“History is not a science of the past, it is a science of the present and the future.” 5 fakes from Medinsky’s lecture for schoolchildren

But there is no “anti-Russian conspiracy” here: as in the case with all other countries, Google shows the date of the founding of the current state system. He treats the most ancient civilizations in the same way: Egypt was “founded” on June 18, 1953, China – October 1, 1949, India – August 15, 1947. With Western countries, Google refers to the same way: the “date of foundation” of France, he calls September 22, 1792, Italy – July 2, 1946, Spain – December 6, 1978.

Google also has rather strange decisions: he calls the day of the “founding” of Germany October 3, 1990, although modern Germany is the FRG that has existed since 1949, and in 1990 it was only joined by the eastern lands that had previously constituted the GDR. And for Great Britain, such a date is called 1922, when it recognized the independence of Ireland, apparently because at that moment the official name of the state changed: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

But one way or another, Google’s reference is not historical at all, it does not concern the country, but the state system operating in it. It would be strange to assert that modern Russia is the same state as the RSFSR within the USSR.

5. According to the new Ukrainian law, Russians are considered an “alien nation”

– Recently, Ukraine adopted a bill that is enchanting in its idiocy – I do not know if it has already been signed, but it was definitely introduced by the president – on indigenous peoples. That is, they divided the entire population of the country into some indigenous peoples who fundamentally lived on the territory of modern Ukraine, and all the rest. Obviously, all the rest are alien peoples who happened to be there by chance; Imagine that you happen to live here on a foreign land. By the way, Russians are newcomers. Not to mention the Poles, Hungarian Moldovans there – they are all alien peoples.

The law on indigenous peoples is one of the favorite topics of Russian anti-Ukrainian propaganda. The Insider already more than once concerned This is under the heading “Anti-fake”, so it remains only to repeat briefly: the law was adopted in accordance with the UN Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries. The law refers to the indigenous peoples of Ukraine the Crimean Tatars, Karaites and Krymchaks. Ukrainians are not included in this list; according to Medinsky’s logic, they are apparently also considered aliens in Ukraine. However, it seems that he invented the concept of “alien people” himself. By the way, Russia also has a similar law “On guarantees of the rights of the indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation”, and there are neither Russians nor Ukrainians in the list of indigenous peoples.

PS About Punishment for Pussy Riot

The following statement by Medinsky is not a fake at all, but it cannot be ignored, since it makes one think about the ways of the development of the Russian state. Arguing that it is impossible to judge historical figures from the point of view of modern legality and morality without taking into account the specifics of the era (meaning the cruelty of Ivan the Terrible), he said:

– Here is a famous case with Pussy Riot. The girls danced in the temple, and they were punished for it demonstratively. Someone thinks that this is too much, someone thinks that this is not enough – estimates. You will come to the church today and spit on the icon – well, if your head is out of order there, well, let’s say. What will you get for this? There will be nothing. The grandmother will hiss at you, they will wipe the icon, in the worst case, they will drive you out of the church. <…> What will happen to you 500 years ago? They will burn you at the stake – that’s all, and the topic is closed. To begin with, the tongue will be pulled out with ticks, they will try, who advised you to do this. And it will be absolutely within the framework of morality.

Of course, in the Middle Ages, apostates and heretics were treated cruelly. But Medinsky chose a very peculiar example to illustrate how morals softened over the centuries and mankind became more tolerant. If you look into history not so far, then in the Russian “Code of Penalties of Criminal and Correctional” of 1845 for blasphemy in the church was supposed to from 12 to 15 years in hard labor. The punishment is much harsher than the 2 years that the Pussy Riot members received under the hooliganism article. But there is no blasphemy in the song “Virgin Mary, Drive Putin”, which they tried to sing in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, there is only criticism of secular and ecclesiastical authorities. Of course, this was a violation of the rules established in the church, so that their act could be summed up only under the article about “blasphemy, that is, stinging ridicule, proving clear disrespect for the rules or rituals of the church”, and for this they were required from six months to a year in prison … But if “the guilty person had no intention of seducing and showing disrespect for faith” (and in the song there is no disrespect for faith), then the punishment for this act is from 3 weeks to 3 months of arrest. Let us remind you that the girls received, as Putin once put it, a “two-piece”. So the history of Russia, it seems, began to move backwards – in the direction of more severe punishments for violating church rules than in Tsarist Russia, where Orthodoxy was the state religion. It remains only to thank Medinsky for a bright example.