At his press conference in February 2008, the head of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, said that he was pleased with his work, that he was not at all ashamed of the citizens of Russia who voted for him, because he worked like a galley slave.
“Life of a slave in the galleys” - a revealing report by Boris Nemtsov
The co-chairman of the Russian Republican party Parnas, the party of people's freedom - Boris Efimovich Nemtsov, co-authored with the famous video blogger, author of the scandalous project entitled “Putin’s regime’s lies”, Leonid Martynyuk - activist of the Solidarity democratic movement, published a report entitled “Life of a slave” with a screaming headline on the galleys ”and the clarifying postscript“ Palaces, yachts, cars, planes and other accessories ”. It is about the presidential deception of voters, about a minuscule
officially declared income in the amount of a little more than three million rubles, while the collection of watches acquired by Vladimir Vladimirovich costs more than 22 million rubles. Such a purchase should have left the president’s family without food for six years, at least. Written in an accessible language and abundantly illustrated, the authors intended to open the eyes of Russians to the lifestyle of Vladimir Putin, especially to those luxuries and wealth that surrounded the leader of the state. The report says that the hard life of a “slave in the galleys” takes place in 20 palaces and residences, on 4 yachts that amaze even the most experienced oligarchs, Vladimir Vladimirovich has at his disposal an air fleet of 43 aircraft, 15 helicopters and a fleet of 700 cars. The amount spent on providing luxurious life to Putin and the Office of Presidential Affairs per year would be more than enough to cover the annual budget of the whole Nizhny Novgorod region, in which almost three and a half million people live. According to the authors of the article, they specifically do not focus on the data on the cost of clothes, shoes, accessories and everyday things that the president uses, since in comparison with villas, airplanes and yachts,
these are mere trifles.
Nemtsov notes the "suffocating" and "repressive" atmosphere in the country. Just looking at the cover, the printing houses refused to print “Life of a Slave in Galleys” in large numbers, and even the money didn’t matter.
Public response
Experts believe that the published data will not affect Putin’s reputation in any way, that this is just a self-PR, which surrounded himself, first of all, Nemtsov himself.
“The life of a slave in the galleys,” the Western press met with caustic comments and caustic remarks that the President of the Russian Federation is perhaps the richest slave in the world. His chic lifestyle, in their opinion, would have confused even Brezhnev himself. Some compared Putin with the Persian sheikhs. Journalists drew a parallel with the heads of other leading powers, for example, the presidents of the United States and Germany have only 2 residences.
Trying to provoke a new and bright wave of protests against Putin’s rule, the authors of the article “Life of a slave in the galleys” seem to suddenly encounter indifference to new revelations of ordinary Russians. According to Muscovites, it’s already difficult to surprise them with anything, the main thing, in their opinion, is that the president should cope with his direct responsibilities.