"We went to Moscow to bask in the toilet for three hours"

Medusa visited a rally concert in Luzhniki. This is how the Russian authorities celebrated the anniversary of the beginning of the war with Ukraine

In Moscow on February 22-on the eve of the Defender of the Fatherland Day and two days before the anniversary of the beginning of a full-scale war in Ukraine-at the Luzhniki stadium, the “patriotic” rally of the “Glory to the Defenders of the Fatherland!”, Organized by the Russian authorities, was held . The audience was supported by the artists supporting war - among them were Grigory Leps, the Lyube group, Oleg Gazmanov and singer Shaman. Vladimir Putin also entered the stage. True, this time his speech took much less time than at a concert on September 30, 2022, then the president spoke 38 minutes. Medusa visited Luzhniki and talked with those who came there.

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Events such as a rally concert in Luzhniki, the Russian authorities position as “folk”-after the reports of state television channels, it may well have the impression that Vladimir Putin sincerely support hundreds of thousands of Russians. But on Red Square six months ago , and now it is simply impossible to get from the Street to the Luzhniki - it seems to be an all -Russian rally, but only for the elect, at invitation. Tickets are issued, for example, to employees of state institutions and enterprises, students, members of the youth cells of parties and nodes .

However, this is clearly not enough to fill in the “Luzhniki” under the eyeballs - two weeks before the concert, announcements about the recruitment set for a reward from 500 to 1600 rubles began to appear on social networks, students were recommended to bring friends and relatives with them. True, it was necessary to share in advance with the organizers of the passport data of the guests, so that, as explained in the publication , they were checked by the FSO officers: after all, the country's first person will have the first person of the country, you never know.

The correspondent of Medusa, however, managed to get to the incognito rally: she found a person ready to give her an invitation - they are not registered, each is just a unique number. “They warned that it was better to dress warmer,” the man told her, holding out a ticket.

Even if you don’t know where the Luzhniki is located, it turned out to be easy to reach the stadium on February 22 - it was enough to be guessed to the crowd of people coming from the Sportivnaya metro, and follow it. The queue formed in front of the framework - the volunteers carefully searched every incoming one.

Some guests of the concert came already likely: someone came from the smell of fumes, others in a hurry drank alcohol brought with them so that it did not have to be thrown away. Therefore, the line at the framework moved slowly. “It was necessary that day to just take a sick leave, and that's it,” a man in a work jacket with a MOEK logo shared displeasedly with a comrade.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, more than 200 thousand people gathered at the concert. But most of the guests did not get to the stadium: only the owners of invitations at which the sector and place were indicated could look at Putin and the performing artists, albeit from afar. Those who had other tickets had to be content with broadcasting on the screens installed in front of the Luzhniki, and the opportunity to eat buckwheat with stew in a field kitchen broken next to the stadium. True, closer to the beginning of the concert, the organizers began to let everyone into the rostrums - perhaps because many owners of tickets “with places” did not come.

In the stands lay tricolors, blankets and pillows on the seats. The volunteers have instructed people that the blankets need to be thrown over: the upper rows got white, the middle - blue, lower - red.

The concert began with a performance by a regular participant in the events organized by the authorities - the artistic director of the Moscow Theater Oleg Tabakov Vladimir Mashkov. While he talked about the fact that “every century for Russia begins with the war with the West,” actors, dressed in Russian military, from pre -Petrine times to the Second World War, appeared on the stage. "Do not fight with the Russians!" - warned Mashkov, and the stadium supported him with applause.

Then two veterans of Donbass were invited to the stage, one of them on crutches. Both made speeches, the essence of which can be reduced to one phrase: "The year was difficult, but we gained a family - this is Russia." It seems that the participants in the combat operations in camouflage should have been perceived seriously, but they looked like first -graders who learned a poem well -given at home. "Don't you think that everything sounds rehearsed?" - asked the correspondent of "Medusa" at the guy sitting nearby. “Perhaps, but it is right: suddenly something will say,” the interlocutor answered.

With every minute it became cooler. In the buffets, water was poured for free, tea was brewed and offered sweet pastries. But this did not last long - not even half an hour passed since the beginning of the main program, the windows of the buffets closed. It was much more difficult to cope with the cold without hot: it was minus 11 degrees on the street. Fleas blankets and pillows for sitting from frost did not save. The only heated rooms available to the public were toilets - by the middle of the concert they were all scored by people, and no one paid attention, a male toilet or female.

“We went to Moscow to sit in the toilet for three hours,” the college student in the city of Michurinsk, the Tambov region was indignant. This is 400 kilometers from Moscow. All night she, along with other students, was taken by bus, they will also go back after the concert. “They promised that [after the rally] there would be free time, but not a fig,” her friend complains. Students are cold, boring and I want to eat, the only thing they managed to eat today is the same buckwheat with stew from the field kitchen.

- Maybe back to the bus?

- You can’t, do not let it go.

- Then maybe by score? Find the shopping center, we’ll eat.

- And if they find out?

-Well, someone in the shuher will be.

The Medusa correspondent asked if, of their own free will, students from the Tambov region came to the rally - and if so, why. “They said, Putin will be, I want to take a picture with him,” one girl laughed. “We were offered - we agreed. They just wanted to go to Moscow, ”the young man shared. The students failed to realize the escape from the stadium: while they were discussing it, the event came to an end.

Almost everyone with whom the journalist of the Medusa managed to chat turned out to be nonresident. There was a group of students from Kursk - this is 500 kilometers from Moscow. “[For the trip] we were promised points that could be exchanged for offset,” one of the interlocutors explained her motivation. By the second hour of the concert, many began to doubt that this deal was profitable.

- Could sit on a couple warm right now ...

- My couples would have ended in general.

- In short, I cancel Putin for today.

Meanwhile, more and more people have recognized that more and more people have recognized that you can get to the stadium without a ticket. The stands became crowded - and in the end, the volunteers stopped passing everyone in a row. “We just moved away, we have tickets,” one man tried to agree, but is useless.

- No one will remain at this pace in Putin - BB, Soryan.

- Yeah, health is more expensive.

- Yes, and what will he say? Again that we need to rally?

- Yeah, like the battery in the toilet of Luzhnikov.

- Oh, look, Putin!

The president really appeared on the stage. But the guests who spent many hours in the cold to see it live were disappointed: Putin’s speech lasted only four minutes, there were no important statements and vivid moments in it. The president congratulated all those involved in the war in Ukraine - from the workers of the defense sector to doctors and the “nannies” - with the upcoming day of the defender of the Fatherland, moved his lips under the state anthem and left.

The audience also began to leave the stands, picking up the pillows and blankets left along the way.

- I have blue and white! I wish I took a red one.

-What will you do with them?

- On Avito I will sell! For a thousand, I think, normal.

Most of the guests left the concert dissatisfied due to the weather. Judging by what the Medusa correspondent heard at the exit from the Luzhnikov, they had no questions to the program. “Havchik, Putin - how much would it cost [if tickets were paid]? Thousands of thousands - three - three, ”the man wondered in a tracksuit.

At the entrance to the Sportivnaya station, all passengers of the metro were waiting for a bonus - free travel. The endless stream of people slowly descended into the subway, on the escalator they stood in two rows - like at a peak hour. Only every second from the bag stuck a tricolor, or even several. With such an influx of people, it was practically impossible to go by train the first time: at the end of the working day in the wagons, already closely, and here are also protesters with pillows, plaids and flags.

On the train, on which the journalist of Medusa managed to sit down, two passengers in fur coats with curiosity looked at their fellow travelers.

- Eh, here we are working at the epicenter of events, and we have never been at such events.

- Yes. Only I don't like the crowd. And drunk. So maybe it is for the better.

But not everyone was so located for guests of the concert. In a crush in the carriage, the Medusa correspondent accidentally saw how a tired woman in a down jacket, once again dodging the flag, sighed nervously and continued to write a message. “The metro is clogged with“ cosmonauts ”and morons from the concert. It is impossible to enter the car. I miss the trains, ”she printed, sent and turned off the phone.

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