‘Shut up, please!’

For several days, there has been an ongoing ethical battle on Russian social media, which seems to have drawn into it each and every writing person in Russia. The subject matter is the Russian TU-154 plane that crashed over the Black Sea at dawn, on December 25.

Overall 92 people, including the crew, military men, 9 journalists (the TV crews from 1st TV, NTV and Zvezda TV channel), as well as 68 musicians from the Alexandrov ensemble, were killed in the plane crash. They were heading to Syria to congratulate on the New Year the Russian air force pilots, serving at the Hmeymim airbase, in Latakia, Syria.

Not all the victims’ bodies have been found yet. Two key versions of the plane crash causes have been named so far: technical malfunction of a rather worn-out plane or the pilots’ error.

The question raised on social media is as follows: there were journalists from the pro-governmental TV channels and the musicians from the well-known Alexandrov State Ensemble on board, and by working there they allegebly supported Putin’s regime and his actions. So, how to react to their death?

Some quite openly rejoiced over the death of journalists in the plane crash, while others wished death to those who rejoiced.

“Narrow is the circle of those who write in Russia, and they got terribly scared over Crimea and Syria. And it seemed there was no other subject matter for controversy, but then a new pretext has been found: a grief and its absence”  reads the Snob magazine.

We are publishing the most distinct reactions to the reports on crash of Tu-154, collected by the Snob magazine.

Arkadiy Babchenko, a journalist:

“[They were flying] to dance and sing before the pilots in Syria for boosting their morale, so that they could better carry out their bombardment…9 employees of the mass propaganda agency … who churned out stories about fascism, junta, crucifixion of children; who were recruiting thousands of people for the war, both in Ukraine and that same Syria; who justified my friends’ incarceration; who lied that my friend was not subjected to tortures in Segezha penitentiary facility; who called for reprisals against me and my companions; who poured tons of shit on those who are close to me, putting  their lives at risk on the number of occasions; who unleashed anti-migrant, anti-Georgian, anti-Ukrainian, anti-liberal, pedophilia and other campaigns that resulted in killing different-minded people of different nationalities, this time in the peaceful Russian cities, hundreds, if not thousands of them. They were in the first ranks, building a new Orwellian land, dictatorship and GULAG. I have neither sympathy nor compassion.”

 Bozhena Rynska, a journalist:

“I nearly died in 2013. I almost physically died because of the NTV’s hate campaign against me. This TV channel disseminated lies and slander about me, purposefully driving me to a suicide. NTV employees committed a direct act of fraud, when they brought another camera for the expert examination, rather than that on which they recorded me. And the court turned an appeal for conducting expert examination, thus violating my rights. And that was because someone from the President’s Administration called and petitioned for the NTV staff. So, I view each employee of NTV channel as a member of a criminal group purposefully engaged in persecution of the dissidents. And I’m happy when the criminals who were not brought to justice in court, are dealt with in heaven. A wooden stake in each grave of a propacondom (propaganda-condom). Amen.” 

Arina Kholina, a publicist: 

“I try to avoid criticizing my colleagues. Well, of course, I don’t always manage to do things right, but I try to keep up. Whereas, Bozhena Rynska wrote that she was glad about the death of NTV journalists, who crashed on TU-154 plane. And Bozhena was even slightly discontent with our Lord, who didn’t pack the whole plane with NTVstaff. Dear Colleagues! There are things that can be regarded as a ‘different opinion’, but it’s not an opinion. It’s an unprecedented cruelty, real sociopathy and absolute lack of moral guidelines. I find it shameful to work with such a person. I am very sympathetic to all those who lost their beloved ones in this terrible tragedy. And it doesn’t matter, who is a friend and who is an enemy there, who is on whose side. I feel sorry for the families, friends, colleagues. RIP and let’s try to further live in the world where people will not rejoice over someone else’s tragedy.”

Vitaliy Milonov, State Duma MP:

“Babchenko and The Chicken (Bozhena) should be deprived of the Russian citizenship and exiled from the country, whereas their property should be sold at the auction in favor of Dr. Lisa’s Fund for the children from Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).”

Andrey Loshak, a journalist: 

“Alexandrov’s Ensemble, Dr. Lisa, the Ambassador to Ankara, as well as 217 people, who were flying from Egypt to St. Petersburg one year ago, would have been alive if our troops hadn’t been sent to the war in Syria, on President Putin’s personal order. It’s hardly possible to estimate how many Syrian children and women were killed by Russian bombs in Aleppo, but nobody actually cares about it here … It’s strange that over the past year no one ever asked Putin for the sake of what high idea did those 25 Russian children died on that same plane, exploded by ISIS, on their from Egypt? Chechen terrorist attacks in Moscow could be at least somehow justified by the war for Russia’s ‘territorial integrity’. A ‘hybrid’ war in Ukraine’s east is justified by close neighborhood and ‘Russian world’ (though it would hardly console the relatives of Malaysian Boeing passengers, hit by the Russian missile]. However, nobody in the country can figure out, why our army got involved in that Middle East ‘meat grinder’. Just ask any random person in the street, no one will answer it, believe me, I’ve tried. Nobody believes those fairytales about a war with ISIS…People would rather believe in a tactic war with the USA. ‘We’ve proved to those Yankees that we also know a thing or two!’ that’s how one man explained it all to me in Michurinsk. On the side note, he didn’t seem to be much indignant. Hundreds of Russians have been killed due to the war that the country is levying, damned if I know where and what for…After so much shown and told about Afghanistan, how could one be so brain-washed as to get into the same story again”.

Zoya Svetova, a journalist, human rights activist:

“For those who don’t quite understand: I believe that Putinism has penetrated deep into all our pores. Putinism is moral degrading, decay. It’s normal to condole over the innocent people who died in the sky, no matter who they were. There’s no other way…No matter why they took that flight, they were flying armless. Babchenko referred to them as the accomplices to the Russian military. In my opinion, that’s beyond good and evil. I don’t understand how one can’t feel sympathy for those killed in the sky; those vulnerable people, taken away by the evil fate on the Christmas Day. And Bozhena Rynska writing about the death of NTV journalists in such a cruel manner just because the TV channel journalists once used to carry out a hate campaign against her, with all my due respect, I think it’s all just childish!

Viktor Shenderovich, a writer: 

“Let me request all those, who are rejoiced on the occasion of the crash of the Defence Ministry’s plane or are willing to philosophize in a parable tone about the victims’ responsibility for Putin’s crimes, God’s will and other stuff, please, block yourself.”

Yevgeniy Levkovich, a journalist:

“I didn’t want to write anything, but having seen a ‘stratospheric’ amount of malevolence, and sometimes even an undisguised rejoice in my feed, I would like to express my deep condolences, beg pardon for my pathos, to the victims’ next of kin and friends. The consequences of our moral catastrophe are no less horrible than your avia ones.”

Alexander Tverskoy, a journalist: 

“The citizens of the country where the monuments to Stalin are erected and the memorial stones to the GULAG (Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps) officials are set, have no right to talk about humaneness. The citizens of the country where people are jailed for the posts, likes and street posters, have no right to reproach others for showing an inhumane attitude towards someone. The citizens of the country that is bombing the Syrian cities, referring to it as a ‘training, have no right to call for compassion.”

Sergey Ponomorev, a photographer:

‘Our community is sick. And it’s unclear, what the remedy is. How could one rejoice over fellow citizen’s death, no matter whether he died of ‘Boyarishnik’, was stabbed in his back or was killed in the plane crash?’