Obscurantism is in fashion

“I look at the direct broadcast of Sokolovsky’s sentence. I want to look out the window and see the medieval square. It would somehow soften what he heard. But some kind of ugly owl garbage, some kind of mind in confusion,” the general director of the Krasnoyarsk television company TTROV Vostrov about the blogger of Ruslan Sokolovsky, who wrote on his page on the social network, wrote on his page. The court found the believer guilty of insulting feelings and sentenced to 3.5 years conditionally. Businessman and media manager Vadim Vostrov was recently accused of insulting the feelings of believers. Now the Investigative Committee is checking on the complaint of one of the inhabitants of Krasnoyarsk, which was insulted by the fact that five years ago, Vostrov allegedly repaired the anti -lric text of designer Artemy Lebedev.

“At first I did not believe that all this really happens,” says Vostrov in an interview with Radio Liberty. - The investigator from the UK called me and said that she wanted to interview me to insult the believer. A certain believer, a resident of Krasnoyarsk, the Orthodox priest Alexander Georgievich was offended that I reposted the text of Artemy Lebedev in my LiveJournal in 2012. Alexander Georgievich was offended despite the fact that I wrote that Artemy Lebedev did not agree with the opinion of Artemy.

- Do you even understand what is about? Did you make a repost of this text?

- I actively lead my accounts and do not remember that I reposted five years ago. I found Lebedev’s text, read it, and I really disagree with what he writes. Lebedev in this post, using obscene vocabulary, says that there is no God. And I do not understand why, in aggressive form, to constantly say that there is no God. How, in this case, Lebedev differs from a religious fanatic who screams on every corner, that God is, and the disagreements anathematize?

- What did the investigator want from you?

- The investigator said that she wants to invite me and the offended resident of Krasnoyarsk to a cross survey. It will turn out the confrontation of two Orthodox believers. In my opinion, this is very funny.

- You were during interrogation in the UK?

The Investigative Committee is engaged in nonsense for taxpayers' money. He conducts a pre -investigation verification of ridiculous accusations of an insulted believer, who may not exist in nature

- I said that I have no time to go to senseless surveys. And the Investigative Committee is engaged in nonsense for taxpayer money. He conducts a pre -investigation verification of ridiculous accusations of an insulted believer, who may not exist in nature. They have no material for initiating a criminal case. And I had the right to refuse from participation in the pre-investigation verification, but still sent to the UK my lawyer. She was asked one of the questions one more strange than the other. For example, is Vadim Evgenievich Orthodox and how often he goes to church. This is very wild and goes beyond the reason not only reasonable, but in general for any framework.

- Do you think you accidentally became a participant in such a strange story or is it connected with your professional activity? I noticed that the television channel that you head, unlike other Krasnoyarsk television channels, covers the conflict around the construction of the Orthodox Church in the historical center of Krasnoyarsk. Locals against the construction of the temple in this place and demand to resolve such a issue in a referendum.

Apparently, after the Pussy Riot case, clergymen came into fashion as it seems to me, the aggressive style of conducting discussion

- I don't think this is connected. The believer allegedly read my post in September 2016, wrote a statement in February 2017, and they began to sign a petition against the construction of a temple on the arrow in March this year. I think that you do not need to build a temple in this place. It is interesting that the temple was already on the arrow, but in 1963 it was destroyed. Not so long ago, by the way. And then not a single believer came out with protest. I think that now there are enough temples in Krasnoyarsk, on weekdays they are empty. It is no secret that many Russians go to church only on big holidays. This is my personal opinion, but on the TV channel we made it possible to speak out on this subject to different people. The Metropolitan of Krasnoyarsk and Achinsky Panteleimon generally has been leading the “Word of the Metropolitan” program for several years every week. True, when the journalists asked him what he was thinking about the referendum about the construction of the temple, he stated that this is a “provocation that separates society. This is serving the devil, demons and the death of their own lands, all who broke the crosses and temples, ended with a terrible death.” A strange statement, in my opinion. Apparently, after the Pussy Riot case, clergymen came into fashion as it seems to me, the aggressive style of discussion. Interestingly, the audience of our television channel did not support the point of view of the Metropolitan: 70% of the audience voted to conduct a referendum on the construction of the temple.

- That is, the question of the construction of the temple will be resolved in the city referendum?

- Of course not. In Krasnoyarsk, even the mayor’s elections were canceled. But these numbers made me happy.

- What exactly was it?

- The fact that the Russian people were not as obscurable as our power thinks. The state mistakenly believes that in society there is a consensus on the issue of insulting the feelings of believers. But there is really no unity. In our society - a huge number of educated people who understand everyone perfectly.

- educated people among believers?

People see the hypocrisy of the authorities in religious issues very well and understand that now former party activists go to church as a Komsomol meeting

- Including. If you think about where in the country, where for so many years they denied God, to take a large number of believers? Many of those who call themselves believers are non -marginal people: they do not confess, do not partake and live not according to commandments. True believers are two percent, and they are not offended precisely because they really believe. People see the hypocrisy of power in religious issues very well and understand that now former party activists go to church, as for the Komsomol meeting.

We had debates on the TVK dedicated to the construction of the temple on the arrow. Vera Egorovna Oskina came to this program from the Russian Orthodox Church. She used to be the secretary of the city committee of the Komsomol. And now she, a member of “United Russia”, sits on our air and tells the people about spiritual scrapers. But the audience perfectly remembers that at one time Vera Egorovna was an active Komsomol. And now she plunged into Orthodoxy with her head, pours water into baptism. In Krasnoyarsk there was a deputy mayor, who was responsible for relations with the church. He also became very Orthodox, and earlier he taught scientific communism at the institute. All these fanatical believers, many of whom are former Komsomol members and communists, are actually backward, retrograde and few society. Our state, in my opinion, flirts with them in vain, gives them the opportunity to feel in trend, dictate their conditions.

Fanatical believers, many of whom are former Komsomol members and communists, in fact backward, retrograde and rather few society. Our state, in my opinion, flirts with them in vain

The state, of course, uses religious fanatics for their own purposes, but they also try to impose their will and their unhealthy state to the authorities. It turns out a mutual problem. But this is a very big mistake on the part of the authorities - to think that society as a whole approves this trend for obscurantism.

- And what, in your opinion, does society think about criminal cases for insulting the feelings of believers?

- The society is now disunited and atomized. People are faced with economic problems, decide how to save and earn. Representatives of the middle class focused on giving their children a good education. Many people went into internal emigration. It seems to me that many are now in apathy and depression. They understand that everything in the country is going wrong, but they don’t really know what to do with it. Suppose many are now ready to vote for Putin, because they do not see another candidate and do not know how the political system works. But people are in thought, and I suspect that these thoughts will not end in any good thought. I am sure that many people would outraged the conviction to Sokolovsky if the federal channels showed this trial from beginning to end.

- What did you think when you listened to the broadcast of the sentence to Ruslan Sokolovsky?

-The judge, a woman in years, the Soviet aunt, reads some kind of game with a serious expression. “The endowment of Jesus Christ with the qualities of Pokemon, as a hero of not only a computer game and a multiplier series, but also a representative of the bestiaria.” By the way, not so simple and inside the church. I know the clergy who are against the policy of Patriarch Kirill, the merger of power and the Russian Orthodox Church and all these wild trials.

- Your channel exists with private money and illuminates protest promotions. For example, anti -corruption rallies on March 26, which federal channels were silent about. You do not connect this event and the fact that a certain believer suddenly remembered the post that was written five years ago?

-I cannot be one hundred percent confident that there is no connection between this accusation and my professional activity, but I still think that there is rather no. Yes, we tell more than other local media, but everyone has long been used to it. In addition, it cannot be said that we are 100% free and we do not have self -censorship. Every time we work as in a minefield. We think what can be said and what is not worth it. There is nothing to be done - we live in such a country. It seems to me that I accidentally became a defendant in this test. In my place, any Internet user could be.

- What will you do if a criminal case is initiated against you for insulting the feelings of believers?

I think that accidentally became a defendant in this test. Any Internet user could be in my place

- I am sure that this business will end without having time to begin. There are no legal grounds for my persecution. I think that it is necessary to achieve the cancellation of the article in the Criminal Code "Insulting the feelings of believers." From an emotional point of view, it is very important that people who initiate such affairs feel like fools and freaks and understand that they are in the minority, that they laugh at them. Russia is our country, and not all inadequate personalities who believe that they make decisions here and can dictate their rules of the game. Normal people need to unite in order to make the situation in the country healthier.