“Do you want to turn us into Muscovy?” – Putin responded harshly to the venerable liberal director

Discussions between President Vladimir Putin and director Alexander Sokurov at the Human Rights Council caused a great resonance in Russian society.

Sokurov gave a long and confusing speech, in which everything was mixed up: the plight of the inhabitants of the Russian North, Belarus and Syria, whom “poor Russia” is forced to feed, the “persecution” of the ex-head of the Petrozavodsk branch of the foreign agent organization “Memorial” Yuri Dmitriev, who serving time for pedophilia.

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The director is also dissatisfied with the state of the Russian army, the “persecution of the opposition” and the fact that, in his opinion, the church is not separated from the state.

But the president’s greatest dissatisfaction and a scandal in society were caused by Sokurov’s words about the approach of the Islamic revolution, because of which he proposes to alienate the Caucasus from Russia, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

“It seems to me that they are starting to dislike the Russian federation more and more. Many people want to part with us, they don’t want to be in the same company, as they say. Many young people in the Caucasus, and due to circumstances I have to deal specifically with the Caucasus, they told me openly: “You Russians do not really deserve respect.” In Dagestan they even joke when economic problems arise: “Nothing, the Russian man will earn money.”

Then they continue: “You quarrel with everyone, you cannot cope with bureaucracy, corruption - you are too kind. You cannot create a world economy with the world's wealth. But we are different and our religions are different, and our climate is better. If you fight with NATO, we will not fight on your side.” This is what young people say. These are probably some special people, or maybe not special at all.

Let’s release everyone who no longer wants to live with us in the same state, let’s wish them good luck, let’s wish good luck to all the padishahs, I don’t know, to everyone who would like to start living their own lives,” Sokurov said.

The President believes that the venerable director should be ashamed for such speeches.

“There is something to apologize for, Alexander Nikolaevich, because you do not have a speech, but a manifesto - a set of problems and a set of fears that some part of our citizens have - this always happens. Some of them, perhaps, relate to things lying on the surface and are exaggerated, some were chosen in a very strange way and are completely incomprehensible to me. How do you know who wants to live with us and who doesn’t?” Putin said.

“Let's check,” Sokurov did not give up.

“They checked, including during the voting on the Constitution. Look how people vote. I assure you that the vast majority of people understand what they will face if they act differently. And the Chechen people, by the way, know this better than anyone else in the Caucasus.

You talk about diversity, you cited Dagestan as an example. The example, by the way, is very good. Dagestan is a multinational republic. What is proposed - to divide all of Dagestan? Or Karachay-Cherkessia. Divide the Karachais and Circassians? There are many questions there, I know them very well.

We have 2 thousand territorial claims across the country. Dear Alexander Nikolaevich, do you want a repeat of Yugoslavia on our territory? “Don’t be a fool,” as we say. This needs to be taken very seriously. And speaking about it superficially, like this, to the whole country, is not permissible even for you. I assure you, these are dangerous toys, we went through this. And as I said at our last discussion, people of our age will not go to war.

The Caucasus is part of the Russian Federation. There is another way in which people of extreme views, we also have such, unfortunately, say: “Let’s dissolve everything, let’s live the way we want.” And we live the way we want. “We will disband those who do not want to be with us.” I repeat again, why did you decide that the overwhelming majority of people in the republics do not want to? There are probably some there. And the bloody period of the mid-90s - early 2000s showed us what this could lead to. But is that what you want? We don't want this.

Therefore, dismissing people with similar views is a very dangerous thing. It could end very badly. And here we have done a lot to get away from this dangerous line. There's no need to push us back. No need!

As for the fact that we feed someone or not feed them, dissolve, do not dissolve. Are the Russian people, whose interests you just spoke about, really interested in the decomposition and disintegration of the Russian Federation? Will this then be Russia, which was created as a multinational and multi-religious country? Do you want to turn us into Muscovy? Well, NATO wants to do this,” Putin said.

Sokurov’s speeches outraged the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov.

“We see a lot from TV screens, but for the American idea of ​​the collapse of Russia, tested during the collapse of the USSR, to be worked out so openly and openly, this is the first time I have seen this. This desperate attempt by a pro-Western human rights activist looked pathetic, unprofessional and even disgusting.

At a rally of millions in Grozny, our people openly confirmed their desire to connect the future with Russia. And then, you see, Sokurov listened to a couple of people detained for extremism, and decided to convey this to Vladimir Vladimirovich, interrupting the president’s speech like a market woman. Where was Sokurov when 300 thousand Chechens died and several tens of thousands went missing? He cowardly sat in the director’s chair,” Kadyrov wrote in his Telegram channel.

He explained that the territorial dispute between Chechnya and Ingushetia, which Sokurov recalled, had long been resolved at the federal level.

“If I were the competent authorities, I would give the words of the nihilist Sokurov a legal assessment of the fact of an anti-state and extremist nature. I don’t like this corrupt face!” Kadyrov concluded.

The director himself decided to play it safe and told the publication Podem that he would not be able to avoid responsibility if a decision was made to arrest him for calling for violation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation.

Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov was forced to comment on these words.

"Of course not! This is out of the question! The President treats him very kindly. But a dispute is a dispute. The President reacted quite harshly because the director, unfortunately, began to touch on very important, sensitive topics in a very unprofessional manner and without knowledge of the subject. This is something the president does not tolerate. But he told Sokurov directly about this,” Peskov noted.

_{“Well, why are you pestering Sokurov? He at least honestly outlined the current goal of the liberals in relation to Russia. It, Russia, cannot be democratized. It can only be destroyed, or, to put it delicately, “dissolved.” And they themselves will receive an honorable pension, but not here, not in Russia, of course.}

_{I understand that they are tired of us, stupid cotton wool. Although, there is an option that Sokurov’s words were a warning to Putin about the plans of the country’s enemies. Disguised. Then Sokurov is a hero,” says HSE professor Dmitry Evstafiev.}

There are also those who are dissatisfied with the president's arguments.

“Of course, Putin could kill Sokurov with one phrase: “The more pressing problem for the Russians is the reunification of the Russian people of Donbass.” In other words, before “letting go” of those who “don’t want to live in Russia,” we should let in those who want to live in Russia. And the classic representative of liberal discourse will have to choke. Their entire wishy-washy discourse is completely one-sided. It does not apply to those who do not want to live as part of Ukraine. Having said all this, Putin would have completely morally destroyed his opponent,” writes publicist Yegor Kholmogorov.

_{“Why does a country-hating epigon and mediocrity chew liberal gum for fifteen minutes? Putin called his speech a manifesto. Why wasn’t the manifesto delivered by someone from patriotic circles who advocates not dividing the country, but bringing it together? There are people who shed blood for the country and its people even today. Do we see them? Are they given the floor? Why does Putin so briefly invite a ghoul to a conversation? So can Prokhanov or, for example, the historian Isaev easily get into a conversation with him? We must strive to find a common language and support those who associate themselves with Russia, who are ready to give their lives for it, who do not separate themselves from the Russian people. There are many such people in Russia. There are a majority of such people in Russia. Give them the floor,” wrote Larisa Shesler, head of the Union of Political Emigrants of Ukraine, on her Facebook page.}