"So, as before, such meetings will never be held!"

In Berlin, the first congress of “foreign agents” was held (and everything happened exactly as before). Report "Medusa"

In Berlin, on February 2 and 3, the first congress of “foreign Agents” was held - another event organized by Russian political emigration. The Medusa journalist, who was declared the “foreign agent” itself, spent both days on it and tried to understand whether the discussions that the opposition are changing are changing about themselves and the future of Russia.

This text is written by a journalist announced by a “foreign agent”. The organizers of the “Meeting of Persons declared by the Kremlin in the agents” did not pay her way before the event and accommodation in Berlin.

Iskra rebellion from abroad

Around ten in the morning of Friday, February 1, the political strategist and galleryist Marat Gelman drinks espresso at the Pullman hotel bar. Here, on Budapest Street in Berlin, a two-day “meeting of persons declared by foreign agents” is about to begin; This is the official name of the “Congress of“ Ino -Agents ”.” On the chest of Helman - an order in the form of a five -pointed red star, similar to the Order of Alexander Nevsky; It depicts the coat of arms of the United States with two axes and the inscription: “Inostranny Agent • United States of Gosdep” is the work of the artist Sergei Mironenko, she has been in Helmann since 2014 .

The idea of ​​the “Congress of“ Ino -Agents ”” appeared in 2023 and was discussed by many, Medusa “Medusa” “Ino Agent” Gelman says. In addition to him, the organizing committee included other famous participants in the register of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation: politicians Dmitry Gudkov, Maxim Reznik and Natalya Polevina, the host of Rain Anna Mongite, activists Artem Vyzhenkov and Anastasia Shevchenko, journalist Yevgeny Kiselev and political analyst Alexander Morozov, director Vitaliy Mansky.

To the question about the tasks of the congress, Helman answers vaguely. The meeting should show the “mirror of civil society”, which has become the “side effect” of the hard work of the Ministry of Justice to create a register. According to Gelman, in order to “continue to work in the interests of Russians,” the community participants need to see. In addition, it is necessary to “explain to the whole world that we are not“ foreign agents ”, and organize help to each other“ in the difficult circumstances in which the state put us ”.

The organizers were able to pay for the road and housing only 50 participants; The invitations did not reach some “foreign agents” at all. There is no “external money” in the budget of the meeting, Gelman assures: according to him, five wealthy “foreign agents” were thrown out to rent a conference room and security. ”

The reception of the participants is located almost immediately after entering the hotel. To get a badge (the participants themselves sign them), you just need to name the last name, and then the volunteers find out if it is on the list. To the question of the "Medusa" why the organizers do not check the identity certificates, the activist Anastasia Shevchenko, who is included in the organizing committee, replies that the volunteers "more or less know everyone in person."

Shortly before that, a blonde in a black coat approaches the volunteers. They ask her a surname to sign a badge.

- Troyanov.

- Name?

“I told you, Troyanova.”

- We begin to write with the name.

- Yana.

The organizers notified the event of the Berlin City Hall in advance, so part of the responsibility for safety is the city, says Gelman. To the remark that the police are not visible in the lobby, he fogfully objects that "there is a other type of other type here." The participants who are photographed near the banner with the inscription “Iskra of the rebellion from abroad” (this is not the most quote from the song “Agent”), several broad-shouldered men who are talking to each other in English. These are employees of a private security company, which was hired additionally, says Anastasia Shevchenko.

In order to hire security, there are many reasons. People whom the Russian authorities for various reasons declared their enemies, even in exile faces the persecution and attempts of murder.

Several examples

In October 2022, in Munich, unknown people tried to poison the journalist Elena Kostyuchenko, and in Tbilisi - journalist Irina Babeloyan. In May 2023, the symptoms of poisoning were experienced by the head of the Free Russia Foundation Natalia Arno, at that moment she was in Prague at a non-public event.

In February 2023, Galina Timchenko installed the Spy program PEGASUS on the phone of the Medusa publisher. It is assumed that this could happen at a closed meeting of representatives of independent Russian media in Berlin.

In September 2023, “Inoage” and the journalist of the publication “Important Stories” Irina Dolinina and Ales Marokhovskaya talked about threats and surveillance in Prague.

However, neither the organizers , nor the participants , nor the journalists who spoke about the events on the first day of the meeting of “foreign agents” do not hide the places of its holding. Anyone can approach hangers with outerwear with coffee and snacks and snacks if desired. The best about his security was the lawyer and blogger Mark Feigin: he came to meet with three bodyguards (as Deutsche Welle reported ).

Some of the “Medusa” “foreign agents” consider the meeting “open target”, criticize security measures and perplexed why the organizers did not send basic recommendations on how to behave; Others believe that their risks at this event are not higher than usual. Many admit that they are tired of thinking about security, and call not to "exaggerate their own significance." “Fear paralyzes the action,” says lawyer Ivan Pavlov. “If I were afraid, I would have long stopped doing what I am doing.”

Almost none of the participants understands the goals of the meeting, but everyone hopes for communication. “The main expectations are to see people,” says Grigory Sverdlin, the founder of the “go forest” project. “I have not seen some of them since the beginning of the war and my departure from Russia.” The lawyer Valery Vetoshkina agrees with him: she came here in the hope of non -working. “I would very much like to understand how much we can join in order to defend our rights,” says Lawyer Anna Rivina. “They - I, unfortunately, are sure that in 2024 they will be violated even more diligent.”

"If you collect a lot of smart people in one room"

In anticipation of the beginning of the congress - as the participants themselves call it - in the hall they discuss the domestic problems of emigrants: registration of powers of attorney, selling real estate, opening bank accounts. The audience of 140 seats is filled with about two -thirds. In the register of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation by February 1, 2024 - 405 people. The entertainer Anastasia Shevchenko and actor Arthur Smolyaninov (also “foreign Agent”) is ironic that by the evening replenishment is expected: the department announces new participants in the list on Fridays.

On the rights of the “First Friday Apostle” (formulation from the script), human rights activist Lev Ponomarev, who became the “Ino -Agent” earlier than all - back in December 2020, acts. In the hall, the journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva listens to him, she came to a meeting in a T -shirt with the inscription “DRIEND Message ...” on her back (this is a merchast “Hello, You are a foreign” journalists Sonya Groysman and Olga Churakova; they did not come to Berlin).

“I thought that we united us all ...” Ponomarev begins. - We will not pretend that we are all one. Sometimes we find out the relationship. But we are together because the Chekists hate us. ” Then Ponomarev compares modern Russia with the Soviet Union of the 1930s and calls on the congress participants "to help the Russians preserve unity in order to continue the struggle." “I wish our meeting success! - Optimistically summarizes the human rights activist. - Russia will be free! "

The eminent “foreign agents”, rising from the first rows, during the performances are measured by the years of inclusion in the register of the Ministry of Justice, the beauty of the serial number and the number of criminal articles.

Politicians Gennady Gudkov, Leonid Gozman, Mikhail Kasyanov and Mikhail Khodorkovsky (he declares that he “immediately wants to disown the organization of this event”; in May 2023, Khodorkovsky held the opposition congress, his participants adopted a declaration to which the associates of Navalny did not join in Berlin). Behind them is entrepreneur Evgeny Chichvarkin, TV presenter Tatyana Lazareva, music critic Artemy Troitsky and others. More emotionally, eco -activist Yevgeny Chirikova says more emotionally, who from the stage tells the assembled that the Russian “foreign agents” have already “had its own army” - and this army of the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces.

The flow of the same-type speeches on the unity of the opposition and the imminent collapse of the regime interrupts the sincere performance of Evgenia Kara-Murza, the wife of the political prisoner Vladimir Kara-Murza, in April 2023, sentenced to unthinkable 25 years of imprisonment. Eugene lists the names of other political prisoners and asks to remember their fate.

Economist Konstantin Sonin, who recorded a video message, begins him with the words “Evening in the Hut, dear“ foreign agents ”.” From the Tula region, the participants are welcomed by a public activist, Machine milking master Elena Agafonova, who became an “ino -agent” after she was defending the Moskalev family .

In between performances, Arthur Smolyaninov performs anti -war songs (probably his own composition).

As is usually the case at emigrant meetings, critical statements also sound about the event itself. The activist of The Feminist anti -war resistance Daria Serenko declares from the stage that she is not enough resistance in the form of conversations. She wants to understand what political meanings are behind this meeting, "who and how they will be assigned." “In my head [arise] all the texts about how this event looks from the outside,” says Serenko. “Yes, everything is clear how,” they whisper in the back rows.

The activist, nevertheless, calls on the participants to work together, despite the contradictions, and to extract from this meeting something useful not only for himself, but also for Russians.

The artist Julia Tsvetkova (like Sonin, she recorded a video) calls the idea of ​​a meeting of "foreign -agents" "in an expensive hotel" cynical. She notes that the words about solidarity remain the words: without calling specific names, Tsvetkov states that the “title of victims of the regime” is often assigned by those who “imitated the struggle” with him and “did not lose anything in it”.

And yet, says Tsvetkova, she is impressed by the idea of ​​re-educating the status of a “foreign agent”, so that from a discriminatory label he will turn into something else. At heart, Tsvetkov believes that "if you collect many smart people in one room, they can go out with a useful solution or offer."

Be or not be

During the coffee break from the speakers, the tracks of the “Ino-Agents” musicians are heard: “Bi-2”, Zemfira, Oximiron, the “Time Machine” group, as well as “Be or not,” Alla Pugacheva (her husband Maxim Galkin fell into the register). None of them came to the meeting.

And who else could come?

Of the media people known to many Russians, the list of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation is the TV presenter Maxim Galkin, musicians Boris Grebenshchikov, Andrey Makarevich, Zemfira, Monetochka, Maxim Pokrovsky (“Leg Sil”), Ilya Prusikin, Oximiron, Leva Bi-2, Ivan Alekseev (Noize Mc), Ilya, Ivan Alekseev) Alisher Morgenstern, Ivan Dremin (Face), writers Dmitry Glukhovsky and Boris Akunin, Showman Semen Slepakov, comedian Ruslan Bely, blogger Nikolai Sobolev, producer Alexander Rodnyansky, multiplier Oleg Kuvaev, journalists Irina Shikhman, writer and blogger Yevgeny Ponasenkov, opera cod Maria Maksakova-Igenbergs.

All former and current employees of the Corruption of Alexei Navalny, declared by “foreign agents”, ignored the meeting.

After the opening ceremony, the participants present the projects in which they work, and offer new initiatives. Famous "foreign agents" do not remain on this part, the hall is about half filled. Finally, another session - closed to the press - takes place in a legal consultation format.

The results of the first day of the meeting are summarized by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation: at seven in the evening the names of six new “foreign agents” become known in Berlin.

The next day, participants work in groups - first thematic (for example, “international practice of foreign agency” or “anti -war initiatives”), and then professional (human rights, activism, etc.). In a closed section dedicated to "mutual assistance", 16 people gather. About five more are listening to them in the zoom, which flies endlessly. Not one of the “wealthy“ ino -agents ”, which Gelman spoke about, is not on the section - like himself (on the eve of him, he noted that the“ organization of assistance ”is included in the tasks of the congress).

This section is discussing the idea of ​​creating a list of discriminatory practices regarding “foreign agents” like the Soviet “chronicle of current events”, says one of the participants in this working group, historian Dmitry Dubrovsky. Such a list could, for example, provide the UN.

Another idea is to approve the ethical principles on which the cooperation of people declared “foreign agents” should be based. “Let not a single sperm of illusions build any illusions, since our entire team was in one condom,” the writer Boris Zakhoder quotes the Dubrovsky. - You need to be more accurate, giving comments and speaking on behalf of all the “foreign agents”. Think about those who remain in Russia. They cannot be substituted because they risk much more. ”

The third idea is to establish an exchange of information and resources so that it is easier for “foreign agents” to look for a job (many lose it, just by entering the register) and support each other. “It is one thing when the“ political scientist Ekaterina] Shulman is declared “ino -agent”, and another - when they are announced, relatively speaking, milkmaid, ”summarizes Dubrovsky. - These are two poles, and it is clear that the milkmaid is clearly more needed. We must think how to do it. ”

The oil and gas analyst and teacher Mikhail Krutikhin says that he proposed to create an organization that would help “foreign agents” who have lost their jobs, organize lectures and concerts for diaspora abroad - after all, by law, they have already lost the opportunity to teach in Russia. Such, according to Dubrovsky, who explores academic rights and freedoms, about 25 people; They also encounter other consequences - for example, their work began to delete other scientists from the reviews of literature.

“A representative office or an organ that would be involved in the problems of mutual assistance to“ foreign agents ”is needed,” says the Buryat journalist Yevgeny Baltatarova, who left Russia after a criminal case of “fakes” about the Russian army was brought against it. “[At this session] there were different proposals: to make the cash desk of mutual assistance, some more,” continues Baltatarova. “It is clear that you need to gather and help each other, but they didn’t come to the conclusion how to do this.”

"Young people do not know what democracy is"

At a meeting called “Russia is us”, where the working groups had to submit their proposals, it turns out that many came to the idea of ​​creating the organization of “foreign agents”. Gelman also mentioned her: in a conversation with Medusa on the first day, he reasoned that following the results of the meeting, "we need to create some kind of general organization and sign some general manifesto."

Such a manifesto is offered by Katerina Kiltau, co -founder of the Emigration for Action project and a speaker from a group who discussed the international practice of the Law on Ino -Agents. Her group would like to make a collective letter in the European Parliament in order to again show the discriminatory nature of the status. The laws on “foreign agents”, like Russian, are going to adopt in other countries - and we are talking not only about Georgia, but also, for example, about the UK . The lawyer Valery Vetoshkina, who was in the human rights group, offers to write a similar document for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

However, the organizers already have a ready -made resolution of the meeting. She is offered to accept immediately after the 20-minute performance by Dmitry Gudkov, in which he tells how he saved the Bi-2 group from deportation to Russia.

“The appeal of free citizens” is read out by one of its authors - Leonid Gozman. The text addressed to the “fellow citizens” lists the “deprivations”, which were faced with people declared “foreign agents”. Затем осуждается война в Украине и следует вывод, что «Путин лишает страну будущего», поэтому именно он «главный враг России». «Иноагенты», составившие резолюцию, обещают «делать все, чтобы помогать согражданам», заявляют об объединении и призывают россиян «проявлять солидарность со всеми, кто выступает за свободу, права человека и мир». The hall applauds.

«Готовя [резолюцию], мы были уверены, что будут вопросы и предложения… — говорит модератор, журналист Константин Эггерт. — Я сразу вижу, что у Дарьи [они] есть». К микрофону выходит Дарья Серенко. Она спрашивает, кто составлял резолюцию и можно ли было войти в состав ее авторов. Выясняется, что в написании манифеста съезда «иноагентов» участвовали примерно десять человек; никому из «иноагентов», не входящих в оргкомитет, поучаствовать в работе над текстом не предложили.

Уже со своего места Серенко настаивает, что «документ нуждается в правке». «Вы хотите сказать, что документ нуждается в том, чтобы он не был принят», — раздраженно спорит с активисткой писательница Татьяна Сотникова (работает под псевдонимом Анна Берсенева).

На сцену выходит координатор движения «Весна» Богдан Литвин. По его мнению, участникам съезда не стоит вступать в конфликт: «Есть пожелание на будущее. Если мы хотим как-то кооперироваться и сотрудничать, важно, чтобы в демократической оппозиции развивалась демократическая культура принятия решений». «Ну кто мешал…» — начинает Гозман, но его перебивает модератор Анна Монгайт. Она признает, что «клича» по поводу резолюции действительно не было и участники не знали, что можно поучаствовать в ее создании.

Один из основателей «Российской ЛГБТ-сети» Игорь Кочетков спрашивает организаторов, так ли необходимо принимать документ именно сегодня. «Мне не очень близок подход „давайте в следующий раз так не будем“», — говорит Кочетков. Он предлагает, чтобы специальная рабочая группа внесла правки и отредактировала резолюцию за несколько дней.

С ним спорит бывший депутат Госдумы, украинский политик Илья Пономарев (тот самый, которому в мае 2023 года не удалось попасть на съезд российской оппозиции в Берлине, организованный Ходорковским). Он одет в футболку камуфляжного оттенка с трезубцем на груди, на лацкане его пиджака — бело-сине-белый флаг. Пономарев считает, что «такая важная встреча» не может закончиться без документа, и предлагает рабочей группе внести правки за час.

«Я тоже с изумлением узнал, что была рабочая группа, — говорит в микрофон историк Дмитрий Дубровский. — Приятно, что люди работали». Молодые «иноагенты» смеются и аплодируют. Историк согласен с первоначальным текстом и спрашивает, есть ли у зала принципиальные возражения. «Есть», — отвечает Серенко, вокруг которой уже успели собраться те, кого не устроил предложенный текст. "All! — мгновенно реагирует Дубровский. — Если есть принципиальные возражения, я тоже буду выступать за то, чтобы текст редактировался в самое ближайшее время».

Лев Пономарев, самый опытный диссидент из собравшихся, поддерживает «молодых коллег» и кратко предлагает свои процедурные решения. Оппозиционный политик Виталий Боварь — тот самый «молодой коллега» — обращает внимание, что в эти два дня часто обсуждалось сотрудничество, и призывает строить «здоровое сообщество» с «консенсусных мероприятий».

Слова просит журналист и издатель Андрей Мальгин: «Я вижу здесь возрастные расхождения… Молодежь не знает, что такое демократическое движение 1990-х годов». Он рассказывает, что, будучи депутатом Моссовета, «предал своих избирателей» и перестал ходить на заседания, потому что каждое из них проходило в спорах. «Вы хотите, чтобы мы тоже перестали ходить?» — спрашивает Серенко. «Это [выступления, подобные речи Мальгина] тоже было в 1990-х годах, — спорит с ним Лев Пономарев. — Именно поэтому мы все просрали! ( Раздаются одобрительные возгласы и аплодисменты. ) Не ломайте молодежь, черт побери!»

После препирательств и нескольких голосований участники наконец договариваются внести правки в резолюцию и составить новый текст за час. «Люди не хотят быть статистами. Они хотят быть сопричастными», — подытоживает споры Манский. В рабочую группу входят Дарья Серенко, Катерина Кильтау, Виталий Боварь, Богдан Литвин, Илья Пономарев, активист Артем Важенков, юрист Максим Оленичев, журналист Сергей Ухов, независимый муниципальный депутат из Тульской области Ольга Подольская, соавтор первой версии Леонид Гозман и другие.

Перед началом работы группы Серенко отвечает на упреки зала: «Не мы здесь источник вашего неудобства и проблемы, а то, как эта процедура была проведена. Мы имеем право на агентность. Так, как эти собрания проводились раньше, больше они не будут проводиться никогда!» Зал аплодирует Серенко.

Несколько «иноагентов» в разговоре с «Медузой» тем временем признаются, что вообще не видят смысла в резолюции.

Монгайт приглашает на сцену Гельмана, тот торжественно объявляет о создании организации, которая объединит «иноагентов», и, заранее извинившись за шутку, рекомендует Минюсту отныне согласовывать членов реестра с новой ассоциацией. Однако уже через час становится понятно, что и эта идея тоже не вызывает поддержки. Итоговая пресс-конференция съезда перерастает в многословные препирания по поводу инициативы о создании организации, и Гельман отзывает свое предложение.

На той же пресс-конференции в положенное время рабочая группа появляется со своей версией резолюции. Она выглядит куда менее пафосно и куда более демократично. Из текста исчезает слово «шельмование». В противовес рассуждениям об известности «иноагентов» и их важной общественной работе появляется мысль о том, что «агентом» могут объявить каждого, кто «не согласен с режимом», — «доярку, учителя младших классов, врача».

Но все это организаторам съезда уже неинтересно. На пресс-конференции они слагают свои полномочия и приглашают участников в берлинскую галерею Марата Гельмана на афтепати. Дискуссии можно будет продолжить там, а проголосовать за резолюцию — в телеграме.

Applause sound.

Юлия Леонкина , Берлин