Elections without competition are not elections. Vladimir Putin is 18 years in power. He is afraid of competition, so his main rival, Alexei Navalny, is not allowed to vote. But such elections are a fraud. We are announcing a voters' strike with a demand to admit Navalny before the elections:.

• We do not go to vote and encourage others not to go;.

• We explain how the authorities deceive us again;.

• We are holding an All-Russian protest action on January 28;.

• train thousands of observers;.

• We fix violations at the elections, we stop the falsification;.

• We prove to the whole world that Putin's election is not real, and he himself is an illegitimate president.

This leaflet of the headquarters of Alexei Navalny - a call for an all-Russian protest on January 28, opening a "strike of voters," - writes Andrei Piontkovsky in a column on "Radio Liberty". A good leaflet, but it inevitably bears the imprint of the transition of the Naval movement from one stage and the strategy of protest actions to another.

The just requirement to admit Navalny before the elections played a huge role in mobilizing supporters of this policy, winning a new audience for him throughout the country, creating an organizational structure in the regions. In short, in the transformation of Navalny into a federal politician. Tactically it fully justified itself. In the city appeared Lancelot. He scrupulously fulfilled the rules of the fight, compiled by the Dragon, at the first stage of the battle, knowing full well that at the decisive moment he will necessarily distort the cards, again discrediting himself publicly. On January 6, the decision of the Central Election Commission on the non-admission of Navalny to the elections legally entered into force.

The struggle for admission to the official "elections" of the Dragon has exhausted itself. The formed in the course of its mass social movement organically appeared another and only worthy task - to kill the Dragon. Politically, of course. This is how I understand the resulting appeal of the leaflet: we prove to the whole world that Putin's election is not real, and he himself is an illegitimate president. In essence, this is a program of indefinite civil disobedience to illegitimate authority.

A number of respected citizens of the city (of course, having nothing in common with the administration of the Dragon) revealed a whole set of claims to the personality of Lancelot: they do not agree with some of his political statements, they fear that a dragon from him may even turn out to be even worse than the current dragon, to which it is poor, but all have somehow become accustomed to.

These absolutely natural and legitimate issues in the democratic environment are not quite timely on the eve of January 28. I also have disagreements with Navalny, which I have never concealed, and which I am willing to talk about the next day after the removal from power in Russia of an illegitimate regime. In the meantime, I do not have for the respected colleagues of other Lancelotians, behind whom, like in March and June of the last year, tens of thousands of young and not very young people who are not indifferent to the fate of their country will take to the streets of the hundred cities of Russia.

As for the danger of the appearance of a new dragon, no matter what maladjustments are attributed to Navalny, they will certainly not be realized. Even at the time of the Coordinating Council of the opposition, it was unanimously formulated that the task of a peaceful anti-criminal revolution is not to replace the bad Tsar / dragon Putin with a good king / dragon Navalny, but to eliminate the king / dragon, that is, a radical change in the centuries-old political system in Russia. As far as I know, Navalny always shared this thesis, which was reflected in the program he published.

The question, which is really relevant today, is: will the mass protest movement succeed in fulfilling its mission - to prove to the whole world and above all its people that Putin's election is not real, and he himself is an illegitimate president, and to liquidate the institution of the Dragon in the country? By the way, those disgraces that were committed by the incumbent "president" during the current campaign aggravate, of course, the list of his political crimes, but far from exhausting the list of evidence of his illegitimacy. Its fundamental crime is the flagrant violation of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, to which it is given with special cynicism from May 6, 2012.

The Constitution says (and on this occasion there were already explanations of the Constitutional Act of 05. 10. 98 and the High from 25. 09. 01 courts) that "one and the same person can not hold the office of President of the Russian Federation for more than two consecutive terms" (Article 81/3 of the Basic Law of the Russian Federation). If the faces facing us for nearly two decades are the same person, then this person has ended for two consecutive terms on May 14, 2008. The most popular slogan of mass anti-Putin actions is "Putin is a thief!". The thief is a polysemantic word in Russian, and Putin is not only the largest corrupt official. Since March 2012, he is an impostor who violated the constitutional restrictions on the timing of being in power.

The vivid experience of dozens of anti-authoritarian revolutions around the world teaches that the key to their success is the combination of two factors: a mass protest in the street and a real split of the "elites". We need Lancelot, capable of leading people, we need burgomasters, ready at the critical moment to surrender the Dragon. Let's remember the events of 2011-12. Then demonstrations in Moscow collected up to 200 thousand people.

This would be enough for serious changes in the country if after the rallies some "Kremlin towers" designated their support for at least part of the demands of the demonstrators. If something had been mumbled by the same Medvedev or the so-called liberal members of the government (future Ulyukayevs), then, I assure you, the next day there would already be 500,000 on the streets. Doubters and cautious would be pulled up. And such a demonstration, in turn, would strengthen the split in the elites.

This self-deploying process. We saw it in action in many countries. But in 2012 there was not the slightest sign of a split in the Russian "elites". All the towers remained loyal to Putin, because they were afraid of a mass protest more than Putin's siloviki-oprichniki. Putin was seen by the "elites" as a political cover, without which the regime could no longer hold on to, as a guarantor of the safety of their huge property both in Russia and abroad.

Now the situation has radically changed. Putin from the guarantor of security turned into a threat to their assets. "Elites" are confused and frightened by the prospect of confiscation of the "Russian trillion" looming over them. They think today about the future, how to repaint themselves, how to use the protest movement, maybe try to lead it or swear to some new dragon to keep everything the old way inside the country and save at least part of the holdings in overseas obsches. In short, about anything, but not about Putin's fate.

The conditions for a peaceful anti-criminal revolution in Russia are now more favorable than ever before. Moreover, it becomes scandalous obvious full wear of the personalistic brand. About the communist dragons rightly said in the 80's, that over 70 years they from the demons of October were reduced to mice. But Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko did not pour over the Kremlin's cemetery for the night to play on it in amusing hockey-give-away with members of the Politburo.

Madam Pamfilova noticed among the customers of her institution applicants with chudinka. The late Boris Nemtsov, two days before his death, expressed himself much more definitely about our lifelong puritanent. The removal of the country from the ruling regime becomes an urgent national task. The current "electoral" farce does not have anything to do with it.

I wonder if any of the characters involved in it will be at the last moment on the right side of Russian history. For this, he must make two important steps. Of course, to withdraw at some point of his candidacy and encourage supporters to ignore the "selective" farce. But first - to make maximum use of the registered procedural opportunity available to registered candidates.

By a strange oversight, the current law on presidential elections in Russia provides them with a powerful legal instrument, in Article 84/4. The decision of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation on registration of a candidate may be revoked by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation upon the application of another registered candidate if it is determined that the decision was taken by the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation in violation of the requirements provided for in paragraph 2 of Article 39 of this Federal Law.

Candidate Putin In. was registered with a gross violation of the requirements of paragraph 2 of Article 39. He obviously does not have passive suffrage since 2008 (see. Article 81/3 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation). For many years independent bloggers have written about this circumstance, but the registered presidential candidate is able to insist on public discussion of the illegality of Mr. Putin's registration in the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation with open debates of legal parties. What will seriously strengthen in the public consciousness the credibility of the arguments about the illegitimacy of the impostor.

In general, we live in a slightly different Russia. The future for the first time in many years has not been painted for us by manipulators, political technologists, the future is open and depends on our determination and our efforts. The burgomasters will not go anywhere and try to reduce the changes in the country's life to cosmetic. Look at least at the Ukrainian burgomasters. Today you just need to kill the Dragon.

Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Join also the TSN group. Blogs on facebook and follow the updates of the section!.