"Matilda" on the minefield

On Thursday, in Russian cities, the massive evacuation of people from public places-schools, shopping centers, hotels-due to anonymous calls about the laid bombs continued . Among the “mined” there were several cinemas, whose owners recently received letters from the organization “Christian state - Holy Rus'” demanding to abandon the show of Matilda about the love connection of Emperor Nicholas II and the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya. The leader of the "Christian state" Alexander Kalinin said in an interview with Radio Liberty that "unknown" warned him about the intention to "mines" objects in Russian cities in protest against the show of Alexei Teacher on September 10, but rejected his involvement in the calls of the bombs laid. The owner of the cinema received a letter, with whom Radio Liberty talked, an hour after the conversation, he said that he had to close it due to a report of an explosive device.

The first wave of letters from the "Christian state" began to come to Russian cinemas back in January - before the premiere of Matilda was moved to the fall. "If the film" Matilda "is released, the cinemas will begin to burn, people may even suffer, and these actions, from hopelessness, will begin from those who love God and their people. We officially notify: any banner, a poster, leaflet with information about the rental of the film will be considered as a desire to humiliate the saints of the Orthodox Church and a provocation for the Russian Maidan, - a new letter said, a new letter, a new letter. Which is dated July, it began to come to the cinemas in August, it occupies as many as 5 pages and contains, in particular, such a phrase (spelling and punctuation of the original):

““ Matilda ”will come out-thousands will come out for the truth, and thousands of“ at least that ”will be released after them, thousands of provocateurs who have received their long-awaited opportunity to break Russia and its people. ... Cinemas will really start to burn. Provocators will pay arson. Many funds are not even needed-for every attached cinema there will be enough and 5-10 thousand rubles. The opposition spends hundreds of millions of millions of millions. In order to start a war, but the “Matilda” will enter the screens of the “Matilda”, for the whole of Russia, the consequences can be burned by all the cinemas of Russia in just 10 million. ”

Messages about receiving such letters come from dozens of Russian regions. As a result, many cinemas and rolling companies have already announced the refusal to show Matilda so as not to risk the safety of the audience. Including the decision to renounce the rental of the picture was made by the largest combined network of cinemas in Russia "Formula Kino" and "Cinema Park".

Many consider such a decision by the leadership of a step aimed at attracting the attention of the state and law enforcement agencies to the problem of "Orthodox extremism". Cinemas (and not only cinemas) are already burning: in St. Petersburg they threw “Molotov’s cocktails” at the office of the film studio Alexei Teacher, in Yekaterinburg the opponent of Matilda made an attack on the cinema-concert hall “Cosmos”, and in Moscow unknown people burned two cars at the Pen & Paper lawyer’s office, providing legal support to the director. The pre -premiere show "Matilda" in the Moscow Cinema "Illusion"was canceled , although in Vladivostok on the same day he went without incidents.

Letters from the "Christian state" -both in January and in August-received the Vladeki 8th Picky of the 8th Pick Cinema at the same shopping center in the Sagkkt-Petersburg, Konstantin Boguslavsky . In an interview with Radio Liberty, he talks about the "atmosphere of tension" among representatives of the film business and has part of the responsibility for ongoing threats to film distributors to Russian law enforcement agencies and special services. About an hour after this conversation, the PIK cinema was forced to stop working due to an anonymous message about the laid bomb.

- When and how did you receive a letter - or were it letters? - From the so -called "Christian state" about the rental of the film "Matilda"?

- There were two letters. The letter that I published [on Facebook] was in January 2017, because the rental of the film was originally scheduled for spring. Then, when the rental was transferred to a later date, we received a second letter, it was in July or in August, and it was approximately similar, only a wider one, it was five sheets. In general, the essence is the same there.

- Representatives of the "Christian state" say that the letter does not contain direct threats, that their movement has repeatedly checked on this score and did not find any threats in this letter.

-That 's what it bothers. Because you read the letter, and there is a threat or not contained there, everyone can decide for themselves. We consider this a completely threat. What the police believe is its business, but on the other hand, everyone is free to understand the threat of how he understands her. We read and realized that for us this is a threat.

The first letter from the "Christian state" received by Konstantin Boguslavsky:

- Are you going to show this film in your cinema? And will your plans change now?

- Of course, we are thinking about it. There is still a lot of time left before the show, the premiere - October 26. Let's see how the situation with networks will develop. If we are left alone, then, of course, we will not be very comfortable. Let's see what will happen next. The fact that now [Matilda’s rental] was abandoned by the “Cinema Formula” and “Cinema Park”-I think this is not their final decision.

- What was your first reaction when you learned that the largest network of cinemas in Russia refuses to show this film?

A cinema is not an airport with a security service

- Well, they have the right to this. If you understand that you cannot ensure security, and even more so for such a large network as they ... they have more than 70 cinemas, these are united networks, and it is clear that a cinema is not an airport with a security service, with frames, with all these matters. I think, perhaps, this is a kind of political step on their part to draw attention to this problem, and they attracted it, because it was with their refusal that this whole information story of the last days began.

- Do you think this story originates from, why did this film suddenly cause such a reaction?

- It's hard for me to say. As for us, filmmakers, we constantly have some problems with someone. That deputies want Nazi symbols to ban on absolutely all films, including "seventeen moments of spring", then something else. Something is constantly happening of this kind.

- How do you assess the reaction of the Russian authorities to what is happening?

Why should the Minister of Culture do this, and not the head of the FSB or the Ministry of Internal Affairs?

- I evaluate as insufficient. Yesterday Medinsky spoke with a demand to calm the whole thing, but in general this is not Medinsky, rather, but the case of law enforcement agencies to ensure that cinemas and in general Russian citizens feel safe. Why should the Minister of Culture do this, and not the head of the FSB or the Ministry of Internal Affairs? If the largest federal network in the country refuses to show the film due to security, there are probably questions for law enforcement agencies.

- Now, even before the premiere of the film, as the owner of the cinema living in the city where the procession with slogans against this film takes place , do you feel safe?

- For us, nothing has changed much, just the general atmosphere is perceived quite negatively. They do not come to us and do not set fire to us, but in general, we, of course, feel the tension of filmmakers.

-In social networks, they discuss a lot of how this situation will affect the film if he still releases: whether it will increase its box office or reduce whether it will make additional PR or not. What point do you adhere to?

- Of course, it will increase the rating of the audience interest in the film and is now almost the maximum possible. Of course, it will increase if nothing happens anywhere. Then, accordingly, the situation may change. It is not yet clear.

"We cooperate with a dozen sufficiently serious organizations"

The movement "Christian state is Holy Rus'", according to its leader Alexander Kalinin, was registered in 2010, although it was widely known only after the story with letters against Matilda. On Wednesday, the movement site has ceased to open-as Kalinin says, "due to the attack of unknown hackers." You can get on it now only with the help of the Google cache . It is interesting that another representative of the movement, Miron Kravchenko (officially his position sounds like "the head of the organization in the central region, Moscow and the Moscow region"), at one time often visited Ukraine and in the summer of 2015 even took part in the creation of the "Anti -Putin Information Front", which aimed "reporting to the residents of the Russian Federation and peoples affected by the Putin regime, information that will expose the Kremlin’s lie." The organization held several forums with the participation of Russian political emigrants and activists who fled after the war from Crimea and Donbass, as well as a number of street actions in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. Miron Kravchenko, as the Pskov Province newspaper wrote in early 2017, in the beginning of the zero years was a member of several Russian right -dressing movements, including the Great Russia movement, then crossed to Ukraine, “wanted to fight for both sides” in the Donbass, but in the end “chose the Christian state” as a platform for his further activity.

It was not possible to ask Miron Kravchenko about the situation with Matilda Radio Freedom, but the leader of the “Christian state” Alexander Kalinin , as in January, after the first wave of letters to the cinemas, willingly gives an interview. He continues to insist that these letters are not threats, but are aimed at "preventing provocations." As Kalinin told Radio Liberty to Karl Shreku, on September 10, he received by e -mail an anonymous message from the organizers of mass calls about the bombs in Russian cities - according to the words of the leader of the HG, these calls were also the initiative of opponents of the Matilda show. On Thursday, due to such a message about the explosive device, he was forced to interrupt his work and the Konstantin Boguslavsky cinema.

- How can you comment on the statements of the State Duma deputies who asked the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to check your organization yesterday?

- I can immediately explain that from January, our organization has been checked 47 times, we have 47 official answers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs that the criminal case was denied us. We received the last statement from the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the month of July, that at least there will be no more questions about letters to us. And about the arson, we already wrote that we are not burning anyone. We do not commit any illegal actions, we just broadcast the position of the society that has matured in connection with the release of this blasphemous film, is no more. In fact, we are the same as you-you have a radio, and we have such a broadcasting organization, we in our own way notify the society that the conflict has risen, which can lead to big consequences. Therefore, we are not the organization that does this, but the organization that broadcasts the situation in society.

- You told reporters that you received a letter from people who claim that they are behind mass evacuation in Russian cities and that these evacuation are also associated with protest against the film "Matilda". Do you think this may be true?

- I think, yes, because after that there were calls to all the cinemas of Russia, and the first cinema that was evacuated was the Cheremushka cinema, which was the first premiere of the film. Then further - more. They see, they put some kind of hacking program, which began to appeal all the numbers of the phones of all cinemas. Further, they did not calm down on this, they in this base, I think so, since they themselves are connected with computers, added phone numbers of all schools, then added the numbers of the telephones of the city administrations, the numbers of the telephone numbers of the cities on duty. Therefore, it happened.

- How did you get this letter? By e -mail?

- By e -mail, yes,

- Do you know what kind of people are these?

“ They are unknown to me.”

- That is, your movement is not connected with this at all?

- No, not connected. They also promised me to send a video confirmation that this was done precisely by the opponents of Matilda, the video confirmation of this technical process itself, as was done so that no one would write off this for any exercises, or otherwise.

-In your opinion, your opposition to the film "Matilda" somehow affects the actions of people, his opponents, which we see in the last days?

-You know, we can also talk about all our spiritual and religious teachings, that is, the teachings of our holy fathers, the teachings of the Church. We just convey the teachings and spiritual attitude of our holy fathers, our Orthodox. We cite the example of our holy soldiers, give as an example of our holy monks and say that they always called for standing for their faith. Do not call for pogroms, arson, but stand for your faith. And everyone stood in their own way-someone went to fight, someone prayed ... We are not calling for nothing, we call for everything to be normal in Orthodox truth.

The car that stood in Moscow at the Office of the Bar Association Pen & Paper and burned by opponents of Matilda

- Can you tell us about your movement? When was it created?

- The organization was created in 2010, it was created in order for Orthodox people in our country to concentrate, they could communicate interregional, so that we in the regions have the opportunity to meet with our brothers in monasteries, temples, and Orthodox parishes. And it so happened that we traveled, preached - I myself am a preacher, I preach Christ and our faith - went to monasteries, to temples. And in the end, it turned out that we formed 350 active members in the organization, not counting their relatives.

People voiced a variety of struggle methods

When the film "Matilda" came up, it turned out that we met, many came to Moscow, and discussed the issue of counteracting this film. Because this is not just a film, it is already the beginning of a large program to destroy the spiritual foundation of our country. We decided to start fighting, but each in his own way. And when we heard the sentences that we sounded there, we realized that it is urgent to write letters to the directors of cinemas so that they would take some actions, so that there are no consequences, so terrible, because people voiced a variety of different methods of struggle.

-Do you cooperate with some other organizations?

- We cooperate with a dozen sufficiently serious organizations, I will not voice them. People are ready not to support us, they also broadcast the position of society, are going to interact with us.

-Do you have any contacts with the Russian Orthodox Church?

- If you mean Patriarch personally, then, of course, we have no contacts. If you mean the rectors of churches, churches, abbot of monasteries, some bishops, of course, we have interaction, we communicate and are friends.

In order to act, we do not need registration

- How many Russian regions are presented in your organization?

-Today is 83 regions and somewhere in 240 cities of Russia, cities and average such citizens.

- As I understand it, you are not registered in the Ministry of Justice?

- Why do you need it? In order to act, we do not need registration. Registration is needed only by those who want money to themselves in the current account, we do not need it. Our organization is not in order to earn money, but in order to act, but to act within the framework of the law and without registration with the Ministry of Justice, ”says Alexander Kalinin, the leader of the Christian State - Holy Russia movement.

The representative of the Synodal Department of the Moscow Patriarchate on the relationship between the Church with society and the media, Vladimir Legoyd on Thursday, stated that "manifestations of an extremist nature" caused by the film "Matilda" should be stopped. " The director and deputy of the State Duma Stanislav Govorukhin called the actions of the Orthodox activists opposing the film, unacceptable and compared the participants of such shares with the militants of the Islamic State. “It seems to me that all the dark forces, clicked, crazy, vandals, obscurantists have revived-the cars set fire to innocent citizens, the truck crashed into a cinema. A mini-ISIL begins,” Govorukhin said at a meeting of the State Duma Committee on Culture. The other director and deputy, Vladimir Bortko , who participated in the same meeting, said that he was discussing the situation around Matilda with the main opponent of the release of the picture on the screen - deputy Natalia Poklonskaya . "I said: why are you doing this? She says-what do you say to them? I said-I would have a state Duma and advise you to be quieter. She said: I will act as it tells me ... How something tells her," Borto Vygortko quotes "Interfax". According to the deputy chairman of the committee Elena Drapeko , the special show "Matilda" will be held for its members in the coming days - as soon as "we will get a flash drive with the film."

ТАСС в четверг опубликовал фотографию встречи Алексея Учителя и Поклонской. Об этой встрече режиссер рассказывал еще в августе 2017 года. Как говорит сама Поклонская, она состоялась 12 июня на приеме в Кремле в честь Дня России. По словам депутата, встреча продолжалась около 30 минут. "Он в очередной раз позвал меня посмотреть картину, а я ему ответила, что этого делать не буду, ведь у меня есть заключения экспертиз. Но я попросила его дать возможность посмотреть фильм специалистам, чтобы были исчерпаны все вопросы и были подготовлены доводы для людей, обратившихся с жалобами на мое имя. На это он мне отказал. Причину не назвал", – цитирует слова Поклонской РИА Новости.

Алексей Учитель и Наталья Поклонская на приеме в Кремле в честь Дня России, 12 июня 2017 года

В четверг французская газета Le Figaro опубликовала больше интервью с министром культуры Владимиром Мединским, в котором он еще раз подтвердил, что фильм "Матильда" выйдет на российские экраны. "С точки зрения закона нет никаких нарушений, которые бы могли оправдать запрет картины. Истеричная кампания развернута вокруг киноленты, которая никак не оскорбляет память царя Николая II", – сказал Мединский журналисту французского издания. В четверг в пресс-центре МВД России заявили, что полиция "готова содействовать кинопрокатчикам и местным органам власти в обеспечении безопасности при демонстрации фильма режиссера Алексея Учителя "Матильда". "Дополнительные меры по обеспечению правопорядка, а также сохранности зданий и имущества кинопрокатных организаций будут разрабатываться и применяться территориальными органами МВД России в зависимости от складывающейся оперативной обстановки и полученной информации о возможных противоправных действиях", – сообщили в пресс-центре.