Who lives well in Russia

Practice shows that those who know how to please the authorities and the wealthy live well in Russia. The ways to please are, of course, different. For example, I watched and listened as Mr. Mikhalkov scolded some Bykov. They say that Bykov is a writer. I have not had to read him. So this Bykov believes that Putin carried out all this coup with the constitution in order to be an eternal president. As Putin himself expressed, with some regret, that this is his fate. Of course, it’s understandable. You can’t fight against fate.

But Mr. Mikhalkov shouted at Bykov that he does not understand how Putin cares about the people. Here he wrote indexation into the constitution. Isn’t this care? He even wrote God there. He forbade those who will come in 25 years to the presidency to give any territory of Russia to anyone. Otherwise, some fool will come to the presidency and will be giving away Russian land. True, they gave something to the Chinese, but they just straightened the border. And why give away the Taiga when the Chinese easily export millions of cubic meters of roundwood without any permissions. They already consider the Taiga their forest like the Finns consider Karelia.

Yes, a lot of new things are written in the updated constitution, but it is not written that there should be no poor people in the country. It is not written to collect pennies from people for the treatment of seriously ill children. It is not written about unconditional and qualified, free medical care for Russian citizens.

Mr. Mikhalkov pointed out the president’s concern about the need for pension indexation. Pension indexation in the Soviet Union, in Russia, took place without being written into the constitution. And it was absolutely not necessary to write this into the constitution. But of course, you have to support the president somehow. He is Mikhalkov’s friend. They even kiss, imitating Brezhnev, and drink to each other’s health. It seemed to me that Putin considers it a high honor for himself to be able to communicate so easily with the magnificent, noble surname of the Mikhalkovs. If we also take into account that Mikhalkov's father was Stalin's best friend and his son honored Putin with his communication.

About whom no one knew anything until a well-known alcoholic put him on the political field. So the Mikhalkovs lived in Russia under the tsar and under the Bolsheviks and live well in Russia under the anti-communists. You have to know how to live. And of course, Mikhalkov will defend Putin. Under Putin, he became one of the richest people in the country and owns a huge estate like a real nobleman. And he is definitely in favor of Putin being an eternal president.

I sometimes wonder, it seems that both Putin and Mikhalkov are Soviet children. They were brought up as pioneers, Komsomol members, then they joined the CPSU. Why, at a convenient opportunity, did they spit on the Soviet Union, the CPSU, and everything associated with socialism? I think that such an attitude towards socialism, for the post-war generation, is not a coincidence. We, the pre-war generation, were brought up in somewhat different conditions. We were hammered into our heads with our mother's milk that we are the best country in the world. At the same time, we had no idea how people live in other countries. We were brought up in the spirit of patriotism and internationalism. When the war started, I was convinced that the German working class would not shoot at our soldiers. They shot, and how. Without any internationalism. I was convinced that there was no one smarter than Stalin, Voroshilov, Molotov, and we would win under their leadership. And when the Germans reached Stalingrad, I began to doubt and at the same time very much that they are really the smartest and bravest.

After the war, the generation did not experience such strong pressure from the ideology of communism as we did before the war. The post-war generation, which Mikhalkov and Putin represent, actively began to explore the world, I mean by age, after the 20th Congress of the CPSU. By exposing the cult of personality of Stalin to save himself, Khrushchev struck a blow at the entire communist ideology. Stalin, for the world communist movement, for the peoples of socialist countries, was already not just a personality, but a symbol of the victory of socialism on a global scale. And it was Khrushchev's report at the 20th Congress of the CPSU on the exposure of the cult of personality that marked the beginning of the destruction of the Soviet Union.

The youth of Putin and Mikhalkov coincided with the appearance of "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" and then Grossman, Yevtushenko, Rozhdestvensky, Akhmadulina, and others and others. A full-flowing river of literature, journalism, documentary cinema on the exposure of the cult of personality began to flow. I remember this period well. The so-called "thaw". A new cult of personality was emerging to replace the old cult. But in time they removed Comrade Khrushchev, who almost brought the world to a nuclear catastrophe.

The fact is that, hiding behind criticism of the cult of personality, all our real life was subjected to criticism. Then open Russophobia began in the union republics. I remember this period well. I, by duty, was obliged to explain the internal and external policy of the Soviet government, the Central Committee of the CPSU to the officers and personnel of the unit. Putin and Mikhalkov, just at this time, as they say, entered life and of course this ideological mess in society could not but affect their understanding of life. Hence Putin's reverence for Solzhenitsyn.

I am 91 years old and watching the life and activity of Putin, I am once again convinced of the enormous importance of a person's childhood years. A child objectively absorbs the ideology prevailing in society into his consciousness. Two-year officers who graduated from universities with military departments came to the military units. That’s why I understand his ideology and psychology. Listening to his jokes, humorous remarks, remarks addressed to historical figures of the Soviet Union, Russia, I get the impression that he is a rather uncultured person. That he has a weak knowledge of the history of his country and I think he is little familiar with classical literature, both domestic and foreign. His speeches are poor and uncultured. True, having accidentally got such a high post, he tries to portray himself as an intelligent leader. He tries to communicate easily with highly cultured figures of the country. This cannot be denied. But what is not given is not given.