At one of Vladimir Putin's direct meetings with citizens in a TV studio, the President of the Russian Federation, addressing a journalist and offering her a seat, called her Masha. She replied: "Thank you, Vova", and then in a video posted on the Internet, she explained why she answered in such a manner to the president, the Supreme Commander-in-chief, and so on, and so on: “I wasn't afraid to address him like that. What's so scary about that? He called me Masha! And I'm actually Maria Dmitrievna! So I called him Vova in response!”*
There was no doubt that, as always, for sure, there would be those who would see in her act disrespect and, as they used to say in the old days, so beloved by the president, violation of any “rules of decency”. And her explanation will be called, at least, frivolous and unconvincing, and in any case her act is not justifying. And, of course, they were found. And they even demanded that she no longer appear at his press conferences**. But according to popular morality, not palace etiquette, and, in fact, they are wrong.
The president is not a tsar, not a dictator, but just a civil servant and the same citizen as all those who were in the TV studio, who watched the broadcast and did not watch it, but, unlike all other citizens, he is a civil servant in a special, very responsible post. He holds this position in order to properly fulfil his official duties, to lead the country in the interests of all its citizens, who, like him, should also perform their duties properly, and not as God puts it on their soul. In particular, he is obliged to behave properly, humanly, or at least "without violating decency", in relation to other citizens, especially in relation to a woman who, moreover, is not a young girl, and is not young enough to be his daughter. This, let us emphasize once again, is his duty and this, in a certain sense, is even more important, is the sign of the culture of the personality. If the president allows himself not to fulfil his duties, in particular, by allowing unacceptable familiarity, besides publicly, the person in relation to whom this is allowed not only has the right, but also, by and large, is obliged to directly, but culturally, "put him in his place." That is, in fact, just to teach a small lesson in proper human behavior. Not everyone, probably, is capable of this. Maria Dmitrievna turned out to be capable of this. Honor and praise to her. And the more such people there are in the country – those who have human dignity and know how to defend it, the stronger and better the country will be, the more hope for its bright future.
Zealous guardians of the "rules of decency", those who saw disrespect for the president in the response of a journalist from Vladivostok, most likely, without suspecting it, rendered a "disservice" not only to the head of state but also to the country, because such condemnation, of course, really means "pouring water on the mill of the enemy". It could be called another evidence that Putin's regime is repressive, and this immediately happened. And it quickly spread around the world. And some of his former "partners" outside and inside the country have already dubbed the regime "fascist". Although it is enough that Russia, in their opinion, is a totalitarian country that has long surpassed the USSR in this characteristic. But, what is even worse, these eternal guardians of "purity of morals" and the established order have confirmed the fact that does not dare to dispute: Vladimir Vladimirovich, since he is the President of the Russian Federation, is an infallible, indisputable and, moreover, a citizen of this country beyond the jurisdiction, except only to the Lord. So it is, after all. What's there to hide.
As a President, as a citizen of Russia, and just as a person, for some reason Vladimir Vladimirovich is not alarmed, or he does not even realize that on this principle - the triad "infallible, unquestionable, not under the jurisdiction" – both his beloved imperial Russia was arranged, and, to a certain extent, it must also be recognized, the USSR was arranged too for most of its history. And, is it not known how it turned out for the country? Just what Vladimir Vladimirovich himself categorically dislikes – first, the defeat in the Russian-Japanese War of 1905-1907, then Russia's participation in the First World War, two revolutions of 1917 – the February and Great October, and in the Soviet period the so-called Stalinist repressions, including the Great Terror of 1937-38, later "closed report" exposing the "cult of personality", then "voluntarism" with the development of virgin lands and corn crops beyond the Arctic Circle, and, finally, the destruction of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the XX century," according to Vladimir Vladimirovich himself. It does not occur to the President that one of the future citizens of the country, maybe also from a high rostrum, will already tell about his mistakes, and, most likely, will say!
After one of the recent speeches (07/19/2023) by Vladimir Vladimirovich and his regular revelations about the USSR and the October Revolution of 1917, which modern historians recognize as the Great Russian Revolution, and which previously in the USSR was called the Great October Socialist Revolution, it became finally clear what is so annoying and what is impossible to accept in his words and actions, in his politics as the president, as a statesman and politician. This is, first of all, the same ostentation, in fact, demagoguery, like some of those Soviet figures of all ranks and levels who are so not his favorite. This is some kind of constant ambiguity, reticence, avoiding direct answers to direct questions, i.e., in fact, the lack of openness and honesty, truth, a kind of hypocrisy and duplicity, what people have long called "being on your mind." In the end, alas, there is a hidden indifference to a person and disrespect for a person, an attitude towards him as a subject, who, of course, must be loyal. In general, one can say about him in the words of a girl at one institute about her boss: "He's kind of muddy."
Besides, after such statements of the president, as well as the consequences of his policy, i.e. not only his words, but also his affairs, the so-called rhetorical questions involuntarily arise: when you, Vladimir Vladimirovich, joined the CPSU, when you, agree to work in the KGB, took the oath, you then still "have not seen the light," or have already "seen the light," but you were lying and hiding that you did not believe in any communism, and socialism was not to your liking, and you only pretended that you believed out of a career, or to put it non-literary, out of selfish interests?
Does it bother you, Vladimir Vladimirovich, that in your rejection and constant cursing of the USSR you repeat all the former and current, Western and homegrown domestic slanderers of the Soviet Union, all - let us repeat as true and appropriate - anti-Soviets and anti-communists? Don't you think that by doing so you de facto find yourself on their side, "on the other side of the barricades" and, forgive for being frank, for the "truth of the matter", on the side of the enemies not only of the USSR, but also of Russia? At least because, as recognized by people of directly opposite political beliefs, the writer, dissident, anti-communist Vladimir Yemelyanovich Maksimov and the philosopher, communist, expelled from the CPSU in 1976, Alexander Alexandrovich Zinoviev, were right when they said independently of each other: "They aimed at communism, but ended up in Russia!". And if they were right, then everyone who is still aiming at communism and the Soviet Union ends up in Russia.
But what is perhaps worst of all, apart from pharisaism and hypocrisy, is an almost undisguised intention to drive "everyone into line" and force them to walk "voluntarily and with songs", where "those who are at the top" will command them to go. To line up everyone and everything under the notorious "vertical of power", if necessary, "breaking through the knee", under endless conversations about freedom, patriotism, attention to each person and care for him, once again – as in the blessed pre-Soviet times, and in such unloved, condemned and kicked Soviet ones. The president is Orthodox, and everyone should be Orthodox or at least Muslims, at worst, Buddhists. So instead of "barrack socialism", it turns out "barrack capitalism" under pseudo-patriotic and pseudo-religious slogans, chants and banners, but with artificial intelligence.
This, however, Vladimir Vladimirovich, is not a revival of the country and its peoples, no progress, to use a term and a concept that has come out of everyday use and not by chance, no prosperity – neither material nor spiritual. This is an attempt to bring back the past on a new "wheeled cart", technically speaking. And, of course, this is not unity at all. This is just an attempt to strengthen and preserve the existing "status quo" in the interests of "those at the top".
The President, of course, has the right to his own beliefs and his personal point of view on any issue. But as the president, as the one who, by the will of fate, turned out to be at the head of the country, he has no right to impose, and "not by washing, but by rolling", these beliefs, many of which are prejudices, on its citizens. Force and, moreover, violence, both undisguised and hidden, camouflaged, is not the truth. All the horses in the herd cannot be lassoed and put in one stall, no matter how much one would like it, and no matter how it seems expedient "from above", to all "those who are at the top". Black, no matter how you repaint it, still won't turn white. It is not at all surprising that the truth about today's Russia was told long ago, even in pre-revolutionary Russia in folk proverbs: "You can't wash a black dog white", "A well-fed man is not a comrade to hungry man", "No matter how much you shout ‘Sweet! It's sweet!’, it won't get sweeter in your mouth." The truth was also said about an attitude to Vladimir Vladimirovich: "We will not baptize children with him." No propaganda and no mummers are able to change or even hide the fact that society and the country are divided into those at the top and those at the bottom. They are not divided at all by those who are at the bottom, but by those who are at the top, and the latter are not at all interested in something really changing in this regard. Rather, on the contrary, they are vitally interested in just the opposite. So, as the people, so-called "common people" said since Soviet times: "Don't give us any bullshit." And, in conclusion, in order to put all the dots over the "I", paraphrasing the well-known phrase of the times of "perestroika", one has to say: "Vova, you're wrong!" ***
Mikhail Konashev, Association “Soviet Union”
Notes:
* See: “Thank you, Vova!”: journalist Maria explained why she called Putin that // http://www.dal.by/news/19/21-12-12-13/; see also: A very brave journalist called Putin Vova and chastised him as a boy // https://yandex.ru/video/preview/18150548239352047410
** See, for example, Natalia Egorova's comment on December 19, 2013 to the publication The journalist explained why she called Putin Vova // https://life.ru/p/108667?ysclid=lki21wpdr6675458216 20.12.2012: In the mouth of Putin, “Masha” sounded respectful, and in her mouth - dismissive. As a journalist, she should be ashamed. She must fulfill her promise not to appear at a press conference anymore and not to disgrace the Far East.
*** On July 1, 1988, Boris Yeltsin, in his speech at the XIX Party Conference, fiercely criticized the "stagnation", in which, in his opinion, the entire Politburo was to blame. In the midst of Yeltsin's speech, Yegor Ligachev, a Politburo member, intervened, saying a phrase that became a catch phrase: "You, Boris, are wrong. We disagree with you not only in tactics. Boris, you have great energy, but this energy is not creative, but destructive!" See, for example: Sidorchik Andrey. "Boris, you're wrong!". The history of the main catch phrase of the Perestroika era // https://aif.ru/society/history/boris_ty_ne_prav_istoriya_glavnoy_krylato... ?ysclid=llezfc6fe6441702928 01.07.2014