Two worlds, two medals...

Former USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the Medal of Freedom

for 2008. This award was established by the American National Constitution Center in Philadelphia in 1988. President George H.W. said in his speech that he and the Center's Board of Trustees were proud to pay tribute to this year's laureate: “...There were many things that divided us, but despite this, President Gorbachev, in his quest for freedom, opened up new opportunities to unite the world and solve its problems. When the peoples of Eastern Europe lived in the dark shadow of the Cold War, he lit a beacon of light. Today, almost 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, we continue to see the positive impact of his efforts around the world. President Gorbachev is always focused on the future, wants it to become better, and helps us all achieve this.”

There was a moment in our history when, at the behest of a pike, we still wanted to become one world. I understand everything about today’s Mikhail Sergeevich, his position on YUKOS, his quiet but audible approvals addressed to the current government. I don't know where he's being held, and he'll never tell me. I have not forgotten him slamming Sakharov and tanks in Tbilisi, the TV tower in Vilnius and much more, and I will never forget to him the two freedoms that he gave me personally - freedom of speech and freedom of choice. These two points were once formulated by my late friend Andryusha Cherkizov, and today I subscribe to them - you can really go to the barricades for them.

And a member of the State Duma Security Committee, former Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Vladimir Kolesnikov (United Russia faction), proposed returning the monument to Felix Dzerzhinsky to the Lubyanka in the center of Moscow. “I would like this monument to return to its place - we receive medals, but where is it? Is it in the storerooms?” - Kolesnikov said at a meeting of the security committee last Thursday, after he was awarded the medal "130 years since the birth of F.E. Dzerzhinsky." On that day, the President of the Union of State Security Veterans, Valentin Timofeev, awarded a large group of committee members with orders and medals established by the Union.

Vladimir Kolesnikov, developing his proposal, noted that Dzerzhinsky was distinguished by professionalism, honesty, and decency. “Let's return the monument,” he called, finding support from a significant number of his colleagues. In turn, the head of the Security Committee, Vladimir Vasiliev, who also received an award from the Union of Veterans, noted: “History will put everything in its place.”

What do these two awards tell the uninitiated? About vector. One of the most famous quotes belonging to Felix Edmundovich is “The fact that you do not have a criminal record yet is not your merit, but our shortcoming.” I wonder what gives State Duma deputy and former Deputy Prosecutor General Kolesnikov reason to believe that this story does not apply to him? This phrase, I dare to assure you, has no statute of limitations. At any moment, anyone. If they had bronzed human flesh, they would regain greatness... And if there had been such an opportunity, Stalin’s restless people’s commissars would have explained a lot out of collegial solidarity to Mr. Kolesnikov. For when the finest hour of each of them began, what praises were heard addressed to them. And then everything went according to the same scenario - the task was completed, there was no longer a need for a performer.

Why am I so worried about the deputy, ex-deputy prosecutor general? It is possible that history will repeat itself. His last name with the prefix “ovshchina” will be a symbol of another mistake; he will be treated in the Lubyanka basements so that he will live to be shot. They will rely on his successor, that he will sort it out and release the innocent. And then the successor will be executed as a spy for several states.

It is quite possible that the deputy and his colleagues on the State Duma Security Committee do not care at all about those who are now innocently killed. In 1990, while working as deputy head of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Rostov Region, Kolesnikov captured “maniac No. 1” Chikatilo. Soon the detective was transferred to Moscow, and he headed the Main Directorate of Criminal Investigation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, essentially becoming one of the “builders” of the police system of post-Soviet Russia. As an adviser to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, he was involved in the preparation of draft legislative acts and the development of the concept of judicial reform. As Deputy Prosecutor General, he oversaw the investigation of crimes that caused a stir in society, including contract killings...

The last paragraph is taken from V.I.’s personal page. Kolesnikova. Thank you very much for Chikatilo. As for contract killings, it’s complete, sorry, ass. Maybe it was his job to catch the chikatil?

But I’m not talking about Kolesnikov, I’m talking about two worlds, one of which rewards with freedom, and the other with Dzerzhinsky. And those who go through all the circles will be destined to understand the difference between these two worlds. And one fine moment he will find himself a victim of correcting the very flaw that allowed him to have no criminal record until now. And after all, we are structured in such a way that it easily fits into our heads: they won’t take anyone just like that. And then colleagues and acquaintances disappear. No, well, I have nothing to be afraid of, you say to yourself, and then the night call. They’ll sort it out now, you convince yourself along the way. “I’m not here for long,” you repeat to your cellmates. This is some kind of mistake, you tell the investigator and his assistants, rolling up their sleeves.

And then, many years later, some people from the Memorial society fish out your name in the list of ten?.. one hundred?.. thousand who were shot that day for no particular reason... Don’t you believe me? But the fact that you have no criminal record is not your merit... So, as you wish, I am for the Gorbachev medal and against the Kolesnikov medal. Not to mention the consequences.