About animals and people: the scandal around the head of Komi gave out the main sovereign bond

But somewhere he is right, the head of the Komi Republic Vladimir Uiba, who reprimanded the policeman for his remark about improper parking of cars. Well, by and large, sovereign account. From the point of view of maintaining foundations and bonds. After all, in fact: if we force all those who write rules for us to follow these rules themselves – and even more so to punish for non-compliance – the foundations, what good, will fly to hell. It will be a completely different country.

To clarify: the meeting was captured on a video circulating on the Web (apparently, the recording was made by the police officer himself). The time of action is unknown, the place is the center of the capital of the republic, Syktyvkar, the territory adjacent to a certain building along Pervomaiskaya Street. As it is clear from what the policeman said, the traffic police crew arrived at the call of local residents who complained about several cars parked in the wrong place.

A citizen came out of one of the violating cars, very similar to the head of the region and, as it turned out, he was. In a short conversation with an official of the law, Uladzimir Uyba gave the following explanation: “Citizens complain about things that should not be complained about. The head is holding a meeting. Temporarily, I cordoned off the territory for myself. It is you who should stand right here, with flashing lights, and say: the territory is cordoned off for holding a meeting of the head of the republic, the guarantor of the Constitution. Here stand up and stand! Until I leave.”

In response to this tirade, the policeman only says that he will report the incident to the duty unit. This video ends – the further development of the situation is not known. However, with a fairly high degree of certainty, it can be assumed that the fine was not issued to the head – otherwise the scandal would have started not with a video, but with the publication of the relevant decision of the competent authorities. In principle, it cannot be ruled out that it is not yet evening, that the punishment is ahead, but something tells – it is unlikely.

Although fined, right, there is something for that. The communication of the head of the region with a police officer looks very much like an act under Article 19.3. Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation “Disobedience to a lawful order or demand of a police officer.” This is at least. If you wish, in the angry monologue of the head of the region, you can also see the composition of Article 319 of the Criminal Code “Public insult to a representative of the authorities in the performance of his official duties.”

If an ordinary, ordinary citizen were in the place of Uiba in a similar situation and, in response to the demand of the policeman, commanded: “Stand up and stand!” – then the probability of attracting him – for one or another article – would be close to 100 percent. Let’s leave a few percent for the fact that a citizen could end up in a psychiatric hospital – if, like the head of the region, he said that he “enclosed the territory for himself” and is “the guarantor of the Constitution.” Even from the lips of the governor, such statements do not look adequate.

Why does the state, represented by law enforcement agencies, approach citizen Uyba with different, much less stringent criteria than a citizen who is not burdened with power? It would not be superfluous to recall that according to the Constitution, the guarantor of which the head of the republic proclaimed himself, in our country “everyone is equal before the law and the courts.” But the described scandal is more consistent not with the Constitution, but with the work of George Orwell: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

I would very much like to attribute Vladimir Uiba to the endangered, endangered species of the stomach … sorry, high-ranking officials. Officials, who are so rare that the state “jaegers” simply do not raise a hand against them. Let the relics, they say, run around, show off, frolic, amuse themselves in the end. But the homespun truth, alas, lies elsewhere: their name is not the Red Book, but the legion.

From other representatives of this type of sovereign fauna, the head of Komi is distinguished only by the immediacy that is not characteristic of dignitaries – what is in the mind, then in the language. A conversation with a policeman is far from the first manifestation of it. Suffice it to recall the scandal of two years ago: in response to a speech in the State Council by a deputy from the Communist Party Oleg Mikhailov, who sharply criticized the head of the region, Uyba addressed the parliamentarian in a completely non-parliamentary form. In particular, he promised to “bury …” (hereinafter obscenely).

Already then there were rumors that Uyba did not have long to sit in his chair: they say, now in Moscow it is obvious that “we don’t need such hockey.” But the rumors remained rumors. And in December last year, there was another scandal: the head of the region called civil activists who oppose the construction of a waste sorting complex in the republic “environmental garbage.” And again, sat down.

It is not a fact, of course, that Uyba will sit in the governor’s chair forever. But if they remove him, it is clearly not because he considers himself “more equal than others.” If everyone is fired for this, then who will remain? If we shoot for it, then we run the risk of being left without bosses at all.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29021 dated April 28, 2023

Newspaper headline:
About animals and people