Base of protest

Ulyanovsk against NATO

Base of protest. The decision to use Ulyanovsk airport as a transit point for NATO goods was made by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin a few months before March 4. But street protests in the homeland of Lenin began only after the statement of Gennady Zyuganov: “The NATO base in Ulyanovsk is a gift from Putin for the election recognition.” What the Ulyanovites are afraid of - he found out The New Times “There is nothing to do NATO in Russia,” the young activist of Sergei Kurginyan’s movement “The Essence of Time” Andrei shouts. - As they came to Afghanistan, let them go through such a road through their Pakistan! ” In Ulyanovsk, a cold wind and wet snow, but about 200 people gathered on the rally of the left forces “NATO base” on March 26 - decently for Ulyanovsk. This is the fourth such action after the presidential election. The Anti -Natovsky rally wave seemed to change the wave of rallies and pickets “Russia without Putin”. However, Putin and anti -nations remember: they say, he is not a patriot, he sold for thirty silverings, wants to launch a “probable enemy” in the heart of Russia.

At first, the authorities assured the Russians that the United States is an enemy, and now they are trying to convince the Ulyanovsk people of the benefits of the NATO transit point of a long -standing speech about the creation of the NATO transshipment point in Ulyanovsk in the spring of 2011. The alliance has long planned the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, which means that along with them are cargo. According to Robert Pshel, the director of the NATO information bureau in Moscow, the troops will be withdrawn through Pakistan, but I would like to export goods with different routes, so the NATOs turned to Moscow. “The Russian side itself chose Ulyanovsk. We agreed. So this city has become the subject of current negotiations, ”Robert Pshel said in an interview.

The agreement on the transit of NATO goods through Russia to Afghanistan has been valid for four years, and since 2010 there has been an active discussion and feedback. “Russia considers transit, first of all, as a means to assist those who have undertook to provide the eradication of a terrorist and drug threat in Afghanistan,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a government hour in the State Duma on March 14.

In November 2011, the NATO specialists visited Ulyanovsk, they liked Ulyanovsk-East Airport, although they lamented for the lack of a terminal for processing goods, but you can fly here without refueling. Of the pluses: a railway line enters the airport, containers can be overloaded to platforms and - to the Baltic states. The main advantage of the "eastern" is a long and wide runway

* * Its length is 5 km, a width of 105 m., It allows you to take any aircraft, including the heavyweight An-124-100 Ruslan with a carrying capacity of up to 150 tons. The Park of such vessels has the Volga-Dnepr airline, deployed in Ulyanovsk. The capacity of the airport equipped with modern navigation equipment is up to 40 aircraft per hour.

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The townspeople are surprised: Putin himself said - the West wants to dismember Russia, and now NATO lets us

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The pros and cons of the cargo transshipment will be not indifferent: for each container, $ 5-6 thousand will be paid for the Russian side (according to other sources - up to $ 19 thousand). And hundreds of thousands of containers for those three years, while the troops are withdrawn, are very good money. Therefore, the Governor of the Ulyanovsk Region Sergey Morozov considers the project profitable: “This will give us several thousand new jobs. This will give impetus in the development of the airport. This is a job for our Volga-Dnepr airline. This means that one of the largest taxpayers of the region will pay us at least twice as many taxes. ”

“Who will receive this money? Regional budget? We do not believe! Money will either go to Moscow, or they will plow it again, ”the pensioner Maria Pavlovna is getting excited. “Let Morozov not be cunning, all the same, Moscow will take everything to himself, all the money will go to Putin,” says her friend. “The issues of our safety are higher than any money,” says the leader of the local communists Alexander Kruglikov. “We insist on holding the regional and all -Russian referendum on the NATO base in Ulyanovsk.”

Claims of Ulyanovsk anti -Naty residents can be listed quickly: the transshipment point once can turn into a full -fledged base - this time. If the United States begins to fight with Iran, then Iran can launch a rocket in Ulyanovsk - these are two. Here, nearby, 100 km, in Dimitrovgrad of the Research Institute of Atomic reactors is located, and in Ulyanovsk itself there are also a lot of defense enterprises, and there will now be foreign spies everywhere, these are three. From Afghanistan, NATO to Ulyanovsk dragging drugs - these are four. “Look how Americans behave in foreign territories,” says pensioner Valentina Venediktovna. - What will they do with our girls for dollars, huh? " - It's five.

Power has become a hostage to its own anti -American rhetoric. The Ulyanovsk people are now afraid of spies, Iranian missiles and drug trafficking from Afghanistan under the fifth NATO are surprised: Putin himself said - the West wants to dismember Russia, and now lets NATO. “They said that the State Department of the opposition pays money for rallies, the opposition“ shakalit ”, and now what, they themselves take money, they themselves“ shakala ”?” - the pensioner Arkady Leonidovich is surprised.

The Russian government has become a hostage to its own election rhetoric, stuffed with anti -Americanism. Boomerang has returned, and now ordinary people demonstrate total distrust of the official statements of the Russian leadership. They do not believe a single word. Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said: “The transshipment point in Ulyanovsk is not a military base. The goods transported through the territory of the Russian Federation will be inspected by customs authorities. ” “It is even worse that our customs officers will watch,” objects the deputy of the City Duma of Dimitrovgrad Sergey Stepanenko. “They will miss any load.” There would be American customs officers, there would be incorruptible. And I do not believe ours. "

“For a couple of bribes, NATO rents the airport for a year, and then it will be owned by them,” they will make noise in the crowd. “And no one knows what weapons will be stored there,” the local businessman Yuri Topchiyan is indignant.

Homegrown geopolitics caused irritation even among Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, the famous Hawk. “I don’t think that transit through Russia of NATO toilet paper is a betrayal of his homeland,” he snapped on his Twitter. In response, the organizers of the Ulyanovsk rallies through public receptions Putin and Medvedev sent Rogozin a couple of packages of toilet paper.

“Cooperation in Afghanistan is extremely important for Russia,” said military observer Alexander Golts. - Rhetoric rhetoric, but we must be aware that the Americans in Afghanistan ensured the security of Russia, and now, when they come out, difficult times will come for Russia. For radical Islam, jumping through Pyanj and Amu Darya is a matter of months. Further - weak authoritarian regimes of Central Asia. According to the worst scenario, at the turn of 2015-2016, tens of thousands of refugees will be somewhere near Orenburg. And here, if rationally approached, we desperately need cooperation with the Americans in the Central Asian region. We need not to drive their bases, but to say: guys, please stay and help. ”

But the Ulyanovsk anti -Nations do not want to see such distant prospects, they only see that they are deceiving again: they said, America is an enemy, and now they let her into Ulyanovsk, they say that the Americans will give money, but we know for sure - we will not get it.

At the rally, the red banners of the atheist communists touchingly coexisted with the icons of the Orthodox anti-Naty people. “Believe that the Americans are friends for us? Let the Lord reveal your eyes, ”one of the women with an icon instructed the neighbors.

Several police officers indifferently listened to the resolution about the "international robber", which wants to turn the city of Lenin into a "supporting point of the aggressive military bloc." A piercing raw wind gradually dispersed the protesters no worse than the batons of riot police.