Mother-in-law “Yeltsin Center”: Nikita Mikhalkov again attacked the museum

Nikita Mikhalkov, film director and “besogon”, as everyone knows, loves and honors folk traditions. And he seems to not only love the well-known ditty about the impossibility of walking past his mother-in-law’s house without jokes and tricks, but also perceives it as a guide to action. With the difference that for some time now Nikita Sergeevich’s Yekaterinburg “Yeltsin Center” has been acting as his mother-in-law’s house.

Then Mikhalkov will accuse the mother-in-law… excuse me, the Yeltsin Center of distorting history and “destroying the national identity of children.” Either he will call for him to be recognized as a foreign agent, or he will demand that he be closed down altogether.

This time, in the next “Besogon”, nothing seemed to be foreshadowed, as they say. This time it was not about Yeltsin and his “damned” legacy, but about the current influx of migrants into the country and the fact that they often behave not like guests, but quite the opposite, like owners.

Mikhalkov was outraged by the plans of the Tajik diaspora to create a medical center in Yekaterinburg that would specialize “in highly qualified medical care for citizens and natives of the Republic of Tajikistan and other countries of Central Asia.” Plans, let us clarify, were supported by the Consul General of Tajikistan in Yekaterinburg and did not encounter any objections from the city fathers.

It is unlikely, of course, that the devil is as terrible as Mikhalkov paints him, and persons of non-indigenous nationalities will be strictly prohibited from entering the Tajik medical center. But, perhaps, there really are some reasons for concern. Today there is “our own” hospital, tomorrow there are “our own” shops and schools, the day after tomorrow there are neighborhoods… In a word, yes, there are questions.

But, in any case, what does Yeltsin and the Yeltsin Center have to do with it? However, seriously, non-rhetorically, such a question can only be asked by someone who is completely unfamiliar with Nikita Sergeevich’s television journalism. It is clear that, having flown in thoughts to Yekaterinburg, he could not help but walk past his mother-in-law… ugh, “Yeltsin’s” house. And it didn’t pass.

“On one condition, I would agree that a Tajik medical center be built,” the “besogon” told the city and the world. “The Yeltsin Center is the most ideal place that will always remind you of how the Soviet Union collapsed. Only even for this, I think, setting up a medical center for Tajiks in the Yeltsin Center would be completely fair.”

The proposal is certainly interesting. This, by the way, can be considered a certain softening of Nikita Sergeevich’s position: after all, it is now proposed not to close, not to liquidate the Yeltsin Center, but only to squeeze out and compact it. Although this cannot be said with 100% certainty, perhaps Nikita Sergeevich believes that the medical center should not be together with Yeltsin’s, but instead of it.

But no matter which of the options Mikhalkov had in mind, it is obvious that none of them is within his competence. The status of the “Yeltsin” house is secured by the federal law “On the centers of historical heritage of the presidents of the Russian Federation who have ceased to exercise their powers.” In essence, the Yeltsin Center is a government agency. And with a fairly high status. Suffice it to say that the center’s board of trustees is headed by the head of the Presidential Administration.

In short, Nikita Sergeevich’s plan cannot be recognized as real. Well, at least in current realities and within the framework of the current law.

But if Mikhalkov so longs for historical justice, he does not have to be like Cato the Elder, who never tired of demanding the destruction of the hated Carthage. After all, there are objects much more accessible than the Ekaterinburg Carthage.

Why not, say, take one of those who strongly supported Yeltsin during his reign – well, of those, it is clear, who have something to lose except their chains – and place a hospital for migrants in his estate near Moscow? It would also be both fair and instructive. And you don’t have to look for them for long: the brightest representative of this glorious cohort is Nikita Sergeevich himself. And, according to rumors, everything is fine with his estates, and he campaigned for Yeltsin in such a way that no political strategist was standing nearby.

Here, for example, is how Mikhalkov, being a confidant of the first president of Russia, convinced his fellow citizens to vote for Yeltsin in the 1996 presidential elections. Having described the numerous advantages of the candidate (not a member of any party, a native of the Urals and, therefore, one of the regions, an energetic, dynamic leader, etc., etc.), the film director, then not yet a “besogon”, finished, with the following argument: “Point five: Boris Nikolaevich is Russian. He is, forgive me, a man. And Russia is a feminine noun. And she needs a man.”

In general, he spoke beautifully. But beauty, and even more so the beauty of political speeches, requires, as we know, certain sacrifices. Even if these speeches were so long ago that it seems that people have already forgotten your previous position, and only remember “jokes” about the “mother-in-law’s house.” This is a false feeling: they remember everything.