Alexander Ryklin: The responsibility of the "elite", or who brought us to such a life

This year, the new book prize "Politzerosvet" will be awarded for the first time.

“After February 24, the conversation about enlightenment is impossible outside the ethical and political context. Therefore, this year a special Polit-Svetvet award was established-for a book dedicated to the current socio-political process and helps to understand its nature, ”says Boris Zimin, the head of Zimin Foundation, with the support of which is presented with Politicosvet.

Not only books, but also the cycles of articles, multimedia projects, podcasts and YouTube shows were sent to the competition, but the qualifying committee decided to stop this year only on a book format: these publications turned out to be so significant. The long list of Politsevvet includes 10 books of Russian publishers - of which in October the jury will choose 5 finalists, and in December - a laureate.

The Publishing House of Zakharov is presented in the list by the book of a journalist and political observer Alexander Ryklin's “Responsibility of Elit”, or who brought us to such a life. ”

“To destroy the already well -established myth about the historical inevitability of a special Russian path - I set such a goal,” the author of the book writes. - Apologues of the theory that in our latitudes, no form of government, except for hard authoritarian, has, has and will never have a chance of success, at first glance, very convincing arguments lead. Say, the Bogo-bearer’s people was not able to understand and accept all the advantages of democracy and himself delegated their constitutional rights to a narrow group of persons. I do not agree. I think that people who found themselves at the foot of power during the Yeltsin rule were the reason for the current state of affairs in Russia. It was self -interest and lack of strategic thinking of the then "elites" that led the country to such a disappointing today. They also invented the myth that quite justifies them about the historical inevitability of a special Russian path. ”

We offer to read a fragment of the book describing the events of September 1999.

The art of using the moment as a pre -election technology

In Buinaksk, near the hostel in which the families of military personnel of the 136th motorized rifle brigade lived on September 4, an old truck exploded. 64 people were killed, including 23 children. But the second explosion in Buinax was prevented. The sappers cleared a truck parked near the building of the military hospital, and found documents in it in the name of Isa Zaynudtinov (later he will be sentenced to life imprisonment). Then in the news this name was not yet called, but information about the discovered documents was made public. I remember very well how, sitting in front of the TV, our guide grinned, the captain, in whose company we watched that news release in the lobby of the Leningrad Hotel in Makhachkala. "Certainly! He said. - What is the terrorist always do before leaving the mined car? He takes out a passport from his pocket and puts it in the seat ... "

The second explosion occurred in Moscow, September 13. On Guryanov Street, not far from the Kashirsky highway, a brick house took off into the air. 124 people died. The next truck exploded on September 16 near a residential building in Volgodonsk. 19 people died there.

It seems to me that this is important to say. It is clear that in that terrible September, the whole country was in an suppressed, depressing state. People were horrified by what was happening, exchanged opinions, built versions. On one of these days, I spoke on the phone with human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek. So, Alexander then firmly and categorically stated that he did not doubt the involvement of the "office" for a second. I remember very well that I argued with him. I just did not fit such a scenario in my head. Of course, I did not have any illusions about the moral principles of employees of our main special services, but I could not imagine that they would go to bloody terrorist attacks in their own country. And then there was a story with a prevented terrorist attack in Ryazan.

Here is an excerpt from the article by journalist Pavel Voloshin, published in Novaya Gazeta: “At 21:15, the driver of the Spartak football club Alexei Potatelnikov, a resident of the house No. 14/16 on Novoselov Street, called the Ryazan October District. He said that 10 minutes ago he saw at the entrance of his house, where on the ground floor there was a round-the-clock store "Day and Night", "Lada" 5th or 7th white model with Moscow numbers T 534 W 77 RUS. The car drove into the yard and stopped. The man and the young woman left the salon, went down to the basement and returned after a while. Then the car drove close to the basement door, and all three began to drag some bags inside. One of the men was with a mustache. The woman was in a training suit. Then all three got into the car and drove away. ”

Since all this happened on the evening of September 22, that is, a few days after a series of terrible explosions in Moscow and Volgodonsk, it is hardly surprised that the police reacted with lightning speed. In the basement of the indicated house, police found three sugar bags. One of the bags turned out to be cut, an explosive device was found inside, in the type of “non -factory production”. Soon, the Ministry of Emergencies arrived, who carried the bags.

The explosive device was neutralized in 15 minutes, the tenants of the house were evacuated to the nearest cinema. Express analysis of the content of bags was shown by the presence of hexogen: by that time, the whole country knew the meaning of this term. According to the residents who had a happy way, who escaped terrible death, the local district police officer later told them that the timer was installed at 5:30 in the morning.

Since the next morning the news about the prevented atrocity became known to the whole country, officials were forced to comment on. Moreover, one of the first about the failed terrorist attack in Ryazan was spoken by the then Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin. In the evening of September 23, in an interview with the Vesti program, he first talks about the aircraft at the Grozny, which took place on the same day, and then moves on to the topic of the Ryazan incident: “As for the blow to the Grozny Airport, I cannot comment on it. I know that there is a general attitude, that bandits will be persecuted where they are. I am simply completely disliked, but if they ended up at the airport, it means - at the airport. It is difficult for me to add to what has already been said ... As for the events in Ryazan. I don't think this is some kind of puncture. If these bags, in which explosives were found, have been seen-this means that still a plus is at least that the population reacts correctly to the events that are taking place in the country today. I will use your question to thank the country's population for this. We are in non -payment duty to people and for not saving those who died, and are grateful to them for the reaction that we observe. And this reaction is very correct. No panic, no condescension to the bandits. This is a mood to fight them to the end. To victory. We will definitely do it. ”

And already on September 24, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Vladimir Rushailo, speaking at the first All -Russian meeting to combat organized crime, does not express any doubts about the fact that it is a prevented terrorist attack. Recognizing a number of serious miscalculations, he at the same time thanks the employees of the Ryazan police department. Clearly realizing the fact that it was his department who saved dozens of lives, Rushailo completes his speech: “The prevention of new terrorist attacks and the punishment of the perpetrators in already committed crimes is the main task of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs at this stage.”

But after Rushailo, the director of the FSB Nikolay Patrushev, the director of the FSB, acts with an absolutely sensational statement. He directly denies the version confirmed by both the prime minister and the Minister. “Firstly, it was not an explosion,” says Patrushev, “secondly, they did not work clearly. It was a teaching, there was sugar. There was no explosive. ”

I perfectly remember the confusion - both my own, and all those with whom I discussed what was happening in those days. Well, suppose this is the "office". But they could not work so rudely? And even if the operational puncture is still, then why did not immediately warn the rest of the high-ranking colleagues? Say, it was a teaching. Now we know the answer to this question. The fact is that Nikolai Patrushev was waiting for the bags with a “white substance” would be in his hands and he will receive the opportunity to declare that sugar was inside. Because if the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the Ministry of Emergencies conducted a thorough examination and established the presence of hexogen, it would be extremely difficult to defend the version of the "exercises". I think that at that moment, immediately after the statement of Patrushev, the whole Russian elite realized what really happened, and in the future, any of her representatives were horrified from this topic, flatly refusing to comment on it.

Some time ago, while communicating with a fairly young audience, we touched the topics of those terrible terrorist attacks. And one of the interlocutors, a guy of about twenty -five, asked:

- And how could it come out that society swallowed this situation? She is absolutely transparent, obvious. Why was no one indignant, did not write?

I answered approximately the following:

-Firstly, of course, they wrote. The New Gazeta, the Form of Results, the NTV television company paid great attention to this topic. And the fact that Russian society did not find an adequate answer to such a terrible event requires a separate detailed conversation.

I think the main reason for the lack of a tough reaction of the elites to the terror -prevented terrorist attack is this: at the moment when Nikolai Patrushev pronounced these amazing words, disinfecting the statements of both Putin and Rushailo, almost all representatives of all groups of influence literally, sorry, crap. They froze in horror when they instantly realized what they had to face. That the force is put forward on the Russian political scene, about which they have long forgotten. And it is called - "Office". I think that the reason is precisely this: people were corny.

As for formal institutions, which, it seems to us, should not have missed this topic, prevent her from dissolving in the stormy news stream of those days, then, of course, the State Duma comes to the head. However, only two months remained before the parliamentary elections, and, as already mentioned here, this composition of parliament has learned to interact with different groups of influence. However, the next composition will return to this topic six months later, right before the presidential election, in which Vladimir Putin will win a triumphal victory.

In mid -March 2000, two deputies from the Yabloko faction, Yuri Shchekochikhin and Sergey Ivanenko, submitted a deputy request “On the fact of detecting in the city of Ryazan on September 22, 1999 of explosives”. Shchekochikhin and Ivanenko made two attempts to drag this document through the State Duma, and both of them turned out to be failure. Each time the “unity”, the “People’s Deputy”, “Regions of Russia” and the LDPR, voted against sending a request to the Prosecutor General’s office, voted to the Prosecutor General. In support of the request was the “Yabloko”, ATP, the Communist Party and the Agrarian-Industrial Group (APG).

The NTV channel played a huge role in the investigation of the real circumstances of the “teachings in Ryazan”. Nikolai Nikolaev’s program “Independent Investigation” dedicated to this topic was aired on March 24, 2000, that is, two days before the presidential election. To say that it turned out to be scandalous is to say nothing. The version that the secret exercises of the FSB took place in Ryazan was literally destroyed in front of the whole country.

The studio was attended by representatives of the FSB, residents of Ryazan, the military, and explosives. The polemic was carried out violently, in high colors. Lawyer Pavel Astakhov (yes, yes, the same one) will rise from his place at some point and exclaim: “If you claim that there was sugar in the bags, then a criminal case on charges of terrorism should be stopped! But the criminal case has not yet been terminated. So, there was not sugar there. ”

But the replica of the expert-explosion of Rafael Gilmanov: “Listen, hexogen is completely impossible to confuse with sugar. Even in appearance they are not similar. (The inhabitants of the mined house also confidently stated this right in the studio. They say, they saw for sure that there was not sugar in the bags.) The story that during the first examination the stooped suitcase of pyrotechnics “gave a trace”, absolutely implausible. I'm not talking about the statement of the FSB that the sappers called to the scene took a dummy for a real explosive device. It is funny simple. Not children came there, but experienced professionals. ”

The public public collapse of the FSB version had its consequences. Boris Nemtsov will act with the prophetic remark in the program of Yevgeny Kiselev’s program “Results”, which went on the air on the night after the presidential election: “I do not know what will happen to NTV after one of the authors-in my opinion, Nikolaev set out his surname-outlined his version of explosions in Moscow and other cities.

I think that a real threat hung over NTV <...> I read my duty to protect NTV if there are any attempts to close it. And I do not exclude that such an opportunity exists. At least, in relation to a number of journalists, such attempts may not be from Putin, but from his environment were made. ”

Only one thing can be said about this replica of Boris Efimovich - it turned out to be prophetic.

But I would dare that already in March 2000, Nemtsov said that attempts to pressure on NTV are making attempts from Putin's entourage. Remember this.

Earlier, in the “Slow Reading” section, the following books were presented, included in the long list of the Polit.

Lev Gudkov. Refusal totalitarianism . In 2 t. - M.: New Literary Review, 2022.

Ilya Zhegulev. The course of the king. The secret struggle for power and influence in modern Russia. From Yeltsin to Putin. - M.: Howard Rork, 2022.

Karin Cleman. Patriotism from below. “How is it possible for people to live so poorly in a rich country?” - M.: New Literary Review, 2021.

Ivan Kurill. Battle for the past. How politics changes history. - M .: Alpina Plisher, 2022.

Evgenia Lesin. XX century: study of the past. Practices of transitional justice and memory policy in former dictatorships. Germany, Russia, countries of Central and Eastern Europe. - M.: New Literary Review, 2021.

Zhanna Nemtsova. The daughter of her father. - M.: Bombor, 2022.

Oksana Timofeeva. This is not that. - St. Petersburg: Publishing House of Ivan Limbakha, 2022.

Dmitry Travin. Why is Russia lagging behind? -St. Petersburg: Publishing House of the European University in St. Petersburg, 2021.

Mikhail Fishman. Successor. The story of Boris Nemtsov and the country, in which he did not become president. - M.: Corpus, 2022.