Generation Annekst

Moscow state employees noted the accession of the occupied parts of Ukraine to Russia: how it was

Each time a patriotic rally takes place on Red Square, the city center is bristled with iron barriers, autosaks are everywhere and marching outfits of security forces. September 30 was no exception.

At the intersection of Okhotnoye and Tverskaya opposite Manezhnaya Square, everything is blocked. “Citizens, we go towards the Bolshoi Theater,” the security officer in the armored vehicle monotonously repeats to MegaFon. I turn on a goodbye row, go past the State Duma and stumble upon a single picket. The man holds two flags with one hand. One of them is Soviet; Another, in the colors of the St. George tape, is the ultra-right "national liberation movement." On the poster of the man, the photo of Vladimir Putin and the inscription: “We are for the sovereignty of Russia, and you?” About a dozen security forces stands nearby: either they guard the picketer, or pretend that they do not notice him.

A fussy man in a suit passes past me and speaks an apologetic tone into the smartphone’s phone: “Seven people did not come, I had to replace them.” I go further. Near the Bolshoi Theater, the collection point of the masses: students and state employees are waiting in line to fill the Red Square and Vasilievsky descent where the rally-concert takes place. I merge with the crowd and try to go through, but the security forces declare to the megaphone at the metal detector’s framework: “Citizens, they pass here only on passes and flyers.”

“Will they not let us go?” - the woman asks the Rosgvardein.

- Only on flyers or passes. Those who came on their own go to another entrance.

“So I'm not alone, we have a group,” a woman is upset and goes to look for another entrance.

A dense stream of state employees and students moves towards Nikolskaya Street. In some places in the crowd, tricolors are full of. I stop taking a photo next to students who discuss partial mobilization and ways to avoid it. Then they still recall that it is time to gather at a rally concert.

- So, let's see the data of the mayor ( Sergey Sobyanin. - Approx. Aut. ), Where we need to go. Damn, there is no Internet again, ”the young man swears in a beige cashmere coat.

“So he is always turned off here,” his companion explains. - They said: the collection near the metro "Square of the Revolution".

There are really many students at the entrance to the metro. One of them drags an armful of flags, someone holds several flyers in his hand and tries to get through to classmates to give a magical pass for passage closer to the stage. Sometimes the crowd parted in front of the Rosguard detachment.

Some of the students are sitting on the parapet of an underground passage to the Old Square at the presidential administration. They are waiting for them to be organized for a rally. “Damn, I thought that we would come for twenty minutes to marry - and back to pairs, and we have been sitting here for two hours,” the young man complains to classmates.

Another passage to Red Square is located on Ilyinka Street. There are relatively few people there. I'm trying to get through, but the policeman stops me.

- You can enter the square only by passes.

- Is it impossible without a pass? Where can you go?

- Nowhere. Ask for employers why they did not provide you with a pass, ”says the security officer and continues to check the documents from the next in line.

Only the chosen ones are allowed to Red Square to the stage: the federal security service and ideologically instructed in all severity.

Unreliable state employees and ordinary Russians who want to support the President’s course and the annexation of Ukrainian territories, or maybe just listen to music, are sent to Vasilievsky descent. This is about half an hour on foot along the blocked streets in the vicinity of the Kremlin. Go there is a separate quest. A huge stream of state employees goes along the road and sidewalks to the framework of metal detectors. Many take photos for reporting to the authorities.

The closer the entrance to the Vasilyevsky descent, the denser the crowd becomes. At the checkpoints are a huge cork: everyone is asked to show the contents of the backpacks and bags, some - the contents of the pockets, are checked by a portable metal detector. All this clearly does not accelerate the process. The crowd is so closely that sometimes you can hardly raise your hand to get the phone. The queue does not lose heart:

- And the military registration and enlistment office will be there? - The guys are joking about thirty.

“Thank God, although they don’t give flags,” others answer them.

“It was necessary to get it,” the third say.

Some express dissatisfaction:

“No, well, everyone has“ appearances and passwords ”, well, why for so long and inorganized,” a middle -aged woman stands for me by a nearby of an intelligent look.

The line, although slowly, is moving. At the entrance, the security forces work politely and do not nap especially. It took me a little more than an hour and a half to find the right entrance and get to the rally.

The gathered on the Vasilievsky descent are divided into groups. Each working collective has a certain place where they should stand on the map. Among the crowd near the tricolors, signs with the name of organizations sometimes appear so that people do not get lost in the crowd.

An unknown song sounds from the speakers. “For Russia, for the Donbass,” the singer howls. Most of the gathered do not pay any attention to the concert at all: someone is gossiping, someone is discussing work, someone-culinary recipes, and someone-partial mobilization.

- If everyone is taken away, who will work then? - A middle -aged man asks a colleague. - Here I came the agenda, at work they said: "Go to the military registration and enlistment office." I went. I climb the stairs to the office, and a girl in tears is coming towards. And he says: "Guys, do not go there, they take everyone there and send the next day." I consulted with friends, they advised me not to walk. Well, I left. This is all for the sucker designed. And at work, he said to the authorities that I would not go anymore. I just have a vacation soon, I feel it will be very exciting. No, I once served, we were taught to shoot at targets, I remember how to assemble a machine gun. But how will I shoot with my confusion now? Either I will fill me up, or I will fill someone in the wrong place.

I do not notice any of those gathered on faces and enthusiasm that I remembered in Sevastopol in 2014 at numerous rallies after the accession of Crimea. On the way from Okhotnoye to Vasilyevsky descent, I saw only one person with a St. George ribbon and one person with “Z” on a T -shirt.

“Get up, Russian people! On a glorious battle, for a mortal battle! Get up, free people! For our land honest! " - The dynamics are screaming a song from the Soviet film "Alexander Nevsky." People continue to communicate, ignoring the concert program. Someone is trying to find their colleagues on the phone, the people who have just come to make their way to the places indicated by the authorities on the map. Many kill time on the phone, waiting for the go -offers of the authorities - when you can go home. Several elderly women simply sit on a curb near iron fences and sometimes clap their hands to observe decency-still artists are on the stage. But these are the only people from whom I heard applause.

The presenters are trying to warm up the people as they can. “Let's put up the results in the referendum. Hooray!" - Calls the host to the microphone. Lonely shouts in the crowd are heard.

- Hooray! - one of the men passing by a nearby is responding; He is clearly awesome. - Dimon, we leave.

The faces of men at the rally are mainly preoccupied and tense. Women are calmer. It seems that many regard the rally as another occasion to echo from work and a little to ventilate in an informal setting. Moreover, the weather in Moscow turned out to be warm and the rain promised by weather forecasters did not happen.

The musical repertoire of cheers-patriotic, designed for both the older generation and youth. For example, some rappers from Donbass performed. A young man passing by is indignant: "They cannot even compose normal songs."

It is surprising that people do not sing along. No one is dancing; Unless sometimes they drink a little, as it happens in normal concerts. A group of young women is standing next to me. One of the girls lifts a plastic bottle with colorless liquid and says: “Well, girls, your health!” And sniffs a sandwich. Her companions follow her example.

“True with us! God is with us! The victory will be behind us! Kherson and Zaporozhye with us, ”the host screams once again. There is no reaction. True, on the online broadcast from the rally at this moment, stormy applause sounds.

Familiar propagandists explained to me how this effect is achieved for the television audience. The scene is put up by the mass of Rosmolodezh and the “Young Guard of United Russia”. They were given an installation: to support everything that they say from the stage. Several microphones are directed to them, they connect the sound to the broadcast - and the viewer thinks that the whole area is delighted.

The people and hysterical performance of Ivan Okhlobystin meet with the same linden applause, who reports that “there is such an ancient Russian interjection of“ Goyda ”,“ combat cry ”. “Goyda, brothers and sisters! Goyda! .. Fear, the old world ... ” - shouts Okhlobystin. The interjection really existed: it was a favorite cry of the guardsmen of Ivan the Terrible, therefore, apparently, the people did not take root.

Gradually, the outflow from Vasilievsky descent intensifies. “We were noted with the authorities? So, you can leave. Moreover, the working day is over, ”I hear a female voice from the crowd. The state employees gradually collect accountable flags from the groups and diverge home, and without waiting for the inspiring speech of the commander in chief. On Red Square, only those who had to play the role of extras and folk support remain.

Vladimir Putin enters the stage. Federal channels show flags and filled area. A crowd of state employees at this moment goes towards the metro. Vladimir Putin from the stage supports his initiatives with a three -year -old “Hurray”.