The Russian Ministry of Defense, which was heading to Syria, once again split Ukrainian society - while some gloated and rejoiced on social networks, others carried it in Kyiv and mourned the dead.
Exercises in wit
The Presidential Adviser expressed the conditional position of those who were “rejoicing” Poroshenko Yuri Biryukov, according to whom the Russians also rejoiced at the death of the Ukrainians, whom, according to Biryukova, fired at “the cadets of their artillery schools” - “(they) took shooting tests, practicing shelling of the 72nd and 79th brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
"This is the most paradoxical paradox - the residents of the neighboring horde sincerely do not understand the reason why we rejoice at the death of 80 soldiers of the horde’s army (...) A Russian Defense Ministry plane crashed... There was only one desire - to take a bottle of Hawthorn to the horde embassy", wrote Biryukov, hinting at mass poisoning with Hawthorn in the Irkutsk region.
“Shameful joy” and Poroshenko’s silence
But the Ukrainians had another reaction - condolences and grief for the dead. Biryukov was answered in the comments by user Maxim Kumskov, who wrote: “Who are we? I am a Ukrainian, and I am not happy, I sympathize with the dead people, most of whom were not soldiers, and certainly did not kill Ukrainians. Keep stirring up, Biryukov, for all that You'll have to pay sooner or later."
And journalist, editor and political expert Yanina Sokolovskaya on your page called the excitement over the plane crash “shameful joy.” She also commented on the lack of response to the tragedy from the president. Poroshenko.
"Today I read a lot about the death of the Tu-154: the words of the priests that this death shows that Russia’s participation in the Syrian war is ungodly; prayers from those who hope there are survivors among the victims; condolences from the American administration and from the Belarusian president. It’s hard for me to accept the silence of the President of Ukraine, who could express condolences, if not to Russia, to the families of the victims. This is what the leaders of the “civilized world” do. And so subdeacon Poroshenko would have acted in a Christian way.
I categorically do not accept the shameful joy of those who are delighted with what happened. These rejoicings themselves became victims of a propaganda lobectomy, which dehumanized the inhabitants of the countries, turning them into a “living force of the enemy,” which inevitably becomes dead.
The only thing that is possible now for someone who is in the mind and memory is to pray for the dead. Anyone who does not consider this necessary and correct will answer not even according to deeds, but according to thoughts. They say thoughts matter", wrote Sokolovskaya.
"In this war people forget what a person is"
A on the common-law wife page People's Deputy Sergei Leshchenko, DJ Anastastya Topolskaya, a real scandal broke out. Topolskaya commented on the reaction of Ukrainians on social networks to the Tu-154 crash (spelling and punctuation preserved).
"I read how Ukrainian society reacted to the TU-154 plane crash on the Internet and was shocked. I don’t even know how to talk about this, but it’s simply impossible to remain silent...
When did we become such pathetic, cowardly bastards who rejoice so angrily at plane crashes and other misfortunes of Russians? Sorry, excuses like “there is a war between us”, “how much trouble they brought us and killed our own”, “it served them right - they deserve it” are not accepted.
Just look at yourself - like small primitive creatures: zero empathy, lack of self-esteem, no understanding, sympathy, even ordinary tolerance. Did we all get poison instead of blood? It's already gone crazy. It’s really just outrageous and sad to watch all this trash.
Until I followed the news and politics, I really thought that we had the coolest people. Who are they, those who spew hatred on social networks? We have a face, but we have a fucking culture. And I’ve only been observing this for six months, I just didn’t pay attention before, I can imagine how much shit has flowed away without my attention, but look - we’re all swimming in it up to our necks, a little more and we’ll choke. It would be better for us to hide in a hole and not get burned... But it would be better to read the Bible and feed on kindness, wisdom, and generally work on ourselves. Monstrous spiritual poverty. All this is shameful and humiliating, friends.
Update: in the comments there is no need to compare yourself with those who are happy about the death of our guys. Otherwise it’s somehow low: “And they! And here they are! Like them, so are we!” And it’s not just about Boeing, but also about hawthorn and other troubles. In this war, people forget what a person is. It's impossible to fight like this anymore if you're not on the battlefield.", Topolskaya said.
War in our heads
The war in Ukraine is not only going on in the Donbass, it continues in the minds and human relationships. There is no end in sight to it, and the enmity takes on the character of mutual hatred. Will someone or something be able to truly unite Ukrainians? The country and society will have to resolve these issues in 2017.
Let us remind you that the Tu-154 plane of the Russian Ministry of Defense, which was heading to Syria, crashed in the Black Sea on Sunday morning. According to the military department, there were 92 people on board - eight crew members and 84 passengers, including eight military personnel, 64 artists from the Alexandrov ensemble, nine representatives of Russian television channels, the head of the Fair Aid charity foundation Elizaveta Glinka, known as Doctor Lisa, two federal government employees.
You can't change geography. You can build a border wall and dig a ditch. Stop flights and even trains. But they will still be there. Every fifth passenger car in summer Crimea has a yellow-blue license plate and codes of mainland Ukraine. Up to four million migrant workers with “three-pronged” passports. Relatives, acquaintances and Kyiv friends who start calling again.
We are doomed to be with these people. But how? After the tragedy in the Sinai desert, you are looking for an answer to this question especially painfully.
Our liberals should be proud of like-minded people on the banks of the Dnieper. A wild joy, unimaginable by normal consciousness, overwhelmed Ukrainian “Europeans” immediately after the news of the disaster with the airliner, which was carrying more than two hundred people from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg. Including 25 children, which only added to the celebration of the “great Ukrainians.”
The wreckage of the Airbus had not yet cooled down when the zombies of Ukrainian social networks began dancing on the bones. Maidan Halloween 2015 was a great success. Schadenfreude flares up even in feigned condolences.
“Today is my holiday, there are 230 fewer bastards, I’m especially glad that it’s from St. Petersburg,”- writes a certain Russia Mast Dai.
“I know the hedgehog moved yesterday. "Axle of the Ezhak Skoda." Translated from the language - an acquaintance of the hedgehog moved yesterday, it’s a pity for the hedgehog...
The following post generated an incredible number of likes on the national network: “I still worry about the elimination and self-elimination of the noses of the mutation gene of Kaslamordikh. They deserved the stink. I’ll say one thing: the earth cleanses itself in this way.”
The excitement of rejoicing is as if they had won a personal victory that they had literally nurtured and begged from the devil themselves.
“It’s a pity that this flight is not from Kharkov, not from Kharkov’s fair-haired style,” an activist of the Azov battalion openly exclaims. To clarify, they say, the death of the “Katsap Kharkov cotton wool” is still ahead. A little earlier, a smart guy posted a photo of a huge swastika that burned two weeks ago in the central square of Kharkov
“Guys, we’re preparing jokes about dead Russian tourists, I want a holiday in the feed,”- a certain Pasha Petrishenko calls on his brothers-in-arms. His photo in a personal message is a selfie with a Rada deputy, adviser to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Anton Gerashchenko.
Addressing the Russians, a journalist from Radio Liberty Pavlo Khrishin proposes to calculate “how many more such planes need to be shot down in order to rid the world of you.” Sadistic pathologies can be studied from comments on leading national information portals - “Ukrainian Pravda”, “Korrespondent.net”, “Censor.net”
Many use open language. Facebook, Twitter, and Ukrainian pages of other social networks are filled with obscene abuse against the victims of the disaster.
“The more Russians die, the less they will come to us,”— Viktor Sokolov, a resident of Kiev, hastens to express himself.
Naturally, versions are being gnawed off. The first is personal revenge Putin. The President of the Russian Federation is commemorated here every day and for any reason. So, the “gods of good,” ISIS* and the Syrian opposition are taking revenge on the evil Kremlin god. Ukr-Internet refers to its own sources in the ranks of ISIS avengers.
Version two: the disaster was orchestrated by the FSB. They shot down their own plane on purpose to divert attention from the Malaysian Boeing and to show that Russia itself is suffering from terrorists. “They want to trick the world community into forgiveness for Boeing!” This kind of nonsense also goes off with a bang; the version has been “liked” by thousands of users.
Many people talk with pleasure about a terrorist attack inside an airplane. Good suicide bombers brought down a bad Russian airliner. The phrase “I hope it was a terrorist attack” is repeated very often.
And of course, the discussion of the topic that supposedly an Airbus was shot down by Russian military aircraft caused complete delight among the independent public. “Lapotniks from a gas station do not know how to drive something more complex than a cart,” “The Katsaps decided that ISIS militants were flying on the plane.”
Lenten faces and poorly hidden joy in the eyes - this is how television news presenters talk about the deaths of Russian tourists. But Internet forums and social network statuses are an unconcealed revelation, an open valve of hatred.
Actually, nothing new. A year and a half ago, even before the bloody battles of Donbass, their Internet also exploded with jubilation. Remember the burning of Odessa on May 2. No one even thought of bringing those responsible for the monstrous ritual murder to justice. They became deputy speakers, parliamentarians, and made good business in the civil war.
The lovely first-year girls who poured Molotov cocktails into bottles at Kulikovo Field continue their happy student life.
Only then will there be an online celebration of the murdered Mariupol and funny jokes about photographs of women’s bodies torn apart by air bombs in Lugansk.
No matter how much it would be desirable, Russia will have to evaluate all this seemingly virtual emotion. KP columnist is desperately harsh Alexander Grishin:
“You can’t call them scum, bastards, or scum.” Because both those, and others, and others are still people. And these - these are no longer people. They walk, eat, recover, read, write, talk. They are worse than cannibals and worse than animals. Call them whatever you want, but they are not people, but inhumans. Ghouls, ghouls, evil spirits.
...But there is also a teddy bear and yesterday’s flowers under the walls of the Russian consulate in Kyiv. There are few mourning roses. However, people brought them.
A former member of the Verkhovna Rada, a well-known politician from Kherson, expressed deep condolences to the relatives of the victims of the disaster Alexey Zhuravko. He sincerely asks for forgiveness for his scumbag compatriots.
“I now have feelings of deep grief and endless shame and anger inside me. 224 people died. Terrible tragedy. Kingdom of heaven! At the same time, in some segments of the Ukrainian Internet there is almost a holiday... I ask Russians and all citizens of the world not to associate these scoundrels with Ukrainians under any circumstances! On behalf of 99% of Ukrainians (alas, 1% of 40 million is exactly a few hundred thousand) I apologize for the wretched evil spirits that gloat over grief,” the politician wrote.
Calls on compatriots to be calm Head of the International Service of the Political Department of the DPR Ministry of Defense V. Brig:
“Don’t waste your energy and nerves, and don’t react to the scum who rejoice at the death of civilians on the plane.”
“They rejoiced at the thousands of deaths in Donbass. The creatures shedding crocodile tears about the Holodomor rejoiced at the fact that our pensioners were left without a means of subsistence. They rejoiced at the blockade, from which their military leadership and volunteers profited. We were happy that our children were sitting in bomb shelters, and were indignant that Russia dared to send humanitarian convoys, not paying attention to the cries of the West and local bastards.”
“Having blessed his leadership for murder, violence, robbery and looting, killing and torturing personally, helping those who came here a thousand kilometers away - to someone else’s house - to restore their order; every flawed idiot, wrapped in a Petlyura rag, must remember - karma is a serious thing. Sooner or later, retribution is coming. Amen".
Read about the topic in the news:
Read all news about the crash Russian plane in Egypt
* The “Islamic State” (ISIS) was recognized as a terrorist organization by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on December 29, 2014, its activities in Russia are prohibited
Significant events of recent times show an increase in mutual negative perceptions in relations between Ukrainians and Russians. Russian journalist Konstantin Eggert explained why Ukrainians do not sympathize with the Russians after the fall of the Tu-154. This was reported by journalists in the “World News” section of the online publication for business people “Stock Leader” with reference to Deutsche Welle.
In his publication, Russian journalist and TV presenter Konstantin Eggert states that there is also a virtual front in the Russian-Ukrainian war. Now Ukrainians on social networks are rejoicing over the crash of a Russian Ministry of Defense plane, which was flying to Aleppo and crashed into the sea near Sochi. The Russians respond by accusing their neighbors of mocking the dead. Meanwhile, a detailed examination of the situation and prerequisites makes it possible to understand why many Ukrainians cannot bring themselves to sympathize with the Russians.
Explaining their feelings, Ukrainians say that they have no reason to mourn the death of the passengers of the crashed Tu-154 plane. On board the plane were military personnel and an ensemble named after Alexandrov, who were heading to a concert for the Russian group in Syria. Also on the plane were war correspondents from pro-Kremlin TV channels and even philanthropist Elizaveta Glinka, also known to the public as Doctor Lisa. According to Ukrainians, with her work on the territory of the “people's republics” of Donbass, Dr. Lisa actually assisted in the legitimization of pro-Russian separatists.
The parties mutually accuse each other of immorality. At the same time, Ukrainians say that before reading morals, Russians should leave Ukrainian territory. Disputes on the social networks Facebook and Twitter are engaged in by a minority of the population in each country. Nevertheless, it is precisely this small part of active society that seriously influences the formation and trends in public opinion.
Traditionally, Russian society for the most part tries to push the conflict with Ukraine and what is happening in Syria to the periphery of consciousness. Russians are trying their best not to think about what is happening. From the point of view of the median Russian citizen, Crimea has become “ours” forever, like the conventional Chelyabinsk or Altai, and nothing is happening in the Donbass. Also, the average Russian believes that something like a large-scale “counter-terrorism operation” is taking place in Syria, where there are no ground forces, only aviation, so there are almost no casualties among the Russian military.
Residents of Russia know nothing and do not want to know about the carpet bombing of Aleppo by Russian aircraft. Moreover, Russian citizens are not interested in the reaction to the bombing from the world community. The events of the sluggish “Donbass” war are not among the interests of the Russian average person. For Ukrainians, what is happening in Donbass is part of everyday life. Ukrainian citizens sincerely cannot understand why the people of Russia do not hear or understand them.
Russians are hiding behind a wall of silence.
Only a few Russian public figures prefer not to pretend that nothing special is happening. They are trying to change the situation with their scandalous statements. After the fall of the Tu-154, Arkady Babchenko and Bozena Rynska voiced their opinions about what happened. They deliberately violated the principle of not speaking ill of the dead. As a result, accusations of insulting the memory of the victims of the disaster rained down on them. Deputy Milonov even proposed to sell the property of Babchenko and Rynskaya and transfer the proceeds to the Dr. Lisa Foundation, and to deprive the activists of their citizenship and expel them from the country.
Apparently, for Babchenko and Rynskaya, such foolishness seems to be the only opportunity to break the blockade of silence that hides events in Ukraine and Syria from ordinary Russians. Meanwhile, many Ukrainians are beginning to perceive what is happening in the context of wartime morality. In this model, any problem with the enemy is perceived as a good event. Ukrainians easily associate themselves with the residents of Aleppo and see the militants opposing Russia and Assad in Syria as kind of allies.
Russian society still continues to live as usual with the belief that the situation will gradually normalize on its own, and Ukrainians realize that the Russians do not wish them harm. Russian citizens are convinced that their military is fighting terrorists in Syria. Many Russians perceive the Syrians as terrorists or their supporters, or second-class people who cannot be pitied or considered in order to achieve victory.
In this context, it should be recalled that during the outbreak of the conflict with Ukraine, several mass actions of an anti-war nature took place in the Russian capital. The Syrian operation did not cause a similar reaction in Russian society. Not a single mass protest of more or less comparable scale against the hostilities took place in Moscow. Modern Russian consciousness is divided, as often happens in such cases.
Often people want to be winners in a war, but refuse to pay for the status of winner with the lives of their compatriots. However, it is a mistake to expect that any war will end without casualties. Attempts to pretend that nothing is happening are often dashed by reality when a plane carrying military personnel crashes or a diplomat is killed by a bullet. These are the events that are now happening to Russian society.
Ukrainian society, on the contrary, can be called completely integral. Public opinion in Ukraine constantly reminds its northern neighbors that they are waging two undeclared wars and Ukrainians do not intend to yield to the aggressor. Even Russian critics of the Kremlin’s policy are counting on a relatively quick reconciliation with Ukraine. Ukrainians, meanwhile, simply want their neighbors to leave them behind, along with their “brotherly love.”
December 26 has been declared a day of mourning in Russia in connection with the Tu-154 crash in Sochi, in which 84 passengers and eight crew members died. International leaders expressed their condolences to Russia, people carried flowers and candles to the building of the Alexandrov ensemble, the Ostankino television center and the building of the Elizaveta Glinka Foundation.
However, Ukrainian officials have not yet commented on the tragedy.
For example, on the website and Facebook account of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, only congratulations on Catholic Christmas were published. Even a day after the tragedy over the Black Sea, there was not a word about the crash of a Russian plane.
Ukrainian officials commenting on the situation in neutral tones are in the minority.
“Whether it was a terrorist act or some kind of malfunction of the plane, I think it’s too early to say. In any case, the only thing I don’t like is the fact that, indeed, the Russian ambassador to Turkey recently died under circumstances known to everyone - and today the plane died. This may have certain consequences for the world community,” said SBU head Vasily Gritsak on the 112 Ukraine TV channel.
But the “balanced” statements of Ukrainian officials about the Tu-154 crash are rather an exception.
Ukrainian officials, commenting on the tragedy over the Black Sea, do not hide their gloating.
One of the most scandalous was the opinion of Yuriy Biryukov, Poroshenko’s adviser.
He apparently decided to “witty” connect the death of a Russian military aircraft and another tragedy - the fatal poisoning of dozens of people in Irkutsk. On his Facebook page, the official wrote: “The plane of the Russian Defense Ministry crashed... There was only one desire - to take a bottle of Hawthorn to the horde’s embassy.”
Ukrainian parliamentarians did not stand aside either. Non-factional people's deputy, the country's representative in PACE Borislav Bereza admitted that he “is not happy or upset” because of the crash of the Russian plane.
The official explained his position as follows: the Tu-154 passengers were “flying to entertain” the Russian military in Syria, who allegedly “destroyed the infrastructure of Donbass.”
“I am not happy about the crash of the Russian plane and the death of its passengers. But I’m not upset either. They flew to entertain and film the Russian military. It is quite possible that those who previously killed Ukrainians in Donbass tortured our citizens, destroyed infrastructure, and then transferred to Syria,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
And the mayor of Dnepr (Dnepropetrovsk) and a close associate of the oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, Boris Filatov, went even further. He rejoiced at the death of the passengers on board the Tu-154, writing on Facebook that “instead of celebrating the liberation of Aleppo,” the musicians and military “will be in hell.”
Not everyone is gloating
It is noteworthy that many subscribers of Biryukov, Bereza and Filatov completely agree with their statements - the posts of Ukrainian politicians on Facebook have collected hundreds of comments. But there are also those who express sympathy for the tragedy and accuse Ukrainian officials of inhumanity.
In the comments under the post of Poroshenko’s adviser, user Pyotr Efimov reminded the Ukrainian official:
“Doctor Lisa, who died in a plane crash, founded the first hospice at the Oncology Hospital in Kyiv in 1999. What good did Biryukov do for Ukraine?”
“It’s a disgrace,” comments Andrei Zhbanov. “Only a moral monster and a bastard can rejoice in the death of another person.” This will definitely not be welcome anywhere in the world.”
“Sane people will perceive this with compassion, in a Christian way, and will not organize a Sabbath on bones. Unfortunately, Biryukov, you lack sanity, as does Christian morality,” concludes another subscriber.
Some subscribers of Borislav Bereza, in response to his attack, doubted the mental health of the Ukrainian politician.
“Make some idiotic assumption that “probably there were people like that flying there,” and, based on your absurd conjecture, develop some kind of schizotheory about the reasons for the lack of compassion. It’s not because of the above reasons that you don’t have sympathy, you don’t have it simply because you’re not completely mentally healthy,” concluded a user under the nickname Dima Spb.
“Borislav, you can’t hate a nation,” Igor Kyiv comments on Bereza’s post. — Imagine that Europe will recognize your reaction as the official representative of Ukraine in PACE. You spoke very short-sightedly.”
Ukrainian officials were also accused of being “un-European” and of being “lost in cruelty.”
Flowers are brought to the Russian Embassy in Ukraine, lamps are lit there and notes are left. Many, including famous Kiev residents, write words of condolences to the victims of the tragedy.
“Ukrainians mourn together with Russians for those killed in a plane crash over the Black Sea. And this reaction, coming from the heart, best reflects the closeness of our peoples and demonstrates that the attempts of representatives of the “party of war” to provoke hostility and sow the seeds of discord and hatred were futile. Ukrainians and Russians were, are and will forever remain fraternal peoples. In such tragic moments this becomes obvious. I offer my condolences to the families and friends of the victims. On behalf of myself personally, from the Public Movement “Ukrainian Choice – The Right of the People”, from millions of Ukrainians who today are grieving an irreparable loss,” politician Viktor Medvedchuk wrote on Facebook.
Former Verkhovna Rada deputy Spiridon Kilinkarov also expressed words of sympathy and condolences.
“Tu-154. Tragedy, grief, irreparable loss - heaven took the talented, heaven took the best! Our condolences to the families and friends of the victims,” he wrote on his Facebook.
“A terrible tragedy near Sochi. Sincere condolences to family and friends, as well as to all Russians! Bright and eternal memory...,” adds ex-deputy Irina Berezhnaya.
Russian officials also responded to the statements of Ukrainian officials. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, indicated that the reason for this reaction is that “people supported by nationalists and radicals” are in power in Ukraine.
“We don’t understand the reasons why official Kyiv rejoices at the death of 80 servicemen?!! We understand these reasons very well and have been talking about them for a long time: in Ukraine, people supported by nationalists and radicals came to power. That's all the reasons. Now it’s not only us who understand them,” Zakharova wrote on her Facebook page.
The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, also condemned the statements of Ukrainian officials. “But there are those who openly gloat over the death of innocent people. In Kyiv, ordinary people bring flowers to the building of our diplomatic mission, and officials carry “Hawthorn”. The goal of their evil attacks is to start wars, destroy states, and kill millions of people,” he commented on Instagram.
And Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Government Dmitry Rogozin, commenting on the attack by Poroshenko’s adviser, called him a “moral monster.”
“Adviser Poroshenko is mocking... The souls of these moral monsters have long been poisoned by the “hawthorn of Russophobia.” Nothing sacred,” Rogozin wrote on Twitter.
