“Crimea urgently needs special and tough leadership”
Crimean photographer Sandro Kiriak (Alexander Kiryakov) – one of the most popular bloggers on the peninsula. True, unlike the Muscovite who recently arrived in Crimea Ilya Varlamov, who criticized local resorts to smithereens, Sandro is much more optimistic. In an interview “Politnavigator” he spoke about the 2016 season, Crimea and Sevastopol, the Black Sea Fleet and the upcoming Navy Day.
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- Is Varlamov’s criticism of Crimean resorts fair?
– Firstly, even before Varlamov there were a lot of critical comments about the current state of affairs in Crimea – why such a reaction to him, and who benefits from making him the main expert?
He didn’t lie about the photographs – there is no photomontage there. But the main role is played by the shooting angle and accents; you can take the photo out of context.
As a “person with a camera,” I can say that many, including me, have enough photos in their archives taken yesterday, a week, or a month ago that are worse than those taken by the Moscow guest. We need to look at things realistically - the current client of Crimea is not the kind that the locals dreamed of. But our Crimean people themselves allow themselves such an attitude.
It is not visitors from the mainland who sell food on the streets, it is not tourists who sit behind store counters and on roadsides with signs saying “housing by the sea”, it is not holidaymakers who sell food on the beaches. Non-vacationers fry shish kebab, pasties and other things right on the embankments. Even if they wanted to, no one would let someone else in. For twenty years, everything has been divided - generations have grown up in a system of lawlessness, and in a couple of years the situation cannot be turned around, although... Everything is the will of the leadership and security forces - so that it is according to the law and strictly. There are many examples of this both in our country and abroad.
It’s the same with the garbage that has plagued everyone along the roadsides, along the streets and embankments. It is being removed, but... Apparently, Crimea urgently needs special and tough leadership, perhaps unpopular measures, show trials, and only then is it possible to restore order, begin to respect ourselves and our home, and also enjoy the guests - not only by making money from them. Crimea is historical, resort, sanatorium, excursion, and not a market with a tavern.
I have a reaction to Varlamov himself - as a blogger who makes money from this. Well, let it be his business - everyone has their own business. If there is a consumer of his product, then this is exactly the consumer that the Crimeans want to see as a potential client. With the same amounts for vacation that Varlamov spends. With the same set of pleasures that he allowed himself on this voyage.
We need to be honest – a bad resort is one that can be shaken by a blogger’s publications. Either the blogger is strong, which is good for the blogging community, or our Crimeans are so touchy and suddenly realized that they can charge one guy with money to spoil the mood of the entire Republic. And everyone is really discussing it. For information specialists, this is a wake-up call, and conclusions need to be drawn.
– Did there really be fewer tourists in Sudak during the 2016 season, as Varlamov claims?
– Less than last year, and that’s obvious. Although there are a lot of people in the evenings, and there are even more cars with tourists than last year. The resort's audience has changed, that's obvious. Another client arrived - not the same notorious “elite”. The number of fast food outlets and canteens exceeds the number of expensive restaurants and cafes. Now many people save on vacation, and this is not bad, it’s understandable. The general condition is this: simplification and reduction in cost.
– The other day you joined the flash mob for Navy Day by posting a photo with the Navy flag on your blog.
“I served under this flag, my grandfather and father too - everyone served in the Black Sea Fleet under this flag, and Greek-Ossetian blood is completely traditional. I have this flag at home and I take it with me on trips and on Fleet Day too. It still hangs behind my back. And it’s normal to observe traditions and respect your state, your fleet, your flag. I'm not lying or joking.
-Sandro, you served in the army in Sevastopol?
-Yes – 91 years old...in the hottest time. He was called up on November 18, and in December they began to disintegrate the Soviet Union and divide the fleet... We prepared to take the oath 6 times and took it in January. Sworn allegiance to the Russian Federation.
I remember how the first “friendship trains” from Lviv were met at the station. The local grandmothers themselves told us: “Disassemble the picket fences,” when they saw the Westerners with oak.
And they themselves were preparing to escape. There were a lot of people running away from the service back then—everyone was caught and returned. Quite a turbulent time.
In general, everything happened. Just think, half of the boys from Western Ukraine served with us - everyone swore allegiance to Russia at that time.
-So, when the “trains of friendship” arrived, what happened in Sevastopol? How were they received?
-Nationalists bullied sailors, provoked fights, got into military units, and they were beaten harshly - then that was the only way. I don’t remember about the murders, but if there were any, I wouldn’t be surprised.
-You found interesting times.
-Then in Sevastopol in the winter of 91-92. it was so hard that we asked to go to war in Georgia - there were more than a hundred volunteers. Then the fleet was withdrawn from Poti, but the Council of Mothers of Sevastopol did not let us go.
-And what?
- From there the first wounded and killed were brought to Sevastopol. There, the Georgians wanted to keep the ships for themselves, but the Marines recaptured the warships.
-Served for three years?
-Two. We were the first call for two years. There was a ship, there was a disbat, and after that there was a training ground on the Kerch Peninsula.
-Have you been to the disbat yet?
-Yeah, a month. I draw and drew then. I refused to draw a portrait of one tyrant, but he sent me to the disbat - and there were familiar Marines there, and in all the documents the “artist” designed the premises.
-And how was your service in the Russian Black Sea Fleet in general then?
-I was lucky to meet October 93 in the navy. Do you remember the second putsch in Moscow, when they shot up the White House from tanks? So we had some fun - we went to Kerch to buy bread in an armored personnel carrier with a squad of machine gunners. They were afraid of provocations. The tension was terrible. Funding is scarce, but there are a lot of weapons from the Union - they were guarded day and night.
I remember it was completely international - the guys left the Russian fleet for independent states - Kazakhstan, Ukraine, the Baltic states. One from Chechnya returned back - war was brewing there. Westerners also returned and married Crimean women from the villages - just to live here warmly and well enough.
-What was Sevastopol itself like then?
-And Sevastopol was in complete disarray - sailors ran from one fleet to another several times a day. And in the city there are hundreds of patrols, order, military, closed city. Everything was strict.
Then the first Crimean Tatars came to the fleet - they only returned to Crimea, but they were drafted into the fleet and left in Crimea. I had a friend Ernest from Bakhchisarai.
There was no division based on nationality back then. Whoever was friends with which admiral left with that one. It doesn’t matter - to the Russian fleet, or to the Ukrainian one.
It was after us that nationalism began, and then the goal was to preserve work in the service. The choice was simple - either to become an officer or to become a bandit - the only money job.
-What were the Crimean Tatars like then?
-It was the first time in the navy that I found out about Tatars. They served normally. We had both Kazakhs and Uzbeks. For several years, the military system has been calling for people, as it is used to, and the countries are already neighboring. They began to invent the CIS.
The military Tatars were normal.
-Where did you go on leave in Sevastopol? What places in the city were fashionable then?
- Sailors' club! To the disco. Just think, five years after my service I came to the same club to work as an actor at the Fleet Theater after college. There have always been cafes and restaurants in Sevastopol, but not for the money of sailors. My friends studied at the Instrument-Making Institute - I went to their dorm when I was on leave.
It was our joy to buy a couple of kilos of halva, all kinds of cookies and lemonade - that’s all the dismissal was. Absolutely kids. Not everyone’s parents helped, and in the navy it was also hard to get food.
We were lucky that many Crimeans were called up then, and all of them were the first sailors of the Russian Black Sea Fleet - friends, girlfriends, and parents came from home with food.
-How did you get into acting? What roles did you play there? In what plays?
-In actors unexpectedly. I had never even been to the theater before. I left to serve, and after not getting into the art school, I immediately entered the cultural school in Yaroslavl. I studied for two days and received word from Crimea that a summons had arrived. Six months after the service, I went to Yaroslavl to pick up documents and unexpectedly entered the theater institute - just for fun.
There was a lot of audacity, southern temperament, I read, sang, danced... And then I got involved. Again, I drew a lot, and imaginative thinking saved me. And I went to Sevastopol to the fleet theater only because I didn’t want to perform plays in Ukrainian. Not important, I just studied in a Russian city using Russian classics. Sevastopol was the only one in Crimea that had a completely Russian theater, but I lived in Crimea, and my parents are all here. After that, I worked on TV for three years in parallel. They played all sorts of things - there were mainly naval themes and comedies with fairy tales - a strong provincial theater. I got tired of everything after four years and moved to Sudak to earn free bread.
-How do you think the residents of Sevastopol differ from the Crimeans?
-Crimea (like the Crimeans) is wild and reckless. Unorganized into a community - every man for himself. But the residents of Sevastopol are a community. A closed city and closed people - open only within themselves. The people of Sevastopol are proud and daring, but at the same time the atmosphere of so many wars and defenses is felt. Every centimeter of the city is drenched in blood.
They say that if you put together the number of shells with which the Nazis attacked Sevastopol, the city can be covered with a one and a half meter layer of metal. There are traces of war everywhere and they keep it, there monuments oblige you to maintain your posture and feel responsibility. There, the history of the city strengthens the people. This is how I feel about this city.
Creative Sevastopol is amazing. There is no such rock and roll, artists, actors, dancers anywhere else in Crimea. Crimea itself lives in seasons and from trade. Sevastopol is a military and industrial city - life does not stop in winter, but on the contrary - everything is in full swing.
-How, in your opinion, has Sevastopol changed over the past two years?
-According to my perception, the city was filled with refugees from Donbass - this can be seen from the license plates of the cars. There were also a lot of military people there. This makes me happy. By the way, I trust Sergei Menyailo as an admiral, as the governor-general of a military city.
And Chaly, excuse me, a businessman cannot be the head of a fortress city, a city that is the base of the Black Sea Fleet. It is necessary - build a new city nearby, and let it rule there, and Sevastopol should be commanded by a military man, but with a normal team.
Sevastopol is not a resort city, but it is very touristy. And with regard to cleanliness on the streets or trading there, this is a common problem for the whole of Crimea.
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