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Residents of the Mordovian district center Atyashevo knew in advance who to vote for. The authorities explained: the size of United Russia depends on the size of their salaries and pensions. In the Mordovian outback, the New Times correspondent returned to the country, which, it seemed, has been not 20 years old - unanimity reigns here, and people go out into the street massively, only to meet the patriarch
The Atyashevsky district became famous in 2007, when he gave the parties to a record 99.5%of the vote, in some sections the indicators even went out: 102%, even 107%. Atyashevo is located an hour and a half from the capital of Mordovia Saransk, the population of the district center is only 6 thousand people. Here they live in agriculture and livestock, almost all the locals hold cattle - piglets or cows, otherwise you will not survive. The average salary at the Atyashevsky meat processing plant is 13,759 rubles, the peasants have 4-5 thousand, and the prices in stores are quite Moscow. There are several grocery stores in the center of the village, a bank, a hairdresser, a culture house, a registry office, a court, police, 2 cafes. In front of the recreation center - the alley of the heroes of the war. Recently, a store of the Magnit supermarket chain was opened in the village, but the locals are even dissatisfied with this: the chairman of the Council of Deputies of the municipal district Nikolai Kozhaev, part -time the head of the REPO, complained of The New Times, that Magnit has lower prices and, uneven for an hour, have to close already working stores.

Positive on the central square of the village, next to the district administration - the public reception of "United Russia" and the editors of the newspaper "Forward". Its editor -in -chief, a large brunette with the manners of the party worker and a member of ER Raisa Kuznetsova is proud of: her newspaper is not only a laureate of republican competitions, but also the center of attraction of the inhabitants. Subscribers publish congratulations to loved ones and friends: “Where can we get such a word, what will you wish for a birthday? We wish to be always healthy and never lose heart! "

The headlines of the articles are painfully reminiscent of the Soviet leaders: “Together - for the best life for everyone” (interviews with the head of the district), “For Honored Labor - High Awards”, “The Record is broken!” (about the harvest of beets), “two comrades worked” (about the hard work of the bakery).

The work of editor Kuznetsov combines with chairmanship in the district branch of the Council of the Public Movement of the Mordovian people, which is fighting for the preservation of their native language. The overwhelming part of the population in the area is Mordva, the Erzya nation. Raisa easily switches from Russian to Erzy, communicates with her husband to Erzya, but her daughter, although she understands her native language, does not speak him anymore

* * In Mordovia, 2 nations live: Erzya in the East and Moksha in the West. Each has its own language related to the Finno-Ugric language family. In the Soviet school, Erzya was taught only in national schools, in Russian schools it began to be taught in the mid-90s and is now being studied on a par with the Russian. .

The wise people of Raisa lead the correspondent of The New Times to the head of the district: "He wants to meet." In the office of Mikhail Surkov there are no portraits of either Putin or Medvedev. But the Russian emblem hangs on the wall and there are 2 flags: the Mordovian burgundy-white-blue tricolor and Russian. Surkov has been heading the Atyashevsky district for 15 years and assures that no political struggle in these parts is being conducted: “Our people are wise. He knows who to vote for. And candidates from other parties do not show activity, realizing that you should not waste time on the election campaign. ” “The application for a paid square during the pre -election campaign came only from the United Russia,” the chief of the newspaper “Forward” confirms his words.

A month and a half before the election, Mikhail Surkov at a meeting with pensioners, and this is a third of the population of the district, set them the task: “On how we will vote responsibly and correctly in the elections, how the republic will live in the next 5-6 years.” He promises that Atyashevo will repeat, or even surpasses the 2007 indicators. “This time the result will be no worse,” The New Times assured Surkov. “People are satisfied with how the authorities fulfilled their orders.” For 4 years, according to him, all the villages were gasified, roads were repaired, apartments for war and machine operators were built, housing certificates under the Young Family program were issued, a surgical complex in the district hospital was repaired, an ice palace was completed, and a new temple is being built on the proposal of the district administration. Money is collected by the whole world, state employees and workers, as The New Times found out, they are forced to sacrifice without fail and with the highest blessing: the ethnic Mordvin Patriarch Kirill, traveling in Mordovia, stopped at Atyashev 5 times and blessed the people. “Everything, as in the Soviet Union, for ordering,” the local taxi driver told The New Times. “All organizations said in advance how to vote, and the authorities will find out if someone did not follow.” When the Patriarch came to the village, the inhabitants were also strongly asked to go to meet him to the central square.

Tatyana Kharitonova with her husband and boar

The farmer involuntarily in the village house of Tatyana Kharitonova in the hall is a large flower that looks like a decorative palm tree. In the snowy Mordovian village, this seems to be exotic. It stands out among the locals and the mistress of the house. Women here, as a rule, wear scarves: very devout. Many dyes their hair in a red-stone color, fold their hands with a cross on the stomach, speak loudly, and if they switch to Erzy, as if they sing. Tatyana is a little over 40, she does not adhere to these customs: a short haircut, a yellow turtleneck, training trousers with a comb. She worked as the head of the administration in the village of Kapasovo, this was 20 km from Atyashev, quit, since there was not enough time for either the family or the subsidiary farm. She returned to teach at elementary school, where she once worked. But last year 3 students remained at the school, and it was closed. “The population is aging,” Tatyana explains. - The birth rate is falling, the youth is leaving. Teachers were put on the labor exchange. They offered to take 58 thousand rubles for free to create an individual economy. Of all, only I agreed, I already had 5 heads of cattle. Now we have 7 cows and 5 pigs. Our courtyard occupies 3rd place in the republic among individual farms in the number of milk delivered. ” True, the purchase price of milk is 9 rubles, and in stores it sells 30 rubles each, and many residents complain that it has become unprofitable to hold cows.

“We live a separate state,” says Tatyana. - In the summer we get up at 4 in the morning. We work all day with cattle and on Earth. I myself bake bread, take flour in the mill. They come from the oil factory for milk. I have no relations with the tax inspectorate. I pay 2 thousand rubles of land tax - and that’s it. Private traders come to buy piglets to me - they know that I have good meat. ”

3 months ago, Kharitonova took two adopted children - a boy and a girl from an orphanage. I wanted a large family. She is not particularly interested in politics, but she knows that she will vote for the party in power. “The head of the republic helps people, how can I not vote for United Russia? She asks. “It would be a spit in his direction.”

I will go out into the field ... The village of Kirzemana is considered unsuccessful in the area. “Do not go there,” the correspondent of The New Times dissuaded. There are really no roads here and you can only drive around the village on a tractor. There is no sewage in a rural school built 26 years ago. An ad on the front door hangs: there will be a polling station. Judging by the records in the book of visitors, in the last days before December 4, representatives of the precinct election commission and experts for the destruction of rats visited here. “The toilet in the school building has not been working for many years,” one of the school cleaners told. - In September, to the elections in the courtyard, a new one was built, otherwise there was not even a wall between the male and female “holes” before. But the locals do not get used to it, and the head of the village Alexander Averkin to the question why there is no sewage in the XXI century, only reads a well -known ditty: “It’s good in the village in the summer, picked g*VNOs to the pins, go out in the field, sit down, see you far away.” When asked about the election, it is admitted that he is holding a ticket to the Communist Party at home, but now - a member of United Russia and is sure that its result in the region will be at least 99%.

In the local library, The New Times asked what books the villagers prefer. “We have 12 thousand books,” said Director Irina Kenaeva. - There is Russian and foreign classics. 400 people are recorded in the library

* According to the 2010 census, 599 people are registered in the village. Mostly asking detectives and love novels. ” Every year, 1 thousand rubles are allocated from the federal budget for the purchase of books, and the republican budget adds 500 rubles. Mostly the books of AST - Yulia Shilova, Alina Znamenskaya, Alexander Kazantsev purchase

* Famous authors of detective, love, fantastic novels. . The surnames of Ulitskaya, Prilepin, Bykov were unfamiliar to the library director, she did not hear about Harry Potter, nor about the baby and Carlson.

The “Forward” newspaper: the head of the district, Mikhail Surkov, presents housing certificates to the young family without memory Father Victor serves in the Church of the Icon of the Kazan Mother of God, built in Kirzeman in 1863. He says that parishioners are becoming less and less, because people do not have time to go to church. Accordingly, the rectors of the temples are little received from the parish. Last year, bishops allowed the priests to earn extra money and engage in business. Father Victor is dashing. Mother is a geography teacher at a school with a salary of 5 thousand rubles.

“People complain that it has become unprofitable to engage in agriculture. Beets, private traders buy potatoes from the peasants for nothing, ”says Father Victor. - Young leave to study, many parents pay for their studies, delaying the money earned on the sale of livestock and milk. Most then does not return to the village. Who hunting in manure to bother? True, the salaries are higher at the meat processing plant. ” The district local history museum has been presented the history of the Atyashevsky district from ancient times to the present day. But not a word in it said a period of repression, when many residents of the district were evicted as fists, the chairmen of collective farms were recognized as pests, sent to camps, shot. The 30s recalls only a stand with portraits of all secretaries and chairmen of the district committees of the CPSU (b). “True, they could not find photos of 20 people who worked in these positions from 1929 to 1937,” the founder of the museum Vasily Gordeev told The New Times. “Apparently, they were repressed.”

Vasily's wife Tatyana Ivanovna, along with her husband, sings in a folklore ensemble. “There used to be the Communists, now United Russia is our party,” she says. - In any case, it is now better than in the Soviet Union. Then working pensioners could not receive both a pension and a salary, it was necessary to choose. Now the salary is a great help for pension. ”

Mikhail Kintaykin, an artist, a poet and a musician, is often in the museum of local lore: many of his paintings hang here. By the arrival of the head of the Republic of Mordovia Nikolai Merkushkin, Ksovatykin wrote poetry in his honor, which on November 29 at the grand opening of the ice palace was read by a student of the 4th grade of the Athyshevskaya school of Vova Kuznetsov.

From all generations, bending his knees,
The Atyashevsky boy sends you hello.
With a feeling of excitement and inspiration
I give you a gift. I am ten years old.
Mokshan - Erzyan.
We strive for knowledge.
And you, Nikolai Ivanovich, are always driving.
Build yourself, you live with us.
In United Russia, we all live.