“I’m afraid he won’t be able to hit with his fist. Will negotiate"
A museum of Novorossiya was created in St. Petersburg. It preserves the memory of the commanders of the Russian Spring. Pavel Dremov and Alexey Mozgovoy, Arsen Pavlov and Mikhail Tolstykh. This sad row will be joined by Alexander Zakharchenko, who died on the last day of summer of the outgoing year. About the results of the elections in the LDPR, the mood on the front line - to the PolitNavigator observer Valentin Filippov said the head of the St. Petersburg Museum of Donbass Valor German Vladimirov.
Valentin Filippov: Please tell me, they say that you keep free space in your exhibition for Poroshenko’s skull with traces of Eva Braun on the right temple.
German Vladimirov: They're lying. First I want to be in Kolomoisky’s cage. Alive.
Saakashvili wanted to, but lost interest in him. I want Kolomoisky.
Valentin Filippov: Where did the idea to open a Donbass museum come from? Why in St. Petersburg?
German Vladimirov: In fact, there were a lot of volunteers from St. Petersburg. Unfortunately, there are a lot of dead. Due to my work, my service, I have to communicate with families. I have to support people. Moral support. And not only morally. To unite people, to introduce them so that they do not get lost in our society. To make them feel needed. Therefore, I can say with complete confidence that St. Petersburg made its contribution to the protection of civilians in Donbass.
Valentin Filippov: Many of our volunteers, both from Donbass and not only from Donbass, underwent treatment after injuries in St. Petersburg.
German Vladimirov: Well, in general, our military medical academy is very good, it is known throughout the country. Very good military field surgery. In medical terms, we have wonderful, complex operations here. And this is not the only thing that St. Petersburg is famous for. I can say that the humanitarian front here was very strong. Despite the fact that we are two thousand kilometers from Donbass.
Valentin Filippov: And, of course, our St. Petersburg “over the curb, bitch”, it entered folklore. Since then, the border between Russia and Ukraine has been called exclusively a “curb.”
German Vladimirov: Curb. Yes. This is what it is.
Valentin Filippov: From your point of view, has it been possible to create a stable state structure in Donbass? Which is already independently viable.
German Vladimirov: In general, it seems to me, not 100%. Over the past month and a half, I have been to Donbass twice. The thing is that I know little about how ordinary people live. Simple. Because I mainly communicate with the military. And I see what’s happening on the front end. What kind of mood do the guys have there? Last time I was at the airport with the Spartans, and in Pyatnashka, and in the special forces regiment. Been to a lot of places. As a museum worker, due to my line of work, I am particularly interested in military topics.
In Donbass, in principle, the appointment went well. Everything was as expected. There were no surprises. The mood on the front line of defense, I will say, is not very good. Basically, the same as on the other side. I know what the mood is on the other side. They are absolutely symmetrical.
Valentin Filippov: Trench warfare is so long...
German Vladimirov: Yes. And, you know, I got this feeling, this bad feeling, when I arrived (no matter where), to one of the positions, I approached the guys, I asked: “What year were you born?” They say 1998… 1999…. 2000…. You know, it feels as if the fathers and grandfathers were killed, and now grandchildren and children stand up. It's a bad feeling.
And I will say one thing, that God forbid these young guys who need to study, support their families, get an education, work, instead they see death every day, they see something that is not what their peers see in peaceful life, not God forbid we betray these guys.
Then I can say one thing - the Kerch shooter - it will be “children’s tears.” This is my warning. And I would like very much, we are all patriots, we all love the Russian land, and this is Russian land, of course, and not only Donbass, but also Zaporozhye, Odessa is a Russian city, and Kharkov, this is all ours, dear, but we are talking about Donbass , and I would like everything to go well there in the end. So that it doesn’t fall into a swamp, into some kind of quagmire, but so that people do not live on three thousand, so that they have a decent pension and salary, so that gasoline costs not 55 rubles, but 40. So that food prices do not rise.
Still, when there was the Russian Spring, the guys stood up for Novorossiya. What is Novorossiya? This is New Russia. And everyone believed in this ideal. And I believed in this ideal.
Valentin Filippov: And I still believe.
German Vladimirov: Well, damn it, I don’t believe in metaphors now, unfortunately. Life has taught me. But I think this is a good fairy tale. But the whole road to this fairy tale is strewn with broken destinies, the corpses of comrades, and maternal tears. And I don’t care anymore, DPR or LPR, although I consider this nonsense, completely utter nonsense, I don’t care, but for me personally it is important that Donbass be an independent territorial-administrative unit, subject, and, subsequently, be annexed to Russia.
But in general, life goes on, life goes on.
Valentin Filippov: You have names immortalized in your museum such as Mikhail Tolstykh, Arsen Pavlov, Alexey Mozgovoy and, probably, many more. All of these were commanders of military units; we are proud of these units and call these units, first of all, by the names of their commanders. These commanders are gone. A separate conversation, how... You visit different parts. Have these units lost their combat effectiveness, or are they still structurally strong? And do they perform their tasks in the same way?
German Vladimirov: I cannot say 100% what the situation is in the units. It's not just our brothers who can listen to us. Therefore, I will say this – the composition has been updated, naturally. And the point is that this is a bad example, but the revolution devours its children. And, unfortunately, the fate of our commanders, our beloved commanders, I was very friendly with Pavel Leonidovich Dremov, he was my guest, I have his icon, which Kozitsyn gave him for his wedding, and he gave it to me two days before death. I knew Alexey Borisovich Mozgovoy. I have his prayer book. His hat is lying there. Knew many more. And when enough time has passed, you come across the idea that the fate of people was predetermined. Unfortunately. And I'm afraid that they themselves understood this.
Valentin Filippov: Yes, many understood.
German Vladimirov: Especially, it seems to me, Alexey Borisovich Mozgovoy.
But in that short period of time they did a lot. And they moved the masses behind them. When people are ideologically savvy, when they follow the idea of dying and maintaining an outpost of our Russian world, it is worth a lot. Here we have people like Alexander Matrosov, Pasha Korchagin, and so on. We have our own heroes. Donbass Revolution. Russian spring.
And, frankly speaking, I look at what is happening in Donbass, there is still a lot of work there. And, basically, this is not external work, but internal work.
Valentin Filippov: Tell me, will your museum somehow immortalize a name like Alexander Zakharchenko?
German Vladimirov: Certainly! Necessarily!
Valentin Filippov: Did this person, who had never been involved in leadership before, cope? Could he really become the leader who built the republic?
German Vladimirov: At least he looked like a man! And, of course, he smelled gunpowder. And he, indeed, was a fighter... He tried, and one must understand that not everything always depends on the king. There is a head, there is a president, there is a head of parliament, there are families, parties, elites around that influence certain processes. This is true everywhere. This is how society is formed.
Therefore, the kingdom of heaven to Alexander Vladimirovich Zakharchenko. I remember good moments, I remember, I have a friend, he is the director of the local history museum in Donetsk. Denis. He also fought. And he calls me and says: “Hera, in short, there’s a topic here, dad called us, all the museum workers, and he said, why don’t you work with the Museum of Novorossiya, with St. Petersburg?”
And so, in 2015, we began to have joint projects. Joint exhibitions. And there is also a certain merit in this.
Valentin Filippov: Regarding the successor. Denis Pushilin. I think that you have no doubt that the choice is right. But isn’t there a systemic error in the fact that jackets are replacing gorkas? Pushilin is, rather, a peacetime leader, an administrator, a civilian boss, and, apparently, Kyiv will start a war anyway...
German Vladimirov: Of course, in wartime conditions, I believe that the Republic should be led by a person connected with the service. With the protection of the Fatherland. Not a lawyer, not an economist, not a diplomat, but a military man, but with skills.
Zakharchenko studied and learned. He, too, was not a fount of diplomacy and not three higher educations. Nothing. In four years I learned how to talk, meet, and conduct serious negotiations.
The head of the Republic is a serious position. It is doubly serious to be the head of an unrecognized Republic. This is a colossal responsibility. And I have nothing against Pushilin. I know his relatives, I won’t name them. I have good relationships with everyone. But I look at everything objectively. And I have this opinion.
And for some reason I have the feeling that Denis Vladimirovich will not be able to hit the table with his fist and say: “let’s get ten bags of Grad for Avdeevka!” Or something else like that. Can not…. Will negotiate…..
Valentin Filippov: Let's go back to your museum of Novorossiya.
German Vladimirov: Now we have an exhibition. It has mobile status. We travel with her to cities. On the 23rd Vsevolzhsk, on December 7th Kronstadt, then Sevastopol, Simferopol.
Next is Moscow. By the way, in Moscow on December 2, the presentation of our film “Volunteers” will be at the Center of Slavic Literature. Then Orel, Belgorod. Therefore, we will travel.
We will also now have a humanitarian rally. We chose this route, St. Petersburg - Nizhny Novgorod, it will be through Vologda, through Cherepovets, further to the Moscow region. We will go to Zakhar Prilepin, have a little event there, then Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod and we will collect gifts for the kids, and we will send it all, we always do this before the New Year, we will send it to Donetsk and Lugansk.
Valentin Filippov: How much attention does the Russian leadership still pay to Donbass, do you think?
German Vladimirov: Hope so. But, again, you understand, we take the president, an individual president, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. Every morning he gets up, wakes up, they bring him a piece of paper, this piece of paper says “a rally in Magnitogorsk, the opening of a plant there, te-te-te”….. There is no Donbass…
Valentin Filippov: Yes, but he turns on YouTube and watches us.
German Vladimirov: Yes, he has no time. Our task is for him to have the word “Donbass” on this piece of paper. And it was deployed, what was there and how. This is the President of the Russian Federation! He has so many concrete hemorrhoids!
This is our task - to convey, to reach out, as Eduard Veniaminovich Limonov said: - we must shout. You have to knock on the door. "Russia! Let us go! We are your brothers! We are the same Russian people!” Let them at least give people passports. So that there is some hope.
Valentin Filippov: Fine. Thanks a lot. Prosperity to your museum. Thank you for the great work you do.
German Vladimirov: Thank you, Valentin. A huge greeting to all Crimeans.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.