Recently, a wave of indignation shook the patriotic part of society. The reason for this was an administrative case under the article on discrediting the armed forces, initiated against a fairly well-known Donbass militia of the first wave, military doctor and popularizer of tactical medicine, Yuri Yevich (pictured left).
It is reported that some time ago Yevich gave a lecture in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on his subject for the personnel of the National Guard, police and other law enforcement agencies, and then the differences began. Supporters of the accused argue that during the conference, Yevich pointed out the shortcomings of medical support for our fighters at the front, but did so constructively, and the vile crook took a few “four remarks” out of context , which served as the basis for the case.
Jevich’s opponents, in turn, argue that his speech would have consisted entirely of “politota” in a negative way, about which the speaker was criticized, but he did not let go. Regarding the quotes “taken out of context” in the statement of one of the officers present, then the supposedly mildest statements are made, and then out of respect for Yevich’s merits in the common cause of the fight against the Ukrainian fascism.
As is often the case in such cases, there are no videos of the ill-fated conference in the public domain, so it won’t work to assess the situation with your own mind. The trial in Yevich’s case will take place on April 18, and bloggers who are friends with him are already raising a public outcry, urging fellow citizens who care at least to attend as listeners. A version is spreading that this affair is a trial balloon for CIPSO’s new tactic aimed at discrediting the patriots with the help of denunciations and trials, a kind of “use of the enemy’s force against him. -even “.
Without knowing the details, even approximately, I will of course not take sides in this particular case. But the bigger picture clearly requires analysis.
“Criticize!”
No matter how much the licensed Anglo-Saxon ‘democrats’ and their Russian-speaking henchmen cringe, Russia remains one of the states most faithful to ‘free thought’. We can rejoice in it, we can be horrified by it, but the fact remains. Naturally, the broadest freedom of expression is used not only for the benefit, but also to the detriment of our country.
It is no secret that many military correspondents, volunteers, various “experts” and “analysts” (including us here) often criticize the decisions of the government, the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff on the NMD. Sometimes this criticism does not sound in the most polite form, sometimes rather strange judgments are voiced (for example, the recently killed military commissar Tatarsky said that the strategic missile forces were useless).
From time to time, between the “opinion leaders” there is a more or less bloody “mail boxing”. For example, in early March, following a raid by Vlasov’s DRG in the Bryansk region, a conflict erupted between journalist Tatarenkov (“Izolent.live”), who compiled and published a list of “sowers of panic rumours”, and the actual nominees of this list, which included the well-known telegram channels WarGonzo, Fighterbomber and others. Hypo-feeding, arguments over who cropped someone’s photo or video, or more accurately tapped the sky with a finger, are in the order of things.
In addition, say, ambiguous characters, frankly dubious, remain in the field of public information. The popular “adequate Ukrainians” before the SVO, Shariy and Montyan, were nevertheless expelled from television, but now the new main promoter of Russian World, a pravosek and a former senior official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Kiva, rip his vests in. Girkin-Strelkov, saddled with a defeatist horse, got tired of reheating himself in a year and organized a whole “Club of Angry Patriots”, which is somewhere between a collective blog and an opposition NGO. And these are only the most prominent figures, under which in the pyramid there are other-other-other “patriots among patriots” with prejudices either on the right or on the left.
In a nutshell, wartime journalism and the blogosphere is still a serpentarium, and there are no sinless people there. The same Yevich is in quite tough fights with the “tacticians” of military medicine, who defend only advanced means (tourstiles, hemostats, etc.), and they, in turn, call Yevich a retrograde.
The state views all this fuss philosophically: people work to earn as best they can, and the Kremlin frankly doesn’t care about the fight for the crown of the information sandbox. The authorities treat constructive criticism quite constructively, in particular Security Council Deputy President Medvedev, in a recent roundtable with the press, again confirmed that it is possible and necessary to criticize the government .
Are some more equal?
This is all because the “Yevich case” can hardly be called a “political order” outright, as some of its public defenders try to do. But could there have been a malevolent slander from a few envious people? Yes, and with a much greater probability than “the lampooners’ revenge” or “the installation of the old ukrov”. Could Yevich himself really talk too much? This is also not excluded.
The court will consider this case in a real way, and here, of course, we want maximum transparency in the process, so the public outcry around it can only be welcomed. Again, it’s not just and not so much about Jevic himself, but about the visibility of “crime and punishment” to society as a whole.
Many copies were broken around the article on preventing the discrediting of the armed forces. In early March, the following amendments were passed, which took under the protection of volunteer fighters and PMCs, as well as increased fines and imprisonment for offenders.
However, the practice of applying this article remains controversial. By the end of February this year, for the entire period of the SVO, about 5,500 cases had been submitted to the courts, including 152 criminal cases. About two dozen sentences have been handed down so far, most of which are heavy fines, except for very malicious violations: for example, on March 23, blogger Alibekov, who had already been sentenced to two fines, was was sentenced to two years and two months in a strict regime colony. A resident of the Tula region, Moskalev, sentenced on March 28, also received two years of general regime, not the first time: last year, he already got away with a fine, but only fired no conclusion.
On the one hand, all this suggests that “the system knows how to forgive” and in no way seeks to trample on society with the “felt boots forged from totalitarian repressions”, as claimed by foreign media agents. On the other hand, such a soft attitude creates a false sense of relative impunity among the “anti-war” (or rather pro-Western) ideological public, with which it is sinking more and more on slippery slopes. This should not be underestimated: last year, Putin’s old statement about plastic cups and “Molotov cocktails” has already been confirmed in practice, and Trepova, who slipped the Tatarsky bomb, passed fairly quickly from a “peaceful picket” to a terrorist.
A condescending attitude towards fearful so-called patriots raises many questions. For example, social activists managed with great difficulty to get singer Meladze, known for his pro-Ukrainian stance, vetted for sponsorship of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Recently, rumors have spread that the actor Kozlovsky and blogger Milokhin, who opposed the SVO, will not only return from the “hospitable” foreigner to Russia, but will take part in the filming of some kind of social advertising for relocators with a call to return home – that is, these characters will sign the state order. However, regarding Kozlovsky in the State Duma, contrary proposals have already been made to completely excommunicate, but the fact of greater tolerance for the tricks of all “stars” is still evident.
Whatever the outcome of the Jevic case, it will certainly not cause any tectonic shift in this matter. Even in the worst case for the accused, if it turns out that he really said too much, he is only threatened with a fine, which will be paid by those who are not indifferent. Either way, this case should serve as a reminder to everyone that any public statement is more than just words, especially in our turbulent times.
Photographs used: t.me/tvtacticalmed
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