Georgy Satarov on the Furgal case: "The new Constitution removed the barriers against arbitrariness"

“The set of events is predictable and absolutely obvious. After the formal adoption of the amendments to the Constitution, the barriers to arbitrariness were removed, and this, perhaps, is the main thing in the so-called “zeroing”. These barriers have been removed, and it has begun so far at the upper level, but it will go further to the regions, cities and villages, and the lower it goes down the power vertical, the less conscious, from the point of view of the mind, these acts of violence will be. The Furgal affair is a particular manifestation of a general phenomenon.

It is clear that when the protege of the United Russia party lost out the elections of the Khabarovsk governor, and not the oppositioner came in, of course, but the one of the lads his came, because he is a criminal, like all of them are, but they were dissatisfied with him, because he played the wrong role. But earlier, in spite of the fact that there was the arbitrariness, nevertheless they were afraid to create it from scratch, it was arbitrariness amid the fear. Now the fear is gone. They know that the godfathers will protect them, and the godfathers know that they will protect them. The system began to work openly.

Political elites will relate to such arbitrariness in the same way as they used to relate to Stalinist arbitrariness. They took part in it, they were afraid of it, and everyone was afraid for himself, and afraid constantly. And when the opportunity occured, they immediately got rid of the Stalin's system: it was not by chance that Beria then fell first (although each of those who were then upstairs deserved the same fate)".