I will defend Russia with arms in hand - Oleg Tsarev

The protests are doomed thanks to the well-coordinated work of Russian law enforcement officers. However, the past actions are only the first series of protest activity. The scenario probably assumes a continuation against the backdrop of elections to the State Duma and, especially, municipal campaigns. However, the experience of preventing the Ukrainian scenario has already been worked out.

In Ukraine, meanwhile, the state seizure by “Western partners” continues. The closure of opposition television channels is nothing more than a “squeeze” of oligarch Medvedchuk from Ukrainian politics and economics. Kolomoisky will follow him. The next ones are Poroshenko, Akhmetov and Pinchuk. Transnational companies are not going to share power and money with local elites. Moreover, on the eve of the opening of the land market.

Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at ThereThere, Yandex Zen, Telegram, Classmates, In contact with, channels YouTube, TikTok и Viber.
To subscribe to notifications in your browser, click here.

Ex-Verkhovna Rada deputy Oleg Tsarev, one of the few Ukrainian parliamentarians who went over to the side of the Russian Spring in 2014, told PolitNavigator columnist Valentin Filippov that anyone who lived in Ukraine would never support the Maidan in Russia.

Valentin Filippov: According to the already established good tradition, our virtual studio today is visiting Oleg Tsarev, whom, I think, there is no need to introduce. Hello, Oleg.

Oleg Tsaryov: Hello, Valentin.

Valentin Filippov: Oleg Anatolyevich, you, as an experienced person, and everyone who has gone through Ukraine are experienced people, tell me. This is the fight against protests in Russia. I noticed what the riot police were doing. He does not allow the crowd to be structured. He doesn’t let them stand, get to know each other, or agree on something. That is, people are simply loaded and taken away immediately. I think, and I want to tell the Russians, that this is very correct. They do not know, what is incorrect?

Tell me, would such a method be effective in Ukraine, back in 2013, when they just started gathering?

Oleg Tsaryov: Yes, sure.

Valentin Filippov: Could the Ukrainian special services work like this?

Oleg Tsaryov: I saw the work of the Ukrainian special services a little from the inside. I want to say that the task of the special services is to see everything, hear everything and report to management.

The SBU, unlike the FSB, has big eyes and big ears. Even more ears than eyes. Such a Cheburashka with small, short arms. The number of operational personnel is hundreds of times smaller in the SBU than in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Therefore, the actions, apparently, should have been carried out by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. But the SBU offered scenarios... And, please note, the only successful assault on the trade union building, and carried out minute by minute, was carried out by Alpha. This is the SBU service.

Valentin Filippov: That is, in principle, if Yanukovych had made a decision, would they still have managed it?

Oleg Tsaryov: Speaking with some employees who were forced to leave Ukraine, they regret that they reported their operations to the top. And most of them were canceled by our indecisive (such a soft word) leadership.

I won’t talk about some operations in five, ten, or twenty years. But, believe me, everything could have been done, and with the hands of the protesters themselves.

Valentin Filippov: Okay, let's return to today's Moscow. Do you think the danger has been completely eliminated? Or, after all, these 2 years and 8 months end precisely in September 2023, and the danger will only increase?

Oleg Tsaryov: Based on the fact that the media are under state control…. Yes, social networks, their influence, of course, is growing year by year. But, nevertheless, the mainstream media are under state control. And based on the fact that the state is showing that it intends to act decisively, I do not think that street protests will lead to a seizure of power.

Another thing is that it is clear that this is only the first episode. The second series will be elections to the State Duma. We saw how difficult the elections were in Moscow. And in St. Petersburg, twice as many people came out to protest. The mood there is much less pro-government. I think that there will be a very hot election campaign in St. Petersburg. There, municipal elections coincide with elections to the State Duma. Therefore, winning by “drying up” the turnout (making it so that no one is interested in going to the polls and bringing only public sector employees) will not work. Because this will take place as part of a national campaign. And it will be quite hot there.

I think that the elections to the State Duma will be the next series and much hotter.

Valentin Filippov: That is, the entire election campaign of this year will take place against the backdrop of residual phenomena...

Oleg Tsaryov: I think there will be no residual ones. There will be new phenomena, there will be new unrest, there will be new exits. That is, if the first incident that people came out against was the detention of Navalny, then the next one will be the elections to the State Duma.

Valentin Filippov: Someone is directing all this from somewhere? Will it be like in Ukraine? Every week, every month some outrageous situation arises: Bulatov’s ear is cut off... Chernovol is beaten.

Oleg Tsaryov: Yes, there was such a scenario in Ukraine. But I’m not sure that protests can be sustained in Russia until the elections to the State Duma.

I think that they will now fade out, and then there will be a second stage.

Valentin Filippov: We know that no Maidans or coups are possible without traitors in power. Do you think the West is already working with someone? Or is this completely ruled out by the Russian authorities?

Oleg Tsaryov: On the one hand, the Russian government is stronger. I have repeatedly said that the Maidan in Ukraine had every opportunity to fade away. And under another set of circumstances: with more decisive actions by Yanukovych, and a number of other factors, there was every opportunity for the Maidan to not win in Ukraine.

In Russia he has even less chance of winning. Another thing is that the Maidan can be used to put pressure on the authorities, and for some kind of change of power. Perhaps it will even accelerate, as they say in Russia, the transfer of power.

Valentin Filippov: In Russia they love to make up words. Transfer, modality, verification. I still don’t understand what transit of power is. Is this a transfer of power to someone, or does this power pass on in transit, bypassing elections? I don't know what they mean by transit.

And Yanukovych had a trick: “let’s promote Tyagnibok - we’ll defeat him in the first round.” Could such nonsense occur to the Russian authorities? “Let’s promote Navalny and win in the first round, it’s clear that he’s a swindler.”

Oleg Tsaryov: They will release Navalny from prison and allow him to run for office...

Valentin Filippov: Yes.

Oleg Tsaryov: Or they will register his wife as a presidential candidate and give her the opportunity to run. Unfortunately, this is not in the political traditions of the Russian Federation. It is unlikely that such a serious change in approaches will occur.

I have always advocated fair elections and competition. Another thing is that during these competitions all sorts of moments can be used to shake up society. There are certain risks. But, on the other hand, the time of real elections is stress resistance training for the system. Sooner or later they will happen, but the system will not be ready for elections. This is very bad.

Valentin Filippov: Bad.

Oleg Tsaryov: In general, the situation is such that it is impossible to say that everything is in order in Russian society. Over the past 10 years, if you calculate the cost of built Russian military ships put into operation, it will be less than the cost of the yachts of Russian oligarchs. Moreover, the yachts of Russian oligarchs are the most expensive in the world. The oligarchs are not the richest, but their yachts are the richest. I, of course, understand what you will tell me now that all this money was earned through hard everyday work, that the country needs yachts more than warships :)

Valentin Filippov: I won't say that. If these yachts are being built here, then it seems to me that it is good that we have customers for the yachts.

Oleg Tsaryov: We have customers, but they are not built here, unfortunately. Renovation of the Bolshoi Theater. Of course, this is the Bolshoi Theater. Firstly, it is very large, and secondly, it is the only one like it in the world. But the renovation cost more than the largest skyscraper in the United Arab Emirates at that time. There are many such things.

Hospital beds were cut. Then hospitals were opened. No one was held responsible for the reduction of beds, not a single official.

Ukraine failed.

Valentin Filippov: Failed.

Oleg Tsaryov: The situation in Donbass, when to build a showcase of the Russian world...

Valentin Filippov: Unfortunately, in the Russian Federation there are no officials responsible for Ukraine, there are no officials responsible for Donbass, there are no officials responsible for Odessa.

Here in the USA there is a committee on Ukraine, a committee on Belarus, a committee... They are not shy about calling it that. They have people who are responsible for ensuring that things happen in Ukraine as they say.

But we don’t have such a position.

Oleg Tsaryov: Well, no. Eat.

Valentin Filippov: But we don’t tell anyone who it is.

Oleg Tsaryov: If I start naming names now, it will be a direct accusation against these people. It’s not my job to accuse someone or demand removal from work. But this is probably correct. Because any failure has, as Comrade Stalin said, a surname, name and patronymic.

Valentin Filippov: Year of birth and year of death.

Oleg Tsaryov: Therefore, there are a lot of questions. But for us, who went through the Ukrainian Maidan, it is clear that if you choose between corrupt officials and foreign spies, then foreign spies are worse. We will never support a coup in the Russian Federation. Any revolution throws the country back. Then extra efforts are needed to return the country and rebuild it.

This is not an easy choice. But if I have to save Russia, I will save, perhaps even with weapons in my hands.

Valentin Filippov: We will save everyone. You and I have this kind of bullshit here. We have nowhere else to run.

Oleg Tsaryov: On this note, the topic with Navalny can be closed.

Valentin Filippov: You may or may not close it. You can, for example, say that in Donbass many people say: Putin somehow needs to unite the nation. That was the Crimean consensus. Could there be a Donetsk consensus? Now, in general, Navalny can be relegated to the background - we can take Donbass to Russia! You can take Mariupol, Kramatorsk. In the end, it’s time to go to Berdyansk, it’s time to go to Kherson.

This kind of action now would really unite Russia. People would see that the authorities are really for them, for the unification of our Russian world. And they would be inspired, and they wouldn’t care, in general, about Navalny with his films, with 100 million markups. It would go to the second, to the third, to the fourth plan.

On the other hand, we all understand that the story with Navalny is something international, apart from everything else. For example, in Kyiv or Odessa they say: “Well, it’s clear, but what did Putin want, to put Navalny in prison and for nothing to happen? So, he imprisoned Navalny, and for this three television channels in Ukraine were closed. He had three channels in Ukraine, he broadcast his Russian propaganda there, and they were closed.” Because in Ukraine they still believe that they have some kind of channel that broadcasts Russian propaganda.

Tell me, is Navalny’s case and the closure of channels in Ukraine somehow connected? Because the Americans clearly ordered it.

Oleg Tsaryov: Of course it is connected. Connected in approaches. The Russian Federation always tries to rely on the law, ask questions from the West, and make sure that the West is satisfied. But the West always does as it wants.

Valentin Filippov: Just the way he needs it.

Oleg Tsaryov: You know, if you sit down to play with thieves, beware for your wallet. If you came to play thimbles and you were cheated, you turn to those around you. Although these are obviously accomplices of the thimblemakers. You say: “Well, look what’s happening?!” This is how Ukrainian politicians are now turning to the West. They say: “Well, yes, what are you talking about. All clear. Freedom of speech. What did you want? Everything is fine".

Therefore, I believe that all these impeachment games will not end in anything. The West will do what it wants very firmly and consistently. He will take over Ukraine. And Medvedchuk is the first link, the next link is Kolomoisky. Then there will be Akhmetov, Pinchuk and Poroshenko. The most interesting thing is Pinchuk and Poroshenko. There will be no oligarchs left in Ukraine. They do not need oligarchs with whom they need to coordinate and negotiate, who influence deputies. They will take away TV channels from all oligarchs. They will bankrupt them all, initiate criminal cases and force them out of Ukraine and let them go around the world.

Valentin Filippov: That is, this closure of channels is about squeezing oligarchs out of Ukraine.

Oleg Tsaryov: It’s just that Medvedchuk is the first link. Kolomoisky will be next.

Valentin Filippov: What about re-elections of the Rada? Americans don't think?

Oleg Tsaryov: What's the difference. Well, there will be re-elections. They will conduct whoever they deem necessary.

Valentin Filippov: With this action, the closure of TV channels, Zelensky’s ratings fell even further. Moreover, a man who swore that he would not close a single channel in his life. Moreover, even when he was president, he said so.

Oleg Tsaryov: Yes, but who will now tell people that Zelensky spoke about this before? People have already forgotten this, and there will be no new TV channels where they will say this. And who said that the West is generally concerned about the fate of Zelensky?

Zelensky is concerned about his fate, but the West is not. Now there are two points of view. The first is to leave Zelensky, after all, and there is a second point of view – to bring in someone even more pro-American. Just appoint a person who will be 100% dependent on the Americans from start to finish.

Valentin Filippov: Well, here is Razumkov. Now the videos are on. No?

Oleg Tsaryov: Razumkov, Sentsov, it doesn’t matter who. Razumkov has been accompanied for a very long time. Razumkov repeatedly made statements in defense of the Russian language and generally showed his centrist position and did not get involved in any scandal. By the way, he did not sign the NSDC decision. By the way, this decision of the National Security and Defense Council is a gross violation. Sanctions against a Ukrainian citizen do not fit into Ukrainian legislation. Sanctions may be applied to foreigners and foreign companies, because this is not the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Ukraine.

Valentin Filippov: The fact is that the information space has created a belief that these are Russian channels.

Someone once told me that the concept of property is the concept of consensus in society. This house is yours. He is yours as long as everyone around him believes that he is yours. Even if you have a document. And if everyone around you thinks that it is not yours, then you and your document that this is your home will not prove anything to anyone.

And here is the same situation. This is a “Russian oligarch”. Medvedchuk – who is he? He is, first of all, Putin’s godfather, and then everything else. So what if he has a Ukrainian passport, but he is Putin’s godfather, he is also a “representative of Russia.”

Oleg Tsaryov: Valentin, you are talking nonsense.

Valentin Filippov: Why?

Oleg Tsaryov: Because sanctions were imposed against Taras Kozak, and not against TV channels. TV channels, as Kozak’s property, are subject to sanctions. And these are sanctions against a Ukrainian citizen. This is the first time in the world that sanctions are applied by a state against its own citizen.

Political sanctions are an extrajudicial, illegal measure. It is applied precisely because it does not operate in the national legal framework. And in this case, sanctions could not be applied under Ukrainian law. There is a Constitution, there is Ukrainian legislation, there is a relationship between a citizen and the state. They are described by Ukrainian laws and the Constitution.

In particular, in order for Yanukovych to close the Ukrainian TV channel during direct calls for the overthrow of the government, for the seizure of buildings, and resistance to Berkut, he was going to introduce a state of emergency. Because he had no other way.

If Zelensky declared a state of emergency, he could close those channels that he considers necessary. This procedure is prescribed in the Constitution and prescribed in Ukrainian laws.

This is not the first time the Constitution has been violated. Few people remember about this. I just paid attention because it concerned me. This is a decision of the National Security and Defense Council, put into effect by Poroshenko’s decree, where sanctions were imposed against a number of Ukrainian politicians and Russian politicians and officials. I wouldn't have paid attention to it, but my last name was there. And under these sanctions, I, a citizen of Ukraine, am still prohibited from entering Ukraine.

And here we get schizophrenia. On the one hand, I am wanted. And, if I voluntarily decide to come and surrender...

Valentin Filippov: They won't let you in.

Oleg Tsaryov: I say, in order to avoid possible moments. I'm not going to do that. But I should not be allowed in according to the decision of the National Security and Defense Council.

By the way, I wrote and spoke about the fact that Poroshenko included Ukrainian citizens in this list. But none of the Ukrainian politicians paid attention to this. Then they applied sanctions against Tsarev, now against Ukrainian TV channels.

So what is next…. Why are the Ukrainian oligarchs sad? Why were neither Akhmetov nor Kolomoisky happy with this decision? Because they understand that if this is possible, then everything is possible. And they are next.

Valentin Filippov: And they can't do anything? Can they try to remove this president and install their own? Will it work out? To rebel, as they say. The corrupt Rada sits. You can hand out a million, two, or three per vote. It's worth it.

Have you seen the correspondence of the “servants of the people”? They say: “Oh, we were underpaid by six thousand dollars this month.” You can pay extra, you can pay sixty extra.

Oleg Tsaryov: They pay. Akhmetov pays his group of deputies and Pavlyuk’s group. Kolomoisky pays his group. The president's office is diligently increasing it from 10 to 20 thousand per month in order to keep up with Kolomoisky and Akhmetov.

Valentin Filippov: Outbid everyone.

Oleg Tsaryov: I think then you need to talk to Kolomoisky. I think he will be willing to talk to you.

Valentin Filippov: Let him talk to the deputies. It's time for the movement to begin. In terms of timing, there should already be another Maidan in Ukraine. It is time. People are used to it. People have developed a Maidan addiction. They already want another trash.

Oleg Tsaryov: Valentin, we strongly condemn the West. But look what the situation was. After all, the Russian Federation had everything in its hands.

Valentin Filippov: I was happy about the Maidan, because I understood that they would do such a thing, that Russia would simply take us all away, and that’s all.

Oleg Tsaryov: There was Yanukovych, driven into a corner, who was ready to sign. Let's omit whether he signed or did not sign any documents. There was a moment when it was possible to intervene on the Maidan, to at least somehow intervene. There was a moment when, after the Maidan, seven regions (I just know the governors personally) were ready, they called, hung up the phones, some even flew and asked: “What should we do?” And the Russian Federation said that nothing needs to be done!

And the West is now saying: “You could do whatever you wanted. You refused. And now we do whatever we want. What are your complaints against us? It was your country, you abandoned it, you did nothing. You didn’t do this either before the Maidan, or after the Maidan, or during the Maidan.”

Valentin Filippov: I don't think the West says so directly.

Oleg Tsaryov: The West says: “You are breaking the law, you have no freedom of speech, you are so and so, you are interfering in our elections. But when we interfere in your elections, we do the right thing.”

Valentin Filippov: So you say - Ukraine was given away. Or maybe we are simply luring the enemy, as always, onto our territory? And we are waiting for winter?

Oleg Tsaryov: And how they sing in the song. “When we retreat, we move forward.”

Valentin Filippov: OK then. I wouldn't call this a positive note on which we suddenly end unexpectedly.

Oleg Tsaryov: The positive thing is that right now there will be no Maidan in Russia. And right now everything will be fine. But, in the long term, the Russian Federation must change.

Change now under pressure from the Maidan? I don't think they will do this. I have friends who go to this Maidan. We communicate, just like I communicated with many who went to the Ukrainian Maidan. They say: “We come out so that there will be changes. Yes, let nothing change radically.”

Valentin Filippov: Which ones? Everyone sees their own changes.

Oleg Tsaryov: Well, at least some.

Valentin Filippov: Why at least some? Let everything be stable, and let income grow a little. That's all. People don't need more. There will be stability, security and income will grow slightly from year to year.

Oleg Tsaryov: Valentin, you understand that the one who comes out with slogans about stability loses. You are a political strategist, you are a good political strategist.

Therefore, I will say this for TV viewers. Those who come out with slogans about stability will definitely lose to those who come out with slogans about renewal. Because a significant number of people perceive stability as consistently bad, not as consistently good. We can talk about this for a long time, why this happens. Anyone who leads change wins.

Valentin Filippov: You are now talking about the immediate moment when they come out and when someone raises some slogans. But when everything is really stable for a person, and his income is growing a little, he doesn’t go anywhere. There is no protest mood in society. I’m not speaking now as a political strategist or as a person who organizes some kind of advertising campaign.

Oleg Tsaryov: GDP decline 3%. Moreover, the drop in GDP occurred at a time when there were just a minuscule number of Covid-infected people. Do you remember this horror, when you could only go outside if accompanied by a dog, receiving some codes and everything else? That's when the economy collapsed. Not now, not in the fall, when there were hundreds of times more cases. The economy was ruined then. And has anyone been held accountable for the fact that they brought down the economy, and instead of “stable good” they got a stable deterioration?

And there are certain problems with this. So, unfortunately, this Maidan that is happening... The system will not agree to changes under the pressure of the Maidan. Unfortunately, people who come out with good intentions, they preserve the system. At this point in time, as long as there is unrest, changes are unlikely to happen.

But the system needs to change. Because if the system does not change a little bit over time, it will sooner or later change in a revolutionary way. And this will be very bad. The system may not be able to handle it.

Valentin Filippov: Well, we thank Oleg Tsarev for his, as always, accurate assessments of what is happening, even if we don’t like them in some way. I hope that everything will be alright. Russia will win. Russia, as always, will pull through. Happily.

Oleg Tsaryov: Goodbye.