Memorandum with Barsik

The presidential candidate of Belarus pledged to protect animal rights

The issue of treatment of animals was at the center of the election campaign of 64-year-old poet Vladimir Neklyaev, a contender for the post of President of Belarus. The politician recently described the episode with the murder of a stray cat, previously published in one of his works, as autobiographical. This caused a flurry of emotions on the Belarusian Internet. Now Neklyaev’s team is trying to smooth out the unpleasant impression from this story.

A lot of photographs of Vladimir Neklyaev with cats in his arms were published. In addition, on the website of the civil campaign he heads, “Tell the Truth!” a “Memorandum of Understanding between the human race and all domestic and stray animals” appeared, which was signed by Neklyaev and the cat Barsik, who “put his paw” (in the picture) . The publication includes a photo report and a short video about the signing of the document.

“The parties consign to oblivion all the grievances inflicted by representatives of one family on the other, and begin to build relations between them from scratch, without preconditions and demands,” the memorandum says. Vladimir Neklyaev has committed himself to protecting animal rights. This, in particular, should be expressed in the adoption of a law providing for high fines for cruelty to animals and leaving them without care. At the same time, Barsik is entrusted with the mission “to bring to the attention of all domestic and stray animals information about the humane mission of Vladimir Neklyaev.”

“An attempt was made to reverse the unpleasant situation that had caused a lot of noise. At the very least, the presence of political strategists is felt here, which is not very typical for other election headquarters of Belarusian politicians. Signing a memorandum with a cat is a good attempt to take the situation into a humorous direction,” Belarusian independent political scientist Alexander Klaskovsky noted to Vremya Novostei.

But it cannot be ruled out that the memorandum, on the contrary, will force readers to once again recall the heartbreaking episode from Neklyaev’s book “Armageddon. Dramatic poem”, which says: “I was ten years old when I caught and killed a cat. She lived in a barn, homeless. I killed her by taking her by the hind legs, with her head on a concrete pillar. For a long time, swinging, I beat and beat the cat’s body on the concrete, the cat’s head was no longer there, and I kept hitting, hitting and hitting!..” During a recent online conference, Mr. Neklyaev admitted that this was a real episode from his childhood, which was described in the poem: “I couldn’t explain it to myself in the usual ways.”

Olga TOMASHEVSKAYA, Minsk