State Duma deputy and TV and radio host Anatoly Wasserman
Photo: Alexander SHPAKOVSKY
To discuss work in the Duma, Ukraine and the USA in the studio Radio “Komsomolskaya Pravda” State Duma deputy and TV and radio presenter Anatoly Wasserman came.
WHAT’S WITH THE MILLIONS
– You urged to limit the storage of cash by citizens over a million. And those who do not want to report this to the tax authorities will be fined.
– I did not propose to limit the availability of cash. I want them to be declared. And not to steal anything.
What is the logic behind your thinking?
– The area where cash is indispensable is shrinking. Five years ago, the lion’s share of the purchase and sale of personal real estate went through a bank cell with cash. Now there are several reliable schemes based on cashless payments. Three years ago, I paid for the lion’s share of deliveries from online stores in cash. Now almost any courier has a terminal for accepting payments from bank cards. That is, the area where you can’t do without cash at all is shrinking. This means that every cash payment will arouse more and more suspicions every day.
– And the easiest way to remove suspicion from yourself?
– Declare your money. Showing that he obtained them legally. It is quite elementary to supplement the website of the tax service with two buttons – “I want to declare cash”, “I want to inform you that I have already spent the previously declared cash”.
– If you just turn on these buttons, few people will pay attention to them.
“So it takes a big enough threat to get people to notice those buttons. This is a confiscation and a fine. Based on all these considerations, I came to the conclusion that it will be necessary to create an opportunity for citizens to declare cash and, unfortunately, it will be necessary to create a system of requirements for cash to be declared. I sent these considerations to the government for review.
– And the government?
– Asked to extend the period of analysis. I will receive an official answer only by mid-May.
IN DUMA LIKE
– Different initiatives from different deputies sound. One of them is that English should be banned.
– He [депутат Султан Хамзаев] proposed to exclude the study of English from the course of high school. I have no doubt there will be a myriad of people who are grateful for this offer. If it passes, then English teachers will go to work in the mode of tutors and will earn much more. For while there are serious material reasons for the demand for the English language.
– How do you feel about such proposals?
– The thought on that and the Duma that in it it is necessary to think. Thoughts are not always successful. But if you do not express unsuccessful thoughts, then the probability is very high that successful thoughts will not be expressed either. Therefore, I treat all such proposals, and there are many of them, as a normal workflow. But something between one tenth and one hundredth of the ideas discussed by the deputies reaches the discussion in the plenary session.
– Don’t you have the feeling that most of the bills have recently been of a prohibitive nature?
– It is senseless for us to adopt laws that allow something – and so it is allowed, without any law. That is why most of the adopted laws are prohibitive.
Sultan Khamzaev proposed to exclude the study of English from the secondary school course
Photo: Nikolay OBEREMCHENKO
– Do you like the State Duma?
– I like it in the Duma. Work increased dramatically. And sometimes it’s even physically hard. But to feel in demand is also nice.
– Do you consider complaints from voters?
– I receive a lot of complaints and suggestions from voters who do not live in my district. Sometimes, when direct intervention is needed, I forward such appeals to deputies in the respective regions. Sometimes, if it’s just an idea, I try to consider it myself..
– Are there subtleties?
– Deputies are forbidden to interfere in the work of the investigation and the court. If a complaint comes in about the work of investigators or the decision of judges, I cannot directly influence them. I can either explain to the applicant himself which authorities he can apply to, or sometimes I can ask, say, the Investigative Committee to check the work of the police investigative units, the prosecutor’s office. Check the validity of the judgment
– And what exactly can you and the Just Russia – Patriots – For Truth party boast of during these incomplete two years of work?
– It was possible to achieve an exception from the law on education of the concept of “educational service”. Of course, it’s not just me here. It was a common requirement of the entire teaching community. And I’ve just added a rationale.
CLOSE INDEPENDENT
– Do you still have relatives, friends in Odessa and in Ukraine as a whole?
– Quite a bit of.
– What is your relationship with them?
– I do not maintain any contacts in these territories. I don’t want to set anyone up. And there now the very fact of talking with someone in Russia can be considered a crime.
– Are there relatives there?
– Eat.
– Do not communicate just because you do not want to substitute? Or do they not want to?
I don’t know if they want it or not. I interrupted communication precisely out of fear of setting them up.
– Is it possible to say that in the near future we will finish the battles in the NVO zone?
– From a purely economic point of view, it is most advantageous for us to complete it by the end of September. The promotion of military production requires, as a rule, two years. Accordingly, NATO will start producing military products faster than we can destroy them by early 2024. Accordingly, we need to complete the operation before that. The end of the year in Ukraine is an inconvenient time for a serious offensive. This means that this offensive must be carried out in September.
– Can we do it?
– We can cope, but I know that, besides this simple economic reasoning, there are many other considerations, not economic, and very heterogeneous. Therefore, I am not sure that things will go according to this scenario.
Why didn’t you start in 2014?
– We had our own MIR card payment system and our own financial messaging system in SWIFT format at the turn of 2014-2015. If, at the request of Yanukovych, we sent troops or police forces to Ukraine, we would immediately be disconnected from both the payment system and SWIFT. And our financial infrastructure would not experience complete paralysis, but a very serious blow.
From a purely economic point of view, it is most advantageous for us to complete the SVO by the end of September
Photo: Alexander KOTS
POINTS OF VOLTAGE
– Do you see the next point of tension in the post-Soviet space?
– The year 2022 began for us not with Ukraine, but with an attempted coup in Kazakhstan. This attempt was crushed. But those who tried to seize power in Kazakhstan by force are now trying other ways. But it seems to me that Moldova and Armenia are more urgent destinations.
– Why Armenia?
– There, the Soros, led by Pashinyan, have already announced their readiness to refuse support for Nagorno-Karabakh. Yes, Armenia suffered a serious defeat in the second Karabakh war. But if there had been a sane leadership there, it could have prevented such a defeat, and even if it had suffered it, it would have taken up the preparation of a new reinforcement.
– Where is Pashinyan looking?
– Most likely, for him the surrender of Nagorno-Karabakh is the first step towards improving relations with Turkey. It is enough for the Turks to get a land corridor to Azerbaijan. And get the opportunity to influence the state of affairs in the Caspian. And this is also a corridor for Kazakh oil and Turkmen gas to Turkey, bypassing our pipelines. And a step towards the creation of a single Turkic space. And this is not only Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. This is also a good half of the Volga region.
We had our own MIR card payment system and our own financial messaging system in SWIFT format at the turn of 2014-2015
Photo: Shutterstock
– What about Moldova?
– Moldova is trying to isolate the local Turks, the Gagauz, from the Turkic space. This is one of the very few Turkic-speaking Orthodox peoples. And plus, this is Transnistria. And Transnistria is not only a huge Russian majority and those Moldovans who do not want to go under Romania. It is also a colossal ammunition depot. They will undoubtedly be handed over to Ukraine.
– What about the Baltics?
– The European Union has already squeezed out all the goodies that were there from the Baltics. Now they are on pan-European subsidies. The only thing the EU needs the Baltics for is as a cheap but sufficiently skilled labor force. But this resource is also dwindling. Brussels may well give us old pensioners and lands with crumbling infrastructure so that we again invest our money in their resuscitation.
– But this is an important outpost between Europe and Russia?
“This outpost requires far more expense than security. And the provocative activity of the current leadership there creates a threat to old Europe.
US NOT HEGEMON
– Will the US continue to set fires along our borders? How do you think we can counter this?
– It is clear that many more provocations will have to be stopped. But the united states of America are united because, in principle, they can become disunited. For example, after Trump was bombarded with millions of fake ballots in 2020, the divorce scenario was seriously discussed. The east and west coasts form the democratic states of America, and the middle – from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico – the republican states of America. But then this plan did not materialize. But if the fake-ballot trick is repeated next year to a comparable extent, patience may run out.
Is the US losing its hegemonic status?
– Lose. And with their own efforts. The status of hegemon was based on the international role of the dollar. The dollar served for several decades the international flow of goods and services. He relied on the world’s largest material base. And it was the most stable currency. But the Americans misused it. They issue noticeably more dollars than is needed to service international trade. They covered their needs with these additional dollars. And, in fact, they exported their inflation. Now the base of the dollar has shrunk.
Previously issued dollars now fall on a smaller volume of commodities. This means that the dollar is depreciating in absolute terms as well.
Photo: REUTERS
– But she’s still great.
– Previously issued dollars now fall on a smaller commodity volume. This means that the dollar is depreciating in absolute terms as well. So far, this is not very noticeable – countries that export their goods are forced to depreciate their currencies after the dollar, but the prices of goods, calculated in dollars, are growing by leaps and bounds. The attractiveness of the dollar is falling.
– Where does this lead?
– The Americans are unlikely to be able, as during their war in Iraq 20 years ago, to bribe the military elite so that they surrender the army. This trick is unlikely to take place in any other country now. And other similar tricks are no longer available to them.
– But America produces Boeings, missiles, computers…
– They brought most of their industrial production to regions with cheap labor. Since the People’s Republic of China ranks first in the world in terms of material production, the Americans have already slipped from the first place in terms of political influence.
