"No to extremism!" . In the midst of the speech of the head of the region, the young man stood up from his seat and began to play ditties of his own composition about poor condition city ​​roads.

As the student himself said, he came to the forum to express his disagreement with the policies of the regional authorities. Remizov explained that several months ago he tried to get an appointment with the governor to talk about city problems, but he was refused.

“I don’t agree with the restriction of travel on a social card, I’m outraged by the condition of the sidewalks and roads, which have a lot of potholes. I’m boiling, I’m tired of falling into a cold puddle in a pit and catching a cold. So I came and sang about it. I composed ditties overnight,” he quotes words portal "Things like this".

The young man explained that after he interrupted Merkushkin’s speech, law enforcement officers approached him and forced him to leave the hall. Then the law enforcement officers checked the student’s documents and escorted him to the exit of the MTL Arena sports complex. “The Minister of Social Policy came up to me, we talked, exchanged contacts,” Remizov added.

At the 19th minute of the video, one of the spectators can be seen standing up and, playing the guitar, began to sing ditties. A woman approached him and began to take away the guitar, and half a minute later police officers joined her. The audience began to applaud. Governor Merkushkin, in turn, proposed from the stage young man go to the microphone and explain the essence of the complaints, but the police still took the student out of the hall.

From February 1, the authorities of the Samara region limited the number of trips to public transport on a social card up to 50 per month. On February 18, a rally was held in Samara, the participants of which demanded restoration social benefits and called for Governor Merkushkin to resign. About a thousand people took part in the action.

According to media reports, the organizers of all protests are the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Meanwhile, Merkushkin himself has repeatedly stated that protests in the region were organized by “agents of the State Department.” In particular, he referred to the employees of the AvtoVAZagregat company as such, who complained about months of non-payment of salaries. At a meeting with the company’s employees in August 2016, Merkushkin said that their discontent was “fueled” by the American ambassador and threatened to “never” pay the money people earned.

Earlier, the media wrote that the Samara authorities decided to voluntarily and compulsorily involve young people in participating in the forum. For this reason, students were removed from classes. This was reported to reporters by the coordinator of the election headquarters of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Ekaterina Gerasimova, and was confirmed by sources in several universities and the regional government.

March 26, 2017 in Samara, as in many others Russian cities, a rally against corruption was held, initiated by representatives of the Alexei Navalny Anti-Corruption Foundation.

After the end of the mass protests, adviser to the Samara governor, sociologist Nikolai Yavkin, said that “the technologists who made the Maidan in Kyiv worked in Samara,” reports the provincial portal “Samara.ru”. “The cynicism of the puppeteers of the rallies is increasing. For the first time in the history of the country in Samara, children and schoolchildren were drawn into anti-state and extremist actions,” the governor’s adviser emphasized.

The day before it became known that the Samara courts fined two detainees for participating in a rally against corruption - 10 and 15 thousand rubles. A total of 20 people were detained. “Almost everyone has two protocols (on prosecution under Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation - participation in an uncoordinated rally - and Article 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation - disobedience to a legal demand of the police). The minimum sanction for the offenses is 500 rubles, the maximum is 15 days of arrest ", said Ekaterina Gerasimova, coordinator of Navalny's Samara headquarters.

Yesterday in Samara, the head of the region, Nikolai Merkushkin, took part in the “No to Extremism” forum. The event was the authorities’ response to the anti-corruption campaign that took place on March 26. From the forum’s rostrum it was stated that supporters of Alexei Navalny were organizing rallies by deception with the aim of overthrowing the system. Nikolai Merkushkin said that the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) showed a “false” film about real estate allegedly used by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. In his opinion, the property of the foundations “can be used if you hold a particular position.”

The press service of the government of the Samara region told Kommersant that the forum was organized “from below”, because “they are trying to deceive many young people into participating in protest actions”: “The guys saw with their own eyes how the coordinators of a recent unauthorized action called for active extremist actions, at the same time, they themselves hid behind the backs of schoolchildren and students. This behavior rightly caused criticism among young people and their parents. The youth initiative was supported by the council of rectors." More than 2.5 thousand people were present in the MTL Arena hall. Participation in the forum, Kommersant was assured, was absolutely voluntary, while two participants in the event told Kommersant that students were brought to the hall centrally. “Schoolchildren and students were deceived into gathering for the rally on Sunday, they were talking about overthrowing the system. This is impossible. We gathered to tell all residents of the region and all our opponents that we are for stability, solidarity and good life"- said, opening the forum, the rector of Samara State medical university Gennady Kotelnikov. It was also attended by the head of the Duma Defense Committee, Vladimir Shamanov, and the speaker of the provincial Duma, Viktor Sazonov.

The audience was shown a film in which the March 26 rally was compared to the Ukrainian Maidan and Middle Eastern conflicts. Talking about the rally, the authors of the film point out that “red flags are visible in the crowd: the uniqueness of the Samara region was manifested in the fact that representatives of the parliamentary party (CPRF.— "Ъ") took an anti-state position." In order to prevent the rampant extremism, the authors of the film in the voiceover offer to support Nikolai Merkushkin, who "rallied around himself representatives of different social groups opposing those who want to sow discord and confusion in the region."

Governor Merkushkin himself spoke to the forum participants for about an hour. He drew parallels between the protests that have been taking place in the region in recent months and the situation in the 1990s: “If we lack wisdom and responsibility, in two or three years we will become beggars and lose the country.” Mr. Merkushkin said that 25 years ago he already made similar warnings, and now his opponents, before their death, are asking for a meeting with him “to ask for forgiveness.”

FBK investigative film, which claims that the Prime Minister, the leader " United Russia“Dmitry Medvedev allegedly owns and manages several real estate properties through funds, Mr. Merkushkin called “deceitful.” “The property that is shown in this film is the property of public funds. There is a law in the country: public funds are not subject to privatization; they cannot be private. You can use them if you hold this or that position or position, but they are not subject to privatization, they cannot be passed on by inheritance,” said Mr. Merkushkin.

The governor’s speech was interrupted by a blind student Valery Remizov: from the audience he sang a ditty with a guitar: “Kolenka, Kolenka, what a wretched thing you are! Why, Kolya, did you act up and limit my unlimited supply?” (Recently, the government of the Samara region cut benefits, limiting the number of trips on a social transport card and canceling pension supplements for some categories of citizens.) The young man was taken out of the hall, and Mr. Merkushkin stated that “he (a student— "Ъ") came for a reason - they sent him." Mr. Merkushkin yesterday explained the reduction in benefits, which caused protests by several thousand residents of the region, by saying that the funds saved after the social reform will "pay off." "But you will drive on good roads. These measures are aimed at ensuring that we have a future,” the governor said.

Governor Merkushkin’s next speech was truly a triumph of linguistic deconstructionism. Participants of the first stage of the August regional conference of educators in the building of the Samara Opera and Ballet Theater had the good fortune to be present at this mind-blowing artistic phenomenon. Even “Zasekin”, which is already three last year literally deciphers what was said by citizen Merkushkin, rightly believing that the fanatical, deceitful and shell-shocked language of a high-ranking speaker exposes him much more accurately than any critical invective, he was seriously shocked. Fans of sensations and political scandals can take a break this time. Yesterday's speech by the governor is of outstanding, but purely aesthetic, artistic, cultural and medical interest. Only Merkushkin managed to fully put into practice the dreams of postmodernist writers about direct speech deconstructivism. What the brilliant Vladimir Sorokin, who demonstrates the disintegration of meanings and phonetic thought forms through abstruse and obscene vocabulary, failed to achieve, the governor of the Samara region does irresistibly and quite censoriously. However, enjoy yourself. “Zasekin” offers an extremely literal transcript of the nine starting minutes of Nikolai Merkushkin’s “opera-ballet speech”.

Dear friends, colleagues! This is not the first year that we have met with you at August conferences. Of course, the event itself has exclusively important for the future of our region, the city of Samara, and not only our region. My first impressions of the August conferences here in the Samara region were very, very, let’s say, maybe sad, even I want to say so. It was in Togliatti, in the twelfth year, when I came to the Togliatti conference. I have already said this, but I want to say it again. Why? Because yesterday I was in Tolyatti again, not at a conference. Tomorrow we will be there for a conference in Togliatti.

We said this, of course, while in our pedagogical environment we still have such a complete understanding of the role and task of the teacher in modern society perhaps not fully realized. And when that conference four years ago there were one thousand three hundred people in the hall, after fifteen minutes the first thirty people left, and an hour later, an hour later, there was still no report, then the report was not the first, there were speeches, it was gone , approximately, of these one thousand three hundred one-third of the conference participants. And for me it seemed like an absolutely wild phenomenon. And then, when I spoke at the end, I said, well, if a teacher is giving a lesson, and children leave his lesson in droves, what does that mean in principle? And what could all this lead to? And for a long time after that, I still thought about the reasons for this phenomenon, that as everyone considers the August conference to be the main input lesson for teachers, yes, and from this main input lesson after fifteen minutes teachers leave en masse, that says a lot.

So why am I citing this example again? Yesterday there was a meeting, there was a meeting, I just want to say the same. Whether it is appropriate or not entirely appropriate, we apparently just have to take these things into account. To take into account and understand basic things, without which it is simply impossible to organize work correctly later at school, and to orient a student there, etc. This is extremely important. When a teacher jumps out and says: I’m such a patriot of the country, I’m for the country, who should raise patriots - the school, you agree, Nikolai Ivanovich, says. Of course, I agree that the school should, first of all, educate patriots. Why does the state have such an attitude towards schools? Why is nothing being done at all? I stopped her and asked: do you know about the new school modernization program? She: what program? Well, here’s the one that was accepted, including the one I talked about in the message. And today they talked a lot, maybe they talked about the message, almost a whole report, well, that’s what was just talked about, the modernization of schools, which means the words of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, that we must get away from the two-shift system, we must create modern new schools, we have new standards All schools in the country must be equipped to meet these new standards. All schools that do not meet these standards. And for these purposes, the program has allocated three trillion rubles. This is the most, most expensive program in the country. The most. And when they told her, you know about it, of course, she knows nothing. And what’s more, they serve it to the whole hall, but the same hall has one thousand three hundred seats, a huge hall, bigger than this one, she serves things absolutely, which means they’re unprofessional. Without knowing the basic things that the country is doing and what, by and large, we should be focused on and ultimately, it means using the capabilities of this program in the interests of our region. The cities of Samara, the city of Tolyatti, other cities and settlements in the region.

Or I want another fact, well, maybe this is for us direct relationship does not have - how quickly the statement of the chairman of the government of the country in Dagestan was slightly distorted and supported. Including ours, ours, that means there are those working in the teaching environment, there are those who believe that they are the main defenders of teachers, teachers, who signed this petition with all their might. But I want to say, he, Medvedev, was the initiator of the national project “Education”, he is the initiator of Skolkovo, he is one of the initiators of this new program. I know his attitude towards education very well. Like the president and he, they absolutely have the opinion that only educated person, only the school will ultimately lead our state to competitiveness, and perhaps we will save our state. If there is a modern school that prepares very educated, well-mannered, understanding, highly cultured graduates. Well, someone really needs it, because this, this teacher jumped out, it also turned out later that she was ordered. Do you understand? Political opponents ordered her to jump out and sow confusion in the hall. Sow confusion in the hall!

The same thing, the same thing as for the Prime Minister. Of course, they would really like to shoot him down now. There is an expression - knock down. Yes? So that one of the key links of the presidential team falls out of order. It fell out, and thus planting and planting means opportunities for the country’s creative processes.

Therefore, of course, at this stage, and again at conferences, we, including the authorities, need to achieve such a relationship between you that we are truly a single whole and a single team. If we are like this, we will definitely overcome everything, we will definitely win, we will definitely be competitive and we will definitely save our country.

If there are things that come, including from teaching, maybe, it’s true, she’s not a teacher, although, however, in the evening they told me that she was definitely a teacher, that I was forced to say that there was further conversation, no details I will say, we will check, and we immediately checked, what she said, that the salaries of teachers in the city of Togliatti have decreased significantly. That this is absolutely not true. Absolutely not. And if this is not confirmed, then we will raise the question of the status. Can a teacher even behave like this? To misinform society, to deliberately create those things that create chaos, chaos, and so on.

Transcribed and commented by Gleb Wright

Illustration copyright Gor Melkonyan Image caption Valery Remizov (left) was invited on local radio after the performance

Blind Samara student Valery Remizov told the BBC Russian Service why he interrupted the speech of the regional governor Nikolai Merkushkin.

March 30 blind student Valery Remizov, a 4th year student at the Law Faculty of Samara University, interrupted the speech of the regional governor Nikolai Merkushkin at the forum “No to extremism” with the ditty “Kolenka, Kolenka, what a wretched thing you are.”

He appealed to the head of the region with a demand to repair the roads, accused him of unfairly criticizing young people and demanded that he resign. Remizov was taken out of the audience by the police, and the governor, known for his eccentricity, suggested that Remizov had been specially “sent” to the lecture.

The student told the BBC Russian Service why he decided to enter into controversy with the official, and how it turned out.

BBC: What prompted you to perform?

Valery Remizov: I've had enough of everything! Roads, restrictions on the number of trips on a social card, and the general attitude on the part of the state.

BBC: Why did you choose this format?

IN. R. : You know, this is just a cry from the heart. I just stepped into a big puddle the day before yesterday and got my shoes wet. And since I am a creative person, I came up with this format for the presentation. I decided to write ditties. In the evening I sat down and wrote until late at night.

BBC: Were you counting on some kind of substantive answer from Merkushkin or, roughly speaking, did you decide to simply troll him?

IN. R. : I expected that there would be a reaction from competent officials who, for example, deal with the issue of social cards and benefits related to travel.

Illustration copyright Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images Image caption Governor of the Samara region Nikolai Merkushkin suggested that a blind student was “sent” to a forum against extremism

BBC: On at the moment Did this reaction come in some form?

IN. R. : Followed. I spoke yesterday with the Minister of social policy and agreed to meet her on a certain day.

BBC: Do you think that this speech of yours will really lead to the return of benefits and the repair of roads?

IN. R. : I do not know whether this speech will lead to positive results, but I will continue to engage in constructive dialogue with those officials and government officials who want to communicate with me.

BBC: You are not afraid, on the contrary, of some negative consequences your performance, problems with your studies, for example? After all, the police took you out of this event...

IN. R. : No, I'm not afraid of negative consequences. In principle, I was ready for criticism from the public and government officials.

BBC: On the question of criticism. When you were already taken out of the hall, Merkushkin said that someone had sent you to this meeting. How can you answer him?

IN. R. : I can only answer him that I am an independent person both physically and mentally. And I come to any events of my own free will. Nobody sends me.

BBC: What is your general impression of the “No to Extremism” forum?

IN. R. : I believe that this forum will not provide any positive results for the authorities because it is fake. I think that many people who were sitting in the hall, although they did not openly express their feelings, understood perfectly well that this would not lead to anything good. And the people who spoke at the forum, in certain moment will turn in the opposite direction.

BBC:Do you think that those who, relatively speaking, today accuse America of attempting to collapse Russia, may change their minds over time?

IN. R. : When there is a change of power, yes. Our country already had experience when the Soviet regime collapsed, democracy arrived, and many Soviet officials and politicians reformatted and immediately became democrats.

BBC:So, in general, you believe in a change of power in Russia in the foreseeable future?

IN. R. : Yes.

The official youth forum “No to Extremism”, at which the Governor of the Samara Region Nikolai Merkushin spoke. At the tenth minute of Merkushkin’s speech, a blind student of Samara University Valery Remizov sang the ditty “Kolenka, Kolenka, what a wretched thing you are” with a guitar. The video appeared on YouTube.

Almost immediately, the student’s guitar was taken away. Then two policemen took Remizov out amid shouts from the hall: “Release the man! Don't touch the guy! Shame on you?!".

Valery Remizov published The full text of the ditties is on my Facebook:

According to Valery Remizov, he came to the forum to express his disagreement with the policies of the regional authorities. The student emphasized that he had already tried to get an appointment with Governor Merkushkin to talk about city problems - but he was refused.

“Things like this” quote Valery Remezov as saying: “I do not agree with the restriction of travel on a social card, I am outraged by the condition of the sidewalks and roads, which have many potholes. I was boiling, tired of falling into a cold puddle in a pit and catching a cold. So he came and sang about it. I composed ditties overnight.”

The youth forum “No to Extremism” was held on Thursday, March 30, in Samara at the MTL Arena. In addition to Governor Nikolai Merkushkin, State Duma deputy Vladimir Shamanov, several students who thanked the authorities for their support, and education officials spoke at the forum.

Almost two thousand Samara university students were excused from classes for the sake of attending the forum, some of them were brought by bus.

The forum opened with a screening of a film in which participants in the anti-corruption rally on March 26 in Samara were compared with militants of the banned Islamic State, fascist stormtroopers and Euromaidan activists. In his speech, the governor of the Samara region, Nikolai Merkushkin, also told students about the dangers of actions against the authorities. He stated that the FBK film about Dmitry Medvedev is “false.”

“The property shown in this film is the property of public trusts. There is a law in the country: public funds are not subject to privatization, they cannot be private,” Merkushkin said. Other forum speakers also said that the goal of Navalny’s rallies is to overthrow the system.

On March 26, in Samara, as in many other Russian cities, a rally against corruption was held, initiated by representatives of the FBK. Later, advisor to the Samara governor Nikolai Yavkin stated that “the technologies that made the Maidan in Kyiv worked in Samara.”

“The cynicism of the puppeteers of the rallies is increasing. For the first time in the history of the country in Samara, children and schoolchildren were drawn into anti-state and extremist actions,” emphasized adviser Nikolai Merkushkin.

During the rally in Samara, 20 people were detained, and later two were fined for participating in the rally - 10 and 15 thousand rubles.

In the preview: Anatoly Zhdanov / Kommersant