Siberian zugunder

In the spring of 2008, Russia will have not only a new president, but also a new doctor of sciences. They are likely to be the former head of Yukos, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Last week, he was accepted into the friendly male team of the 8th detachment of a general regime colony in the city of Krasnokamensk, Chita Region. And right there, according to his lawyer Anton Drel, he began to work on his doctoral thesis on the topic “How to equip Russia. On the example of the reform of local self-government and regional federalism.

As soon as he arrived at the place of his imprisonment, Khodorkovsky met with his wife and made a political statement through his lawyers, just on the topic of "arranging Russia." True patriots will have to, the prisoner wrote at will, re-create the army, law enforcement system and bureaucracy, defend the Far East and Siberia from the Chinese invasion and avoid turning the country into a raw materials appendage. It is strange to hear this from a former oil oligarch, but it is even more unusual when he becomes an authority for prisoners in front of our eyes. But Khodorkovsky himself does not seem to see anything unusual in his metamorphoses. He ended his statement with the words: "The time of dullness is leaving - the time of Heroes is coming."

Probably, the Moscow bosses wanted to roughly punish the former oligarch by sending him to the Chita region (he himself said that they even wanted to “physically destroy” him). But in Krasnokamensk he was accepted as a metropolitan superstar.

There are already real admirers, like the rector of the Spassky Cathedral, Fr. Sergiy Taratukhin, who has already managed to tell everyone how “he, like Mikhail, was imprisoned under a political article,” or local lawyer Natalya Terekhova, who was hired to represent the interests of the oligarch. She swears that she has never seen such an erudite person. And so it seems that respect for Khodorkovsky's wallet arrived in the city ahead of him. Well, he approached the character - he was recognized by the prisoners and the administration as “correct”.

Khodorkovsky, says Drel, at first did not know where he was being taken. Then I heard at the Yaroslavl station, when the train had already started, how the announcer said: “The Moscow-Chita train leaves from platform No. 5.” Four and a half days to Chita - almost 4000 km, then another 600 km and 16 hours by train to Krasnokamensk. Then five minutes in a paddy wagon from the station to the zone - and the goal was achieved. “I saw the sun for the first time in two years!” - the oligarch exclaimed when he was taken out of the car in the courtyard of the colony. So - anonymously, but with love - describes this moment an officer who introduced himself as one of Khodorkovsky's escorts.

Now you can improve life, which is not difficult in the Krasnokamensk colony. “Klyuchevsky and Solovyov are not in their library,” Drel lists in a businesslike manner. And so the administration generally treats the new prisoner as a golden one - at least for now. “Even when he was in quarantine, the administration cleared the G8 (Eighth Detachment) of thieves so that they would not offend the“ hero of the zone ”,” says Sergey, one of the escorted.

And the convicts, according to Sergei, generally only talk about the new neighbor. “I didn’t see him myself, he was in quarantine, but the boys say that he’s normal, without show-offs,” the prisoner whispers, looking around: he looks out for the colony employees who “will definitely be sent to a punishment cell for communicating with a journalist” . Sergey also managed to tell that “the men from the detachment invited Khodorkovsky to clean up in the supply room after lights out, but he did not refuse. The conversation was just about life. About how he sat in “Matrosskaya Tishina”, how he liked our “red” zone.

The "Red Zone" is a colony under the full control of the administration. There are also “blacks”, where thieves run everything, and the bosses almost go to them for reports. But such an oligarch, of course, would never be sent to such an oligarch. In the Reds, the main problem is the administration's too harsh attitude towards prisoners.

Different things are said about the head of the colony Yevstratov. He has a personal enemy in the city - a former technologist of the zone's clothing production, captain Natalya Folomushkina, who claims that in the summer of 2001 Evstratov not only fired her, but also beat her. The regional prosecutor's office refused to open a case. “And Evstratov is a well-known fighter in our city,” he continues to denounce the “master of the zone” Folomushkin. - Either he will start a fight at a gas station, or at the Rus restaurant. He smashed a window while drunk in the Edelweiss store, but the police hushed up the case. I hope that such a famous person, who honored him to sit in his zone, he will not dare to hit.

Anton Drel does not allow this at all: “I met Evstratov, he impressed me as a completely adequate person.” Prisoner Sergei does not refute Folomushkina's words about the harsh disposition of the head of the colony: “He is a wayward man, but he cannot be another “owner of the zone” - otherwise the contingent will sweep away.”

Rumors have already spread around the city about the privileged position of the prisoner Khodorkovsky. Drill only laughs at them: "If they tell you that he lives in a separate house and eats food from a local restaurant, you should know that this is nonsense." The truth is that the food in the colony's canteen is better than in The Silence, and that he has a new haircut and a new suit: black trousers and a jacket embroidered with his squad number and last name. There are only no fresh newspapers, one has to read the Krasnokamensk “Glory to Labor”.

At the gates of the colony - a young guy Anatoly, with a chic set of gold teeth. He himself was in the zone, he was released only a month ago, and now he has returned from a date with a friend. He tells a fable about Khodorkovsky's clothes - it turns out that the oligarch was almost promoted to authority. “In the 8th, we have a guard over the zone, Sanka “Buryat”. So “Buryat” Borisych gave his new uniform, which my friend Oleg sewed for him to order, he is an excellent craftsman. Khodorkovsky will soon be selected as the supply manager of the detachment, he will be held in high esteem, Anatoly is sure. "He's a big-headed man, he knows how to help someone," the former prisoner explains the interest of the thieves in the oligarch.

There is plenty of everything in the zone: tea, cigarettes, a football field, a gym - in the colony, when it was still under strict regime, the leader of a gang of murderers known throughout Transbaikalia, Oleg Ikonnikov, nicknamed Icon, was sitting, it was he who arranged the zone. “But if now Khodorkovsky decides to buy a TV set, or a refrigerator, or something else, then it will not be superfluous,” Anatoly winks and smiles again with all his gold teeth.

In general, complaining to convicts is a sin, Anatoly says, “I lived there like at home.” “In many areas in the region, the guys are cold, but here it is warm. Stay human and everything will be fine. And the little ones also heard about him that he earned respect among the people in the pre-trial detention center, ”the former prisoner is firmly convinced that wonderful months of real grace await Khodorkovsky.

However, the authorities in the colony have no power at all. “They have a gentleman's agreement with the administration. They don’t disturb the zone, but they are allowed to sit after lights out, chifir, play preference for money and sometimes indulge in chatting, - says the colony employee. “And most of our clients are normal ordinary people, they are winding their terms under Article 158 - theft.”

So the life of the oligarch in the zone is more dependent on the bosses. But the administration's love for Khodorkovsky is the same as that of the prisoners. The motives were explained by an officer with whom a Newsweek correspondent spoke over lunch at a local restaurant: “We understand that he is a wealthy prisoner, and we do not exclude that he will sponsor our institution to equip an assembly hall, for example, well, or a gym,” explains interlocutor his thought. But he doesn’t like the sudden glory of the colony: they got the commissions, one from the head office from Moscow, the second from the regional prosecutor’s office. "I've been overlaid," the officer sighs.

And then there are lawyers, journalists and a wife. She also made a splash among the prisoners. “I went on a date with a friend, I saw them in the kitchen with Misha,” Anatoly, a former prisoner, proudly says. - It's okay for us on dates. True, a very bad two-burner tile. But maybe his wife will buy a new one there. The next meeting with his wife Khodorkovsky can only be allowed on New Year's Eve, Terekhov's lawyer says.

The city is full of former prisoners who remained after their release. The owner of a small carpentry shop on the outskirts of Krasnokamensk, Vyacheslav, believes that too much noise was raised around Khodorkovsky. “Here, I also trumpeted seven years in our zone for murder - so what? We had fun with the men. There were almost no conflicts among themselves, so, on trifles. And from the unpleasant - the toilet will have to be scrubbed, but this is if they don’t make it to the authorities, ”he says with poorly concealed irritation. He, he knows, will not get anything from the oligarch.

But those who came to Khodorkovsky are more worried not by the attitude of the locals towards him, but by the level of radiation in the zone. On the outskirts of Krasnokamensk, there is the only uranium mining enterprise in the country, and, they say, “phonite” is around.

Nikolai Podoprigorin, the chief city sanitary doctor, a fighter against “damned environmentalists”, when he hears a question about radiation, immediately shouts: “Our level does not exceed 20 microroentgens per hour! (admissible level - 25 microR/h). The problem is only with the Oktyabrsky settlement, because it was simply built incorrectly, very close to the uranium quarry. There is a federal program for his resettlement, but they don’t give money for it.”

Newsweek correspondent, armed with a dosimeter, measured the level of radiation in the vicinity of the zone. The device first showed exactly 20 μR / h, confirming the words of Nikolai Podoprigorin. But in one place, right at the outer perimeter, not far from one of the towers with a machine gunner, it turned out as much as 52 microR/h. As one of the locals explained, it blew from the road - it was once sprinkled with soil taken from who knows where.

Mayor of Krasnokamensk German Kolov does not even want to hear about radiation: “We are known all over Russia, because in 2003 we were recognized as the best according to the results of the all-Russian competition “The Best City of Russia” and were awarded a special prize for success in improving the amenities and improving the culture of the hostel . So Khodorkovsky was lucky - he is now in the best city in Russia.” The time of dullness, as Khodorkovsky promised, is definitely over for Krasnokamensk.

INTERVIEW
"We got closer to each other"
Inna Khodorkovskaya answered Alexander Raskin's questions

How do prisoners call Mikhail Borisovich among themselves?

They simply respectfully call him Borisych.

How was your meeting with your husband?

This meeting for the first time in two years was very exciting for me. But I realized that during these three days that we spent together, we became even closer to each other, and I am glad that Mikhail has become calmer and, most importantly, he is doing well with his health. But it worries me that this city is said to have radiation. We will definitely check it out.

Are you not going to get your husband transferred to another colony?

Mikhail told me that as long as his health allowed, he would sit here.

What is the meeting room like?

Everything is like in a normal three-star hotel. A block in which there are several separate bedrooms, for each convict there is a separate room and a common lounge with a TV and a kitchen. It's good that there is a kitchen and a stove. I cooked Mikhail his favorite fried potatoes, which he missed very much.

Are you going to move to Krasnokamensk to be closer to your husband?

Until I thought about it. I will go on long dates, one of which I am going to take my eldest daughter. Misha really misses the children, and they miss him. He answered their letters, which I brought him.

Did you like the city?

Normal city. Solar. The only pity is that very little snow falls in winter, as the locals say.

What did he tell you about the colony?

He only told me that he was offered to learn the profession of a seamstress. What is he going to do in the near future. He also said that he became interested in the history of the city of Krasnokamensk and the Chita region.

What did he ask you to do for him in the wild?

He asked to be sure to support Natalya Lebedeva, Plato's wife. After all, they are our friends. He asked me to go to Platon's colony in Kharp. Otherwise, he says that journalists are interested in his fate, but Plato is not. And his conditions in the colony are much worse.

What was the most unexpected thing for you in the last two years?

Sentence. I did not expect that he would be given such a term. It was a very strong shock for me.