Navalny sandwich. Andrey Malgin - about the Crimean question

Alexey Navalny, whose name has been banned for years on Russian television, miraculously became the main character of federal television channels and other media in recent weeks. The day does not pass and someone from the leadership of the State Duma does not speak about him. The fact that he is repeatedly convicted "fraudster" - we already know. But now he is also a foreign spy, and a traitor to the homeland, and an absolutely immoral type, slandering even on holy people such as our honored veterans.

The first persons were connected to the attacks on the surviving after the assassination and now sitting in prison Navalny. "We were brought to us this American toy, this next Gapon priest, called Navalny. I do not want to give even this name. They fell into Russia. It is served at least four intelligence" ( Gennady Zyuganov ). "For me and for my party associates, it is quite obvious that Mr. Navalny is a traitor to our homeland. And, in fact, I am sure that we need to do with him, as we always acted with traitors" ( Sergey Mironov ). “It is clear that a person from there, a person has been recruited for a long time as a saboteur, as a person who was trained here to create a situation like Maidan in Kiev, Tbilisi and so on. We must stop any socio-political activity for people as Navalny. This is the path to the worst option, then the rivers of blood are shed” ( Vladimir Zhirinovsky ). "The main socially significant effect on which the style of" revealing "films of Navalny is oriented is inciting primitive social growth ... The political direction of Navalny is populism and nationalism ... It is cynical to use people's fatigue, a sense of loss of the future for selfish purposes, including political ones. This is called fraud" ( Grigory Yavalinsky ).

Voices were heard from abroad. Czech President Milos Zeman spoke like this: “He gives himself as a fighter for democracy, but I read that, firstly, he supported the annexation of Crimea, secondly, he participated in a number of nationalist marches, thirdly, he supported the Stalinsky deportations, for example, Chechens. There are several more things, so what is the fight for democracy? I have nothing against the nationalist, but he should not pretend to be those politicians who are against the Putin regime. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba said : “We should not be fascinated by the bulk from the point of view of the interests of Ukraine. I am convinced that the“ sandwich ”will have to be returned, not bitten, but fresh and in good condition. There should be no illusions. And he will have to apologize for Russian aggression if it happens that Navalny will head the Russian in some prospect as a result of democratic elections Federation ".

That is, if for the internal audience we are drawn by the image of a fraudster and a populist, then for the outside world, where they are ripening in connection with repressions against Navalny, quite specific sanctions, an opposition image with a flaw is created: he supports nationalists, anti -iliberal, greeted the annexation of Crimea and generally an exact copy of authoritarian Putin.

Is it so? Categorically - no! Navalny constantly, repeatedly and literally from the first minutes of Russian aggression, publicly said that the annexation of Crimea is illegal, criminal, is unacceptable. The very next day after the so -called referendum in the Crimea, being under house arrest in the case of Yves Rocher, Navalny wrote an article about this, and it was published in the newspaper New York Times on March 20, 2014. In this article, he called Putin’s actions in Crimea “military adventure under the banner of a small victorious war”, designed to distract the people from real problems. “The invasion of Ukraine even many members of the Russian elite considered it reckless.“ Crimea has always been an integral part of Russia in the hearts and minds of people, ”Putin said this week. Although even among the most nationalist and pro-Soviets of our people the desire to return Crimea to the Russian rule faded many years ago. However, Mr. Putin cynically brought nationalist fervor to the rush; The imperialist annexation was a strategic choice that contributes to the survival of its regime. " “What is really alarming in the reckless behavior of Mr. Putin,” Navalny writes further, “this is that they are driven by the desire to avenge the Ukrainian people for his uprising against the government friendly to the Kremlin.” Further, Navalny calls on to the most decisive international sanctions to punish for the annexation of Crimea, first of all, the close circle of the Russian president.

Well, where is the "approval of the annexation"? And here is the time to recall when and under what circumstances the notorious “sandwich” of Navalny appeared in the media space. On October 15, 2014, two journalists from the Echo of Moscow managed to break through to the arrested Navalny. Five days before, the Zamoskvoretsky court of the city of Moscow once again extended house arrest in the same case of "Yves Rocher", forbidding Navalny to use the Internet, means of communication and receive mail. However, this did not stop Alexei Venediktov, accompanied by Lesya Ryabtseva , come to his house and take a big interview. It is posted on the Echo website , and everyone can make sure that a friendly conversation cannot be called a friendly conversation. Navalny had to fight off the city of questions pouring on both sides, and at that moment he was under investigation and the answer to some of these questions could become a reason for initiating a separate criminal case.

Agree, this is still not an excuse for aggression. No need to hang on Navalny yet

A. Venediktov : "Do you think that the protest movement has merged in Russia? The protest was blown away because of what? Disappointment has come? How do you think? Your opinion." L. Ryabtseva : "A significant number of those who went out into the street, to Bolotnaya, to Pushkinskaya, they are now Putin’s electorate and they returned to him after the accession of Crimea. Do you agree with this?" A. Venediktov : “People, when they went to Bolotnaya and Sakharov, they protested, but they were Latent Putin’s electorate. That is, among the protest movement were people who are loyally politically to Vladimir Vladimirovich.” L. Ryabtseva : "What do you think good in the Putin system? What would you highlight the positive?" A. VENEDIKTOV : "Highlight rallies - how effective is this?" L. Ryabtseva : "In the previous interview, you said that now Putin is not up to you - he was before Ukraine and to the Crimea. And what was before Ukraine? He was not up to you too? Why did he not touch you?"

Finally, the question was raised by the edge: " A. Venediktov : Our Crimea? A. Navalny : Crimea - those people who live in the Crimea."

Such an answer did not arrange the interviewers. " A. Venediktov: You will not leave the answer! Our Crimea? Crimea-Russian? A. Navalny : Crimea, of course, now de facto belongs to Russia." We note in the fields that this is pure truth: then, that now, after seven years, Crimea, remaining de jure (that is, according to international law) Ukrainian, is actually controlled by Russia, there are Russian authorities and there are no others there.

" A. Venediktov : You think that ... A. Navalny : I believe that, despite the fact that Crimea was captured with a flagrant violation of all international norms, nevertheless, the realities are such that Crimea is now part of the Russian Federation. And let's not deceive ourselves. And I strongly advise not to deceive themselves. It will remain part of Russia and will never become part of Ukraine in the foreseeable future."

Agree, there is some contradiction: "never" or "in the foreseeable future." If I took this interview, I would definitely clarify what is meant, did my interlocutor make a reservation? But this, apparently, was not included in the plans of journalists. The phrase that Crimea will remain part of Russia and will not return to Ukraine, the editors of Echo of Moscow brought to the headline. Finally, the matter came to the "sandwich":

" A. Venediktov : If you become the president, will you try to return the Crimea to Ukraine? A. Navalny : Crimea is a sandwich with sausage, or something to return it back and forth? I don’t think ... A. Venediktov: It turned out that yes."

And here Navalny made an attempt to justify his position.

" A. Navalny : from the point of view of politics and the restoration of justice, what needs to be done in Crimea now is to conduct a normal referendum. Not like it was, but normal. And as people will decide, it will be so. I think that the results of this referendum we are all about what they can be. That's how they will decide - I think that in fact, this is for the insult that they feel, etc. Plus, that Crimea with an absolutely pro -Russian people, with a conservative population that does not accept their anti -corruption revolution, did not take the desire to go to Europe. It is doomed to be something like Northern Cyprus, Turkish.

L. Ryabtseva : How do we crawl out of this stupid crisis with Ukraine?

A. Navalny : We must stop sponsoring the war. We all understand well that the fighting that go in the southeast of Ukraine had no prerequisites. And have no prerequisites. They occur exclusively because for the current leadership of Russia this is a fundamental moment - to torpedo the Ukrainian state, torpedoing reforms and demonstrating to everyone that the anti -Criminal revolution that has occurred in Ukraine is unsuccessful, it will lead to the fact that the state will collapse. This is the most important task, including personal, Vladimir Putin ... But it is necessary to realize a simple thing: Russia is profitable, from the point of view of economic and political, so that Ukraine is normal, prosperous, rich state. These are just the basics of the economy. If everything will be fine with them, and it will be a little better for us. You need to let them go. Let them do what they want ...

Here is a conversation. Is there support for the annexation of Crimea? No, there is a decisive condemnation. However, the "sandwich" remembered everything. Navalny has his own plan of resolving the problem of Crimea. In the future, he repeatedly set it out. He believes that the issue can be settled only with the participation of the international community, and in this case, his interests will have to come to both Ukraine and Russia. Ukrainians who respond in response that such a referendum would contradict the constitution of their country, you can notice that it would also contradict the Constitution of Russia. And Navalny, when he sets out this plan, not only ignores Russian legislation, but also directly falls under the subject of the relevant article of the Criminal Code prohibiting calls to change the boundaries of the country.

A year later, in an interview with the Voice of America and Radio Liberty , Navalny returned to this issue :

A. Navalny : As for the Crimea, my position here is completely Check. The capture of Crimea was a harmful violation of international agreements, because there is a Budapest memorandum on the non -proliferation of nuclear weapons and the fundamental agreements in which Russia participated then ... I believe that it was strategically what was done with the Crimea, not to mention Ukraine, will do great harm to Russia. And this even inflicted a tremendous blow to the very “Russian world” that supposedly protects Putin, because we actually did not gain anything except the huge 40-million country, where the population now just hates us. But the problem of Crimea cannot be solved quickly ... The problem of Crimea should be solved primarily by holding a referendum, which was not there. What was there, I do not consider a referendum. But at the moment there are three million citizens of Russia, they have passports, and just like to click a finger and say - give it ... The first and only that you can start doing is to conduct an honest referendum with a long period of preparation, where both Ukraine and Crimean Tatars, that is, all interested parties will be able to campaign for a long time. Then we hold a referendum. According to the results of this referendum, you can make a decision ... The problem of Crimea is for a long time. For tens of years! For decades, this will poison the existence of everyone - Crimeans, to us Ukrainians. This for many years will be the most important issue of the agenda of international relations. And he is unsolvable, first of all, because three million Russian citizens live there now.

M. SOKOLOV : Well, a referendum under whose control is international, Ukrainian, Russian?

A. Navalny : Joint.

M. SOKOLOV: How?

A. Navalny : If there is political will ... Under the current regime, this, of course, is impossible. What we are discussing is fantasies ...

D. GALPEROVICH : Should any next Russian government before holding the scheme that you said about publicly declare that it condemns violations of international treaties that have occurred?

A. Navalny : Of course! This was a violation of international treaties. "

The position of Navalny on the Crimean settlement can be criticized, discussed, even ridiculed ... But, you see, this is still not an excuse for aggression. No need to hang on Navalny also.

Andrey Malgin - journalist and blogger

Opinions expressed under the heading "Law" may not reflect the point of view of the Radio Liberty editorial