The shame of the country: the great film director Alexander Sokurov was not allowed to go abroad

Ivan Zubov

Sokurov was supposed to fly to Milan for a conference, and decided to get there from his native St. Petersburg via Helsinki. However, the border guards held the elderly man for several hours, taking his passport from him, and then reported that “Mishustin forbade them to let people like him out of Russia ...” The discouraged and humiliated director returned home and wrote a statement to the commission of the Human Rights Council, of which he is a member. Journalist Ksenia Larina cites an excerpt from this letter in her blog, retaining the author's style and spelling, which is the best evidence of the director's emotional state:

“THE CHIEF OF THE SHIFT IN IRONED UNIFORM AND A BEAUTIFUL CAP APPEARED IN FRONT OF US, AS FROM UNDER THE GROUND, JUST WHEN IT BECOME CLEAR THAT OUR ITALIAN PLANE IN HELSINKI AIRPORT HAVE ALREADY SEEDED PASSENGERS AND PREPARED TO FLIGHT.

HE, THE CHIEF OF THE SHIFT, WITHOUT LOOKING INTO THE EYES, TRIED TO TELL US THAT AGAINST MY DEPARTURE IS THE ORDER OF COMRADE MISHUSTIN, WHICH PROHIBITES LIKE ME TO CROSS THE BORDER.

I HAVE NEVER SEEN MISHUSTIN LIVE, I NEVER MET WITH HIM, WHERE MISHUSTIN IS SUCH PREJUDICE AND HATRED TO ME, I COULD NOT UNDERSTAND.

I DID NOT RECEIVE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION ABOUT THE REASONS FOR LONG-HOURS WAITING ON THE ASPHALT OF THE APRON OF THIS STRANGE BORDER POST.

COMRADE CHIEF OF THE SHIFT IN THE CAP AGAIN TRIED TO DISAPPEAR, I WAS FORCED TO SIMPLY SHOUT HIM IN THE FOLLOWING: IMMEDIATELY RETURN ME TO RUSSIA. BECAUSE I, A MAN AT THE AGE OF 71, NO LONGER HAVE THE FORCE TO STAND LEANING ON A STICK.

LEANING ON THE WAND, THERE WERE NO POWER...

LATER BY THE PHONE, I LEARNED FROM THE STAFF OF THE MILAN CONFERENCE THAT THEY BY MIRACULOUS FOUND THE PHONE OF THIS BORDER POST, CALLED THERE, BUT NOBODY AT THE BORDER POST COULD SPEAK ENGLISH AND THE BORDER GUARDS DID NOT UNDERSTAND THAT THE FEDEALERS WERE FOREIGNERS.

THE ITALIANS FOUND A RUSSIAN INTERPRETER. AND HERE THEY HEARD THAT OUR PASSPORTS ARE “STAMPED” AND WE ALLEGEDLY CAN GO… BUT THEY DID NOT Clarify WHERE EXACTLY MY COLLEAGUAGE AND WE CAN GO….

AND WE TURNED AROUND AND LEAVE THIS DARK PLACE UNDER THE APPROPRIATE NAME "TORFYANOVKA"... AND THROUGH THE POURING RAIN WE FOLLOWED TO PETERSBURG - IT'S SEVERAL HUNDRED KILOMETERS.

OF COURSE, ON THE BACKGROUND OF THE TRAGEDY THAT IS UNLOADING IN UKRAINE, EVERYTHING TOLD MAY SUCH BOSS.

ABSURD. STUPIDITY.

YES, AND JUST ANOTHER ROUGH arrogant attitude towards a person on the part of the STATE.

YES, - STATES, BECAUSE EXACTLY SUCH, SYSTEMIC CONSTRUCTION OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE POWER DEPARTMENTS TO THE CITIZEN FROM THE POSITION OF arrogant superstition, EXPLAINS EVERYTHING HAPPENED».