[REGNUM] The symbolism of this whole story is that the entire so-called south-east of Ukraine is exactly the same MiG. And Ukrainian politicians will not be determined in any way - what is it? Either this is a monument to the damned past, which needs to be decommunized to the ground, or it is still something valuable. Both approaches are still coexisting. And the other day even a “museum” appeared in the person of Margarita Simonyan.
There is a start to decommunization... There is even a conditional date: on December 8, 2013, a crowd of Euromaidanites toppled a monument to Lenin on Bessarabskaya Square in Kyiv. Since then, they were brought down all over the country, then they took up the smaller communists. A couple of times, for some reason, even Taras Shevchenko (a noble communist!) fell under the distribution. Of the latest high-profile acts - the demolition of the monument to the founders of Odessa (Catherine II and her closest associates).
Taras Shevchenko was a Ukrainian writer and poet in the mid 1800s and is in some circles considered to be the father of Ukrainian letters.. I suspect the writer was being sarcastic with his reference to Shevchenko as a Kommie.
But there is no end to decommunization. And fresh Ukrainian humor is a confirmation of this.
There is such a district in Kyiv - Pechersk. If measured by Moscow standards - Patriarch's Ponds. Like the center, but not the very center. A place with history, no fuss. Living there is trendy. And expensive.
A MiG-17 has been standing on the territory of one of the schools in Pechersk since Soviet times. That certainly served as a subject of hidden pride of schoolchildren.
- And our school is cooler than yours!
- Pfff, ours is cooler, we have a plane on the territory.
And that's it, there's nothing to cover here. The best backdrop for graduation photos, you don't even need to travel anywhere.
True, he stood there until last Saturday. Worth no more. Demolished. At the initiative of the deputy of the Kyiv City Council and the "professor" of economics Alla Shlapak. Whether her children go to this school, or she lives nearby, who knows. It must be something deeply personal.
“Territory 5 of the school is finally decommunized!” - the deputy hastened to write in social networks. Let's not sit on our hands.
During the discussion, it turned out that the aircraft was not just dismantled, but already cut into several parts on the spot, and then taken out. Apparently, someone else made good money on the delivery of metal. To the timid regret of one of the commentators, they say, “it was possible to go to the museum,” Shlapak replied that the museum refused to pick up the plane. And between the lines it is directly read: who needs this junk, ha-ha-ha!
At this point, the joke is just beginning.
First, in the comments to Shlapak, the account of the State Aviation Museum named after A.I. Antonov with the phrase: “We apologize, but we have not received any offers.” And then, already on their page, the museum workers in the most correct terms (the times in Ukraine you know what) described the whole insanity of the situation.
First, as already mentioned, no one offered them anything. Still would not. How then can a deputy report on decommunization? For decommunization, you definitely need to break something and mock, otherwise it does not count.
Secondly, harmful museum workers wrote that the plane, it turns out, was of historical value (and here it already smelled of responsibility, at least administrative). Few of them remained, mostly just installed in the form of monuments.
Thirdly, the museum workers hinted at their readiness to accept the plane even in a cut into pieces form, since there are no other sources for the restoration of the exhibits of the museum fund. And this, as we understand it, jeopardizes someone's intention to make money by scrapping three tons of valuable scrap metal.
It’s just the perfect case on the topic “How to write a post on a social network and disgrace yourself out of the blue.”
Ukraine is generally at the forefront of decommunization; for some reason, its partners are lagging behind.
US Major General Bliss once acquired a MiG-17 from Morocco on occasion. And then, in 1983, he transferred it to the USA. Where he still stands in the local The Museum of flight and does not interfere with anyone.
And even Ukraine's closest sister-in-arms (Poland) for some reason does not show due sensitivity: Lim-5 (a licensed copy of the MiG-17, produced in Poland) stands right next to the garrison church in Biala Podlaska.
Although in the matter of the demolition of monuments associated with the USSR and Poland, Poland and Ukraine will give a light. Those who wish can broaden their horizons , MiGs are still in many places.
But this is not the end.
In early March, in Artyomovsk/Bakhmut, during the fighting, the local MiG-17, also installed as a monument, was destroyed.
The Russian media say that it was blown up by the retreating soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Ukrainian side alternately blames the RF Armed Forces and Wagner PMC. But, in general, it is clear that in the fierce urban battles it could fly from anywhere.
In any case, then, in early March, the Ukrainian media were downright blazing with indignation. Barbarians! Occupiers! The symbol of the city! Well, you understand.
And two weeks later, exactly the same MiG-17 (only in Kyiv) is cut for scrap to the cheerful “Hurrah, demolished, finally!” "Barbarians blew up", yeah ...
There is another aspect to the story of the Kyiv fighter. The motive for its destruction is to get rid of the Soviet past and its artifacts. Only now, in parallel, Ukraine is struggling to get Soviet aviation artifacts.
MiG aircraft for Ukraine is almost a sacred topic.
Already at the beginning of March 2022, Anthony Blinken and Vladimir Zelensky actively persuaded the Poles to transfer the MiG-29 to Ukraine (by the way, the mythical Ghost of Kyiv flew on the same one). A year has passed, and only on March 23, Slovakia handed over four aircraft to Ukraine (Zelensky tried again ). Poland promised to give four more out of 29, warning that it did not plan to give up all the planes: they still needed them themselves.
It's strange somehow. The Ukrainian president runs around the countries of the ATS, begging for the remnants of Soviet equipment still in service, while the deputies of the Kiev City Council consider such equipment to be the legacy of the “damned Soviet regime”.
And most importantly, every time you want to finally understand this flawed-paradoxical logic - and nothing.
Why is one MiG a symbol of the city and a sweetheart, while the other must be cut into pieces, and even lie publicly about the museum?
Why exactly did the MiG-17 need to be cut into pieces and handed over for non-ferrous metals, while the Mriya, which died a year ago during the battles in Gostomel, was for some reason considered by the Ukrainians not as a monument of the Soviet era, but as an unattainable pinnacle of the Ukrainian aircraft industry?
For reference: out of eioght organizations involved in the creation of the An-225, four were Russian (RSFSR), three were Ukrainian (Ukrainian SSR). Plus, the central parts of the wings with flaps and the end parts of the wings were made in Uzbekistan. The plane does not fly without wings, but for some reason I have never heard that the An-225 is the pinnacle of the Uzbek aircraft industry.
As you know, the small reflects the big.
The symbolism of this whole story is that the entire so-called south-east of Ukraine is exactly the same MiG. And Ukrainian politicians will not be determined in any way - what is it? Either this is a monument to the damned past, which needs to be decommunized to the ground, or it is still something valuable. Both approaches are still coexisting.
And the other day even a “museum” appeared (in the person of Margarita Simonyan) with the words “What are you doing, Herods?! Stop destroying everything, let's better buy these lands from you."
Ukraine is silent. Of course you want money. But no less I want to break it down and throw it away. There is something to think about.
March 30, 2023
Anatoly Savenko