The capital is to receive a replica of a demolished Georgian monument.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin intends to restore a monument to the victims of the Second World War that was recently demolished in Georgia - but this time, in Moscow. He made the announcement at yesterday's meeting of the government presidium. In Putin's opinion, there are enough people in and outside Russia to support the project financially. And the prime minister is most likely correct: immediately after his announcement, the Union of Georgians came forward with an offer to finance the restoration of the monument.
The memorial complex for the victims of the Great Patriotic War was blown up in Kutaisi last Saturday. The authorities said the monument had to be demolished to give way to a new parliament building, but a fragment of the 25-m high memorial killed a woman and her little daughter several hundred metres away. The eight-year-old girl died on the spot and the mother died in hospital. Moscow described the destruction of the Glory Memorial in Kutaisi as an act of state-sponsored vandalism.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin commented on the event yesterday. He described the destruction of the monument as "another attempt to erase common memories of the peoples of the former USSR, including memories of a heroic past." "In the opinion of our specialists, the memorial had artistic value," the prime minister lamented. "I believe it is possible to restore the monument in the capital of the once united state, Moscow," he said. He said that the creator of the Glory Memorial lived in Tbilisi and that Russian specialists could help him in the reconstruction. Putin has no doubt that the "Moscow authorities will find a worthy place for the monument."
The prime minister is sure that financing the project will be no problem: "I expect the initiative to get the support of the Russian and Georgian public. I am sure there are enough people who will contribute their money to put up a monument in Moscow to the Georgians who died during the Great Patriotic War defending our common Motherland." "I am sure members of the Georgian diaspora will take a very active part in this," he added.
The Georgian diaspora responded quickly. Shortly after the prime minister's speech the Union of Georgians, an NGO, promised to finance the building of the memorial to the victims of the Great Patriotic War in Russia. The members of the diaspora are already negotiating with the creator of the original monument, Merab Berzenishvili, on the erection of a similar monument in Moscow. The Georgian community has also decided to build a monument in Georgia to Meliton Kantaria, the soldier who planted the Victory Banner over the Reichstag.
The Georgian sculptor said restoring the monument in the Russian capital was possible. In his opinion, the Georgian authorities had committed "an unheard of evil." He said that when the monument was unveiled, doves were released into the sky, but two birds alighted on the monument. "I don't know what sort of an omen that was, but when the monument was blown up a mother and her eight-year-old daughter died," said Merab Berzenishvili.
The president of the Petersburg Politics Fund, Mikhail Vinogradov, believes the prime minister's reaction to the events in Kutaisi is justified: "It is an attempt to make a magnanimous gesture in response to Georgian barbarism. In other words, to show respect and not to reciprocate that barbarism. It makes a lot more sense than the anti-Georgian hysteria that in the past has led to the closure of Georgian restaurants and discrimination against Georgian children in Russian schools." According to the political scientist, it is important that nobody interprets the prime minister's initiative as an attempt to saddle the Georgian diaspora with the task of funding the project in revenge for the destruction of the memorial: "If that is avoided, the idea makes sense."
Meanwhile the opposition in Georgia continues to decry the demolition of the monument. Such behaviour is not welcomed by the Deputy Director of the CIS Countries Institute, Vladimir Zharikhin, who said to NG: "I share the opposition's indignation, but I would like to remind you that it consists of the prime minister, the speaker of the Georgian parliament and the Georgian ministers, including the culture minister, who presided over the looting of the monument. For some reason they were not indignant then. But there is more to it. Perhaps all that happened will provide a pretext, on the eve of the 65th anniversary of victory, to make a check of all our monuments to see what condition they are in. I think the prime minister's decision is sound. When Georgia has a different government, the monument may be restored to its old site as a gift to the Georgian people."
First deputy head of United Russia faction in the State Duma, Valery Ryazansky, welcomed the initiative of Vladimir Putin, who is leader of the UR. "I think that proposal is sure to get the support of the more politically aware part of the Georgian diaspora," Ryazansky told NG. He stressed that the explosion in Kutaisi was an act of vandalism directed above all against the Georgian people. "But I am sure that no explosions can destroy the relations between the Russian and Georgian peoples."
Sergey Obukhov, Secretary of the KPRF Central Committee and Deputy of the State Duma said he was against the proposal. "I would advise Mr. Putin to see to it that monuments are not destroyed inside Russia," he said. This has been happening with growing frequency. "It is far easier to restore the monuments blown up by others than to protect one's own monuments from being destroyed." Obukhov recalled that there are some monuments waiting to be restored in Russia, for example, a monument to Dzerzhinsky on Lubyanka Square in Moscow.
LDPR deputy Sergey Ivanov said that he was against the destruction of any monuments. "Fighting the dead is a silly thing," he said. In his opinion, "the Georgian diaspora has enough resources to restore the Glory Memorial in Moscow."
By Elina Bilevskaya, Anton Denisov, Ivan Rodin