When the Putin-Era Archives are Opened, Russians Say Only Bookkeepers will Be Interested

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 21 – “When the archives are opened” has long been the mantra of Soviet and Russian citizens who believe that documents now hidden from their sight by the authorities will reveal everything. They will certainly reveal a great deal but perhaps not as much as those who say this appear to believe.

            That conclusion is suggested by a new anecdote collected by Moscow journalist Tatyana Pushkaryeva which suggest that when the archives of the Putin era are opened, they will be of interest only to bookkeepers because they will be a remarkably boring set of figures as the elite seizes and parcels out among itself the wealth of the country (publizist.ru/blogs/107374/41320/-).

            Such figures will capture some but far from all of what goes on behind the scenes, but they will certainly suggest to Russians who gain access to them that their rulers are anything but the supermen that the regime tries to portray them as being and that Russians often accept as true.

And in that sense, the Putin archives may prove especially valuable even if superficially boring.  Among the other instructive anecdotes Pushkaryeva offers this week are the following:

·         Residents of Russian occupied Crimea don’t need the media to tell them what is happening. If there are tanks and APCs on the streets, that means someone like Putin is coming; but if there are Russian fighter aircraft, that means that the Americans are.

·      It is strange that Russians are so worked up by the jailing of human rights defenders. After all, if you have no rights, why do you need anyone to defend them?

·         Russian society is so hierarchically arranged that a single system of QR codes won’t be enough. There will have to be special codes for special people ranging from officers of the FSB to thieves, bandits and prostitutes.

·         Russians are outraged at the injustice that Sechin makes 4.5 million rubles a day while Miller takes in only 2.2. How can that be justified say those who make less than one percent of that?

·         Russian television has become so degraded that many are ashamed to watch it. If one turns on a news or political show, it is like looking through the window of a mental asylum.

·      Moscow TV simultaneously tells its viewers that Europe is freezing and starving and that people are trying to crash its borders in order to get into that hell, an indication that people in the Kremlin expect Russians to believe both at the same time.

·      Russians who don’t drink or swear demonstrate that they aren’t paying attention.