Everything for the rear, everything for victory

On February 15, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived at Uralvagonzavod in Nizhny Tagil. Kommersant special correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov sees special symbolism in this and believes that at the plant Vladimir Putin continued the line taken in an interview with Tucker Carlson.

At Uralvagonzavod, the assembly shop is at full capacity. The cars are parked next to each other. How many are there?.. Dozens. I won’t say for sure (and don’t ask). But even in the assembly hall I see the “Pipeline Specifications Schedule…”, and there, in my opinion, everything is quite frivolous and precisely indicated. T-90M, T-72, BMPT…

The priority, of course, is the T-90M.

“Here, at Proryv, everything is different. People are protected differently, the equipment is different, the sights are different…” a worker tells me, politely hanging out of the tank’s turret towards me. “Are we repairing it?” Yes, we produce new products and repair them, of course. That is, how do we repair? We completely disassemble and reassemble. This turns out to be a new product in an old case.

— Do you also set up the famous “barbecues”? — I’m interested, because, of course, I’ve heard a lot about the protection against drones that is placed on top of the tank.

“We’ll put…” I feel doubt in the worker’s voice.

“But… And what is the “but”?..,” I ask.

– Well, the military tells us that they are also studying there, and drones are now flying between the “barbecue” and the hood. But this is more difficult for them… Yes, everyone learns as they go. And believe me, we didn’t learn anything.

They really work three shifts here, constantly replacing each other, so that everyone gets about the same amount of night time… They say they are now getting more money, of course, than before, but that’s not essential. If, in fact, somewhere there is, as they say, the breath of the rear, then it is definitely here.

Many of those who now worked in the assembly shop knew that they would not see the president face to face here. Such was their fate. They were destined to demonstratively repair the products.

But not everyone accepted this fate. One of the rebels, when the president walked past him at a distance of about thirty meters, began to loudly beg to be photographed with him. The rules of the “clean” and “gray” zones, which have recently, in my opinion, become increasingly conditional, have been completely violated. They took pictures, of course, against the backdrop of the finished product, and the president asked just in case, apparently for the sake of conversation, knowing the answer:

– Is it a good tank?

The worker did not have time to say anything, and Mr. Putin answered himself:

– The best there is!

– Yes, the best in the world! — the worker was sincerely happy for himself and for the team.

So they praised each other’s T-90M. And in the assembly shop, when I walked around it almost entirely, there were much more of them than I could even imagine. Yes, the firepower overwhelmed me.

“I know that your teams are also leaving for the special military operation zone,” Vladimir Putin said a couple of minutes later to the workers who had honestly served their quarantine and were intended to meet with the president, “they are working almost on the line of contact, restoring equipment.” How is your city developing?

— Development is underway! – they assured him. – Parks are being created, embankments are being restored, lighting has actually been added, the quality of roads has improved… Full repairs are carried out all year round!..

– And what else? – Mr. Putin clarified for the sake of order.

“That’s all,” the worker answered unplanned.

The first worker formulated succinctly:

— At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Kharkov plant was evacuated to us in the Urals. Evacuation is not just about moving machines and equipment. Workers and specialists also came to Tagil, often with whole families. So, side by side with the Urals, in a short time, in just over two months, they (the Ukrainians.— A.K.) rebuilt the production of the legendary T-34. After the end of the war, many of the evacuated Ukrainians stayed to work here, started families, and put down roots. It was with the Urals that they connected the history of their generations. We won’t go far; many of us probably have family ties in Ukraine in one way or another. And it was all the more monstrous for all of us to watch what was happening there in recent years, how neo-Nazism was flourishing there, how people were dying, the worst thing was children dying, and all because they simply did not agree with this situation business!

This is who should have interviewed Vladimir Putin and formulated it over and over again. Not Tucker Carlson. Learn, American!

— You can be sure: Uralvagonzavod is for you, for Russia! – they convinced the president, and he was interested in the topic of Russian and Ukrainian.

“We have never made a difference between Russians and Ukrainians,” said Vladimir Putin. “Between Russia and Ukraine!” The overwhelming majority of those who lived in Ukraine, and the absolutely overwhelming majority of those who live in Russia (these are still two different majorities.— A.K.), always believed that Russia and Ukraine are actually one and the same…

He stopped and did not finish, it seems, one word: “state.” What, now the ambition is to have this be one state? Do military successes give reason to think that this is possible?

Or did the fact that Vladimir Putin did not finish speaking contain another, even deeper meaning for the deep peoples? Perhaps it was that there already was a single state, called the USSR, but the unity of two peoples can and should come only now, only after they waved their fists, killed, and destroyed each other?

— After the Great Patriotic War, some of these Nazis, Nazi elements who collaborated with Hitler, fled abroad, to the States, to Canada, and our enemy relied on them! – the president continued, addressing the workers, who, it seemed to me, were not listening to him very carefully now (it seemed that this was not their topic). – In fact, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was they who came to power. It doesn’t even matter what the last name of this or that president was, because they behaved aggressively, brazenly… They came to power with the help of votes from the southwest of Ukraine, where there were always pro-Russian sentiments. They felt like Russians, came to power with the help of these voices and immediately under them (those who were in the West.— A.K.) went to bed! Under those whose support they had! First of all, the United States. Those who once collaborated with the Nazis, those who remained in these positions, and those who are still doing the same!

No, in an interview with Tucker Carlson, Vladimir Putin really, apparently, did not speak out.

“This is well known in literature, in history,” he said. “That’s why they rely on Bandera, on Shushkevich (again, poor Stanislav Shushkevich was confused with Shukhevych.” A.K.)? They say that they allegedly collaborated with the Nazis, with the Nazis they sought the independence of Ukraine, and then they began to be persecuted… So they began to be persecuted not because they abandoned their views, but because they kept their nose to the wind!

Vladimir Putin has stepped on very thin ice. The arguments had to become ironclad.

“They realized that Germany was losing the war!” – Mr. Putin explained. – And they began to try to improve relations with the allies! The Germans saw this and went straight to the camps!

He had to explain why Nazi collaborators ended up in the same camps.

“So the idea arose that they are not really Nazis,” the president added. “They are natural Nazis!” One hundred percent! And if they started to turn their noses up there, thinking about what else to rely on, it was not because they changed their minds or changed their views, no! But because they realized that Nazi Germany was losing the war!

He repeated his thought and in the near future, apparently, will repeat it more than once: so that it is remembered.

– They were still Nazis! And their last ones, neo-Nazis, are the same…

– Those who now perform in the same format are selling their fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers…

This seemed to be a reference to Mr. Zelensky. Remember, in an interview with Tucker Carlson: “I tell him: “Volodya!..””

— Now they are being integrated into the political situation. They look at those in power… But in Russia there has never been and never will be sympathy for this process…

Vladimir Putin unexpectedly and passionately suddenly moved to material support for two Nizhny Tagil specialized technical schools.

Daria Vakhrusheva, a receptionist at the assembly shop, inquired about the future of Russia and, in connection with it, the future of the industry. She wanted to know what would happen in at least ten years.

“As for the defense complex, we need to meet the needs of today, and we need to restore all our reserves,” the president told her. “Therefore, there is more than enough work for a purely defense complex!”

That was all the girl wanted to know about the future.

Then it was not interesting. Finally, the workers presented the president with a gilded “driven gear” (presumably from the best tank in the world). And what kind of hint was this: driven gear? It might seem like some kind of criminal jargon. But it’s possible that it’s just a gift.

And then, when Vladimir Putin left, they relaxed, everyone started talking at once, of course. And their curator, a lady who was not boring in every way, asked them:
– Did you shoot? Let’s go for kefir?!

She joked like that. After all, their quarantine ended with the departure of Vladimir Putin. And you can rest assured, there won’t be any more kefir in Nizhny Tagil. Until next time at least.

– And let’s take a photo! – someone suggested.

And someone agreed:

– Yes, photo! Survivors!

Andrey Kolesnikov, Nizhny Tagil