Why Navaln is not idealized in Ukraine: a phrase spoken by his wife also contributed to the Crimean question

That report was shown on Maidan’s Eve, it did not receive much attention, A. Navalnas did not embark on “any sentimental return to his homeland” in the context of his active work, and even in Ukraine, even those who sympathize with him do not. use the phrase “great compatriot”.

There are at least two reasons for this: firstly, the politician has never actually lived in Ukraine (if we don’t read his grandmother’s visits), and secondly, most of those who call themselves Ukrainian names and occupy important positions in Vladimir Putin. they are sworn supporters of the empire. For example, Valentina Matviyenko, born in Šepetivka, Ukraine, has been head of the Council of the Russian Federation for almost ten years.

Interest in the person of A. Navaln by the Ukrainian media and society was achieved in 2011 during the protests in Balotnaya Square. At that time, there was a period of political apathy in Ukraine, determined by the victory of Viktor Yanukovych in the presidential elections and the crisis in the apparatus of democracy. For leaders as young and energetic as A. Navalnas was and still is, most genuinely sympathized, and it was often possible to listen: and that’s the case for us.

At the rallies in Balotnaya Square, the composition “I will not give up without a fight” by the Ukrainian group “Okean Elzy” was played continuously. It is true that the song is not the hymn of the revolution at all, it is more about love, but the lyrics have hardly been delved much further: it sings in Ukrainian (which means it is related to the Orange Revolution of 2004), and the adjective is clear and untranslated.

When the protests in Balotyan breathed out, A. Navalnas appeared less and less frequently in the Ukrainian information space. Later it was the 2014 Maidan, which was also supported by an opposition figure from Russia. And besides, as the song sings, “tell me whose Crimea it is and I’ll tell you who you are.”

Mr. Navaln’s answer to this question was a shock to someone, someone shook his hand that I thought so, and someone after those words put a cross in opposition to the liberal Russian Federation. Valeria Novodvorskaya and Konstantin Borovoy then spoke about famous politicians in Kiev. In an interview with Echo Moskvy on October 15, 2014, A. Navaln had this to say: “What kind of sausage sandwich are you in Crimea so you can get it there, right here? And I do not believe … “.

Of course, with these words he destroyed a series of “trustees” that he received in Ukraine in 2011.

When someone in Ukraine today reminds us of Navalna, most of the time he throws the quote “The Russian democrat ends where the Ukrainian question begins.” The author of this idea is one of the leaders of the Ukrainian liberation movement from 1917-1921, Vladimir Vincinchenko.

In short, what matters today is the content, not the authorship. And so the first Ukrainian narrative of A. Navaln was born: a typical Russian liberal who can philosophize about human rights and freedoms at home, but on the issue of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, the same defender of the empire as V. Putin .

In the environment of Ukrainian intellectuals and creators, it is a poor tone to have some connection with Russian culture, to read Russian (even democratic) media. “Beyond Moscow” – such a motto was formulated by the Ukrainian, communist writer Mykola Chviliov in the 1930s. In this phrase, most of today see an attempt to free themselves from colonial dependence and emancipation from their imperial context, including “navalnus” and “dudus”.

For example, Vladimir Viatrovich, MP for European Solidarity, former director of the National Institute of Remembrance and anti-Soviet activist, wrote on his Facebook account: “Not only about Navalna. I very much doubt the probability of a democratic Russia. At least within its current limits, this is highly unlikely. But every attempt in the past to democratize Russia is an opportunity to inspire its people … Russia remains a multinational empire today, oppressing those nations. For this reason, I believe that any effort to democratize Russia will be of great benefit to both Ukraine and the world. Even if they are started and tried to implement by obvious Ukrainian phobias. Because Russia is our Carthage. “

A kind of addition to the “Crimean-sandwich” comparison became the phrase of Julia Navalnaya, which sounded on the plane, who flew home from Germany with the famous: “Wow, we have vodka, we fly home!” . The Russian viewer sees in these words a beautiful note from the film Brat-2 by Alexei Balabanov. In Ukraine, the film became the starting point for thinking “we will never be brothers.”

Brat-2 and its characters are certain harbingers of future aggression: “You will continue to be responsible for me for Sevastopol” and similar imperialist pathos. Thus, Julia Navalnaya’s failed attempt to joke is another blow to Navaln’s unfavorable portrait in Ukraine, which is reinforced by her involvement in the so-called “Russian march” and intolerant speeches towards Caucasians.

Another narrative is aptly described by the formula “Navalna is an anti-Putin”. Part of the Ukrainians believe that the enemy does not. 1 is Vladimir Putin, and when he becomes obsolete or disappears from the political horizon, relations between countries will change radically. In this way, A. Navalnas is accepted as a hope for peace and a friendly neighborhood.

“As long as Navaln opposes Putin, Ukraine has an interest in Navaln. Such an imagination is very primitive in nature and has nothing to do with famous Ukrainian ingenuity that would not be worth losing in the fight against a strong enemy. By standing up. To defend a defendant, it is not at all necessary to burn him with hot feelings. It is important to remember that the signal of a good tone of opposition was to demand the release of Yuri Lucenko and Yulia Tymoshenko when Yanukovych pushed them behind bars. After all, It is not because Jura or Julia were very close, but because Yanukovych was very distant and foreign, ”says Ukrainian observer Leonid Schwec, who is quite harsh in his criticism of his compatriots who spray on Navaln.

On January 22, the Russian-language weekly Novoje vremia decorated its cover with A. Navalnas and read the headline “True Navalnas. It is about the man Putin is so afraid of. “In the Ukrainian Facebook community, several attempts to poke fun at him appeared almost immediately, that such attention to events in Russia and to the specific personality of A. Navaln speaks of the office. editorial of the “Small complexes of Russia”.

Probably the best positive of all this history with A. Navaln, on which all the participants in the discussion unanimously agree, is the application of new sanctions to the Russian Federation for the arrest of the opposition. Only the extremely strong sympathy of the West raises such doubts for A. Navalnas. If Russia miraculously changes power and a democratic leader takes the helm, world politics awaits an inevitable “reload” or reload, the question of lifting sanctions will arise, but Moscow will demand the return of Crimea, the same one that is not interspersed Or perhaps the requirements are less categorical?

Russia fought hybrid wars in Transnistria and Abkhazia under Democrat Yeltsin. Would Democrat Navaln give up claims on Donbass? The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for World Peace Mikhail Gorbachev is much loved in the West, but for the people of the former Soviet Union, Gorbis is associated, among other things, with bloody events in Tbilisi, Baku and Vilnius. There is a risk that, in the name of a “broader dialogue”, the question of Russia’s area of ​​interest, in which most Russians would like to see Ukraine, will be raised again.

Prominent Ukrainian blogger Olena Bilozerska, who served in the Marine Corps and a former sniper for the Ukrainian Volunteer Army, expressed a position close to the majority of patriotic Ukrainian society in her post on the arrest of A. Navaln: “First Instead Putin seems to have opted for a strategy of gradual isolation from the civilized world, and A. Navaln has officially violated the conditions of probation, which means that he can now be imprisoned and end up in the hands of a prisoner who has nothing left. what to do. lose in life. The second thing is that there seems to be a group of influential people in Russia who “built” on Navalno (someone leaked the numbers of Russian security personnel who called Western services). In other words, ” second secretaries “who want to be at the top. They could have promised A. Navaln that he would defend him. Instead, he would not have trusted him. that Navaln, a surviving man, endured to return to Russia. The guy is very risky. The third and most important thing: I don’t want A. Navalns to die, I really don’t want him to be in Putin’s place … “.

Russia is getting even worse under Putin and will start to disintegrate. And only then will the question arise, “who owns the Crimea” and all the others. Because unshakable Russia will not take a bite of what it has taken over, history has yet to see it. Russia is unlikely to fail at Navaln.

He is bold, creative, with a sharp word, does not play with details and obviously enjoys the results and efficiency of his work. Who could challenge him, if honestly – who? The West sees you as a suitable person to deal with. The crimes of the Putin regime were not weighing on his head. There will be no penalties for him. So how can we take back Crimea and defend the “Russian world” from the Donbass?

In Ukraine, only a minority of pro-Russian politicians mention Navalna. Only here the outrageously well-known blogger Anatoly Shariy created a video in which he openly mocks various Ukrainian experts evaluating the actions of the Russian opposition.

If we talk about the protests in Russia, initiated by the arrest of A. Navaln, the answer is with some restraint: someone sees the Putin regime as a breakdown, someone justifies the escalation of the situation in Donbass: