A poet from Belgorod spoke about the situation in the city: “When it bangs at night, I pray”

Belgorod has become a front-line city before our very eyes. For local residents who saw the fighting in the neighboring Donbass on TV, what was happening was a real shock. And it so happened that the pro-Russian poet from Kharkov, Stanislav Minakov, after the “Maidan”, fearing persecution, left precisely for the “rear” regional center of the nearest region of the Russian Federation. On June 12, an MK correspondent spoke with Minakov about his attitude to this holiday, explosions over the city day and night, and his gratitude to the air defense forces.

– Stanislav Alexandrovich, is the Day of Russia for you a reason for a festive mood? Or “arrivals” cross out everything?

– It would be good for us to remember that on June 12 the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the birth of St. Alexander Nevsky, Grand Duke of Vladimir, Novgorod and Kyiv.

– That is, you still have not erased the feeling of abandonment, familiar to the inhabitants of Ukraine, the Baltic states and Moldova?

– Let us recall the words of Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov): “It seems that the decision in the 90s on the day dedicated to the celebration of the thousand-year-old Russia was made in a state of some unhealthy euphoria, so characteristic of the atmosphere of that time. What kind of sovereignty are we talking about? It was evident during the Empire and during the years of Soviet power. But in the nineties?.. That was just the era of the loss of sovereignty by Russia. Of course, there should be a festive, especially solemn day dedicated to Russia. And as long as it takes place on this date, this is our common solemn day. But the question, from what event Russia counts its sovereignty and its statehood, has not been removed. We do not set this date, but Russia itself, its history! And this is obviously not June 12, 1992.”

– Belgorod land is constantly under fire, are you considering moving even further away from the border with Ukraine?

“There is nowhere to retreat, Moscow is behind us,” it was said in 1941 and entered on the tablets of our national memory. The border regions of the Belgorod region are shelled by the enemy hundreds of times a day, especially the Shebekinsky region is smashed to rubble. Someone left Belgorod, but on the whole, the inhabitants of the region united under the leadership of Governor Gladkov, they act in a collected, responsible, and efficient manner.

The country began to recover little by little, in my opinion. But for the present there are abundant metastases of various properties. It won’t be easy.

– Why exactly Belgorod? Is it a random city – or did you deliberately move there?

– My parents are buried here – Kharkov-Belgorod residents, and a host of Minakovs. As a person for whom there is no border between the Kharkov and Belgorod regions (in one I lived for 38 years, in the other for almost 26), I will quote the lines of my older friend, the famous writer Yuri Miloslavsky, from the “Sloboda folk song” he composed not so long ago ” All the states of the Russian Kingdom”: “Eh-yes, I’m not going anywhere, / Eh-yes, I’m not going anywhere, / Neither in the Lower, nor in the Don, / Nor in Zamoskovny cities, // Neither in the German Ukraine, nor in the Zaotsk region – / I was born in the Wild Field / And there, to know, and I will perish … “.

– Were there situations that were dangerous for you personally due to shelling, UAV arrivals?

– Sometimes it bangs – both day and night – so that it seems: it exploded right above your head. But this is – air defense works reliably, God bless our soldiers! On June 6, as soon as we finished reading poetry at the Pushkin pavilion, air defense missiles with fiery tails soared into the sky. It seems that we are used to it, but it is also impossible to get used to it.

The other day I was riding in a city bus in the city center, “over my head” thundered three times, one woman says in silence: “When it bangs at night, I pray: Lord, save and save! Air defense, help!

– Tell us about the mood of your current countrymen.

– Each generation seems to have its own war. Such is the permission from above. But we believe in the prophecies of the Orthodox elders about Russia, we sacredly remember the words: “Our cause is just! The enemy will be defeated! Victory will be ours!”.

– Is it more difficult for you to write in the current situation, how does what is happening affect creativity?

“Writing is always difficult. Nevertheless, with an insignificant pension and chronic illnesses, one has to work – in particular, write articles and essays. If we talk about books, then over the past six months in St. Petersburg, two publishing houses have miraculously published three of my large volumes: articles on Russian poetry, prose, pilgrimage notes. It would be nice to live to see a new book of poems, the previous one was in 2014.