The island of crimea aksenov summary. Vasily Aksyonov "Island of Crimea

An accidental shot from a ship's cannon, fired by an English lieutenant Bailey-Land, prevented the capture of the Crimea by the Red Army in 1920. And now, during the Brezhnev years, the Crimea has become a prosperous democratic state. Russian capitalism proved its superiority over Soviet socialism. Ultra-modern Simferopol, stylish Feodosiya, skyscrapers of international companies in Sevastopol, stunning villas of Evpatoria and Gurzuf, minarets and baths of Bakhchisarai, Americanized by Dzhanka and Kerch, amaze the imagination.

But among the inhabitants of the island of Crimea, the idea of ​​​​the SOS party (Union of a Common Destiny) is spreading - merging with the Soviet Union. The leader of the party is Andrey Arsenievich Luchnikov, an influential politician and editor of the Russian Courier newspaper. His father during the civil war fought in the ranks of the Russian army, became the leader of the nobility of the Feodosia province and now lives on his estate in Koktebel. The Union of Common Destiny includes Luchnikov's classmates from the Third Simferopol Gymnasium of the Tsar Liberator - Novosiltsev, Denikin, Chernok, Beklemishev, Nulin, Karetnikov, Sabashnikov and others.

Andrey Luchnikov often visits Moscow, where he has many friends and has a mistress - Tatyana Lunina, a sports commentator on the Vremya program. His Moscow connections cause hatred among the members of the Wolf Hundred, which is trying to organize an assassination attempt on Luchnikov. But his classmate, Colonel Alexander Chernok, commander of the Crimean special unit "Air Force" is watching his safety.

Luchnikov arrives in Moscow. In Sheremetyevo, he is met by Marlen Mikhailovich Kuzenkov, an employee of the Central Committee of the CPSU, "in charge" of the island of Crimea. Luchnikov learns from him that the Soviet authorities are satisfied with the course towards reunification with the USSR, which is pursued by his newspaper and the party organized by him.

Once in Moscow, Luchnikov hides from his "leading" state security officers. He manages to quietly leave Moscow with the rock band of his friend Dima Shebeko and fulfill his old dream: an independent trip to Russia. He admires the people he meets in the provinces. Notorious trespasser Ben-Ivan, a homegrown esotericist, helps him get to Europe. Returning to the island of Crimea, Luchnikov decides to implement his idea of ​​​​merging the island with his historical homeland at all costs.

The KGB recruits Tatyana Lunina and entrusts her with shadowing Luchnikov. Tatyana arrives in Yalta and, unexpectedly for herself, becomes an accidental mistress of the old American millionaire Fred Baxter. After a night spent on his yacht, Tatyana is abducted by the “Wolf Hundreds”. But the guys of Colonel Chernok free her and deliver her to Luchnikov.

Tatyana lives with Luchnikov in his luxurious apartment in a Simferopol skyscraper. But she feels that her love for Andrei has passed. Tatyana is annoyed by his obsession with the abstract idea of ​​the Common Destiny, to which he is ready to sacrifice a flourishing island. She breaks with Luchnikov and leaves with the millionaire Baxter in love with her.

Andrei Luchnikov's son, Anton, marries an American Pamela; from day to day the young are expecting a child. At this time, the Soviet government "goes towards" the appeal of the Union of Common Destiny and begins a military operation to annex the Crimea to the USSR. People are dying, the established life is being destroyed. Luchnikov's new lover Christina Parsley dies. Rumors reach Andrei that his father has also died. Luchnikov knows that he has become a grandfather, but he does not know the fate of Anton and his family. He sees what his crazy idea led to.

Anton Luchnikov with his wife and newborn son Arseny escape on a boat from the captured island. The boat is led by the esoteric Ben-Ivan. Soviet pilots receive an order to destroy the boat, but, seeing young people and a baby, they "smack" the rocket to the side.

Andrei Luchnikov arrives at the Vladimir Cathedral in Chersonese. Burying Christina Parsley, he sees the grave of Tatiana Lunina in the cemetery near the cathedral. The rector of the cathedral reads the Gospel, and Luchnikov asks in despair: “Why is it said that He needs temptations, but woe to those through whom the temptation will pass? How can we escape these dead ends?..”

Behind the Cathedral of St. Vladimir, festive fireworks take off over the captured island of Crimea.

Strange sensations arise when you open these pages.
Firstly, of course, you plunge into the name, which is inextricably linked with the sixties of the now last century. And these sixties arise and do not let go, not because so much has been said and written, sort of like about the Decembrists of the twentieth century, who laid something there, which came to life and brightly scattered its fruits in the early nineties, but mainly because he himself was there, in these sixties, and although no one personally laid anything like that and no one will remember, except for the closest friends, those student and first labor, and Mendelssohn's waltz, and the dance of the young under "Night, in the narrow streets of Riga ...", but the name of Vasily Aksyonov from there, from his "Star Ticket", with a naive and passionate expectation both for him and for himself: impossible accomplishments, the miracle of life and something very subtle and holy, which has not perished in the least and is bearing fruit.
Say, "It's too late!" - and also ask: “Where are the fruits?” And you will be right. And too late. And the fruits are not at all like something edible and expected then. Therefore, we move on to: "And secondly ...".
Secondly, it is very important! If you already said “Firstly”, then “Secondly” should be mandatory, otherwise you will be convicted of illiteracy and inconsistency, and in this particular case, when even the name states an attempt by a person who did not at all realize the need to penetrate and join, more not marked with everything necessary to have the right ..., and besides, it is natural for him: not a member, not a participant, without a litter and not even ..., then be kind - observe at least something.
So, secondly.
And secondly, it began a long time ago, in those years when the fashion for subscriptions had not yet arisen and it was possible to order Pushkin, Mayakovsky, Tolstoy, who is Leo, and the second, who is Red Count, without a special queue in the store on Kinga Street. Well, and so on. When it was still possible without the order and the party press in the application (or rather, it was believed that everything except the party press was the way it should be) ... So my wife and I signed up, and then repeatedly repeated the subscription to the same magazine with the name of the age , in which you will never get tired of staying - to the magazine "Youth". Annual filings were read, sometimes diagonally, and then gathered dust on sofas and mezzanines.
I don't know why I opened this unread 1990 issue a few days ago. Perhaps precisely because the person is no longer there, but he wrote something that should be read. I have read. And not just because I am so remarkably smart, but because it is exactly what I need, and precisely in order to realize it. Realize at least something in this world and in yourself.

Vasily Aksyonov "Island of Crimea", magazine "Youth", issues from January to May 1990.
I don't remember why I stopped reading Yunost then. Probably due to the fact that the real events of life then were much more fantastic and dumbfounding than any prose about the past or the future. Yes, and the impression of the read would then be completely different. Well, what would I learn then if I read the novel? The fact that life in the West is freer and more secure than in the Union.? That our leaders see nothing but their own dogmas? That the people are blinkered and trying to keep themselves confident in the future without prosperity and loud truth? What is such an uninhibited sexual passion, interspersed with licentiousness? That the world is changing and only Portraits are trying to put brake shoes under the wheels of the racing Locomotive of History and Progress?
And what conclusions would you draw for yourself? That it is necessary to hasten the collapse of this state, supposedly workers and peasants? Probably so. Although, most likely, he would not have convinced himself of the last thesis, but would have tried, following the then General Line, to think that it would be good to replace the bestial grin with a human face. Naturally, this is all theoretical, because neither the strength nor the will would be enough to pick up something and stand in one line ... Here I wonder what such a line it would take me to stand theoretically away from the Mother See and even the Second Capital? Empty. Manilov's assumptions.
And speaking in fact, I would once again gossip with friends in the kitchen about our Portraits, stupidity, about “they are good”, swallow saliva on spicy descriptions and ... And that's it. How wonderful that I did not read this novel then. Because this story is about something else. And in order to feel and understand this, one had to hear the slurred words of the First Person at the opening of the Olympics in Moscow, learn about the cargo of two hundred from Afghanistan, see the shifting eyes and shaking hands of the Vice President of the Soviet Union, watch live how the towers of the World The Trade Center, how Saddam is hanged for the weapons he did not have, to learn about the horror of Chechnya and Iraq, to ​​see how only people with a specific skin color are searched at the Chicago terminal, to see the burning cities of Europe and the hands of High Faces at the controls of combat aircraft, find out that you yourself are an occupier and much more, abundantly contained in today's flow of yellow, red, black, green and other colored leaflets and media reports. It was necessary to work, including in a powerful global corporation, and then lose everything in a single moment.
Lord! Ladies and young ladies! Comrades and colleagues! Read this novel, because it is not about then at all, even though Vasily Aksyonov himself might have thought that it was about then. He is talking about today, about the day when the opposite happened, when the Island of Crimea was swallowed up by the Great and Mighty. Didn't choke at all when I swallowed it. True, something gurgles inside him, as in that funny cartoon, when both the Bear and the Fox, and other robots swallow the singing song, and then sing it themselves out of tune and madly. Personally, this song of a new monster also sounds in me, a kind of symbiosis of the Island and the Union, in which the Island is gradually disappearing, and the mighty Union, the size of a Ball, it doesn’t matter at all under what banners and led by what Portraits, the Locomotive of History and Progress is confidently rushing to where no one does not really want to, but there is no other way. Or is there still?
Just like in the novel, only a boat floats to uncharted shores, and Someone from above may be thinking, but shouldn't he shy away from it?
Or maybe the novel is not about that at all?
Sorry, Vasily Pavlovich, for such a free interpretation of your novel. Maybe you thought about this, or did you mean something not very far from my words? Now you won't answer. Blessed memory to you. Memory of a writer. And a writer is far from being the only one, and in general not the one who is awarded, correctly expounds in a circle. Isn't that right, Vasily Pavlovich? After all, the writer probably knows something that he himself may not understand, but he sets out without regard to, and without visible personal benefit.

Sergei Este

Reviews

Hello Sergey.
A strange feeling, but with the departure of Aksenov, who was very ambiguous for me, there was a feeling that the last Russian classic had left.
I remember the impatience with which they waited for the next "Youth" in the 90s with its "Island of Crimea".
You know, it seems to me that Aksyonov felt the main thing earlier than others:
"sur", the unpredictability and absurdity of the time in which then we only
"entered", the absurdity of the 21st century, t.s. first appraisal look into the future.
Thanks, Sergey.
Sincerely,

Thank you, Irina, for commenting on my work.
As for the Russian classics, it seems to me that the Russian classics are not disappearing anywhere, new ones are appearing to replace those who have left. Always appear, at all times. What if neither you nor I are able to name the following names? This does not mean at all that they will not appear, or maybe they have already appeared, but invisible yet. How was it there? "To face to face ..." In his own country, with the prophets, too, not quite ... Moreover, this is not only about Russia.
Yes, you are right, Aksenov is ambiguous. And in the "Island of Crimea" the moments that are inserted by Vasily Aksyonov "for saleability" are absolutely unambiguously read, to please the tastes and preferences of a wide range of readers (let's say, streamlined). But this does not detract from what Aksyonov smelled and said.
And we should learn, if not to smell something ourselves in the atmosphere of the Kingdom of Denmark, which our whole old Earth is becoming, then at least carefully peer into the strokes of those to whom this is given. Just in case, so that life does not stop. To not all the same, the flood after or not.
Sincerely,

The novel "Island of Crimea" was written by Vasily Aksenov in 1979 and then looked almost like a fantasy. But years later, one can only be surprised at how some of its episodes resonate with modern reality. The writer seems to have foreseen some moments, although he nevertheless describes an alternative reality. In a sense, this is not so much a fantastic work, but rather a satire describing the policy of our state. The book has a large number of characters, a lot of dynamic moments, interesting ideas. There are also unpleasant facts here, not very pleasant moments, indecent and rude. The author just wanted to reflect what he was trying to convey to readers.

In the book, Crimea appears as an island in the Black Sea. It is surrounded on all sides by water, and therefore, during the Civil War, it could only be reached by water. It played a big role in history. In cold weather, the Whites retreat on the ice towards the Crimea under the onslaught of the Red forces. The island seems defenseless, but because of one unaccounted for detail, the Red offensive becomes a failure. White has the opportunity to restore their strength and strengthen the island, to protect it. Then Crimea becomes an isolated and developed state, receiving assistance from Europe. But what's next for him? And is it possible to protect oneself so much from the USSR while remaining a Russian state?

On our website you can download the book "Crimea Island" by Aksenov Vasily Pavlovich for free and without registration in fb2, rtf, epub, pdf, txt format, read the book online or buy the book in the online store.

In March 2014 Prime Minister of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov turned to Vladimir Putin with the request " on assistance in ensuring peace and tranquility in the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea". In an interview that took place against the backdrop of these events, which was taken by S. Brilev from Aksyonov, the following dialogue took place:

Brilyov: Sergey Valeryevich, I can't resist asking such a question. Vasily Aksyonov, who wrote the "Island of Crimea", is not a relative of yours by any chance?

Aksyonov: Unfortunately, no.
Brilyov: Well, you are obviously writing the second part of this novel...
Aksyonov: Let's try to finish it!

Aksenov Vasily Pavlovich(August 20, 1932 - July 6, 2009) - Russian writer, author of the science fiction novel The Island of Crimea.

"Island of Crimea"- fantasy novel by Vasily Aksyonov. Posted in 1979 year, published after the author moved in USA in 1981 year. It represents an alternative history and geography, but tends not so much towards science fiction as towards political satire, diluted with the biographies of the characters.

The novel was written in 1977-1979, partly during Aksyonov's stay in Koktebel . Aksenov worked on "Crimea Island" in Koktebel in the house Lozhko , under the mountain Syuyuryu-kai, on Gumilyov street , house 1. There is an opinion that the image of the elder Luchnikov was written off from Vyacheslav Fedorovich Lozhko .

Island of Crimea: plot and summary

The main assumption of the novel is that the Crimean peninsula here is a full-fledged island in the Black Sea basin.

The second assumption of the novel is that during the Second World War the island remained neutral, not joining either the Axis or the Anti-Hitler coalition, and after the war it survived in an armed conflict with Turkey.

Thus, Crimea turns into an isolated "Russian" state in the body of the growing strength of Soviet Russia. Despite the limited territory and natural resources, the island of Crimea is not only not absorbed by the USSR, but also flourishes, having obtained the help and support of European powers, as well as thanks to timely reforms and a well-thought-out foreign policy. It is turning into a kind of second, "alternative" Russia, existing in a state of armed neutrality next to the first. The standard of living in the Crimea is strikingly different - a professional army is organized, industry is raised, the best resorts in Europe are equipped. At the beginning of the novel, Crimea is a small, but rich and prosperous country, whose population - both Russian and Crimean Tatars - has absorbed both "Soviet" and "European" in equal measure.

The presentation of Crimea as a symbiosis of Russia, the USSR and Europe isolated from the world in Aksyonov's novel provided the author with ample opportunities for social and political satire, and also made it possible, within the framework of "alternative history", to try to depict Russia in miniature, devoid of communist influence.

Biography of Vasily Aksenov

IN 1937 year, when Vasily Aksyonov was not yet five years old, both parents (first mother, and then soon father) were arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison and labor camps. The older children - sister Maya and brother Alyosha were taken in by their relatives. Vasya was forcibly sent to orphanage for children of prisoners(his grandmothers were not allowed to keep the child).

In 1956, Aksyonov graduated from the 1st Leningrad Medical Institute and was assigned to the Baltic Shipping Company, where he was supposed to work as a doctor on long-distance ships. Despite the fact that his parents had already been rehabilitated, he was never given permission. Later it was mentioned that Aksyonov worked as a quarantine doctor in the Far North, in Karelia, in the Leningrad Sea Trade Port and in a tuberculosis hospital in Moscow (according to other sources, he was a consultant at the Moscow Research Institute of Tuberculosis).

On March 5, 1966, Vasily Aksyonov participated in an attempted demonstration on Red Square in Moscow against Stalin's alleged rehabilitation. He was detained by vigilantes. In 1967-1968, he signed a number of letters in defense of dissidents, for which he received a reprimand from the Moscow branch of the Union of Writers of the USSR

Back in March 1963, at a meeting with the intelligentsia in the Kremlin, Nikita Khrushchev sharply criticized Aksyonov (together with Andrei Voznesensky). And in the 1970s, after the end of the "thaw", Aksyonov's works ceased to be published in his homeland. The novels The Burn (1975) and The Island of Crimea (1979) were created by the author from the very beginning without any expectation of publication. At this time, criticism of V. Aksyonov and his works is becoming more and more harsh: such epithets as "non-Soviet" and "non-folk" are used. In 1977-1978, Aksyonov's works began to appear abroad, primarily in the United States.
Vasily Aksyonov's co-authored novel, the most read among schoolchildren, is still Jean Green - Untouchable: The Career of CIA Agent No. 014. The book was co-authored by three writers (Vasily Aksyonov, Ovid Gorchakov and Grigory Pozhenyan) under the pseudonym Grivadiy Gorpozhaks in 1972 year.
It is a novel-parody of a spy thriller and at the same time seriously touches upon aspects of the socio-political and military confrontation between the socialist camp and the Western world, and also has an anti-war orientation. The book was very popular in the Soviet Union and went through several reprints. As the authors stated in the preface, their novel is “adventure, documentary, detective, crime, political, parody, satirical, sci-fi and, most importantly, realistic at the same time.”
In Vasily Aksenov's life path, it is easy to see that he had more support in the United States than in the Soviet Union. The realities of the Crimeans of 2014-2015 are extremely far from the ideas of Vasily Aksenov, as well as the “charisma” of his current “Crimean” namesake, who comes from the Moldovan city of Balti.

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This was invented by Aksyonov. Which of the prophecies of the "Island of Crimea" came true in a year

Crimean publicist and eyewitness of the cold "Russian Spring" of 2014 Pavel Kazarin comments on quotes from the novel by Vasily Aksyonov, which turned out to be prophetic

Alexey Baturin — 03/18/15 http://focus.ua/

Exactly one year ago, on March 18, 2014, an "agreement on the entry of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol into the Russian Federation on the rights of subjects of the Russian Federation" was signed, not recognized by the world.

35 years before the annexation of the peninsula by Russia Vasily Aksenov wrote a fantasy novel Crimea Island«.

“Aksenov describes the ideal Crimea, the Crimea-dream, a kind of Black Sea Singapore. Therefore, the novel was popular in Crimea - the Crimeans would like to see the peninsula as the writer portrayed it. But the real Crimea, unlike its literary prototype, has never been the subject of history, but only its object. We often say that there were pro-Russian sentiments in Crimea, but this is not true. There were pro-Soviet sentiments. His "golden years" fell on the 70-80s, and many people in Crimea wanted to return there - to the USSR. And in Russia they saw not so much the real Russian Federation as the reincarnation of the Soviet Union,” Pavel Kazarin is convinced.

Jokers
“Fofanov turned the TV knob to the Moscow channel. There, at that dead hour, instead of a colored grid, sat a big-cheeked announcer Arbenin in a wild jacket and read some TASS message in a soothing monotone voice

To commemorate the reunification of the peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean with our great socialist community, the Committee of Physical Culture and Sports under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, together with the USSR Ministry of Defense and DOSAAF, decided to hold a military sports festival in the Black Sea sector under the general name "Spring" ... Reports on the course of the holiday will be periodically broadcast on the second program of the Central Television "

There is a very curious coincidence in this fragment - the military sports festival "Spring". In general, it is difficult for the architects of the Crimean Spring to refuse a sense of humor. There are such parallels that, if desired, can be called funny, starting with the name of one of her defendants Aksyonov.

The way the Russian media presented the “Crimean Spring” is not a distortion of reality, but the creation of an alternative reality. There were no Russian military men armed with the latest technology in the stories, they did not show the "Tigers" that drove along the Crimean roads. When it was necessary, they showed guys in motley camouflage from the ranks of the “Crimean self-defense”. A Russian layman somewhere in Saratov believed that the Russian army had nothing to do with what was happening. When I told my friends in Russia that their army was operating in the Crimea, they waved me off and suggested not to repeat someone else's propaganda. And in this sense, the smoothness of the ideological mechanism was reminiscent of the one described by Aksyonov.

“Joyful excitement reigned. The youth hung slogans like “Hi, Moscow!”, “Sovetsky Ostrov welcomes the Soviet continent!”, “Crimea + Kremlin = Love!” on the branches of plane trees. and the most original: “May the indestructible friendship of the peoples of the USSR bloom forever! »
- Indeed, many Crimeans were in euphoria. For 23 years, Crimea has not mentally become Ukraine. The Crimean Tatars served primarily as conductors of “Ukrainianness” on the peninsula, and the Ukrainian naval forces served in Sevastopol.
This was too little for full-fledged diffusion, so pro-Russian sentiments turned out to be very strong. Accession to Russia was perceived as the onset of a "golden age" with large salaries, pensions and other abundance.
“Tired of these foreign bl...di! Enough with us foreign bl ... dey! Wherever you enter, everywhere foreign bl ... di! Enough! Be sick! Now ours have arrived! Russian troops have arrived! Now we will disperse all foreign whores!”
- According to my feelings, the core of the pro-Soviet group in the Crimea was up to 30% of the total population. It was from these people that the so-called Cossacks and self-defense were formed, who showed strength in relation to those who disagree and considered it right. The beliefs of another 50% of Crimeans were reduced to the slogans "so that there is no war." They were glad that the whole operation went without bloodshed. These people are not so aggressive. For them, one of the main life requests is stability. Therefore, one part in the Crimea was glad that the war did not happen, while the other was waiting for blood, revenge, wanted to wash their boots in the Indian Ocean.
It seems to me that this second part of the population can change its position. If Russia scares them more than Ukraine scared a year ago, if our country turns out to be more peaceful and stable, they will just as much stand up for living together with it.
"The world is big! shouted Christina, jubilant. She was suddenly overcome with excitement. She suddenly thought that this day might be remembered by her as the most exciting adventure of her life. - The world is so big, hey you, handsome Tatar! There's a place to run!"
- Compared to Donbass, the number of refugees from the peninsula is much lower. This is largely due to the fact that no blood was shed in the Crimea, there is not even a shortage of goods, there is only a reduction in the range. If people fled the Donbass from the war, then they left Crimea not because they had nothing to eat, but because they had nothing to breathe.
There aren't always that many of those people.
Refugees from Crimea were precisely political emigrants.

Foremen of the "Crimean Spring"
“SOS (as the abbreviation of the Union of Common Destiny is read) is a very ambiguous phenomenon. It is headed by a close-knit company of influential people, the so-called classmates ... Their movement is based on an idealistic subject, the so-called guilt complex before the historical homeland, that is, before Russia. They know that the success of their life's work will turn out for them a complete loss of all privileges ... ".

Of all the triumphs of the "Crimean Spring", only the "people's mayor" of Sevastopol, Aleksey Chaly, can be called an idealist. Ironically, it was he who did not receive any real position. He was sent to head the legislative assembly of Sevastopol, and is now in a non-public confrontation with the appointed governor of Sevastopol, Sergei Menyailo. Until recently, Chaly made money on the creation of competitive technologies. He did not seek to capitalize on his pro-Russian stance. Moreover, he invested in it all the time: he made historical films, restored museums, and so on.

But Vladimir Konstantinov was an exemplary official, he has a huge number of Ukrainian awards, he is the director and owner of one of the largest construction companies "Consol". Evil tongues say that at the time of the annexation, her total debt to Ukrainian banks exceeded $200 million. And, according to these same people, for Konstantinov, participation in the annexation was not only a means to save his political career, but also an opportunity to avoid bankruptcy: thereby he nullified your duty.

Sergei Aksyonov at the time of the annexation is the leader of a marginal party, which, as they say, was created with the money of Dmitry Firtash. This businessman had assets in northern Crimea and wanted to create a faction in the Crimean parliament to lobby his interests. Aksyonov had only three "bayonets" out of a hundred deputies of the Crimean parliament. He has always been a Ukrainian politician exploiting the pro-Russian agenda in Crimea, nothing more.

The same applies to Rustam Temirgaliev, who linked his political future with the Social Democratic Party of Medvedchuk, then with Inna Bogoslovskaya, then moved to the Party of Regions.

“Landing craft are approaching the coast from all sides, tank columns are landing on the beaches, marines are landing in the bays, hovercraft are used. Symfi airport is flooded with Antei. Radar systems warn of an approaching fighter force. I assume that we are talking about the blockade of our bases "
- In this fragment, reality is described quite accurately. The difference is that the Russian troops acted without insignia. And also during the annexation, heavy armored vehicles and fighter aircraft were not used.

“T-V-Mig, as always, was on the spot. On the screen of the "box" it was already possible to see the mouth of a landing fish, from where, one after another, jeeps stuffed with "blue berets" drove out. The transmission, however, was suddenly interrupted for some reason when several “blue berets” ran straight at the camera, raising their butts on the move ... "

All the dirty work was done by the so-called self-defense of the Crimea. The military themselves did not attack the journalists, behaved as correctly as possible and tried in every possible way to justify the status of "polite people" that they were given.

“In Crimea, they wanted to return to the USSR. And in Russia they saw not so much the real Russian Federation as the reincarnation of the Soviet Union.”

Heads turned back
“From childhood, they knew only one exhaustive wording about Crimea: “On this piece of land, the White Guard last-born of the black Baron Wrangel temporarily dug in. Our people will never stop fighting against the scraps of white gangs, for the realization of the legitimate hopes and aspirations of ordinary workers of the territory, for the reunification of the original Russian land with the great Soviet Union.

For many decades, there was a myth about the Crimea, as a primordially Russian territory, fanned by the glorious victories of the ancestors and having a sacred meaning. And the more popular the revanchist idea of ​​restoring the empire became in Russia, the more often the eyes turned to the peninsula. From the point of view of the bearers of the imperial ideology, the Crimea was most suitable for the role of the territory, which, in which case, must be returned to Russia.

“Sympathy for the Soviet Union and even a tendency to merge with it is the dominant idea on the Island, no matter what ... If a corresponding referendum were held at the moment, then at least seventy percent of the population would vote for joining the USSR, but thirty percent is also a lot, and any careless inclusion in the network can cause a short circuit and a fire "

Dante has an image: sinners walk with their heads turned back. This is largely characteristic of the peninsula. It was aimed not at change, not at development, but at the conservation of the old. Crimea remained the last outpost of the vanished empire, it continued to discuss Soviet issues, while even Russia itself had already changed the agenda. Synchronization occurred in 2013-2014, when Russia finally decided to re-immerse itself in Soviet rhetoric.

There are results of a survey by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology, which was conducted in early February 2014. 41% of Crimeans supported the option of uniting Russia and Ukraine into one state. I admit that when the revolution in Kyiv reached its climax, this percentage could rise to 60-65% due to the frightened. After all, Crimea received information from the hands of the collective Dmitry Kiselyov, and not from Ukrainian channels.
A military conflict could happen, since an 18,000-strong military Ukrainian group was stationed in Crimea. But everything happened without bloodshed. It seems to me that the Ukrainian army did not shoot for several reasons. At that time, there was a legal hole: legally, Yanukovych remained president, and Oleksandr Turchynov's powers raised questions. It is clear that the commander of any military unit, an order given from Kyiv by a person with an undetermined status, could cause legitimate doubts.
The second point: the morale of the officers and soldiers was extremely low.
Third, the Ukrainian army in Crimea was largely manned by Crimeans, who have a very strong regional identity. Many tried to avoid armed clashes because their families lived there. It is no coincidence that some units, for example, the Feodosia or Kerch battalions of the marines, were blocked by real Russian special forces. At the same time, many parts were blocked by conditional Cossacks or civilians, because there was an agreement in advance that the military would not resist annexation.

“It is enough for the Soviet Union to lift a finger to join you. The island is in the natural sphere of Soviet influence. The population is demoralized by the rampage of democracy. The idea of ​​the Common Destiny takes possession of the minds. Most do not imagine and do not want to imagine the consequences of the Anschluss. Strategic sharpness in modern conditions is lost. We are talking only about the unconscious physiological act of absorption of the small by the big.
- Swallowing up the pro-Soviet region was easy for Russia, which again tried to become the Soviet Union. For many Crimeans, history began in 1954, from the moment Crimea became part of Ukraine, and, in their opinion, on March 18, 2014, history ended - the curvature was corrected, the point was made, and you can move on.
At the same time, the majority of Crimeans refuse to understand that on March 18, the Crimean history has only just begun. For world players, Crimea is a matter of principle. Because there have been only five annexations since 1945, the peninsula is the sixth. Each of the annexations was a huge explosion in the world of international law. The West cannot turn a blind eye to Crimea, and Crimea does not understand this. And, I'm afraid, they don't want to understand the consequences of the precedent that happened a year ago.
I think certain forces in Russia opposed the annexation. The Russian elites, who understood the meaning of international law and the balance of power on the global geopolitical chessboard, did not want this. They were aware that the annexation would entail the economic collapse of the model of modern Russia. But the voices of systemic liberals - the people who are in charge of the economic block in the government - did not play a key role at that moment. Hawks and security forces came to the fore.