Syrikhi of Our Time

There is no one for Lukashenka to make friends with.

In the thirties of the last century, Moscow girls went crazy over two of the best tenors of the Bolshoi Theatre - Ivan Kozlovsky and Sergei Lemeshev. And although the "Lemeshists" (Lemeshev's admirers) competed with the "Kozlovists" (Kozlovsky's admirers) in every possible way, they had a common gathering place: the Syr shop on Gorky Street. They could warm up when it's cold, and also the Bolshoi Theatre was nearby. By the name of the shop, those exalted ladies were called Syrikhi.

The nickname "Syrikha" then meant an extreme degree of exaltation. Lemeshev and Kozlovsky were common idols, both of them had a countless number of admirers, now they are known as fans. But during performances, Syrikhi paid money to the cloakroom attendant for him to bring out Lemeshev's shoes for five minutes. Each of them was wearing those shoes for a few seconds and was happy.

Almost a century has passed; there is no Lemeshev, no Kozlovsky, no USSR, no Gorky Street, no Syr shop. But Syrikhi remained. Now they are men in power, which has been turned into an infinite one. However, the gut remains the same. To pay the cloakroom attendant to stand in the wore-in shoes of a celebrity - this is exactly what Lukashenka, Putin and even Ramzan Kadyrov are doing to Gerard Depardieu.

Frankly speaking, I do not blame Depardieu for this stupid situation when the main Obelix of the planet is heaped pointless gifts upon. I even support him. "There should be a loser to make some people feel good". Will anyone doubt it? Depardieu might have lived among the vineyards, drinking his wine and coming down on the French authorities, if the eastern losers hadn't been waiting for him with open arms. At least three of them and everyone can wave with their sleeves and the treasures will scatter from there. So why are they abandoned?

By the way, Depardieu did not even cheat. He was honest. If he had promised Lukashenka, for example, a loan from the IMF, billion-dollar investments, a place at the table at the Davos forum, and then got a piece of land near Minsk in return and escaped, there would have been a first-class crook. But Depardieu did not offer anything and did not ask for it: he just said that he would like to live among the Belarusian peasants because it's beautiful here. He said so and left. And he must have forgotten about his words about the peasants. And Lukashenka ran after him like a devoted Syrikha, waved a handkerchief and tried to palm a real estate register through the window of the leaving train. Take, my heart friend, at least fifteen acres of land as a sign of our eternal friendship! And who would have refused it one was so persistent?

By the way, Lukashenka has easily bypassed Putin in his naivety. Because Depardieu at least promised Putin to present his nineteenth-century mansion in the center of Paris to Russia to open a Russian cultural center there. So here Vladimir Putin at least hoped to get something in return, so he and Ramzan were generous with a five-room apartment in the center of Grozny and a smaller one in Saransk. If the thing had worked out, they would have benefited. After all, there is no apartment in Grozny that would cost more than a mansion in the center of Paris. It failed, but that's fine. The real Syrikha is selfless and will not be offended by the idol.

But Depardieu did not promise Aliaksandr Ryhoravich anything - not a mansion, or to star in a Belarusian movie, or even wine from his vineyards. But his desire to stand in other people's shoes was so hard that he almost forced the actor to take the certificate of fifteen acres on the shore of the Minsk Sea. However, the idol may return and they may have a common photo. He may imagine that this is how a true friendship between men starts. Because he has no one to take pictures with as well as to make friends.

This is how a great friendship with Maradona started before. There was a house with a helipad for him so that the brilliant Diego could fly by helicopter from Minsk to work in Brest. Nobody remembers the address. Nobody knows where Diego is. He may not remember it as well. So neither the street nor the house exists anymore. There is no other village where Gerard Depardieu officially settled. The last peasant from that village, Daria Domracheva, confessed that she was moving to Monaco.

And only Syrikhi - Shura, Vova, Ramzan - are standing on a roadside station with a camera and waiting for a European express train to stop. If they are lucky enough, they can take a picture. If not, they are not lucky. Do not be resentful at Depardieu and his real estate. He is the unit that indicates the value of their lives. That's it.

Iryna Khalip, especially for Charter97.org

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