Life goes on

The other day we learned that Igor Vostrikov, who tragically became famous throughout the country, having lost his entire family, three children, wife and sister during a fire in Kemerovo, became a neophyte of the United Russia party. And he is already planning to compete for a place in the regional council of deputies.

As far as I remember, the events were preceded by video recordings that Igor Vostrikov posted publicly. Where he indirectly expressed his claims to the authorities and Putin personally. But after waking up, he called himself a victim of provocateurs, used the term “Maidan activists” and generally spoke extremely disapprovingly of the spontaneous Kemerovo protests.

I don’t know what Igor Vostrikov should have done in such a situation. And I definitely wouldn’t want to find out. The thought did not even occur to him that he should become some kind of ardent oppositionist, although there are plenty of similar examples with people who survived a less terrible disaster.

Modern Russia, in terms of its social environment, is structured, well, let’s say, very uniquely. It has its own social elevators and limitless opportunities, but they are built into the caste system and almost feudal hierarchy. It is not easy to build a strategy of behavior, how, for example, to organize your life - make a career, improve your financial situation, strengthen your place in society - in such conditions. It takes a VERY significant factor for an outsider to wedge himself into this “table of ranks.”

Vostrikov turned out to be his own locomotive. Of course, we shouldn’t exclude the possibility that there were advisers invisible to us, but the Kemerovo businessman is clearly not lacking in rationality.

The half-forgotten Vitaly Kaloev, who lost his wife and two children in a plane crash due to an error by a Swiss dispatcher, was similarly favored by the authorities at one time. True, the further situation with Kaloev did not look very rosy. After long tragic ups and downs in his life, Vitaly Konstantinovich looked exactly like a lost man who had fallen into indifference. And so it has been for many years. In his native Ossetia, the powers that be, apparently deciding that there was no greater happiness in the world, dragged him into republican ministers. Kaloev, formally, sat in this chair for several years and, having waited the due date, asked for a pension - after which he was mercifully “released”. Well, we helped in any way we could! Today, the story of Vitaly Kaloev even formed the basis of a Hollywood film. I don’t know, one day maybe they’ll make a movie about Vostrikov.

On the other hand, let's think that a person from Kemerovo will take a seat in the regional parliament for a reason. He will be able to help people and introduce useful legislative initiatives. As a rule, if a person is tenacious, he will not stand on one step for long; you look - there is no longer a provincial Duma, but the most Moscow Duma on the horizon. Fortunately, there is no one in the latter today.

In a word, Igor, my sincere condolences; life goes on. However, it is already obvious that you yourself know this very well.


Photo: 03/27/2018. Russia. Kemerovo. Action in memory of those killed in the fire at the Winter Cherry shopping center. Sergei Gavrilenko/AP/TASS