The elections for the State Duma have been proclaimed.

June the sixteenth.

A date of great solemnity.

And now, enter the protagonist. One Mr. Egor Gilev. A man of modest means. A clerk. A vendor at the 'Monetka' grocery establishment. A 'universal salesman', as the official circulars so dryly put it.

He wishes to ascend. To the Duma.

Specifically, District No. 62.

Opposing him? A gentleman of a far more... opaque nature. Mr. Anton Nemkin. A man of the Secret Services. An IT entrepreneur. A chosen champion of the United Russia party.

A clash of titans.

On one side: The secrets of the State.

On the other: The price of tinned goods.

Mr. Gilev is no stranger to such theatrical ventures. In the year of our Lord 2025, he sought the governorship of the Perm region. A noble pursuit, indeed.

However, there was a slight complication.

Signatures.

Nineteen thousand seven hundred were required.

Mr. Gilev provided one.

His own.

A singular devotion to self-reliance, one might say.

Now, the stakes are altered. The bureaucrats demand seven thousand six hundred signatures. A mountain of ink. A veritable forest of parchment.

What drives this man? One cannot say.

Last year, it was the regional healthcare system that stirred his soul. Now? Silence.

Perhaps it is a whim. Perhaps a sudden passion for the public good. Or perhaps, simply, a desire to see how the machinery of the State grinds a common man into powder.

We sought his word. We found none.

He remains a mystery. A grocery clerk with the heart of a Caesar.

God save the Empire.