this will have to be restored, because we are a big country and we need libraries and schools (both large and small). One should love the country. That’s the problem.

And there is one more problem, from which all public insecurity results – this is a colossal injustice and a gap in incomes. In Russia it [the gap] is the largest in the world. Incomes [of the richest and the poorest] differ by 17 times. Injustice, inability to find justice in courts, absence of law that is the same for all, absence of a transparent and accountable state – this is all that we need to change so that we would live in one of the best and fastest developing countries of the world by the middle of this century. My programme Way to the Future explains how to do this and what should be done. And I vouch before you for this programme.

GRIGORY ALEKSEYEVICH YAVLINSKY
Chairman of the Federal Political Committee of the YABLOKO Party, Vice-President of Liberal International. Doctor of Economics, Professor of Higher School of Economics