Russia is changing poles
Miracle tour operator: "Sakhalin, the necklace of the Kuril chain", July-August 2021
"To the village, to my aunt, to the wilderness, to Saratov. " An old truth that has become super topical now. I left Moscow under the influence of not only the pleasure of seeing Sakhalin with the Kuril Islands. Maybe even more with the desire to escape from Moscow at least for a while. The dominance of extortionists and scammers of all stripes, systems and sizes is so tired. Stealing is not only officials from young to old. They swindle, rob the population all in a row: repair shops, household services, homeowners associations, legal consultations, the banking system headed by the DIA and the Central Bank patronizing it. What is even sadder is the courts, starting with the justice of the peace and ending with the Supreme Court itself. (For supporting facts, see my articles published by the electronic media). Recently, major cities, especially capitals, have been flooded with scam phone calls offering to help (read - rob).
The most recent example. Literally before leaving, a phone call. He calls me by my first name and patronymic, introduces herself as Maria Ivanovna from the social security department: “Have I been vaccinated against the coronavirus? ” (Agree, it's nice when you are taken care of, even from the social security). Of course, I answer with pride. “Well done, now you can go anywhere. But, I hope, not abroad, where this infection continues to rage? No, in Russia. “But after the vaccination, you should wait a month. ” And it is provided. Ticket in a week, it will be a month. "It's all right then, have a safe trip. " And just turning off the phone, I thought about why Marvanna needed to find out when I was not at home (if from the social security he knows my data, he probably knows that I live alone). I'm trying to call back the highlighted number: unavailable, then disconnected altogether. I'm in touch with the social services. Nobody called me and they never had any Marvanna. So, burglars are preparing the ground for themselves.
In short, he fled to the ends of the earth - and was not mistaken. The situation here is so different that at the time Moscow is socially called the periphery, and remote areas of the country centers, the focus of at least elementary decency. No - no, I will not argue that in large cities there are completely crooks. Of course, in the same Moscow there are many respectable citizens. But all of them in recent years have literally been drowning in the ocean of fosterlings of the “Yeltsin Gang, ” as Zyuganov aptly dubbed them. “And such rubbish every day, ” which even Putin cannot cope with. Remember, about ten years ago, at an all-Russian press conference, he was asked the question: “Vladimir Vladimirovich, when will you get rid of bribe-takers in the government? ” “And who will I work with then? ” came an immediate response. No less interesting in this regard is the last nationwide press conference. Question: Vladimir Vladimirovich, when will we get rid of the dominance of all kinds of scammers, especially telephone ones? "The Minister knows about it, " again follows the lightning-fast reply.
Why is this happening? The truth is as simple as a bald head: from complete, comprehensive impunity. For all the facts of fraud known to me, I tried to achieve at least some efficiency. As a journalist, climbing the hierarchical steps, he tried to reach out to the very top, he always sent his articles “for taking action” to all ministries and departments, conceivable and unthinkable instances, up to the Prime Minister and the President. The answer is no answer. Only once did a reply come from the Office of the President: "Our courts are independent. " That is, they can even walk on their heads? And then what is left for us, mere mortals to do: wrap ourselves in a sheet and quietly crawl to the cemetery?
But let's get back to Sakhalin and the Kuriles. The people here are surprisingly conscientious and friendly. For example, two Korean sisters Tatyana and Ekaterina on Iturup in the Oriental Cuisine cafe for three days have never repeated dishes and everything is delicious, namely oriental. Climbing up the ladder to the ship "Igor Farkhutdinov" stumbled and badly bloodied his nose. Immediately around me, the attendants circled in a round dance. They brought a bunch of napkins to stop the bleeding. The deckhand not only brought the backpack to the cabin, but then climbed onto the net under the ladder, took out and brought to the reception a cover from the camera lens. Several times I looked into the cabin with a question about how I feel, the flight attendant Natalya. I didn’t like something in the sticker, I took it to the administrator Anastasia Alexandrovna, who had already professionally processed and sealed my ill-fated nose.
But most of all I communicated, of course, with the staff of the host "LLC Tour - business club" Amist ". Here "everyone is equal, as in selection", it is even difficult to single out someone. Let's say all three Tatyanas are on Sakhalin. In a word, beauties, including their deeds. Yes, full-time, even freelance civilians. For example, the driver of Iturup Fedor (we were accompanied by seven jeeps on the trip), seeing that, unlike the others (with a crutch and even short-sighted), he did not find a single agate stone washed out by the ocean, he brought it the next day and gave his own. Another on Shikotan, seeing that he hung his nose, because he did not dare to climb the hill with a crutch, put me in a jeep and nevertheless lifted me up on the impassability. Unfortunately, I did not write down my name in a notebook, like the others, but in a hurry on a piece of paper that I could not find at home. Forgive me, please, friend, who even took a picture of me at the place from which, according to the Soviet movie, Robinson Crusoe spent hours looking through a telescope for a ship on the horizon. And Nazir, a Balkar from the Caucasus, expressed a truth that even the Government headed by the President still cannot think of. “The mess is not only in Moscow, we also have enough of it. Because the idea is gone. What are we living for, what are we fighting for? Nobody knows. Here and rushing to the surface of all evil spirits. That is why Western "friends" cling to us with such frenzy. And while we, like a mangy dog, will collect burdocks from scammers, “friends” will never leave us. ” This was said by the most ordinary (extraordinary) jeep driver.
A day before the end of the tour, Amist finally decided to put it on the top line of the podium next to the Patagonian host travel company Rumbo Sur. Which for more than twenty days, passing me from hand to hand to more than a dozen tourist groups, without knowing at least one common language on my part and on their part, not only by tourists, but also by guides, did not allow a single failure. And suddenly, on Sakhalin, at the very end, a bummer. Instead of the energy center of Sakhalin, stipulated by the agreement, signed by Amist himself, since the time of the ancient Ainu, the remnant “Frog”, I was abandoned along with another group (mine flew away, I, according to a mutual agreement drawn up back in Moscow, remained a plus for two days extra) to the ruins of the lighthouse, which I can't stand. I didn’t even go to the acting one on the islands, I preferred to stay downstairs to shoot flowers. “Yes, there was a breakdown, but we will show you the Frog before the flight, there will be time, ” the manager promised. And they didn't show it. Hasn't it been three years? But still "Amist" on Sakhalin is by far the best travel company. Miracle concludes contracts only with the best.
Vladimir Antonov