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Spread the word. Before reading this article, I had only a superficial understanding of the Magnitsky case, like many others. Looking at the situation from the outside, you begin to understand what kind of country we live in. And how desperately the authorities try to justify themselves in the eyes of citizens, creating an image of honest people who won't let them steal and rob the nation as criminals and enemies of the country. Russia's main problem is that the majority of the population doesn't think about politics, they believe what they are told on TV. And they believe it so blindly and feel so much a part of this system of lawlessness that they will fight for it, calling on everyone else to also be blind patriots. And only articles like this can somehow make people think. Everything we have been working towards since perestroika is crumbling, Putin clearly wants to return the country to the Soviet system. And now the only thing that can help us is a revolution in the consciousness of the population. Naturally, this process takes time, but changes are already noticeable - more and more people are beginning to understand the situation in the country - protest movements on the internet are growing. The internet is the only support that allows us to tell the truth to the people. And now, all we can do to help Russia is posts and comments.

I had roughly similar thoughts about a year and a half ago, before the elections; I, like many, started taking an interest in politics, read a lot of things, and it seemed to me just the same that we were being deceived, that we needed to spread the truth to the masses, etc. Before the parliamentary elections, I remember, everyone was excited, like a real wind of change, rallies, everyone rosy-cheeked, just a little more and the state would transform, everyone would understand and admit their mistakes, and so on in that vein—in short, rose-tinted sentiment and faith in a bright future shone like never before, until reality slowly and methodically showed who was who. All candidates besides Putin showed their complete impotence, the only one I felt sorry for was Yavlinsky—they just blatantly screwed the guy over in front of everyone, and nothing happened. All the rest are just a laughingstock; they don't even create the illusion—well, not that they don't, Zhirinovsky of course once every six months blurts out an epic speech and everyone goes "ooh-la-la—there are still d'Artagnans in our kingdom", but, in fact, it's all buffoonery, and no real opposition can be spoken of even now. This lack of alternatives is backed up by the complete amorphousness of the population. It's a mistake to think the internet will open people's eyes; it is undeniably useful as a vent, but the point isn't really about it, the point is about the people who, through this vent, will receive and filter out the necessary information for themselves (and people have always known how to receive and filter out what they need, 10 and 100 years ago, without any internets), but these people, unfortunately, are an overwhelming minority. I personally witnessed people who were generally thoughtful and didn't watch TV voting for Putin; a year ago it seemed to me like sheer blatant stupidity, but now, when the passions have somewhat subsided, I am forced to acknowledge that they were more likely right, not me.
One smart person said that life in Russia has now become quite tolerable, and if you compare it with the 90s, it's simply a bastion of stability and prosperity (and this person has traveled half the world and has something to compare it with), and I cannot disagree with him. Undoubtedly, what Browder talks about is the bitter truth—everything is now run by a small group of people who enable and cover up cases like Magnitsky's, but this is our "cultural heritage" that, generally speaking, we did not inherit from Putin, and it would be very naive to assume that the president—our guarantor of the constitution—would come and clean out this whole MMM-style mess, chase away all the bad guys, put all the good guys in charge (by the way, who are these good guys?) and divide everything equally. That just doesn't happen; there will always be a peasant in bast shoes trudging alongside a tinted Infiniti, that's just how this world is wired, and Russia in particular—an oil state, there's no justice here. You can only talk about stability, as I see it, and this stability exists now, no matter what anyone says, and various kinds of "protest" information from the internet is not much better than TV here—in one, everything is blackened, in the other, only prime ministers riding on pink ponies. If you really want to understand what is happening in the country now, you don't need to read blogs (they are always biased), just lift your head, pull your butt off the chair, and take a walk through your city, look at your home, the street, the people. Are they suffering? Far from it. A very clear picture is emerging now, trending towards general softening; people are well-fed, for the most part, there's nowhere to park cars, local lawlessness has practically disappeared, drug addiction has been conquered (I say this as someone who moved to Tyumen in 2000 and lived in the same building as a drug den), beer stalls were removed (replaced by flower shops, in our city), cigarette and alcohol advertising was banned, even not the wealthiest people can afford a trip abroad once a year, many government agencies have become significantly faster and better, salaries aren't delayed, all sorts of government subsidies actually work (young families, for example), and much, much more. All this happened during the years of rule of our great and terrible one.
Of course, there are downsides, there are moments when one simply feels ashamed for Mother Russia (and I don't know how to fight this), but, if we look the truth in the eye, life has become better. And if we need to somehow influence this conditional "one million criminals", then by fostering a healthy opposition, simply "disseminating information" will achieve nothing—grandmas voted for Zyu [Zyuganov] and they still will, so what's the point?