Liberal Center. Why Mikhalkov said that the Yeltsin Center is destroying national identity

"Kids Get Poison"

Last Friday, parliamentary hearings in the Federation Council (a format, you understand, that does not imply sensations, intrigues and investigations), and with them the whole country, were suddenly shaken by a powerful information bomb. IN Lately after all, just give a reason, be it Mannerheim or Ivan the Terrible, and a society split into two camps will argue to the point of hoarseness, defending its own and ignoring someone else's point of view on a common history. What to say when we are talking practically about a contemporary - Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin. More precisely, about the Center in Yekaterinburg, named after him. Museum complex in Once again became a bone of contention between liberals and guardians. This time the latter were represented by director Nikita Mikhalkov, who attacked the Yeltsin Center from the rostrum of the upper house of parliament.

“There can be no culture without an objective understanding of history. To date, there is a center in Yekaterinburg, in which an injection of destruction of the national identity of children takes place every day, ”he said, proposing to adjust the museum’s program to show a different point of view on history. “It's a matter of national security, as hundreds of children get this poison every day. There must be a consistent policy to ensure that children understand that the country they live in is a great country.”

Here, for example, is an episode from an interview with the director in June this year. According to him, Mikhalkov's claims are clearly clear.

“In the center of Russia, in the Urals, a huge amazing building, equipped with last word. Small children - five or six years old, all free. I wonder how! A cartoon is shown about the history of Russia. What's in this cartoon? What is shown there? And it is shown there that everything that happened before 1990 was all abomination, dirt, betrayal, slavery, blood, abomination and so on. The only light beam in dark kingdom- this is the appearance of Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin. Everything else is deleted. At all! It wasn't. And what will the children grow up as a result?

“How can you criticize what you haven’t seen”

In the camp of Yeltsin took a break. Almost a day later, Boris Yeltsin's widow Naina Iosifovna answered Nikita Sergeevich's attack:

“I am deeply outraged by Mikhalkov's statements. And not only because they are false, having nothing to do with either the Yeltsin Center or its activities. It is striking that for several months now he has been spreading lies about how the history of the country is presented in the museum of the first president of Russia. Do not hesitate to pull the elements of the exposition out of context, label and directly insult the people who worked for the good of our country in those years.

However, he has never been to the Yeltsin Center. It doesn’t fit in my head, how you can criticize what you haven’t seen. I remember how Nikita Mikhalkov was a confidant of Boris Nikolaevich in the 1996 elections and then he assessed the reforms of the 1990s and the contribution of the Yeltsin team to the construction of a new Russia in a completely different way. To be honest, I am very bitter to write these words. I could not imagine that in twenty years he would easily renounce what he said and did. But despite the false statements of the director, as well as the malicious comments of the rabid communists who, with their efforts, led our country - Soviet Union- to destruction, the Yeltsin Center is filled with people from morning until late at night, which I am very glad about.

Indeed, in 1996, Nikita Mikhalkov, in an interview, called Boris Yeltsin a “dynamic leader”, attributing to him the fact that he was not a member of any party: “Boris Nikolayevich is Russian. He, forgive me, the man. And Russia is a feminine noun. And she needs a man, ”Nikita Sergeevich said then.

"I never gave up"

All these days we tried to contact the director, but he closed himself from journalists. Obviously preparing a response to Naina Yeltsina. And on Sunday it was made public in the form of an open letter. Here are some excerpts from it:

“I deeply regret that I caused you grief, but I am sure that you were misled by interpreting my words from a certain angle. I spoke at the Federation Council not about the memory of Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin and not about his activities, but about how and who draws up and executes programs of dubious historical content with dubious historical conclusions ...

I really personally didn’t visit the Yeltsin Center because of constant traveling, but several film crews worked there, specially sent there, who completely filmed all the expositions, exhibits, interiors, cafes, people’s opinions, and so on. And, believe me, I have a very complete idea of ​​what is happening there ...

I have never given up and do not give up a single moment of my past. I took part in the elections quite consciously and said everything I said with complete sincerity, because for me and for very many other people at that moment there was no alternative to Boris Nikolayevich. Everything that was in sight and claimed power was much worse. In addition, at that time, no one, at least from those who voted for Boris Nikolayevich, including myself, could not imagine the depth and tragedy of the situation in which the country would find itself. These are bought-out factories, and ships sold for a penny, and a humiliated army, and an impoverished people, and destroyed science. But I am sure that it is unfair to place all the responsibility for this only on the shoulders of Boris Nikolaevich ...

I have never renounced and will not renounce what I have done and said, and I continue to insist that the Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin Museum is needed, but it is impossible to destroy historical truth in his name, brightening it up free visits, entertainment and pastime in the beautiful interiors of the Yeltsin Center, at the same time, infiltrating the fragile consciousness of young people with a false understanding of the history of Russia ... "

FEEDBACK

"The split of people" soft power "

Radio listeners TVNZ(97.2 FM) supported the director

Here are just a few of the live streams:

Leonid:

I often visit Yekaterinburg. The citizens who are there have nothing to be proud of, except for their mayor, who has a criminal record, and Yeltsin. In the "Yeltsin Center" they are going to rehabilitate Krasnov, Shkuro, SS Gruppenfuehrers ... They are supported international funds, to whom we have not felt sympathy for two years.

Sergey:

It's not about how Mikhalkov treats Yeltsin. It's personal. And how history is presented to future generations. I myself have not been to the Center, but I heard the recordings. Specifically, according to the history of the Russian state, where all the rulers are despots and loafers. But for some reason, the worst people lived during the reign of Yeltsin. Children are told the opposite.

Novel:

I lived under Yeltsin. This is enough to understand what kind of processes were in those days. And these centers are needed to split people with the so-called "soft power".

Eugene:

Mikhalkov supported Yeltsin in 1996. I think there is nothing surprising here. Because the reforms have been going on for only five years. Yeltsin has been in power for only five years. The course of reforms is not yet clear. The position of the West in relation to the country is not clear. Default ahead. From a democratic standpoint, Mikhalkov supported Yeltsin.

Prepared by Alexander IGOREV

AND AT THIS TIME

Yeltsin Center historian Nikita Sokolov will sue Nikita Mikhalkov

The scandal surrounding the Yeltsin Center in Yekaterinburg will not subside. Last Friday, December 9th, Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov spoke out against the presidential museum in Yekaterinburg, saying that "citizens receive here daily injections of poison that destroys national identity," which offended both the center's employees and even the wife of the first president of Russia, Boris Yeltsin. ()

Why Nikita Mikhalkov took up arms against the Yeltsin Center

We are trying to figure it out on the air of Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda [audio] ()

REPORT FROM THE MUSEUM

Visitors to the Yeltsin Center: "Mikhalkov "ran into" the museum in order to once again promote himself"

Director Nikita Mikhalkov said that the Yeltsin Center is destroying the national identity of children and people's real idea of ​​what the history of Russia is. Correspondents of "KP-Yekaterinburg" went to one of the most contemporary museums Russia, to find confirmation of the words of the venerable director there. Or not to be found

MEANWHILE

10 celebrities who don't think the Yeltsin Center is dangerous for Russians

Many stars who have visited Yekaterinburg visit the Museum of the First President of Russia

HAVE AN OPINION

Milonov: Mikhalkov lived well under the communists, and under Yeltsin, and under the current government

Mikhalkov's attack in society was rated ambiguously. Most people in Russia have a negative attitude towards the Yeltsin Center, says State Duma deputy Vitaly Milonov.

Its creation is a slap in the face to society, at least a different name was chosen. The fate of Boris Nikolayevich cannot be unambiguously assessed, it would not be correct

BY THE WAY

Governor Yevgeny Kuyvashev wants to give Mikhalkov a tour of the Yeltsin Center

The disputes around the Yeltsin Center, which flared up with renewed vigor after the speech of the patriarch of Russian cinema in the Federation Council, are reaching a new level. Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region Yevgeny Kuyvashev contacted Mikhalkov from his Instagram page.

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Speech by Nikita Mikhalkov in the Federation Council.

The director expressed regret that he did not visit him earlier

Film director Nikita Mikhalkov before viewing the exposition at the Yeltsin Center

Moscow. December 19th. site - Chairman of the Union of Cinematographers Nikita Mikhalkov regrets that he did not visit the Yeltsin Center earlier, then he would have spoken about him "even earlier and even tougher."

"I had an idea of ​​what was in the Center. I visited it the day before yesterday ( Saturday - IF). I regret that I had not been there before, if I had visited it earlier, I would have talked about it earlier and would have spoken even harsher. It was important for me to be there," the director said, speaking on Monday in the Federation Council at a meeting of the Council on Intellectual Property.

Criticism of the cartoon

Mikhalkov visited the Center during his trip to Yekaterinburg. During his visit to the Yeltsin Center, the director did not change his opinion about it, in particular about the historical cartoon shown there.

"If this is the respected history of the country, then this is a lie. I will not believe it. You say that this cartoon is about the craving for freedom. Where is the freedom that is inherent in us, in this slavery, in this cartoon? The tendentiousness with which here ( in the cartoon - IF) shows the time and in the center, as a result, it brings more harm to Boris Nikolayevich himself. This is my point of view," Mikhalkov said earlier during his visit to the Yeltsin Center.

In his opinion, the cartoon does not instill in young people love for their country. "Young people come here, unfortunately, scooping historical information from Wikipedia. They come to a huge center, on which a lot of money has been spent, which should tell them something, and the first thing they see is this cartoon. And this does not give rise to any respect and love for one's ancestors and one's past," Mikhalkov said.

At the same time, according to representatives of the Center, the director visited only 20% of the museum's expositions.

Earlier, Mikhalkov, during parliamentary hearings in the Federation Council, criticized the work of the Yeltsin Center, in which, according to him, "an injection of destruction of people's national identity takes place every day," and proposed changing the nature of its activities.

He suggested "separating the wheat from the chaff and looking at the activities of the Center through the eyes of people who do not want to discredit the name of Boris Nikolayevich, but at the same time cannot agree with the biased and ideological interpretation of our history."

The director explained to Interfax that it was necessary to assemble a team of professionals - historians, political scientists and specialists who should, after analyzing the entire exposition, exhibits and museum activities, make their own corrections if they deem it necessary.

Reply to Naina Yeltsina

In response to Mikhalkov's criticism, Naina Yeltsina stressed: "I am deeply outraged by these statements by Mikhalkov." “And not only because they are false, having nothing to do with either the Yeltsin Center or its activities. It is striking that for several months now he has been spreading lies about how the history of the country is presented in the museum of the first president of Russia , not embarrassed to pull elements of the exposition out of context, label and directly insult people who worked for the benefit of our country in those years," Naina Yeltsina said in a statement posted on the Center's website.

Yeltsin Center was opened in Yekaterinburg in November 2015. The opening was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, as well as well-known politicians, cultural figures and people who knew the first Russian president closely.

During the visit, Nikita Mikhalkov said that he "came here simply to remove the questions that he was not here." “Consider that I was here. With today's technology, you can get everything, ”Mikhalkov replied to a representative of the Yeltsin Center when he said that he had not examined most of the halls (follows from a video posted on official group center on Facebook).

The director also said that he was not going to correct the program of the Yeltsin Center, even if he was asked about it. He also said that he had not changed his mind about the center. In particular, he mentioned the cartoon, in which, in his opinion, the history of Russia is shown one-sidedly.

“If this is the respected history of the country, then it is a lie. I won't believe it. You say that this cartoon is about the craving for freedom. Where in this cartoon is the freedom that is inherent in us, in this slavery? The tendentiousness with which time is shown here and in the center of Boris Nikolayevich, as a result, brings more harm to Boris Nikolayevich himself. This is my point of view,” Mikhalkov said.

“Tell me, in which of these eras would I, as a Russian person, like to live? Neither Pushkin, nor Tolstoy, nor Blok, nor Chekhov can be born in the country that you just showed me, this is unrealistic,” Mikhalkov said.

Earlier, Mikhalkov, during parliamentary hearings in the Federation Council, the work of the Yeltsin Center, in which, in his words, “an injection of destruction of people's national identity takes place every day,” and proposed changing the nature of its activities.

The next day, the director received a response to his criticism from the wife of the first president of the Russian Federation, Naina Yeltsina. “I am deeply outraged by these statements by Mikhalkov. And not only because they are false, having nothing to do with either the Yeltsin Center or its activities. It is striking that for several months now he has been spreading lies about how the history of the country is presented in the museum of the first president of Russia, not hesitating to pull elements of the exposition out of context, label and directly insult people who worked for the good of our country in those years. At the same time, he has never been to the Yeltsin Center! It doesn't fit in my head. How can you criticize what you haven't seen?!” the message posted on the center's website reads. She also recalled how Nikita Mikhalkov was a confidant of Boris Nikolaevich in the 1996 elections and then assessed the reforms of the 90s and the contribution of the “Yeltsin team” to the construction of a new Russia in a completely different way.

Nikita Mikhalkov published an open letter in which he expressed regret that his words had upset Naina Yeltsina. “I was not talking about the memory of Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin and not about his activities, but about how and who composes and executes programs of dubious historical content with dubious historical conclusions,” he wrote.

The executive director of the Yeltsin Center, Alexander Drozdov, in turn, admitted that, according to the observations of his Yekaterinburg colleagues, Nikita Sergeyevich Mikhalkov is expected in Yekaterinburg more than Santa Claus. The director of the Sverdlovsk region, Yevgeny Kuyvashev, also invited the director on an excursion to the center.

On the eve of the centennial anniversary of the Russian Revolution, when we think about its causes and consequences, the issues of developing national self-consciousness are of particular relevance. A heated discussion has now flared up around the president's statement Russian Foundation culture, the famous film director Nikita Mikhalkov, who during the parliamentary hearings in the Federation Council sharply condemned the activities of the Yeltsin Center, pointing out that it "destroys the national identity of hundreds of children every day." In his opinion, this is due to the fact that it presents a biased assessment of the history of Russia. “Today, there is a center in Yekaterinburg where an injection of destruction of the national identity of children takes place every day,” Nikita Mikhalkov pointed out. He also stressed that the program of the Yeltsin Center could be adjusted to show a different point of view on history.

“How is our history shown within a few minutes? What are these people? What is this story anyway? What kind of people made this story? Slaves and animals, ”the director was indignant. “Scum and abomination, slavery and blood, dependence and fear... But this is wrong, but this is not true,” Nikita Sergeevich is indignant.

From the Center immediately followed the answer. “Director Nikita Mikhalkov, who criticized the activities of the Yeltsin Center in Yekaterinburg, never visited it,” said Yelena Volkova, a representative of the center. “This kind of criticism fits into the well-known tradition: “I have not read Pasternak, but I condemn it.” "The activities of the Yeltsin Center fully comply with the statutory tasks and Russian legislation," Volkova proclaimed.

Mikhalkov's statement was condemned by the widow of former President Naina Yeltsin. “The Yeltsin Center is already a year old, it lives its active, busy life she writes. – During the year, more than a quarter of a million people visited the Yeltsin Museum alone, and in total, together with numerous events and events, more than half a million visitors visited the Presidential Center. The center has become a favorite place for Yekaterinburg residents, both young and old are happy to go there, everyone finds something important and interesting for themselves. For example, now the Center is preparing a big New Year's program to bring joy to children different ages. There will be Christmas trees, Santa Claus, theatrical performances... What is this - "an injection of the destruction of national identity"? Only in the inflamed imagination of Mikhalkov can such an interpretation of everything that the Yeltsin Center does, ”says Naina Iosifovna.

However, firstly, criticizing the activities of the Center, Mikhalkov spoke not at all about Christmas trees and not about Santa Claus, but about the form in which the history of Russia was presented in his exposition. And secondly, the point here is not only Mikhalkov alone, and not whether he himself was in the center or not. Many of those who nevertheless read Pasternak, i.e. visited the Center, indignantly give its exposition the same sharply negative assessment as Mikhalkov.

He visited the Yeltsin Center and, according to him, was horrified by the well-known television observer Vladimir Solovyov. He stated that the video about the history of Russia, which he saw there, brought him “in a state of not just surprise. It's a level of outrage that can't be described."

“There is no Yeltsin in the museum itself,” Solovyov believes. - This is not the Yeltsin Center, but the liberal center. In the worst years of Soviet propaganda, there was no such one-sided view of history as in the Yeltsin Center.” According to the journalist, leaving the center, he held back a "wild feeling of hatred", and main question, which, according to the journalist, should appear in the head of a visitor to the Center: “What a horror, in what country do I live?”.

In Yekaterinburg itself, various protests against the Center have already taken place more than once. So in August, activists staged a performance on the anniversary of the August coup on the embankment near the Yeltsin Center. As part of the show, several boats with banners “The Yeltsin era. The Age of Shame” went to the middle of the Iset River. The action was accompanied by the voice of Boris Nikolayevich and one of his catchphrases"I'm leaving" that came from the speakers.

The initiative to declare the Yeltsin Center a foreign agent was made by the leaders of the Sverdlovsk branch of the Liberal Democratic Party. “The Yeltsin Center is working against the interests of Russia, its goal is to eliminate Russian state put by the United States,” said State Duma deputy Yevgeny Fedorov in an interview with Russian People’s Line.

There was even a petition, the authors of which demanded that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika close the Yeltsin Center "for propaganda of liberal fascism." “Rehabilitation of traitors to the Motherland and propaganda of values ​​that are alien to both traditional Russian and Soviet civilization is the main task of this center, into which, according to media reports, schoolchildren are forcibly driven. The Yeltsin Center is forming public opinion associated with inciting hatred towards entire social categories,” wrote the author of the petition, Alexei Bogachev from St. Petersburg, in the text of the petition.

Bogachev found the reason for creating the petition in a public speech by the deputy director of the scientific work Nikita Sokolov, who declared his readiness for the rehabilitation of the Vlasovites, who fought on the side of Hitler with weapons in their hands.

Similar comments about the "propaganda" work of the Center in Yekaterinburg are also left by its ordinary visitors. For example, the user Tatyana wrote on the Internet: “I was in this Center the other day, I was in shock: on a huge screen, simply and intelligibly in the style of comics, a film about the history of Russia is constantly shown, a brief description of every king is a tyrant, a murderer, for greater clarity, almost everyone whips the unfortunate little people with a whip. At the end, the sun rises and Yeltsin the liberator appears to the world! Schoolchildren were brought in... To match the bookstore, on sale: Hilary Clinton, a book about alleged bullying of Jews in Russia, and in the series "Life of GREAT (!!!) people" publications about Blumkin, Azef, Parvus!

The Yeltsin Center was opened in Yekaterinburg in November 2015. It was created in accordance with the law of 2008 "On the centers historical heritage presidents of the Russian Federation who have ceased to exercise their powers "- to preserve, study and publicly present the legacy of the first president of the Russian Federation" in the context recent history homeland, the development of democratic institutions and the building of a constitutional state”. Many of the center's projects were initiated by the private Yeltsin Foundation, formed in 2000, headed by the daughter of the first president, Tatyana Yumasheva.

The construction of the Yeltsin Center cost the taxpayers a pretty penny. 7 billion rubles were allocated from the budget. Only to complete the construction of the center building in Yekaterinburg, the authorities of the Sverdlovsk region allocated a loan of 2 billion rubles, which the center could not repay on time. At the same time, the Sverdlovsk region itself has a very large public debt, which more than tripled from May 1, 2012 to May 1, 2016 (from 21 billion to 66 billion rubles).

By the way, the museum's exposition was created by the American Ralph Appelbaum Museum Design Agency, which, among other things, commissioned the National Constitutional Center and the Presidential Library in the United States, and also worked in Russia on the Jewish Museum in Moscow.

But not only the designers of the Yeltsin Center are from the USA. Its current director, Irina Evdokimova, also came from across the ocean. She studied in Washington and New York, and then worked for a long time at the Museum contemporary art, the famous MoMA.

What happens then? The Americans designed the exposition of the center, they also developed its structure and programs, and the center is run by a lady, trained and well prepared overseas.

After that, is it any wonder that the history of Russia in this largest center of culture in the Urals is tailored according to Western patterns?

Let's take a closer look at what else, besides promoting the Russophobic "historical" exposition criticized by Mikhalkov, does the Yeltsin Center do? This is stated on the center's website. There, it turns out, lectures are held periodically. For example, a lecture by ex-Minister of the Interior of Germany Gerhart Baum (a well-known Western liberal). The so-called author's excursions are conducted by the odious Nikolai Svanidze, the sister of the oligarch Prokhorov Irina Prokhorova, the liberal Georgy Satarov, Andrey Makarevich, who distinguished himself with his concerts in front of the Kiev punishers, the chairman of the Civil Initiative party Andrey Nechaev and others. Welcome guests are Viktor Shenderovich and Mikhail Kasyanov. In a word, the entire liberal army.

What are they talking about? For example, well-known liberal economist Yevgeny Yasin speaks at the Center and broadcasts: “The crisis that we are now experiencing is largely due to the fact that Vladimir Putin, in a sense, changed the policy that Boris Yeltsin left him as a legacy.”

In other words, Yeltsin did good to everyone, and Putin came along and ruined everything. This is what they teach at the Yeltsin Center...

Various film festivals are periodically held in the center: the festival of Russian documentary films "Artdocfest" (which was directed by the Russophobe director Vitaly Mansky, who recently fled to Latvia for permanent residence), the festival of American documentary films, the festival of films about music and new culture"Beat Weekend" (promoting the ugliest examples of Western pop culture) and others. A nice set of personalities and events for the "enlightenment" of the Ural youth, isn't it?

Nikolai Starikov, a well-known St. Petersburg historian and writer, who, by the way, also read Pasternak, carefully analyzed the activities of the Center, especially the way it portrays the history of Russia. “The Yeltsin Center,” he writes, “is a collection of all possible liberal myths. This is the Looking Glass, where good is served by evil, and evil is dressed in the clothes of good. And all this at an amazing technical level.”

“To say that they 'distort' history,” continues Starikov, “that would be a very mild word. Brazenly lie - just right. The first thing that is shown to the visitor is a film on the history of Russia, made in a "cartoon" version. It is impossible to agree with the content of the film: the history of Russia is shown exclusively in a negative way. In this sense, the authors of the film, more precisely, the authors of the idea, moved in the logic of the Bolshevik historians, who painted all the tsars with black paint and showed the history of Russia exclusively as the struggle of its people against the tsarist regime. Here the people were not engaged in anything else, for a century or so since the twentieth century they were engaged in the “fight for freedom” and nothing else. Here is the same thing. Everything is presented from the point of view of a modern liberal. The conversation begins about Ivan the Terrible. Every possible visual effect is used to scare the viewer. Especially a child. Tsar Ivan is terrible, approaching, crushing people, huge, growing. It has nothing to do with history. The tricks are completely blatant. They say: Ivan the Terrible introduced the oprichnina, they show scary people who cut everyone with sabers. Then - the following proposal: the result of which was Civil War in the country. I thought for a second: what kind of civil war was under Ivan the Terrible, because he introduced the oprichnina? It turns out that we are talking about the Time of Troubles, which began many years AFTER the death of the Terrible Tsar and had nothing to do with his actions ...

Peter I is shown as an evil tyrant. He wanted to cut a window to Europe, and did not reckon with any losses. They show a frame: Peter I cuts down a tree, it breaks into pieces, they fly and kill people. He cuts to the left - people fell, he waved his ax to the right - the tree fell into fragments, again people fall dead. Here it is the Russian government! All on blood and murder!

...Lenin is shown more or less neutrally. Liberals never criticize him. It is clear that Stalin is a horror, there cartoon characters torture and kill everyone ... Next comes the Great Patriotic War. Here, too, in passing all the time negative. What they're saying? The victorious people paid for the Victory a price that no one has ever paid in history. This is true, but it is presented from the point of view that it is bad. It seems that the people would not want to pay this price, but they forced them to.

After Stalin, in passing, Khrushchev is a positive character. Reformer. Further fleeting Brezhnev with a touch of negativity (stagnation). Then Gorbachev, well done. And the top of all this food chain" - Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin. As the greatest politician in the history of Russia.

The Yeltsin Center uses such abstract concepts to promote the destruction of the country in the 1990s.”

“The memory of the presidents, of course, should be kept, whether we like them or not, but these are statesmen. Such museums are needed, concludes Starikov. “But they should not be a place for propaganda of destructive reforms and treacherous actions. Tell us about Yeltsin. Do not forget in more detail about the war in Chechnya, about drugs and frozen cities, about Russians devoted to them in the former republics of the USSR. This, in fact, is not a museum of Yeltsin, but the destruction of Russia with sauce beautiful words about freedom. And Yeltsin is a screen or a reason to open this museum. You will see photographs of all the "democrats" there: they are on the photo, and on the video, and on the flickering screens, everywhere, from all sides, they are smiling, starting with Chubais, ending with Nemtsov. Here are all the figures of the media space of a liberal persuasion. It seems to me that they used the first president of Russia as an excuse to get together in some space and try to put pressure on public opinion.”

It is not surprising that liberals immediately took up arms against Mikhalkov for criticizing the Yeltsin Center. Yekaterinburg Mayor Yevgeny Roizman commented dismissively on his speech. “He (Mikhalkov) has a barometer on his forehead, and a weather vane on his nose. You can’t keep up with him,” Roizman explained his position on Twitter.

“Destructive and destructive we have Mikhalkov,” said Irina Khakamada, “because he rested on his past, turned his head back. A person from art, very talented in the past, who constantly broadcasts about politics, without understanding anything about it, pursues his own interests. As for the Yeltsin Center, it is magnificent. It actually does the same thing as the Museum of Tolerance in Russia in Moscow (Jewish). That is, there is an idea of ​​promoting democracy…”

“It is clear that the Yeltsin Center is a wonderful project, created on the basis of modern technologies, - said another liberal activist Lev Ponomarev.

But Ekaterinburg alone is not enough for them - the activity of the liberal center that is corrupting the national self-consciousness is expanding. In Moscow (again at the state expense), a branch of the B.N. Yeltsin” (Yeltsin Center), similar to Yekaterinburg. It will be located in the very center, in the Dolgorukov-Bobrinsky estate on Malaya Nikitskaya Street, a monument of federal significance. The cost of the new grandiose project is 1.33 billion rubles.

The chairman of the Communists of Russia party, Maxim Suraikin, sent a request to the city hall with a proposal to discuss the opening of a branch of the Yeltsin Center with Muscovites through a referendum. “I have repeatedly asked to check this giant center in Yekaterinburg, but this is arrogance - the opening of another pompous center in Moscow, where Yeltsin fired tanks at his own parliament, I consider this unacceptable,” said Maxim Suraikin.

“Today we need projects that unite the people, consolidating .

The Yeltsin Centers in Yekaterinburg and Moscow do not unite the people and do not reconcile me either with Boris Nikolaevich or with the results of his rule, - said in an interview with Regions.ru. Bishop Eugene of Sredneuralsk, vicar of the Yekaterinburg diocese.

“Perhaps the name of Yeltsin is very dear to his associates, friends, family members, or those who earned their capital during the reign of this person. But it seems to me that they do not need to unite, everything is fine in their life. Well, I think this project is pointless and useless,” the bishop explained.

Of course, no one argues that the Center itself is needed, but the whole point is what is happening outside its walls. How does all this compare with the Russian Information Security Doctrine recently signed by President Vladimir Putin? Is it not a gross distortion of the history of Russia, presented in the form of a continuous series of bloody and terrible events, showing its leaders exclusively as wild despots and executioners, and the Russian people as a herd of obedient slaves, is this not an undermining of the foundations of the national security of our state?

We already went through this 100 years ago.

Nikolay Petrov
Especially for "Century"

To respect Boris Yeltsin, you need to find an opportunity to show all the best of the worst, but the best of what really happened, the director said Nikita Mikhalkov during a tour of the Yeltsin Center. However, the history of the Yeltsin era is shown in the museum one-sided and biased, which, first of all, harms the memory of the president, the correspondent reports. .

The director, who criticized the presidential center, came to Yekaterinburg today for a tour. During it, he repeatedly entered into an argument with the guide, the head of the archives of the Yeltsin Center Dmitry Pushmin. Mikhalkov said the museum is trying to convince visitors that only the Yeltsin era is truly free time in the history of the country.

The director repeatedly recalled the cartoon about the history of freedom, which is shown at the entrance to the museum.

“If you tell me about history and show me the veche, then the guardsmen, but I don’t see the liberation struggle against the Poles, I don’t see Minin and Pozharsky ... I don’t say that everything should be, I say that at least this should be” .

“I’m not saying: close, don’t like, be damned. No. I’m talking about what I see here. And I know, because I lived at that time and was mature, that they don’t tell me the whole truth. When I see Petersburg in a cartoon , and below the skull and bones of a million people ... Well, you guys. You don’t need to shag your grandmother. In any case, it’s absolutely obvious to me that this is a powerful idea, in terms of technology and institutions, and because of its one-sidedness it brings harm to Boris Nikolayevich. This is my subjective point of view."

To criticize the cartoon, Pushmin replied that the main idea was the craving for freedom, which has always existed in Russia.

One of the issues of Besogon was dedicated to the cartoon.

“You want to convince me that this is right? You won’t convince me of this. You say that this cartoon is about the desire for freedom, but where is it? We are engaged in demagoguery,” Mikhalkov replied.

"For me, this is a frightening phenomenon, I say it in my eyes. Because young people come here, scooping historical information from Wikipedia. And they come to a powerful center that has spent a lot of money. And the first thing they see is a cartoon, this is the beginning a story about the country they live in. And there is no respect and love for the country they live in. "We are obliged and respect only the person who gave us freedom" - this is the message of the cartoon. And this person is Boris Yeltsin.

Mikhalkov did not deny that he supported Yeltsin: helped him in the elections, voted for him, wrote him congratulatory letters. "But I shot the picture in 1993," Anna from 6 to 18 ". Nobody could have taken this picture then. I already felt inner uncertainty then. But there was no choice, if you look at the list of candidates, you will see that in addition to Yeltsin had no alternative. Another conversation, what did we get as a result? Who knew then that plants and factories would stop? Who knew that pots and pans would be made at plants and factories where tanks were made? Who knew that there would be empty shelves, people without a salary? I didn't know about it," Mikhalkov said.

During the tour, students approached Mikhalkov: "We are here for the first time, your opinion is interesting."

Nikita Mikhalkov replied that everything about Yeltsin's personality was sent to the museum, but pseudo-attempts to balance history lead to the fact that Yeltsin is told in a tendentious way.

"But to bring to what exists new Russia, which is that free Russia, to which they have been striving for centuries and finally received freedom in the person of Boris Nikolaevich - this is not true. It's a lie. The whole story is thrown at the feet of Boris Nikolaevich and this is very bad for him. Because when people come here with little historical knowledge, they take it as the truth. And for a person burdened with historical knowledge, it will be, to put it mildly, surprising.

Mikhalkov did not visit all the halls of the museum, but noted that he has scans of the entire Yeltsin Center, so it cannot be said that he criticized what he did not see.

"I came here in order to remove the talk that I was not here. Consider that I have already been here, with today's technologies you can get everything. Now I'm not interested in the impressions of the power that I see, but saturation. And I see what it is filled with. You also tell the truth, but it's true without knowing the other truth," Mikhalkov said.

Mikhalkov was asked whether he is ready to correct the program of the museum, if asked."Never!" - the director answered, adding that this should be done by professionals.

Nikita Mikhalkov, after the tour, did not change his mind about the objectivity of the museum, which he directly spoke to the guides:

"Tell me, is this objectively everything you do?" - Mikhalkov asked the representatives of the Yeltsin Center. "Our history is multifaceted, as you know ..." - he heard in response. "But is this the answer? Yes, the Volga flows into the Caspian Sea - this is also true ...".

The bias with which the time of Yeltsin is presented harms this historical figure, Mikhalkov said at the end of the tour: "And this point of view is supported by 96% of the people whom Solovyov interviewed in his program."

He supported the very idea of ​​presidential centers, there should be a memory about any state leader, the director said: "But as soon as it crosses the borders, it becomes uncontested, it harms memory."