The coordinator of the “Immortal Regiment” action in Perm, which introduced the ban on the use of the Victory Banner, began to deny everything, but was exposed as a lie. This was reported by the participants of the civil assembly. initiatives “May 9 with the banner of victory,” a Krasnaya Vesna correspondent reports on April 5.
A. Otmakhova, coordinator of the action in Perm, commented on the unification of citizens to fight against the ban on the Banner of Victory during the procession of the “Immortal Regiment” in Perm.
“There was no ban on the Victory Banner. This was a provocation from certain people. The banners they carried had nothing to do with the Banner of Victory. People simply carried Soviet flags, which are used by various political forces to manipulate people’s opinions. The use of any corporate or political symbol is prohibited by the Regiment’s statutes.” — fixed former director of the radio “Echo of Moscow in Perm” A. Otmakhova.
However, participants in the civil initiative “May 9 with the Victory Banner” discovered that Otmakhova was not telling the truth. In the Rules for visiting the event published in websiteit is directly stated that “Banners with the numbers of military units, the Banner of Victory, the Russian flag, the city flag and other banners and structures should not be in the column of the Immortal Regiment.”
Then, in comments to the news about the Victory Banner ban, Otmakhova said: “I’m talking about flags. The use of flags and banners is prohibited, as they obscure people’s portraits. One flag covers at least 20 portraits. The main symbol of the regiment is the portrait of a soldier.”
Finally, to Otmakhova, Nakanune.RU correspondent. advised better read: “Read the regimental regulations. Any banner is prohibited. “They cover the main symbol of the procession: the faces of the front-line soldiers.”
Before the start of the action, stands were installed, where a prohibition was also indicated: “It is prohibited to carry ANY flag or banner.”
Citizens who were surprised and outraged because the police did not allow them to attend the demonstration, the Ministry of the Interior also confirmedthat in accordance with the standards approved by the Municipal Administration, “It was prohibited to carry flags or banners (with or without flagpoles) at the event.” The prosecutor’s office later declared this ban illegal and charged the officials with administrative responsibility.
Finally, the fact of the prohibition is captured in the photo and video recordings.
However, it follows from Otmakhova’s words that the use of the Banner of Victory in the “Immortal Regiment” on May 9, 2019 will probably not be banned.
“What kind of “provocation of certain people” can we even talk about, if not the provocation of Otmakhova herself? In all cities of Russia where there were no bans, all actions were carried out appropriately. And only in Perm, due to a provocative ban, a situation of social discord was created. In essence, citizens were forced to tell the police that they were behaving like modern flagists in Ukraine.””said the coordinator of the Perm branch of the “Essence of Time” movement, Pavel Guryanov, who was also unable to participate in the action with a replica of the Victory flag on May 9, 2018.
Otmakhova passage about “manipulation of popular opinion by various political forces using Soviet flags” In the civic initiative they explain it by their ideological position. Otmakhova is known to have stated that she agreed to equate Stalinism with fascism and she believes that “Russians (and most Russians) are the most aggressive and evil nation.”
The statement of the “civil initiative” states that, in their opinion, the introduction of a ban on Soviet flags and symbols is connected with the policy of de-Sovietization and decommunization, with the help of which they try to equate communism with fascism. and carry out a review of the results of the Second World War, to remove Russia from the list of winning countries. This is exactly what is happening in Ukraine, the Baltic States and the countries of Eastern Europe. But this should not happen in Russia.
Let us also remember that a year ago a survey about the Banner of Victory in the “Immortal Regiment” was held in Tula. 382 people were interviewed. 39% believe that the presence of the Victory Banner in the procession is mandatory, 45% that it is possible, 11% have not decided the answer and only 5% believe that the Victory Banner cannot be carried to the procession. regiment. In addition, 32% of respondents believe that the Immortal Regiment should bear portraits of the Victory commanders: Stalin, Zhukov, Rokossovsky. 53% support this initiative, 5% are against.
Source: Rossa Primavera
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.