RUSSIA'S LATEST CULTURE WAR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MOSCOW 005365

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2017
TAGS: PGOV KCUL KDEM SOCI RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIA'S LATEST CULTURE WAR

REF: MOSCOW 3971

Classified By: Ambassador William J. Burns. Reason: 1.4 (d).

Summary
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1. (C) A paean to President Putin on his 55th birthday by one
of culture's grand old men, film director and actor Nikita
Mikhalkov, has revealed fault lines in the cultural community
similar to those that are all too apparent among the
country's political classes. Mikhalkov's film hagiography of
the President, shown on Putin's October 7 birthday, and a
subsequent complimentary letter written by Mikhalkov,
purportedly on behalf of the country's cultural figures,
triggered an angry response from those who said Mikhalkov did
not speak for them. On November 11, Mikhalkov struck back
with an emotional television interview on Russian government
television. The exchanges have captured the pride that some
cultural figures feel in Russia's recent ascent, and the
discomfort that others in that community experience when
cultural values are too closely linked to a national ideology
that they see as increasingly undemocratic. Underlying the
exchanges are the standard collection of unsettled scores,
opportunism, and memories, still fresh for some, of times
when the government and artists close to it used their power
to squash those they disagreed with. End summary.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President
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2. (SBU) The current controversy began on October 7, Putin's
55 birthday, when well-known film director and actor Nikita
Mikhalkov offered a film paean to the President. In the
film,"55," Mikhalkov's velvety voice extols Putin for the
stability and hope he has brought to Russia. Putin is shown
in a fighter jet and as a confident leader on the
international stage. Also on display is his deft touch with
the common folk as Mikhalkov intones "a great many people in
our country entrusted their lives to him, and he has repaid
that trust." Later, Mikhalkov summarizes: "We live at a
time when Russia is on the mend. Recent positive changes are
the result of the work of our President." In what has become
a staple of virtually every such effort to glorify the
present, the stability of the Putin years is contrasted with
the chaos of "perestroika," the wild '90s, the first Chechen
war, and random terrorist attacks. The catalytic moment, for
Mikhalkov, was Putin's Munich speech, when the President
"declared our national interests and pointed out what
prevents us from realizing them."


3. (SBU) Mikhalkov followed "55" with an open letter to the
President, published on October 16 in the government national
daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta. The letter was signed by
Mikhalkov, Academy of Arts President and sculptor Zurab
Tsereteli, Academy Vice President Teymur Salakhov, and St.

SIPDIS
Petersburg Arts University Rector Albert Charkin "on behalf
of 65 thousand cultural workers." The four tell Putin that
they have been besieged with requests from all parts of
Russia that he "continue your important work as President,"
and "persist in your carefully thought out plan, that will
guarantee stability, the flourishing of Russian national
culture, and the continuation of the best traditions of
Russian art."

Cultural Empire Strikes Back
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4. (SBU) Shortly after the publication of the letter,
Mikhalkov appeared on a popular evening political debate
program "To the Barrier," where he argued that the film was a
private matter and that he had every right to express his
opinions. Mikhalkov's opponent, writer Viktor Yerofeev
described "55" as mortar for the shrine being built to Putin,
and an unwise gesture by such a well-known cultural figure.
"If it were a private matter," Yerofeev continued, "you
should have made a cassette, put it in an envelope, and sent
it to Putin." Pressed by Yerofeev, Mikhalkov downplayed the
letter, saying that it had been written three months earlier
and that, while he had supported the idea, he had not read
the text carefully.


5. (SBU) Further reaction to Mikhalkov's film and letter was
not long in coming. Author Irina Petrovskaya in the national
daily Izvestiya compared "55" to "Tale of a Communist," a
1976 kitsch tribute to CPSU General Secretary Brezhnev on his
70 birthday. Petrovskaya examined the texts of both films and
found uncanny similarities in the language and in the
delivery of narrator Mikhailkov and "Tale of a Communist"
narrator, actor Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy. (In an interesting
sidebar to the article, Izvestiya Editor-in-Chief Vladimir
Mamontov, according to Petrovskaya, delayed publication of

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the article for several days in order not to spoil Putin's
fifty-fifth.) In a subsequent article, Izvestiya Cultural
Division Editor Yelena Yampolskaya defended Mikhalkov, who
had "known (Putin) for eight years," and described the tone
as "appropriate for a birthday greeting to a head of state."


6. (SBU) Other cultural figures were quick to join battle.
Actors Oleg Basilashvili, Sergey Yurskiy, artist Yuriy
Avvakumov, scholar and SPS federal troika member Marietta
Chudakova, and playwright Aleksandr Gelman wrote an
"anti-letter" to Putin accusing Mikhalkov and company of
servility and hypocrisy. They appealed to Putin to leave
when his second term ends, and to refuse the temptation to
resort to "tricks" in order to remain in power. Essayist and
PEN Club member Lev Rubinshteyn for his part asked
Rossiisskaya Gazeta Editor Vladislav Fokin to publish his
letter disassociating him from Mikhalkov and company.

Mikhalkov Objects
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7. (SBU) On November 11, a seemingly unfazed Mikhalkov
appeared at the end of the Russian government television
program "News of the Week." He expressed astonishment that
"democrats" would attempt to prevent him from congratulating
the President on his birthday, and offered a spirited
advertisement for Putin, who had "raised his voice against
this international chaos to defend Russia's interests."
Mikhalkov asserted that there would be no order in Russia
without a "vertical of power," and argued for a continuation
of the course charted by Putin.

Culture and State
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8. (C) In addition to the sheer chutzpah of speaking for 65
thousand cultural workers without first asking their opinion,
the swift and vocal reaction of some to Mikhalkov's letter
may have been triggered by the biography and personality of
its author. Mikhalkov comes from a family whose members have
been loyal, and loyally rewarded, servants of the Russian -
Soviet - Russian state. (His father authored the Soviet and
Russian national anthems.) Mikhalkov is a member of the
Ministry of Defense's Public Chamber and he recently received
much media attention when he set sail on a promotional cruise
with the Russian navy.


9. (C) Although Mikhalkov insisted in his November 11
interview that his films have never been designed to curry
favor with the regime du jour, he has always chosen his
subjects carefully. His most recent effort, "12," tells the
story of a Russian special forces soldier who adopts a
Chechen orphan whose parents have been murdered by Chechen
bandits. The soldier is in turn murdered and the Chechen boy
tried as the perpetrator. The film makes a powerful
statement on the virtues of a jury trial, accompanied by a
message for support for Putin's Russia. Director Mikhalkov
chose actor Mikhalkov to play the role of jury foreman who,
at the critical moment in the jury's deliberations, offers
his word "as an artist" to cast his vote with the others.
When the rest of the jury find that insufficient, Mikhalkov
offers his word as "an (FSB or military) officer" and all
immediately sign on. In the epilogue, officer Mikhalkov is
shown taking the boy under his wing, and preparing to
dispatch justice to those who killed the boy's adoptive
father. The jury member who initially voiced doubts about the
boy's guilt is shown in the epilogue to be devoutly Russian
Orthodox; allowing the film to make the point that Orthodoxy
and the State are the twin pillars of justice, while officer
Mikhalkov's protection of the Chechen boy re-states the
traditional colonial relationship between Russia and its
little brothers on the southern flank. Mikhalkov during the
week of November 5 staged a much-publicized private screening
of "12" for Putin and Chechnya President Ramzan Kadyrov.
Putin publicly praised the film.


10. (C) For others, a too cozy relationship between culture
and the state is a source of anxiety. They point to Minister
of Culture Sokolov's October 8 decision to prevent 17 works
of art from traveling to Paris for the "Sots-art"
retrospective. In comments that reminded many of Khrushchev
at the famous bulldozer exhibition, Sokolov in stopping their
shipment said: "This art disgraces Russia." The October 8 ban
was preceded by a decision to block the travel of nine works
intended for the "Learning from Moscow" exhibition at the
Dresden State Gallery. The Sakharov Center's provocative
exhibitions have brought it legal and financial trouble, some
of it instigated by a Russian Orthodox Church unhappy with
the Center's "blasphemy." Director Yuriy Samodurov describes
the Center as on the verge of bankruptcy, although it is not
clear how much of its current problems are a by-product of
his reportedly inept management. Other figures who have

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tangled with the Russian state include writer Vladimir
Sorokin, whose novel "Blue Lard," triggered an obscenity
trial that dogged him for more than one year.

Comment
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11. (C) The public argument over culture and the state
reprises in a different vein a late-summer argument about
religion and the state (reftel). In both cases, the
participants attempted to unsystematically define through the
media where the state ends and where culture or religion
should rightfully begin. The most recent argument has been
muddied by the ongoing election campaign and by the
personalities of some of its participants. Mikhalkov is a
sincere advocate of a great Russian state, but his decision
to link his aspirations for Russia to the personality of
President Putin in the middle of an unsettling succession
process has made a calm conversation at this time impossible.
BURNS