Translated material
Homeland and trouble
If anyone still doubts this, let them read the statement adopted on the occasion of the anniversary of the war in the Caucasus. Gryzlov (United Russia), Zyuganov (Communist Party of the Russian Federation), Zhirinovsky (LDPR) and Mironov (A Just Russia). “We proceed from the fact that human life should be the main value, protected and sacred, and this should be the main goal of every state and leadership,” write party leaders. In Sochi, they obviously explained to the “leadership” what the “leadership”’s main goal was.
“We will continue to proceed from the fact that every citizen of the Russian Federation should always be sure that Russia will not leave him in trouble,” write the Duma members. “Russia will continue to be ready to defend its historical positions and its compatriots, regardless of their country of residence.”
When I read these lines, I pulled myself together so as not to shed tears of emotion and began to call my friends, “compatriots, regardless of their country of residence,” to convey to them this good news from Mr. Gryzlov and his colleagues. Let our compatriots now be sure: “The Motherland will not leave you in trouble.”
Some of my friends, however, began to ask questions: “What, they really say, like Bill Clinton, Russian ex-presidents will go to the enemy’s lair to rescue their citizens from hard labor?” Friends have seen enough reports from North Korea, where recently the husband of the US Secretary of State met not only with the boss there, Kim Jong Il, but also with two American journalists, Laura Lin and Yuna Lee, sentenced by a North Korean court to 12 years of hard labor for illegally crossing the state border and other “serious crimes.” crime" against the DPRK. After which the “criminals” were taken by Mr. Clinton to the United States.
Of course, I was not at a loss and answered my doubting compatriots correctly and politically correct. Firstly, I say, we do not have ex-presidents free from work. One has died, and the second is still working as prime minister, and he has enough worries even without helping his compatriots. Secondly, this is a PR campaign by the Clinton family aimed at strengthening the image of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. And in general, I said, the Americans are very afraid of North Korean nuclear missile power and are looking for any way to find a reason to persuade Pyongyang to become peace-loving.
And we in Russia, as you know, are not afraid of North Korea as much as the Americans. We are not afraid of anyone at all, so we have no reason to send someone somewhere to save someone so demonstratively. For example, six years ago the Americans rescued another of their journalists, Leonid Komarovsky, from captivity. Once upon a time it was ours, but by that time, by 2002, it had already become theirs. Happens. So Saparmurat Turkmenbashi the Great (he was still alive then) and his Prosecutor General Kurbanbibi Atajanova (she was still free at the time, now serving a 20-year sentence) ordered Mr. Komarovsky to be put in prison for many years - allegedly for participating in the so-called assassination attempt on Turkmenbashi in November 2002. It took the American ambassador in Ashgabat, a senator from Massachusetts, and other Americans a full five months to demonstratively save their compatriot. Only now, when the decision was made to build the Nabucco gas pipeline, did I understand why they needed it: they were looking for a reason to even then try to persuade the Turkmens to put their gas into the pipeline passing by Russia.
But in Russia we don’t need reasons to communicate with Turkmens. Firstly, we are not afraid of them. And secondly, when necessary, we simply go to Ashgabat and resolve issues. Except for one thing. The one that concerns the fate of our compatriots, convicted in the same case as the American Leonid Komarovsky. There are several of them. The most famous is the former Soviet diplomat, ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Boris Shikhmuradov. They sit alone in Turkmen zindans. Since they were arrested in 2002, no one has seen them: neither relatives, nor lawyers, nor representatives of the International Red Cross.
Of course, Russian consular workers in Turkmenistan did not see them either. Last year, the Russian Foreign Ministry answered a request about the fate of Russians in Turkmen prisons, sent from the office of Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin, exhaustively: we consider it “inappropriate” to raise this issue, since it could undermine the “positive attitude” of the Turkmen side towards cooperation with Russia.
But that was last year, even before the war with Georgia in defense of Russian citizens of South Ossetia. And our Duma leaders were still far from drawing up anniversary assurances to their compatriots that their homeland “will not leave them in trouble.” Now everything is different. And soon Messrs. Gryzlov, Zhirinovsky, Zyuganov and Mironov will obviously send whoever they need to Ashgabat in order to raise the issue head-on with the local leadership and demand a meeting with the Russians arrested seven years ago.
In addition, inspired by their confidence that “modern politics should be built on the principles of civilization, humanity, respect for the rights of people and nations” (as they say in their statement), the Duma members, presumably, will come into contact with the leadership of Tajikistan. There it is necessary to find out the fate of five Russian citizens arrested last month by the authorities of this country. And find out what happened to the bodies of six other Russian citizens, who were then destroyed during a special operation against anti-government rebels.
Of course, these militants were not sent by Moscow to fight against the government of President Rahmon, and it is not the Russian “Private Ryan” who needs to be rescued in Tajikistan. But if they were once given the same Russian passports as the residents of South Ossetia, then they are also compatriots. Just like those whom our high-ranking Duma members swore to protect from unfriendly rulers.