Theater of cruelty and the theater of absurdity

The taxi driver somehow laughed strangely. On the radio, it was reported that there would be no elections in the Donetsk People’s Republic.

- Why are you laughing? You will not have an election, ”I tell him.

“Well, it's funny,” says the driver and lands opposite the regional administration, which has been captured by representatives of the “People’s Militia” since April.

In a cafe where I planned to have breakfast, they are not allowed to be allowed.

- We have not opened yet, okay? At eleven, the opening, ”the girl nervously reports, wiping the poplar fluff from the curtains with a broom. I look at the clock: without five eleven.

“So I'll wait for five minutes here, can I?” - I beg.

“No,” the girl answers dryly and leads out of the cafe.

The streets are empty and tense. The day before the election, a rumor passed that the cities of the Donetsk region were planning to “clean up”. What does this mean, no one understood, but from work people were released at three in the afternoon, most shops and cafes closed. There was almost no one even in the square in front of the regional administration. An elderly woman was sitting on the street at a table and giving rare passers -by a questionnaire for employment.

- When the war ends, we will call everyone and give work. There will be how much work will be! - says the woman and smiles. - We will need to build a new state, without all these oligarchs and fascists. The first two months, however, will most likely have to work for free. Our republic has no money yet ...

On the eve of May 25, it became clear that there would be no elections in the Donetsk region. Armed people in masks came to the places where election commissions were located, took computers and threatened with reprisal. Activists, who tried to somehow show their pro-Ukrainian position, left the region-some in Kyiv, some in the neighboring Dnepropetrovsk, where millionaire Igor Kolomoisky stopped separatist sentiments. There were practically no journalists in the Donbass: after they began to threaten them, and on the “wall of traitors” the regional administration hung their photos, they chose to go underground.

On Sunday morning, they officially reported that voting in Donetsk would not work. Near the house where I settled, a single plot opened. Ten minutes later, armed people approached him. After another ten minutes, the site was closed.

Look, some bandits have come and do not let us vote, but here we get the renegades, right?

From Dokuchaevsk - a small town near Donetsk - said that unknown people stormed the opened polling station. I have been waiting for a taxi for a long time to go there: many drivers refuse to travel outside the regional center. Finally, the taxi driver Pasha arrives. Driving past the gas stations, he says: “Look how many separatists” - and points to cars without numbers. From the window of one of them shows a hand in a black glove - such armed people are usually worn here.

There are two near the Dokuchaev school: a policeman and a peasant in a civilian. The doors of the school are closed, the "Zhiguli" are parked nearby, from which the song "Na-on" "Faina" roars.

“There are no elections here,” the man reports inhospitably. - We all voted on May 11, so today no one came.

- What, at all? - I am asking for just in case.

“Absolutely,” he answers gloomily, and his gaze, as it were, hints that he does not intend to answer questions anymore. The silent policeman sits on a bench and lit a cigarette.

The site on the territory of the school is also closed. At the door are a man in a police uniform, a long thin guy in blue shorts with a yellow pattern and a girl in a blue shirt. They arrived from Donetsk specifically to vote. The policeman knocks on the door, female voices come from the inside.

- Do you have a policeman there? - asks a man in the keyhole. There is no answer. After standing for a few minutes at the entrance, the guy and the girl are leaving upset.

Meanwhile, a scandal unfolds in the first section. Locals came to the school, all of them received invitations to the polls. They are not allowed into school: the doors are held by a policeman and a woman called a guard.

“We will not have an election, I repeat once again,” the woman says strictly.

- And the policeman is protecting this DPR? - The big lady yells in training. -Look, some bandits came and do not let us vote, and here we get renewed, right?

On the main square of Dokuchaevsk they are preparing for the rally of the Donetsk People’s Republic. In the middle of the square, someone put an old bicycle, to which a battered Soviet flag with a portrait of Lenin was tied with a rope.

An elderly man in camouflage is torn on stage.

- Give me a speech to say! I want to say! - He begging representatives of the DPR. They laugh at him.

“You want to say - go until we put the microphone,” one of them says.

- I want to say what I am for the Soviet Union! - shouts a man.

“Hey grandfather,” Deenerovets warns, “we are not for the Soviet Union.” We are for the people.

The crowd is slowly pulling away to the stage, and suddenly a car beep is heard. Behind him is one more, and yet, the beeps are intertwined into a single unpleasant roar. People are perplexed around. Twelve in the afternoon: it is at this time that those who do not support the Donetsk People’s Republic are accustomed to signal. This protest was invented by Rinat Akhmetov, who recently stated that he was advocating for the integrity of Ukraine and against the DPR. Applause is heard on the square. Not everyone seems to understand what the beeps are dedicated to.

The people suddenly realized that all this time not only respected Rinat, but also fiercely hated him.

... The barefoot woman walked along the bridge towards Makeevka, lifting the T -shirt. A scarlet bra was showing under it. In her hands she held slippers, a bottle of transparent liquid and an Orthodox cross.

- Akhmetov - the enemy of the people! She chanted and waved her hands, urging everyone to follow her. Perhaps she introduced herself as the heroine of Delacroix's picture “Freedom on the barricades”-and in some ways she really looked like her.

Behind the woman, a crowd with Russian flags moved. From the speakers of the "Lada", covered with the flag of the Donetsk People’s Republic, a song, which many here already know by heart, played - "Russians go" performed by Jeanne Bichevskaya.

At twelve, while I watched in Dokuchaevsk motorists distribute “Akhmetov’s beep”, Deenarovites gathered a large rally on Lenin Square in Donetsk. The task of the rally was simple: to demonstrate that Donetsk did not hold an election and was terribly satisfied with this fact. After the official part, fighters of the Vostok battalion lined up on the square, some of which are professional military from Russia. Suddenly, one of the leaders of the DPR urged everyone to go to smash Akhmetov’s residence in Makeevka, and the exalted crowd reacted with lightning speed to the call.

And now the Donetsk residents are mixed with the armed fighters of the "East" roar under the walls of the residence, demanding to open the gate.

“Show us your wealth, Rinat!” - shout from all sides.

- Kyiv was shown Mezhigorye, now you show us your "luxury"!

- Let me see how much you stole, Rinat!

A couple of months ago, Akhmetov in the Donbass was considered an inviolable figure, the owner of the region, the godfather of miners and workers, and a breadwinner of the many thousands of Donetsk family. Legends were composed of Rinata. Many, for example, sincerely believed in the story that Akhmetov, meeting a beautiful girl on the street, necessarily gives her a pack of dollars. Rinata listened to the mouth opening, they were ready to go anywhere, because although he usurped power over the local economy and did not allow small businesses to develop, he did not offend his own.

Akhmetov was the local President of Donbass, King of Terrikonov. And suddenly, a Donetsk People’s Republic appeared on its territory, who wished to nationalize its enterprises and urged the people to refuse to pay taxes to the usurper. Rinat was in a dangerous position, his inviolable image began to rapidly collapse. The people suddenly realized that all this time not only respected Rinat, but also fiercely hated him and that for them this trip to the residence is much more important than the election of the All -Ukrainian President. A campaign on Lux has become the equivalent of the elections for them. The king of Donbass suddenly turned out to be naked: subjects took his clothes from him, and this fact was terribly amused.

The crowd rattled under the walls of the residence, the heroine of Delacroix rushed with a cross among armed fighters, women with Russian flags, lying on the lawn, sang along with Jeanne Bichevskaya. And somewhere outside the Donetsk People’s Republic there were real elections.