"Already repeating"

What Muscovites talked about at the bottom of victory - and what they tried to be silent about. Report "Medusa"

On the 77th anniversary of Victory in Russia, for the first time in two years, a large-scale celebration was held: since 2019, a significant part of the events on May 9 took place online because of the pandemic. During the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian authorities decided to unite Victory Day and the honor of military personnel who participate in “special operations” in Ukraine. "Medusa" tells what Muscovites talked about at the festival of the world, while their country continued the war.

On the eve of May 9, Moscow was rainy, but the hydrometeorological center stated that the predicted cloud height and the “active impact on the weather” with a high probability would allow the air part of the parade. At seven in the morning, the sun really shone in the capital. Metro cars looked half empty, from the festive in the subway - only reinforced police cordons with dogs. The only man with a St. George ribbon in the center is a dormant policeman. Even the posters in the crossings reminded of the birthday of the metro, and not about the day of victory.

The same could not be said about the streets of Moscow. Already at the end of April, the city appeared in the city “Happy Victory Day” and plastic installations in the form of nine numbers, and with them Soviet symbolism - it met more often than in previous years. Sources of Medusa in the presidential administration called such a decoration of the city part of the campaign to join Ukrainian territories.

The first child in the Red Army pilot appears already on the escalator on Tver. This is one of the most popular places in Moscow in order to look at military equipment live: both at rehearsals of the Victory Parade, and on May 9.

The station only works on the exit. All people who come to her fall into the corridor of gray fences, which usually protect Pushkin Square and Lubyanka when protest actions are announced there. The path leads the crowd into the square. From Tverskaya street, the main part of people separates about 50 meters.

- Is that such a distance everywhere? - Asks a middle -aged man in a policeman leather jacket.

“Yes, of course,” he answers everyday.

“Oh-oh, ** [eat] Your mother,” the man says bewildered and departs from the fence.

Nearby, under the song “The Dark Night”, several volunteers with a fluttering Soviet flag are distributed to leaflets and newspapers “ZA Victory”. "Happy Victory Day!" -says to every suitable woman in a bright pink windbreaker with a NOD icon.

People line up along the fences. A little at a distance, on a bench, two men turn Soviet flags. “I am from Adler, I brought [the portrait] of my grandfather, I want to show him Moscow,” says one of them, in a jacket and with a portfolio. - Grandfather died in 1942, October 17, during the protection of the Tuapse Pass . He arrived at the Immortal Regiment - but they don’t let us in. ”

The man says that for him Victory Day is “our Russian story, great”: “Today we are forbidden to see, the West puts all sorts of traps. Well, we will deal with them, even in years, we can still stand up [for ourselves]. ”

Among the audience on Tverskaya, the rumor begins to disperse that the technique will not be visible here. The policeman tells me about the same thing. He advises to go towards the new Arbat - military equipment will follow from the square. In this direction, turning into the courtyards, most of those who came begins to move.

I am catching up with a woman with blond hair, taken in a high tail, in a black stuffy jacket, asking for an upcoming route. Having become interested in them, she opens the card, but then simply offers to "go for the crowd."

Now I'm going to Arbat with Lena. She was about forty, two years ago, she moved to Moscow from a self -proclaimed DPR. In Makeevka, Lena remained all relatives, children and mom. She says that she recently went to visit them. When asked about the problems with the crossing of the border, he answers that they [the border guards] “show the DPR passport” - and they miss “home”.

“[Relatives] do not want to go here. Strongly the roots were allowed there. Everyone, girlfriends, friends. Even now. I recently call the eldest daughter, I say: “Well, what is there?” He answers: "Five times bloated, already jumped." Well, see something, shot down. ”

Lena notes that the city “of course, has become smaller”, but they still leave “not only”: “There are generally very few men in the city, only those that they do not take to fight. Someone is fighting, someone was already won. So we buried a relative, two months ago, was killed under the Volnovakha. There were fights, he fought with us. There are many very acquaintances - who are cripples, who died, who how. The male population is exterminated. "

Despite this, after the question of her position about the war, Lena clearly replies that both she and her relatives support Russia's actions.

- Even despite death?

- Well, what to do? There is no war without this. For eight years, we still died people. If they surrendered better - so they did not give up, ”Lena explains.

- And there are those who need to fight with?

- Of course there is, but how? They also gathered the army, ”says Lena, without specifying who they are. - Of course, we ourselves do not know, but they write that they were grouped, a good composition, more than one thousand people. Already a meat grinder has spun, you can’t stop. It is necessary to win or agree, otherwise the authority of Russia will fall at all - not only the president.

While we are going, Lena writes a video - he says that he will send it to the children. Already on the way to Arbat, on Nikitsky Boulevard, she stops near sellers of souvenirs and takes a badge with a St. George ribbon and a flag that says “Victory”.

At the same time, two young girls choose icons with the letter Z for their children, who look about five years old. One of them clings the badge to the boy’s clothes in a cap: “That's what a handsome man!”

At the intersection of the new Arbat is also a fence. A separate hope of everyone who came to the parade in the center of Moscow was on its air part - in the crowd it was discussed for a long time. Despite the assurances of the head of the hydrometeorological center, three minutes before the official beginning of the parade, Dmitry Peskov said that due to the weather this part of the parade would be canceled.

- They would let us in the side - do they think we are terrorists? - asks a man standing next to a man in a pink suit with an icon "Thank you for the victory."

“Well, nothing, now let's see the air parade,” her loved ones console.

“There will be no air parade,” I intervene in their conversation.

- Can't be! These are the machinations of the opposition! - the man replies jokingly. - Moreover, the clouds dispersed: the entire Moscow region is in the rain.

- No, the planes should be! How is Z? They trained, ”adds another girl in black, standing on the bench nearby.

At the control rehearsal of the parade on May 7, it was really clear that one of the final elements of the program was in the aircraft in the form of the letter Z. Due to the canceled air program, it turned out that the main part of the parade was at all without this symbol: it was not applied to ground equipment.

However, Muscovites fully reimbursed this “drawback”. Near the Arbat tunnel, a guy of about thirty, completely wrapped in a hackie color flag with the letter Z and the phrase “Za ours”, says that in this way wants to express support to “those guys who defend the same thing as our ancestors”: “They should also somehow see our support. It turns out, through symbols, otherwise. They will show them later. ”

“... we can repeat,” a fragment of the phrase standing nearby is heard, the girl climbs onto the fence of the Arbat tunnel. “We are already repeating,” the guy answers her in a blue windbreaker, who climbs there. The Z. icon swaying on the windbreaker.

When the speech of Vladimir Putin begins, in the crowd it becomes quieter. People look at her smartphones, leaning on the walls. The president devoted almost all the speech to the invasion of Ukraine. Contrary to the fears of the media, the official declaration of war to Ukraine and subsequent mobilization did not occur.

Instead, Putin said that Russia, having begun military operations in Ukraine, "gave a preemptive rebuff to aggression." “It was a forced, timely and only correct decision. The decision of the sovereign, strong, independent country, ”he said. In his opinion, “directly near our borders” was created “an absolutely unacceptable threat to us”, which is why the fighting in the Donbass were inevitable.

During the speech, the president declared a minute of silence, urging their heads to those who fell “the death of the brave” in the struggle for Russia. From the context, it followed that a minute of silence this time concerned the Russian military who died in the Donbass. “Glory to our valiant armed forces. For Russia, for victory. Hooray!" - the president completed his speech.

There were no other heads of states in the stands this year. On April 29, Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that none of them were invited. “The fact is that this is not an anniversary date. This is our holiday, this is a holy holiday for all of Russia, for all Russians, ”Peskov explained the absence of foreign guests. Russia, in turn, was also not invited to celebrate the end of World War II in Paris on May 8.

Diplomacy of Victory Day

The most numerous in the number of world leaders, including Western ones, over the past decades in Russia there was a 2005 parade. Then about 50 chapters of state were present on Red Square. The composition of the invited and arrived delegations has changed significantly in 2014. After the accession of Crimea, none of the leaders of the Western countries already accepted the invitations of the Kremlin, and Poland, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden directly called Russian aggression in Ukraine the reason for the refusal to participate in the Victory Parade. Since then, the parades have been visited by chapters and other representatives of China, India, Mongolia, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Vietnam, South Africa. Last year, only one foreign guest - the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, made the company Vladimir Putin at the parade.

“Always ambassadors and military attache - first of the Soviet Union, then Russia, Belarus, as countries that have made a decisive contribution to victory over fascism, were invited. This year, we did not find places on the stands [in Paris], ” said Ambassador to Paris Alexei Meshkov. In Warsaw, on May 9, they doused the bright red syrup of the Russian ambassador Sergei Andreev, who laid a wreath in the cemetery of warriors-liberators. After that, in Moscow, Warsaw was expressed "a decisive protest for indulgence, in fact, neo -Nazi young people."

“Dad, we came here to look [parade],” the girl with a St. George ribbon, attached to the jacket pocket, an elderly man with glasses and binoculars around his neck, says a little indignantly.

Sitting on a bench opposite a small square, he peers into her phone, glancing in the sun. In addition to her daughter and her husband around the bench, where an elderly man sits, two twins of about six are spinning.

“We will put you on the bench - you will see everything,” assures his father’s daughter.

- Tanks are going! - shouts one of the twins.

- Tanks are coming. You are going to them in Russian,-the grandfather corrects the grandson and immediately jumps on a bench with binoculars.

Throughout the parade, he will comment on the technique passing by, with knowledge of the case: “ “ Armata ” went, we have not sold them to anyone yet.”

After the last “fat caterpillar” - this is how the twins called the military equipment - is removed from the new Arbat, the crowd begins to diverge along the central streets.

Red Square, even after the highest ranks left it, is closed - until Vladimir Putin will pass at 15 o’clock at the head of the Immortal Regiment. The center has strengthened security measures. “From where there were so many cops for all of Moscow,” the crowd is indignant.

Anti -war shares planned on May 9

A few days before May 9, several anti -war shares were announced in Russia. “Feminist anti -war resistance” (FAS) proposed three shares. One of them is the “Beda Day” with the access to the avenue of the world of different cities in Russia in Black.

Another action, the “mortal regiment”, in the idea, consisted in the installation of homemade memorials dedicated to Ukrainians who were killed during the Russian invasion in the yards. The third action of the FAS, a “blood parade”, was supposed to consist in pouring in the paint of military equipment, city administrations and entrances to the military enlistment offices.

The youth movement "Vesna" proposed the action "They fought not for it." She suggested an exit to the procession of the “Immortal Regiment” with portraits of relatives who participated in the Great Patriotic War, and anti -war slogans. On Saturday, May 7, two coordinators of movement were detained in St. Petersburg - Evgenia Zateev and Valentin Khoroshenin, and several participants, including the federal coordinator of Vesna, Bogdan Litvin, were searches. The next day, Knight and Zateev was taken to Moscow. According to lawyers of the “first department”, which protects activists, they are charged with the creation of a non -profit organization encroaching on the identity and rights of citizens . Activists of the movement connect the persecution with their anti -war activities and, in particular, with the plans for holding the action on May 9. Simultaneously with the parade and the “Immortal Regiment”, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow elected a preventive measure to the “spring” to the “Spring” - the detention was extended for 72 hours.

People begin to come to the "Belarusian". The beginning of the “Immortal Regiment” action is scheduled for 15:00, but the fee is declared 3.5 hours earlier. People gather around very in advance and begin to pass through metal detectors as soon as they remove the barriers, after 12.

The subway is no longer empty. It seems that almost the entire wagon goes to the action. On the approach to the inspection points freely. While one policeman conducts an inspection, his colleague approaches a garbage bag standing at the table, where objects seized from the participants are folded from the participants, he looks there with curiosity and says: “Well, is there something interesting?” But so far in the bag there are only bottles with unfinished water and lemonades. The policeman continues the raid at neighboring garbage bags.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in Moscow, the Immortal Regiment campaign gathered more than a million people (the population of Moscow, as of October 1, 2021, amounted to about 13 million people). This is the first full-time promotion over the past two years-since 2019, it has been held in online format due to the pandemic.

Among the crowd at the beginning of the column, a woman stands out in a long skirt, which instead of portraits carries several icons with a magnificent framing. Another person in the crowd goes with a portrait of Joseph Stalin.

According to media reports, in different cities of Russia, the participants of the Immortal Regiment were detained for statements against the war, which were disguised as traditional posters. For example, in St. Petersburg they detained the municipal deputy Sergei Samusev. He came to the action with a photograph of the prisoner of Nazi camps Boris Romanchenko, who died after the shelling of Kharkov this year. According to the OVD-Info , Artem Potapov was detained in Moscow because of the poster: “Who is against the war, treat yourself to candy,” in front of which there was a box of sweets. For the entire time of the procession, I noticed only one portrait with a slogan contrary to the state position: an elderly woman on the back of the banner was glued a white pigeon with the phrase “for peace”.

Among other symbols popular on the procession - letters Z and V - Belarusian and Moldavian flags stood out. Two men who carried the flags of Moldova and the USSR explained to me that they do it "for the sake of memory." “But why do you have a St. George ribbon? Are you ashamed? No need to be ashamed, ”they said, leaving ahead of the regiment.

People in the column also carried flags of the DPR. Two men in military uniform with the Chevrons “Military Intelligence” and “Somalia” (a separate assault battalion in the Armed Forces of the DPR) waved a tricolor and the Soviet flag. They quickly won the attention of the public, gathering around them about 15 people who wanted to take a photo.

“We are no longer in intelligence, we are already everything,” said the ex-military one of the women. A man in shape with the Chevron “Ghost” (14th battalion of territorial defense of the LPR) approached them joined the photo shoot with Fans. “We are proud of this, we have nothing to hide,” he answers questions about permission to make a frame. In addition to individual initiators who came out with the flags of the LPR and the DPR, the general column of the inhabitants of Donbass also passed in the march.

Among those involved were those who were carried by portraits of Russian soldiers who died in Ukraine. So, already almost near Red Square, I meet a woman in dark closed clothes, which carried two signs imposed on one another. On the front - photographs of relatives participating in the Great Patriotic War. The woman introduced herself to Yana and said that her family from Kharkov, one of the photographs depicts her grandfather, and next to him - his native brothers.

“He was alone. When he returned from the front, my mother fell and shouted: “Where did you leave your brothers!” ”Says Yana, not mentioning another, as if a hidden sign.

- And the other? I clarify.

- These are our guys who died in “special operations”. They defended Ukraine from Nazism, died this year.

On the back of the signs, portraits of two young children, Nikolai and Dmitry. Young people in photographs are not Yana's relatives, but she still carries their portraits to Red Square.

Maria Koroleva