NB: Это английский перевод русскоязычной беседы, которая доступна здесь.
As of the summer of 2024, Sergiy Moiseev is one of the most well-known and influential people of Kharkiv origins who participate in the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the side of Putin's forces. The Security Service of Ukraine assesses his prospects of getting governmental positions in Kharkiv in the event of Ukraine's military defeat as high, continuously opening fresh criminal cases against Moiseev. According to Ruslan Mospanyuk, a senior investigator of the SSU in the Kharkiv region, whose assessment is publicly available on the "Myrotvorets" website, Moiseev engages in justifying the armed aggression of the Russian Federation, denying the occupation of part of Ukraine's territory, and glorifying individuals involved in the aggression. This interview, in turn, is not a glorification of Moiseev, but an attempt to understand the plans of the enemy of Ukrainian nationalism and statehood, who pledged to raise the Russian flag in the city of Kharkiv by force. This interview is the first attempt at conversation to the soundtrack of exploding bombs since journalist Dmytro Gordon's conversation with international terrorist Igor Girkin.
AV: Greetings, Sergiy.
SM: Greetings!
AV: In your book "Crossing the Abyss," you talk about how, at that time an unchurched publisher of the Kharkiv tabloid "Secrets of the Century," you were brought to the Orthodox faith by two people - seer Mikhail Spassky and Bishop of Kharkiv and Bohodukhiv, Nikodim Rusnak. Only these acquaintances were enough to change your worldview? No signs, omens, or miracles were needed? Did your belief in the righteousness of Nikodim's anathema of UOC KP Patriarch Filaret Denisenko exist before this change, or did it arise simultaneously with getting to know these people?
SM: My turn to the Orthodox faith was not instantaneous. Indeed, in the early 2000s, I began publishing my own newspaper, "Secrets of the Century." Initially, I was driven by the desire to grow my business. It was the spirit of the times; the post-Soviet collective mind was obsessed with the idea of enrichment, and the slogan - enrich yourselves! - had been thrown into society. I was no exception and became one of the million particles caught up in this senseless stream. While working on the content of the newspaper, disseminating information, and multiplying it through circulation, I initially didn't think much about the meaning of what I was touching and how. My main goal was circulation growth - publications needed to amaze the reader. As it is now fashionable to say - "blow their minds." But as I searched for material and dug through volumes of literature (I didn't use the Internet then), I began to come across information stronger than me! I became acquainted with the experiences of Orthodox zealots - the lives of the saints. This was the main factor in my conversion to Orthodox Christianity. For me, it happened as the apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans: "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom. 10:17). I began to understand what God requires of a person. Here I began to experience true amazement, changing my worldview foundation. My internal attitudes began to reflect in the pages of the publication. Esotericism and corresponding advertisements began to disappear from the newspaper.
In my book, I write about how a colorful old man, Mikhail Spassky, sold the newspaper "Sadyba" (Homestead) next to me at the night wholesale market. His portrait doesn't need much description; he was a copy of Grigory Rasputin, and not just in appearance. He was a true Rusyn from Subcarpathia. The accumulated life experience weighed on him, and he began to help me with practical advice. I often disagreed with him, but I repeatedly had to acknowledge his ability to understand people and even his gift of foresight. Mikhail Spassky believed in me, perhaps more than I did. He often told me: "Believe in your destiny!" Now he has passed away and resides in a better world, but back then he joined our organization "Triune Rus," and became everyone's favorite and the life and soul of the party. We half-jokingly called him Grigory.
Once, I decided to write an article in my newspaper about the dangers of "Dianetics," the sectarian teachings of Ron Hubbard. Mikhail Spassky advised me not to take the counterattack of the Hubbard followers on myself, but to conduct a "lightning rod" operation. To seek comments from the Diocese of the UOC MP, which at that time in Kharkiv was headed by Bishop Nikodim Rusnak. By that time, the bishop was already elderly and was considered a living legend. Even before meeting the bishop, I knew that in May 1992, at the Kharkiv Council of the UOC MP, he showed admirable courage and, despite the pressure from the then-President of Ukraine Kravchuk, anathematized the schismatic Filaret Denisenko and managed to preserve canonical unity with the Russian Orthodox Church.
And so, in the summer of 2001, the bishop personally received me in his office. I was not churched, and the newspaper I published was far from Orthodox canons in its content. Entering the room, I felt as if I had entered an X-ray room. We talked, he looked at me inquisitively but somehow kindly, asked questions, and I answered as if in confession. Placing his hand on my shoulder, he said: "We are doing the same work, only I am within the church's fence, and you are outside it. Go, write, and do not be afraid." Now I understand that the bishop was perceptive and gave me this blessing in advance.
There are key points in every person's life: and in my life, there were many - God intervened in my life and redirected my thoughts and actions with severe pushes. Once, on September 21, 2001 (the day of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary), I got caught in a mass brawl in the student town on Otakar Yarosh Street. Our group was outnumbered; there were four of us and about twenty against us. I was beaten to a frazzle. In the morning, waking up or rather coming to, I mentally asked God one bewildered question: "I don't understand?" Barely opening one eye, I took the Gospel from my bedside, opened it to the first page I came across, and read: "Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha... 'Lord,' the one you love is sick.' When Jesus heard this, he said, 'This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.'" (John 11:1-3). These lines deeply struck me at the time. I was shaken by the realization of my unworthiness before God and the fact that I could have been beaten to death by the crowd the day before, yet I survived for some reason. I realized that I could no longer serve two masters: God and Mammon (profit), the hour of my final choice had struck.
In 2002, a significant event occurred that fundamentally changed my life. It was related to my visit to the caves of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. During that visit, the idea of Triune Rus came to me in detail, with Kharkiv as the center of this revival. To put it mildly, it was unexpected. At that time, I thought that something was mixed up in the Heavenly Chancellery and the message was sent to the wrong address. I wrote a detailed letter to Putin and personally took it to Moscow. It’s impossible to convey this scheme in a few words. I will only say that I returned to Kharkiv with a grayed temple (I was 30 years old then) and with the heavy thought that the message I received in Kyiv was addressed not to Putin but to me. I received a form reply thanking me for my civic consciousness from the Presidential Executive Office of Russia. Now I understand that it would be difficult for the Presidential Administration staff to comprehend what I had written in that letter even now, let alone in 2002. I detailed this story, which resembles a thrilling action movie, in my story "The Wisdom Tooth."
AV: In your opinion, how does the process of religious self-determination occur in people? Does the presence of certain temples in a specific territory play a decisive role, or are there subconscious driving forces that prompt one person to adopt Orthodoxy and another to choose Catholicism, Buddhism, or Judaism? How strong is the connection between religions and government officials? Which statement is more accurate: the state is needed to protect faith, or faith is needed to justify the state?
SM: In the Middle Ages, the question of a person’s religious identity did not arise at all. A person lived in a societal monolith. There was only one reality, one established religious practice without alternatives. Traveler Paul of Aleppo left his recollections about the religious life in 17th-century Russia. He noted that it was difficult to violate the common religious prescription. All people in Rus' lived in a shared spiritual reality at the time. During fasts, it was impossible to buy meat and wine; all shops in Russia closed during fast periods. Skipping a church service without a valid reason was also unacceptable. The people were a single spiritual organism, and Paul of Aleppo noted that all of Russia lived according to a such common rule, which was only observed in the strictest monasteries in his homeland of Syria. He saw this as the key to Russia's power and invincibility.
Now, the time is different—the era of postmodernity. Today, everyone can believe they are the measure of all things and can arrange this world as they see fit. As Solzhenitsyn noted in "The Gulag Archipelago", "The universe has as many centers as there are living beings in it." This speaks about the prevalence of subjective idealism in the modern world. This was especially evident in the 1990s after the collapse of the USSR when an ideological vacuum was filled with all sorts of teachings. Today, a person’s religious self-determination cannot be reduced to any one factor. It is influenced by the presence of temples in certain territories, state policy, and of course subconscious forces and archetypes of the collective mind.
My path to Orthodox Christianity was not straightforward. Initially, during my spiritual search, I interacted with both Krishnaites and Greek Catholics. The Greek Catholics were intellectuals who had diverted the Kharkiv community of Father Alexander Men to themselves; they knew how to make their message appealing. Father Onuphrius Ratytsky, sent to Kharkiv from Western Ukraine, saw some potential in me and even promised to arrange a meeting with the Pope.
But when the presidential elections began in Ukraine in 2004, it became clear to me that this was not just an election—it was a clash of tectonic civilizational plates. I went then to the Greek Catholics and asked, "Is language a spiritual sphere? Is it God’s or Caesar’s?" They answered, "God’s!" Then I said, "Bless me to go defend the Russian language, culture, and Russian Orthodoxy!" They had no choice but to bless me.
Soon (October 2004), as a representative of the Russian communities, I met with presidential candidate Yushchenko and asked him the same question, which he was not prepared for. I additionally remarked, "When Caesar begins to regulate the spiritual sphere, he enters into a battle with God!" I also wrote about this meeting in my book "Crossing the Abyss": "Silence hung in the hall. Poroshenko was the first to recover; he was a simple man not interested in such high matters. He roughly nudged the pensive Yushchenko, threw a coat over him, and practically dragged the "Ukrainian messiah" out of the room with the words: "Enough discussions, thousands are waiting for us on the Maidan!" While parting, Yushchenko shook my hand with a resigned look. It was the hand of a weak-willed person, it felt loose and lifeless."
It is important to understand that Orthodox Christianity is the foundation of the Russian cultural code. Before Prince Vladimir baptized Rus', the state was a union of Slavic tribes, and he couldn’t gather everyone under a common denominator by placing different idols on one hill. Each tribe had its own traditions and gods. Only the Baptism into the Orthodox faith gave the Slavic tribes a common cultural code. Different tribes entered the baptismal font in 988, but a single Russian people emerged! It is important that Prince Vladimir, having convinced himself of the truth of Orthodoxy, did not engage in disputes but simply said: "He who does not enter the Dnieper tomorrow is my enemy!" He first baptized Rus', and then enlightenment followed. If Prince Vladimir had initiated a discussion, it would probably still be ongoing.
Later, when Rus' fragmented into various principalities, the common faith, the pantheon of common saints, and the shared historical memory repeatedly united the Russian lands. This was especially evident in the 15th-16th centuries during the reign of the first and greatest Russian sovereign, Ivan III. In the first half of the 15th century, Orthodox Lithuania occupied a vast territory from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea. It rapidly gathered Russian lands. The border between Moscow Rus' and Lithuanian Rus' lay near Kaluga, and Kaluga was founded by the Lithuanian prince Vytautas. Novgorod, Pskov, Tver, and Ryazan principalities gravitated toward Lithuania. After all, in the 14th century, Lithuania freed nine southwestern Russian principalities from Tatar rule. But Lithuania made a fatal mistake by forming a union with Poland, abandoning Orthodoxy, and proclaiming Catholicism the state religion. From this moment, the irreversible decline of Vilnius and the rise of Moscow began.
Prince Ivan III started a war with mighty Lithuania, defending oppressed Orthodox princes. He won two wars, and the Second Russo-Lithuanian War (1500-1503) was especially significant for Russia, resulting in the transfer of a vast territory from Kaluga to Chernihiv under Moscow Rus' control. Therefore, April 2, 1503, is an obscure but very important date in Russian history. However, due to Lenin’s policy in 1922, the Kharkiv region was given to the newly created Soviet Ukraine.
Today, we are essentially experiencing a reincarnation of the Russo-Lithuanian wars, and in some places, Russia has moved back to the borders of the 16th century. Orthodox faith is a state-forming factor in our case. But Russia, under the current conditions imposed by globalists advocating multiculturalism, must support the foundation of its historical existence—Orthodoxy.
AV: In my recent analysis of the life path of the famous Ukrainian writer and provocateur Dmytro Korchynsky, I noticed his statements about Hegelianism. To my surprise, you do the same in one of your public speeches before an academic audience. This circumstance kinda makes both of you proto-Marxists, since in Soviet academic practice knowledge of Hegel was considered mandatory for a proper understanding of Marx. So why your and Dmytro’s paths haven’t crossed? In your opinion, how sincere was Korchynsky's "pro-Russian" period, between supporting Yanukovych in 2004 and supporting the second "Maidan" in 2014?
SM: My path crossed with Korchynsky's once, on October 14, 2005, when he was trying to explore the pro-Russian vector. On the Feast of the Intercession of the Theotokos in Kyiv, a procession was organized by Nataliya Vitrenko's Bloc in defense of canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine.
As a co-chairman of the Kharkiv branch of the "Union of Orthodox Citizens of Ukraine" at that time, I organized the arrival of people from Kharkiv in four buses. Korchynsky and his supporters also participated in this procession. They marched under the banners with the image of Christ "The Fiery Eye", which is also the banner of our organization "Triune Rus" and now the unofficial banner of the Russian army in the conflict zone. However, Korchynsky apparently did not receive the benefits from Russia he had hoped for and soon switched to anti-Russian rhetoric, which is generously funded.
Regarding Hegel, Marx and Lenin pirated from Hegel what they needed, extracting one principle of dialectical development and adapting it to justify materialism. It's like taking one part from a Mercedes and putting it on another car and also calling that car a Mercedes. Marxists removed the main essence of Hegel's philosophy—objective idealism. The idea of the Absolute, the idea of the World Spirit unfolding in the world over time, the notions that are branches of the tree of the World Spirit. "Philosophy of Right," "Phenomenology of Spirit." The idea of the hierarchy of the world, the historical idea of development from minimal individual freedom in society to maximal. We see that today's zeitgeist gives a person such a degree of freedom, even negative freedom, that was impossible until recently.
Marxists were not afraid to exploit Hegel also because he is very difficult to understand. The average reader is not able to read and, moreover, understand his works. He is the most difficult philosopher. I remember trying to read his work "Philosophy of Right" in the early 90s but understanding nothing. Only after a year of studying under the best Kharkiv philosophy methodologists, Pedan and Taglin, could I unlock Hegel. I remember traveling by electric train from Kharkiv to Balakliia to a printing house (at that time I was the editor of the "First Capital" newspaper), reading Hegel, and being amazed by "Philosophy of Right." I remember the intense emotion I felt as the understanding of the essence of the mysteries of the universe and the principles on which the world rests poured into me.
I don't know what Korchynsky could have taken from Hegel. In my understanding, the true Hegelian, who defended a dissertation on Hegel's philosophy, was the Russian thinker Ivan Ilyin.
AV: Another surprising point for me is the repost in your Telegram channel of a certain Tatyana Marugova, who, as far as I could understand, is an Orthodox activist close to the ROC. In her own Telegram channel, she speaks very negatively about the philosopher Alexander Dugin, calling his ideology "a diversion by the ruling elites against our Patriarch, against the Russian people," adding that "in essence, a new religion is being created—not Christian, but Dugin's religion, where paganism becomes pre-Christianity." Are there really such serious ideological differences between Patriarch Kirill and Dugin? And if so, why does the ROC not take any action to expose the non-Christian essence of Dugin in more influential media? There are photos of you with the Patriarch on the internet—was this a fleeting acquaintance or do you maintain personal contacts?
SM: I am acquainted with Tatyana Marugova and have reposted some of the materials she publishes on the "Triune Rus" Telegram channel. However, I do not share her attitude towards Dugin. We even discussed this issue once.
At one time, the Pharisee Saul, who participated in the killing of Christians, became Paul, and the Apostle Peter once denied Christ three times but later deeply repented. The repentant highwayman was the first to enter Paradise. What Dugin began with differs significantly from what he preaches now. I believe that a person should be viewed in the vector of their development. After all, the greatest miracle on earth is the transformation of the human soul. All other miracles serve this main miracle. It seems to me that even the tragic death (as a result of a terrorist attack organized by the Ukrainian regime) of his daughter Daria Dugina enlightened Alexander Dugin and brought him closer to God. This tragedy finally separated the past Dugin with his misconceptions from the present Dugin.
I was acquainted with his daughter Daria Dugina. She told me when we met that she was familiar with me through my articles and found them useful and correct. Moreover, she considered our concept of "Triune Rus" and "Moscow—the Third Rome" more accurate and relevant for Russia than her father's concept of Eurasianism. The last time we saw each other was the day before her death.
The idea of Eurasianism indeed poses a danger to Russia, no less than Eurocentrism. Russia should not lean against any neighboring wall, whether European or Chinese. Russia is a separate cultural phenomenon, a living spiritual-mystical organism with a thousand-year history. I first read this thought in the early 90s in Oswald Spengler's famous book "The Decline of the West." Later, I found many confirmations in other sources and the prophecies of the holy fathers. Russia has a great future if this future is built on the genuine historical foundation of the Orthodox Triune Rus.
Regarding my photo with the Patriarch, let me explain—we met at the Christmas Readings in the Kremlin in January 2008, when he was still the Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad. Since the 90s I had been paying attention to the program "Word of the Pastor" that he hosted on Channel One. As a journalist, a person working with words, it became clear to me that this was a man of special gifts. To wield words so well, to have such a gift of reasoning from the mind, is impossible—it's something above the mind—it's the realm of the Spirit! It was obvious to me that Metropolitan Kirill was the future Patriarch.
It was important for me to tell him about the sacred place in the Kharkiv region that holds a special place in the spiritual geography of the Russian World. It is Spasiv Skit, near Birky village. It is a place where in 1888 a miraculous salvation of the family of Emperor Alexander III occurred. In memory of the miracle, a magnificent temple of Christ the Savior was built on this site—a symbol of the power of the Russian Empire during the reign of Alexander III. This temple was the second in Russia in size, significance, and splendor.
After the October coup of 1917, this temple was desecrated and destroyed by the Bolsheviks. In Spasiv Skit, a sailor with the telling surname Dybenko brutally murdered more than a hundred monks and several priests. This is a holy place, watered with the blood of the New Martyrs. I saw that if we restored this church, it would have enormous significance for the future well-being of Russia. This church is an important spiritual and ideological tool for the gathering of Russian lands. It would be the Third Saviour, the Third Temple of the Russian World! The first Saviour is the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, the second Saviour is the Church on Blood in Yekaterinburg, and the Third Temple, the Third Saviour, would symbolize the unification of Russian lands—the future victory in today's civilizational war, a war with a spiritual dimension!
After the liberation of the Kharkiv region, the restored grand temple in Spasiv Skit would become a visible sacred symbol of Novorossiya from Kharkiv to Odesa.
Subsequently, letters with our proposals were repeatedly blessed by the Patriarch. We, "Triune Rus," with the Patriarch's blessing, held several significant events in Kharkiv and Moscow. When Patriarch Kirill visited Kharkiv in May 2011, I organized a chain of Cossacks for protection.
In 2013, with the support of Russian President Vladimir Putin, we managed to erect a monument to Emperor Alexander III on the site of the temple.
This is a separate big story about how I managed to meet with Putin twice, secure his support, how we managed to transport the monument from Russia through Ukrainian customs, how we broke the resistance of the Kharkiv city and regional authorities personified by Kernes and Dobkin, and how we managed to unveil the monument to the Emperor on October 30, 2013, on the day of the 125th anniversary of the miraculous salvation of Emperor Alexander III's family. After all this was done, I felt somewhat like Suvorov after the storming of Izmail. He then noted: "One can only decide to storm Izmail once in a lifetime!"
From 2004 to 2014, we gradually increased the power of our projects in Kharkiv. This was the most ambitious one, it took the Ukrainian Nazis by surprise. Before that the Ukrainian media tried to stay silent about us, this event caused a stormy reaction in the Ukrainian media. But most importantly, it consolidated about thirty public organizations, gave Kharkiv residents the will to resist, and became the prologue to the Russian Spring!
AV: Let's end the theoretical part here and move on to the practical part, which our readers are probably more interested in. I, like you, witnessed the events of the first half of 2014 firsthand. Leading the ultra-left wing of the Kharkiv Maidan, a union of pro-Western communists and anarchists, I maintained contacts with the left wing of the Anti-Maidan for a long time. When, in one of the winter months, I don't remember exactly whether it was January or February, they offered me and my people to support the "KhPR," they associated this with the support of Kernes and Dobkin, who were supposed to create some form of resistance to the new Kyiv authorities. Shortly before that, Kernes visited the city of Grozny, where he met with Ramzan Kadyrov. According to some Ukrainian military sources, he did receive money for such activities there, and the fatal bullet that put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life was a highlander vendetta for failing to fulfill obligations. I did not accept the offer to support the "KhPR," considering such plans as unjustified emotions on the part of the Anti-Maidanists. However, by the time of the storming of the Kharkiv Regional Administration on March 1, 2014, which you call the "start of the Russian spring," the Anti-Maidan's attitude towards Kernes had sharply worsened. What did you hope to achieve with this storming, given the lack of support from the city authorities? And how do you explain the statement by your comrade Sergiy Yudaev, which was mentioned in the film "The Backstory of the War. The Birth of the 'People's Republics'" by popular Russian video blogger Alexander Shtefanov (foreign agent) that the proclamation of the "KhPR" by your comrade, a member of the socialist movement "Essence of Time" Anton Guryanov, was premature and not coordinated with the Orthodox wing of the Anti-Maidan?
SM: I never counted on the support of Kernes and Dobkin. I knew their worth. An umbilical cord firmly connected them with Kyiv, and they prayed to "Independent Ukraine," where they received all the benefits of life. In Kharkiv, they even erected a monument to their goddess Nike-Ukraine. Besides the well-known hit, where these characters work on creating a campaign video, there was also an audio conversation between the Ukrainian billionaire Kolomoisky and Kernes. Kolomoisky was scolding Kernes for something in the rudest, most offensive, obscene terms, and Kernes slavishly listened and agreed with everything Kolomoisky said, begging for forgiveness.
Regarding these figures, Dobkin and Kernes, only one phrase from the Bible comes to mind: "Behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it." (2 Kings 18:21).
Overall, I considered the "Party of Regions" to be something between an organized crime group and a business corporation, held together solely by profit and merely called a party. But profit is a poor adhesive, and ideologically driven groups are always stronger than those who scatter as soon as the common benefit disappears. In my view, this structure was not friendly; at best, it was a temporary fellow traveler seeking to cover itself with our ideological fervor and push us into the abyss at a convenient moment.
I outlined my view on the events of 2014 in my first book and added more in my new book "The Keys to Russian Kharkiv." I'll reproduce some details: back in December 2013, we created the "Anti-Fascist Forum," or as we later called it, the "Civic Forum of Kharkiv," which included our organization "Triune Rus," as well as "Great Rus," led by Yuri Apukhtin, "Essence of Time" (led by Anton Guryanov), "Union of Citizens of Ukraine" (Oleksiy Lukyanov), and "Ukrainian Choice." Oleksiy Samoilov, Vice-Rector of the International Slavic University, also participated in our meetings. We built our strategy without regard for the "Party of Regions." In January 2014, we held a general meeting with 33 organizations participating. At that meeting, I suggested adopting the ribbon of the Order of Saint George the Victorious—the Saint George's ribbon—as the symbol of our movement.
When discussing whether to create our own militia or join the already established "Oplot" structure, I categorically opposed the latter because it was closely affiliated with the city's mayor, Kernes. I convinced my comrades to march as a separate column, and as it turned out later, I was right. Those who grew rich and fat under the Ukrainian flag while positioning for some friendship with Russia—the collective Yanukovych and Medvedchuk—aroused strong antipathy in me and many of my comrades. We placed all our hopes solely on Russia! Many public figures in Kharkiv, separated from Mother Russia, were more Russian than many Russians in Russia itself. We dreamed of historical justice—the return of the primordially Russian city of Kharkiv to Russia! Already then, concepts like "Russian Arc," "New Rus," and "Novorossiya" appeared in our lexicon. As early as December 2013, I wrote a policy essay, "Ukraine under the Sword of Archistratigus," justifying the division of Ukraine.
On February 20, 2014, at the Coordinating Council of Public Organizations of Kharkiv, we decided to create a self-defense headquarters and on February 23, to bring as many people as possible to the streets. Understanding that we had no place in a state with Banderites, we set the task of forming a community of southern Russian lands and establishing connections with other Eastern regions of then-Ukraine.
I wrote an appeal to Putin, which I read out to the assembled people. The appeal included a request for the deployment of Russian peacekeepers: "...A thousand years ago, Grand Prince Vladimir had the honor of being the baptizer of the Russian lands. The gathering of Russian lands falls on your shoulders. This might be the most important task of your life. The blood of millions of defenders of the once-united Fatherland cries out. If events follow the South Ossetian scenario and they try to subdue us by force, we ask you to protect Russian compatriots." The appeal was approved by the assembly participants, signed by thirty organizations, and sent to the Russian Consulate General in Kharkiv. At that moment, Yanukovych was still in power, but it was already obvious to us that he was a political corpse.
Many of Kharkiv’s public figures who signed this letter subsequently went through SSU dungeons and torture. As we expected, Yanukovych, possessing full legal power, chickened out and fled Kharkiv on February 22, 2014. Then, ordinary Kharkiv residents took over full power themselves.
As early as February 2014, our public figures from "Triune Rus" decided to make a hundred Russian flags and a large banner with theses on unity with Russia and the importance of the native Russian language for Kharkiv residents. This issue was resolved at my home, in my kitchen.
On February 22, a congress of deputies of all levels from the southeastern regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea was held in Kharkiv, initiated by the all-Ukrainian public union "Ukrainian Front." After promising to appear on stage before the Palace, the congress organizers Dobkin and Kernes unexpectedly disappeared from the event, leaving thousands of people puzzled. Some said that everything was under control and that our leaders had gone for consultation with the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, but the more popular version was that the friends flew to the Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, who actively supported Euromaidan, for guarantees of their safety. Yanukovych was also in the city but did not appear at the congress. Then-Governor Mykhailo Dobkin later wrote in a publication: "I do not want to live in the KhPR," admitting that on February 21, Yevgen Chervonenko (vice-president of the Jewish Community of Ukraine) came to him and asked him to influence Yanukovych so that he would abstain from appearing at the congress, "otherwise he will set up all the Jews." On the evening of February 22, the Ukrainian Nazis tried to demolish the Lenin monument but were repelled by Kharkiv residents. The Banderites were pressed by Kharkiv residents to the building of the Regional Council. Dobkin’s deputy Vasyl Khoma, a Greek Catholic from Western Ukraine, kindly sheltered the Ukrainian Nazis who came to our city in the Regional Council.
The vitality of people is determined by their ability to self-organize from below. It was not the capture of Kyiv by the putschists but the self-organization and will of the oppressed southern Russian people, the will of Kharkiv residents, manifested in decisive actions, that began the global restructuring of the world. In the spring of 2014, Russian politicians were behind the times, entangled in meanings. Conditional victories in sports games were more important than real civilizational struggle. Then God intervened in Russian history through ordinary people, bypassing high-ranking politicians.
On the morning of February 23, 2014, Defender of the Fatherland Day, Kharkiv public figures had already planned a gathering at the "Mirror Stream" and a march to the square. The governor and mayor were not in the city, the "Party of Regions" was paralyzed, and ordinary citizens came out to defend the Fatherland, setting up a camp near the Lenin monument.
On February 28, Yevgen Zhilin ("Oplot" leader) and I found ourselves in Moscow at a conference of the Institute of CIS Countries. There, a staff member of the Institute, Kirill Frolov, said to us: "You are Minin and Pozharsky of Kharkiv! Return to Kharkiv. Raise the Russian flag! The tanks near Belgorod are ready. The mission is possible!" At that time, the "Oplot" office in Kharkiv had already been seized and smashed by Banderites. Zhilin refused to return to Kharkiv and was killed by a hitman in peaceful Moscow in September 2016.
Spiritually strengthened in the Donskoy Monastery before the hallows of Patriarch Tikhon and at the grave of the Russian thinker Ivan Ilyin, I set off for Kharkiv, already engulfed in civil war. There in the monastery, the Orthodox gonfalonier Maxim Markov (at that time an assistant to Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin in the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate) handed me the Icon of Our Lady of the Don.
I arrived at the rally straight from the train. In the train, SSU officers thoroughly searched me, finding no money, flash drives, or maps—nothing suspicious. After lengthy calls and consultations, they let me go. They saw no threat to the existence of the quasi-state of Ukraine in the Don Icon printed on plastic, but they were wrong! I immediately went to Freedom Square, where the rally had already begun. Tens of thousands of Kharkiv residents came out to protest the coup in Ukraine. The people of Kharkiv came to the rally like a holiday, there was a general enthusiasm, and we were then encouraged by the confident rhetoric of Russian politicians. I began anointing Cossacks and militia members with oil from Patriarch Tikhon's hallows. They kissed the Icon.
In the building of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, Ukrainian Nazis from the Kyiv Maidan were in control. They believed they had already seized power in Kharkiv and that this rally was a mere formality, where Kernes (as already agreed with him) would let Kharkiv residents "boil over" and that would be the end of it.
Representatives of the "Triune Rus" organization were distributing Russian flags to Kharkiv residents.
Mayor of Kharkiv Gennadiy Kernes, who gathered the rally, was used to suppressing those around him with his will. He was overconfident, believed in the power of his suggestive abilities, and thought he could manipulate people in any situation. This time, he tried to direct the will of the gathered crowd, strenuously calling out: “Kharkiv is Ukraine!” He spoke about the unity of the country, chanting: “Ukraine was, is, and will be!” He gave the floor to his speakers, who also reiterated the thesis of Ukraine’s unity and unitariness in various ways. The people in the square were bewildered, not recognizing their mayor. Russian flags were increasingly appearing in the crowd and on the stage. Surrounded by tricolors, Kernes felt like a cornered wolf. The mayor began to talk about faith in God, trying to play on the strings of Christian humility, and at that moment, I ascended the stage with the Don Icon of the Mother of God.
The locomotive of Russian civilization was passing an important historical switch that needed to be turned in the right direction. In this case, it was the microphone. Sometimes, years are not fate-defining, but other times, time condenses so much that minutes, seconds, and even every word spoken are decisive. That fateful rally in Kharkiv became the arena of a vivid confrontation between two forces, two vectors of civilizational development. Kernes allowed me to speak, hoping that I, being Orthodox, would call for humility, and even held the microphone for me. My speech was brief but diametrically opposed in meaning to what the mayor had been saying for over an hour. I made the sign of the cross over the crowd in three directions, and the people started shouting: “Bless the Regional Council!” I turned and blessed the Regional Council with the cross, from whose windows the Banderites were closely watching the rally. Subsequently, for this speech and even this gesture, a criminal case would be opened against me. It would be considered a factor that led, as indicated in the case, to “mass riots.”
A word spoken from the depths of feelings becomes an active material force. From the long-awaited words of encouragement for the assault from the podium, the energy of Russian Kharkiv, compressed to the limit and accumulated over decades, burst forth. Kharkiv residents drove out the visiting Banderites from the building. For the first time in modern history, the whole world saw the Ukro-Nazis as pathetic and defeated. It was proof that was needed: Kharkiv is a Russian city!
March 1, 2014, is an important historical date—the first day of the “Russian Spring.” The impulse of that fateful event shook the entire global world architecture and continues to shake it with increasing strength. In fact, on March 1, 2014, with the decisive storming of the Regional State Administration and the raising of Russian flags over the building, a Kharkiv people’s referendum on joining Russia was effectively held! The decision of this referendum is still in effect today!
No one called me to inform me of any agreements with Kernes. If there were any agreements in February 2014, I was not privy to them. I think no one even dared to call me, not only the Russian public figures of Kharkiv but also the city authorities. The SSU knew perfectly well that I had met with Putin twice.
The second meeting in Kyiv, on the Day of the Baptism of Rus, even appeared in footage on Russian central media. When I acted decisively, the SSU officers were timid, and the surrounding supporters whispered—no need for questions, he cannot say aloud to everyone why he is acting this way? He has seen Putin after all!
My goal was the annexation of Kharkiv to Russia. By some miracle I did everything necessary on March 1 and I was confident that after such a bright picture with Russian flags over the Regional Administration, which was broadcast by global channels, Kharkiv was ready for a Crimean scenario.
The first week of the “Russian Spring” in Kharkiv passed in anticipation of Russian tanks; everyone listened for the characteristic rumble. The Banderites, both hidden and overt, sat on their suitcases. Initially, the structure of the “Anti-Fascist Forum” was network-centric so that the SSU could not decapitate the movement by removing an obvious leader. But when the time came to take power, the lack of a rigid structure and an excess of democracy became an obstacle.
The Kharkiv police came under the control of putschists, and repression against the Russian activists began. But even then, the security forces, sharing the feelings of Kharkiv residents, maintained sympathy for the participants of the “Russian Spring” and helped many avoid reprisals. That was also the case with me. My direct participation in the Kharkiv events ended on March 11, 2014, after an interrogation at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Comrades who were waiting for me under the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs decided: “The seeds have already been sown here, you are an ideologue, you are more needed in Moscow now...”. They sent me to Moscow that same day.
In the spring of 2014, Kharkiv residents, repeatedly gathering in huge columns, went to the Russian General Consulate, carried letters, reminded that the city was in the hands of Kharkiv residents and not the Kyiv junta, and it was necessary for at least one Russian tank to cross the border. Then the citizens would lift the tank on their hands, place it on a pedestal in the city center, and the struggle for Kharkiv would end.
On March 14, 2014, in Kharkiv, on Rymarska Street, in a battle with the Ukro-Nazis—future “Azov” members—our militia members Artem Zhudov and Oleksiy Sharov died. Kernes promised the people of Kharkiv that the perpetrators would be punished, but the next day the detained Ukro-Nazis were released from the police. This was an important, one might say, pivotal psychological moment. The Ukro-Nazis felt they could kill everywhere and get away with it. The direct consequence of March 14 in Kharkiv was the events in Odesa on May 2.
Then in March, while there were many active people, it was necessary to act more decisively, to take weapons from military units in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the SSU. The people of Luhansk and Donetsk drew conclusions from the bitter experience of Kharkiv residents and armed themselves. Time has shown that in those conditions, it was the only correct solution. But the Kharkiv residents continued to unequivocally declare by peaceful means that they wanted to return to Russia.
On March 16, the day of the referendum in Crimea, resistance participants carried a 120-meter Russian flag and marched through the city, chanting: “Referendum!”. The seizures of the regional administrations in Kharkiv and Donetsk and the SSU building in Luhansk occurred simultaneously on April 6.
I was not acquainted with Sergiy Yudaev at that time. And I was not in Kharkiv at that moment, so I cannot comment on how much Guryanov’s actions were coordinated with other resistance leaders. But knowing the conditions under which he had to act, I understand that every extra coordination exponentially increased the risk of information being passed to the SSU about the plan to proclaim the Kharkiv People's Republic.
I repeat, having said A, it was necessary to immediately say B and create armed people's militias. Kernes and Dobkin should have been removed from the management of the region immediately. Kharkiv lacked a Strelkov.
When in Moscow, I presented an initiative to enter Chuhuiv, where I was born, accompanied by an armed squad according to Strelkov’s scheme. Chuhuiv is the most Russian city in the Kharkiv region. Muscovite Streltsy and Boyar children were the first permanent population of Chuhuiv in the 17th century. I intended to create a point of crystallization of armed resistance in Chuhuiv in the Kharkiv region; my plan was considered, a team was even assembled, but it was canceled.
There are many reasons why Kharkiv could not escape from the clutches of the Ukrainian junta: disunity among public figures, unpreparedness for armed struggle, the position of the regional and Kharkiv authorities, which is in general a mercantile city, and of course, Russia's unwillingness to directly protect its compatriots.
If Kharkiv residents knew the real state of affairs in Russia, the mood of the elites, and other factors, who knows if we would have dared to take this desperate step? Yes, we were full of illusions then, but our illusions were important and necessary. Our actions were demanded by the course of history itself, which even mature politicians do not always keep up with, and this indicates that in the main, we were not mistaken. The resistance of Kharkiv in 2014 gave Donetsk and Lugansk the opportunity to fend off the onslaught of the Ukrainian junta. It marked the beginning of the gathering of Russian lands.
AV: When you entered the territory of Ukraine together with Russian troops at the beginning of 2022, you said that the people of Ukraine should prepare for the return of the Soviet Union. However, the Soviet Union is inseparable from Lenin’s national policy, which defined the borders and cultural content of the Ukrainian SSR. Among many of your supporters, there is often a denial of the very existence of Ukraine. The borders of the Ukrainian SSR have already been revised by the Russian army and Constitution. And although the Ukrainian liberal homosexual Vitaly Portnikov recently suggested that in the event of a victory, the Russian Federation might unexpectedly turn into an authoritarian multicultural entity like the USSR, considering current trends, the version of an Orthodox Iran seems more realistic to me. Please clarify which Soviet elements you had in mind when making such a statement. How will your proposed change of identity to Novorossiyans and Malorussians affect classical pre-Maidan Ukrainian culture and literature? Will Taras Shevchenko, Ivan Franko, and Lesya Ukrainka be banned? What freedoms will non-Orthodox religious minorities enjoy?
SM: On March 24, 2022, I, along with a group of comrades from Kharkiv, entered the Kharkiv oblast as part of the first column of Russian troops. On the first day, after a battle on the Kharkiv ring road, we established ourselves in Cherkaski Tyshky, seven kilometers from Kharkiv. Journalist Sergiy Rulev was filming. One of our fighters wore a USSR patch. Rulev started talking about the USSR, and I continued his thought, but only in the sense of the general borders of the USSR, not its ideology. My message was that Ukraine should prepare to enter Russia’s orbit with the formerly Russian Lviv, which was not part of the Russian Empire.
I consider myself a Russian Imperialist. I believe that Russian lands should be gathered on a Russian, imperial engine. At the center of the structure should be the main spiritual-historical core — Triune Rus, the ideal of holiness — this is the ideological heart of Rus. After all, triunity is the image and likeness of the Holy Trinity. As St. John of Kronstadt said: "The Russian people have forgotten what Rus is. It is the footstool of the Lord's Throne!"
Only then comes the broader concept of the Russian World. And to this foundation, complementary nations can be connected.
It was the Bolsheviks who planted a mine under the common Russian space, often artificially creating nationalities and endowing constructed republics with primordially Russian lands.
The political chimera called Ukraine, by definition, cannot be friendly and loyal to Russia. The very concept of "Ukraine" is initially, in its essence, alien and, as a result, hostile to Russian civilization. Therefore, there can be no "Other Ukraine." Ukraine’s loyalty will always be temporary. Under suitable conditions, Ukrainian Nazism will inevitably grow again on the soil of the Ukrainian chimera. The very word "Ukraine" contains the root of the spiritual disease called Russophobia.
I formulated it for myself in Kharkiv: "Ukrainianism is a nail in the spiritual-mystical body of Rus, and "Triune Rus" are the pliers that will pull this nail out." True victory is always forged at the conceptual level. If we formulate the concepts correctly, we will win! Therefore, we operate only with such concepts — Novorossiya, Malorossiya, and Southwestern Rus. The definition must contain the root words rus or ros.
It is important to recreate a large Novorossiya: from Kharkiv to Odesa with Kharkiv as its capital, separating it from Malorussia.
Several western regions may go to Poland and Romania. I am confident that, having tasted Polish order, even the people of Lviv will remember their forgotten Russian identity after some time.
A society infected with Nazism must inevitably be divided.
This conclusion was first reached by psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (who studied the phenomena of the collective unconscious), and it was implemented in Germany at one time.
Regarding Ukrainian writers, it is still necessary to see how Ukrainian they are. Malorussian writers of the 19th century were branded as Ukrainian by the Bolsheviks.
The truly harmful author is Taras Shevchenko. The essence of Shevchenko's personality and work was thoroughly analyzed by Kyiv historian and journalist Oles Buzina. I once read Shevchenko's diary myself — it is, without exaggeration, the diary of a moral degenerate and blasphemer.
The cult of Taras Shevchenko, who was once almost arrested for open blasphemy, is a crime against the Second Commandment — "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image!" Oles Buzina warned society that the uncontrolled cult of Taras, built on a bleached, artificially created, and therefore false image, having little in common with the real prototype, would lead to great trouble and bloodshed. "Do not give your feelings, mind, and heart to the spirit of malice and do not fall into slavery to the false idol of national pride," Oles Buzina appealed to readers of his book. Oles was one of the few who clearly understood that nationalism is a bloodthirsty idol. Initially, this idol was perceived as a kind of amusing toy. But, having reached maturity, the idol put on a Nazi uniform and imperiously demanded not only worship but also human blood. Before our eyes, Ukrainian nationalism has mutated into Ukrainian fascism. The nurtured beast inevitably goes out of control and eventually devours the community of people who raised it. This is the message seen in Oles's first and most important book, "Taras Shevchenko the Vampire."
Regarding non-Orthodox religious minorities, we need to see their attitudes. There are religious communities that clearly work in the interests of the enemy. Structures such as the Greek Catholics are the ideological backbone of the enemy. Dialogue with them is already impossible under these conditions. This is confirmed by the recent terrorist act committed in Moscow by a parishioner of a Greek Catholic church.
When we entered the Kharkiv region in February 2022, we found that the chains used to draw water from wells had been cut. It soon became clear that this was done by a priest from the schismatic, pseudo-Orthodox structure of the OCU. He was sabotaging, trying to leave the Russian troops without water.
In times of war, games of tolerance and multiculturalism can be very costly. I remember that during the first Maidan in Ukraine, there was a clear division of different religious communities according to their civilizational affiliations.
This fits into the thesis of American political scientist Samuel Huntington. In 1993, in his book "The Clash of Civilizations," he concluded that in the 21st century, the defining factor would be civilizational. He determined that the civilizational boundary between the Western world and the Russian World runs through present-day Ukraine. Russia's task is to return the civilizational boundary to its original state, pushing it back to the Polish border.
It is important to remember that Patriarch Kirill does not accidentally bear the title of Patriarch not only of Moscow but of all Rus! And all of Rus is up to the Polish border.
Regarding Russia's domestic policy in the liberated territories, I have many questions about this approach. For me, an "Orthodox Iran" is preferable, but the implementation of this project is unlikely now, as domestic policy in Russia is currently entrusted to former Komsomol members. They cannot reproduce any other engine. By the way, I was never a member of Komsomol, although I was invited to join Komsomol while studying at the technical school in the architecture department.
Seeing the trend of building the USSR-2 in 2022, I wrote several critical articles on this topic. One of the articles is called "The Bolshevik Owl on the Globe of the Russian World." The essence is that there is officially no ideology in Russia now, but a Soviet ideological platform is being imposed from above. More precisely, all the ideology of Russia now rests on one staple — the Victory in the Great Patriotic War! Only in this event do the builders of the scattered Russia see a source of strength and inspiration for victory in today’s war with the West.
But the question is, what inspired Russian military leaders throughout a thousand years of our history: Vladimir Monomakh, Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Minin and Pozharsky, Bohdan Khmelnitsky, Alexander Suvorov, Fyodor Ushakov, Mikhail Skobelev, Alexei Brusilov, and even Georgy Zhukov? The answer is obvious – they were inspired by the ideal of Holy Rus!
In 2022, in the liberated by the Russian army Vovchansk, the Soborna street was renamed Lenin Street. I then wrote an article: "The authorities of the liberated Vovchansk stepped on the rake of neo-Bolshevism!" In that article, I indicated that with this approach, we could lose Vovchansk, which happened a couple of weeks later. I cannot call this anything other than a red bacchanalia on the liberated territory! One bloody idol, Bandera, was demolished, and another, Lenin, was put in his place!
It was the Russophobe Lenin who dismembered historical Russia; now Russia is paying with blood for the reunification of Russian lands!
If there were not a thousand Russian imperialists in the trenches of Novorossiya, spiritually and ideologically motivated by the Image of the Saviour Not Made by Hands, there would be no hope of victory in this war! The Lord did not allow the Leninopad on the territory of Ukraine so that we could restore it. But those who now try to play neo-Bolshevism, promoting the USSR-2, did not know or forgot Psalm 126: "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it."
The future is not for the USSR-2 project but for a renewed, revived, classless, socially-oriented, caring Russian Empire! The idea of social justice is originally Christian, but not Leninist. It is impossible to implement the idea of social justice without God, for the idea of justice itself comes from the realm of the Spirit. The elite of the future Empire is already being forged in the hot forge of war on the principles of faith in God and loyalty to Russia!
AV: While deeply sympathizing with the grief of the residents of Bakhmut, Soledar, and Avdiivka, their cities cannot be compared to Kharkiv. A hypothetical "Bakhmutization" of Kharkiv would have long-term historical and demographic consequences. Are you taking any steps to prevent such a scenario? What lessons have you learned from the fighting in the Kharkiv region over the past two years? How do you assess life in the most fresh major city under the Russian flag — Mariupol? What do you think is being done right and wrong there?
SM: In February 2022, the Russian army advanced toward Kharkiv in columns and head-on, hoping that Kharkiv’s gauleiter, Terekhov, would greet them with bread and salt. This strategy was the result of a misjudgment of the military-political situation in Ukraine. The Russian authorities, aligning themselves with the business corporation known as the "Party of Regions" and stepping on the same rake, began a similar game with the successor of this party, Viktor Medvedchuk from OPfL.
Instead, we should have learned from Empress Catherine II, who, tired of dealing with the multi-vector Malorussian Hetmanate, abolished this circus and appointed Field Marshal Rumyantsev as the governor of Malorussia. Rumyantsev, during his twenty years as governor, transformed Malorussia into a calm, prosperous, and flourishing region.
When we learned from several sources that there was an agreement between former Kharkiv Governor Dobkin and our side for him to head the region, we were filled with indignation! We, the participants of the Russian Spring, understood that if this scenario were realized, nothing would change in Kharkiv except the flag. For us, this was the most terrifying scenario.
My comrades were in doubt. Should we risk our lives for Dobkin to return to power on the blood of our own? But I said: "Let's go! I don't believe it will happen! These are just human plans."
In the fall of 2022, Russian troops withdrew from the Kharkiv region. There are many rumors about the reasons for the withdrawal. The main version is that the withdrawal from Kharkiv was part of some secret agreement within the framework of the "grain deal" with "partners," but as usual, the "partners" deceived us.
People who cooperated with the military-civilian administrations faced mass repressions. Ukro-Nazis executed these people and threw them into pits.
Kharkiv has a complex fate; during the Great Patriotic War, the city was liberated only on the third attempt. The third battle for Kharkiv in August 1943 was swift and successful. The third battle for Kharkiv in this ongoing war, which has been going on since 2014, should also be swift. It is crucial that Kharkiv’s liberation should proceed without urban battles. The Bakhmut-style liberation is unacceptable for Kharkiv.
In August 1943, Marshal Konev took Kharkiv in a semi-circle, and the Germans, fearing complete encirclement and a repetition of the Stalingrad scenario, hastily abandoned the city. Now, to liberate the city, it is necessary to consider the experience of the Great Patriotic War.
The liberation of Chuhuiv should be carried out with precision. The historical center of the city is a major example of classical architecture, the work of court architect Vasily Stasov. A visit to Chuhuiv was part of the training program for heirs to the Russian throne.
I often hear that liberating Kharkiv is costly. But what will remain of the supporters of the Russian World currently in Kharkiv? They will be continually destroyed until none are left. Russia’s mission is to liberate them.
How might this happen? Various scenarios are possible. Currently, the Ukrainian military machine is operating at full capacity. When the Ukrainian army is finally broken, the front will rapidly collapse. To avoid catastrophic losses, the Ukrainian army will be forced to relocate behind the Dnieper.
If the West engages in peace talks with Russia, it might happen that Kharkiv residents, miraculously, will fall asleep in Ukraine and wake up in Russia. This was predicted by the abbot of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God Church in Kharkiv in the 1990s. The scenario of the Russo-Ukrainian war he described seemed fantastic. He noted that Kharkiv’s inclusion in Russia would be unexpected for everyone. There would be destruction around the city, but Kharkiv itself would be preserved.
My final chapter in the book "Keys to Russian Kharkiv," titled "The Image of the Future," ends with a mention of Mariupol.
"In the mid-2000s, in Kharkiv, two opposing ideological currents emerged simultaneously, separated by a distance of three hundred meters on Rymarska and Sovnarkomivska Streets. One, "Patriots of Ukraine," based on neo-pagan Nazi nonsense of RUNVira believers, later became known as the Azov Battalion, and the other was our Orthodox-patriotic organization "Triune Rus".
I visited Mariupol, liberated by Russian troops, several times since 2022. In the summer of 2022, the city looked bleak, with many buildings destroyed. But I was especially pleased to see the "Triune Rus" banner flying on the Mariupol pier, which we raised in Kharkiv in 2005! Recently, Mariupol had the Azov rag, but now the Image of the Saviour Not Made by Hands is flying!
I believe and know that our banner will return to liberated Kharkiv. The loss of Kharkiv in Ukraine will cause a domino effect, leading to the final catastrophe of the current regime. After losing the war with Russia on Ukrainian territory, the West will easily close the Ukrainian project and open another, perhaps the Kazakh one. Kharkiv will still play an important role in the gathering of Russian lands, serving as a vital link between Russia, Novorossiya, and Malorussia. The bloody rule of the Banderite junta will be short-lived in historical terms but will long be remembered as a lesson and warning to future generations.
Regarding Mariupol, it is evident that significant progress has been made in restoring the city over the past two years. Entire quarters are being rebuilt. In June 2024, my new book was presented in the beautiful new hall of the Mariupol Palace of Youth. This time, I noticed the number of Central Asian migrants on the streets of Mariupol. Indeed, the residents of Mariupol told me that the influx of migrant workers has become the city's main problem. A Mariupol resident is offered 70,000 rubles for construction work, while a migrant earns 150,000-200,000 rubles. But overall, it is important to note that Russia has come to the liberated regions, and along with Russia, the roads in these regions have become better than they ever were under Soviet power or Ukraine.
I remember how in the summer of 2022 I once drove through the village of Kivsharivka in the Kharkiv region. The village was not destroyed by the war, but it was practically a ruin: broken roads, non-operational abandoned enterprises, and some abandoned structures. It was clear that this was the result of thirty years of "Ukrainian independence." On the fence was a telling inscription: "Kivsharivka is Ukraine!"
Yes, Russia also has many problems. There are depressed regions. But Russia is already steering onto the right path and is becoming a national state again from a state corporation. This transformation is happening from the bottom up, even against the will of the authorities, against the top-down policy of population replacement. Since 2014, with the events of the "Russian Spring", and the battle for Novorossiya, Russia has started the process of forming a new elite based on service, not enrichment. And this process is irreversible."
AV: I haven’t asked this question since my first interview with the Ukrainian nationalist Oleg Goltvyansky, but I’m interested in your case. Name three books, three films, and three songs that have had the most influence on you.
SM: In my childhood, I read a lot, but my staple books were “The Book of Future Commanders” by Mityaev and “The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel” by Charles de Coster. This was the edition with stunning illustrations by the artist Pavel Bunin.
These books influenced the formation of my personality. Ulenspiegel, slender, lively, and cheerful, but also a fighter who bore inconvenient truths, became my hero. With the words "I am your mirror," Ulenspiegel exposed human and social vices. Many recoiled in horror, refusing to recognize themselves in the mirror he held up. Gradually, from a carefree jester, Ulenspiegel became a fighter for his people’s independence.
The third book that struck me, which I discovered around 1993, is Thomas à Kempis’s “The Imitation of Christ.” Life in the early '90s was difficult, and from this book, I learned that Earth is not a sanatorium. That a person is essentially a servant spirit, and it’s important not to make a mistake in choosing one's service. Many don’t realize that Earth is a metasymbol, a place of spiritual struggle. Later, I published this book in Kharkiv and then in Moscow, with a cover that came to me in a dream. The cover’s design, a modern take on Hieronymus Bosch’s “The Carrying of the Cross,” was chosen because I later learned that Bosch painted it while reading Thomas à Kempis.
Of course, there were other books and authors. An important book is “The Primary Chronicle” and especially “Instructions to the Children” by Vladimir Monomakh. This book should be a catechism for any government official in Russia. The catechism for any public figure is Ivan Ilyin’s “The Creative Idea of Our Future.” Also important is Metropolitan John of Snychev’s “The Sovereignty of the Spirit.” I don’t think anyone will write Russian historiography in such a concise and accurate form again; it’s a staple for any Russian patriot.
I’ve noticed that there are no “accidental” books; a book comes into your hands when you need it. I’m no longer surprised by this phenomenon. In recent years, I’ve had little time to read, but if God sends illness, I understand it’s time set aside for reading.
Many times, books have given me the strength to pass difficult life tests. I remember, just before the SMO, my daughter Anastasia gave me the memoirs of Baron Wrangel (one of the leaders of the White movement during the Civil War). I read the book at just the right time, drawing much from Wrangel’s experience, not just in specific reflections and actions but in maintaining a presence of mind in the face of deadly danger.
I am reading the Bible, the Old and New Testaments, with a pencil. I’m always amazed that only those words that are relevant to me at the moment resonate deeply. My Bible is now fully marked with pencil.
Hryhorii Skovoroda, a Russian philosopher (branded as Ukrainian by the Bolsheviks), who lived in Kharkiv in the 18th century, formulated the concept of three worlds: the macrocosm – the entire surrounding world, the microcosm (human), and the world of symbols – the Bible. These three worlds are in constant motion and interrelation. To understand one, you must understand the other two.
In my view, there are three important films, three keys to the Russian discourse: “Andrei Rublev,” “The Red Snowball Tree,” and “Brother.”
“Andrei Rublev” represents the centuries-old fabric of medieval Rus’. It portrays the conditions in which the foundation of modern Russian statehood was forged. In my personal pantheon of films, it holds the top spot. I can’t imagine how I would perceive historical Rus’ without having seen this film. It’s more than a movie! In its depth and emotional power, it’s akin to an Easter service! Once, during a screening of “Andrei Rublev” in our Kharkiv apartment, an icon of the “Entry into Jerusalem” began to exude myrrh and sweet smell.
“The Red Snowball Tree” is about our parents, about a generation raised on Lenin’s godless precepts.
“Brother” is about our generation of the '90s, about us, and particularly about my older brother. “Brother” was released when Russia was experiencing a national catastrophe, at the lowest point of its decline. It seemed to many that this fall was irreversible. Enormous resources were being invested to crush Russia, initiate the mechanism of final disintegration, and destroy national consciousness. And suddenly, an unknown director, Aleksei Balabanov, makes a low-budget film about a simple Russian guy who, in the era of consumer society, prioritizes not the Golden Calf but service to Truth!
Once, while talking to my young goddaughter Yulia, I discovered that she had seen almost none of the Soviet films! I was shocked and had to write an article titled “A Set of Keys to the Russian Discourse” and compile a list of recommended films, which amounted to about one hundred and fifty.
Regarding songs, our “Triune Rus’” recently published a songbook titled “Soldier of the Third Rome,” reflecting our millennia-old song tradition. I see myself as such a soldier. The songbook was compiled with our public figure Maria Gracheva.
Among Russian folk songs, “Oh, you are guelder-rose” is the most important. It’s no coincidence that this song plays at the most climactic moment in the film “Maximka.” I joke that a single viewing of “Maximka” makes a person Russian! “Guelder-rose” is harmoniously related to the song “Oh, You, Wide Steppe.” Through these songs, one can glimpse the Russian soul. For us, a song is an immune response of the Russian spirit to the challenges of the times.
In Russian folk and Cossack songs, not only the plot is recorded, but the fullness of Russian life. It records who we are and who our ancestors were. It records love for one another and love for the homeland. A song connects us with those who live now and those who lived before. It connects not abstractly, but truly. If every Russian person could sing at least ten folk songs, it would give strength and stability to our civilization. A song links us to spiritual reality. Through one song, one can connect with the gnashing of the fallen spirit of malice, and through another, rise to the spirit of divine love.
In humanitarian missions to Novorossiya, I usually listen primarily to Russian rock: Kino, Aquarium, Nautilus, Arefyeva (Ark), Botanica, Chizh, Chaif, Chicherina. Patriotic songs and wartime songs.
These artists were essentially spiritual teachers for our generation. In our youth, God spoke His Word through them. It was a living word that made us think. A word connected with the vivifying Spirit (The Spirit blows where it will), not the deadly dogmatic letter. King David played the psaltery (a musical instrument similar to a gusli), and they played guitars. This group of Russian poets-musicians guided our godless generation to the Creator and transferred their authority to the Church. Now, there is no longer such a vivid, living, creative, strong passionate phenomenon as Russian rock.
Tsoi holds a special place in my list of rock musicians. His work has not yet been fully appreciated and analyzed. In my personal understanding, he is a prophet. Apparently, in the '90s, God found no other way to prepare the post-Soviet and Perestroika society for the upheavals our generation would face. Tsoi’s preaching was not in Latin, Church Slavonic, or even the Russian Synodal. Tsoi conveyed Gospel truths in a language accessible to our generation. When everything was collapsing and falling apart, his lyrics gave us moral support.
“And life is just a word,
There is only love and there is death.
Hey! And who will sing
If everyone is asleep?”
Once, in 2002, Tsoi appeared to me in a dream, warned me of danger, and thus saved my life. From his songs, I would particularly highlight “Sorrow (Pechal’).” Tsoi pondered where sorrow came from. If everything on Earth is determined, then when everything is good, there is no place for sorrow, but it comes. Thus, it is an induced state, and its source is in another, otherworldly world. Tsoi looked into the Heavenly world and saw the vanity of actions on this earth. People are all rushing somewhere forward horizontally, but we should strive upwards. Also, of course, his songs “Quiet Night,” “Mama, We’re All Seriously Ill,” “In Our Eyes,” “Tomorrow We Will Act” are important to me. In these and other songs, he outlines important principles for building a life.
The third song is by my childhood friend, poet and musician Eduard Borovlev (stage name Tikhon), who is the lead vocalist of the band "Botanica." This iconic Moscow rock band started in Kharkiv in the mid-90s. Their songs "Born near Luhansk" and "The Soul Was Flying" became part of the soundtracks for the cult films "Bumer-1" and "Bumer-2." In 2007, we (Triune Rus) organized a concert of "Botanica" in Kharkiv under the slogan: "Language, like conscience, is given by God!" and "The soul sings in Russian!" In April 2022, we organized a concert by "Botanica" in Svatove. Borovlev himself is from Svatove, and it was very important for him to return to his native, newly liberated land. The meanings conveyed by Eduard Borovlev's work are similar to those of Esenin. Music critics even call him the modern Esenin.
In the early 90s, Eduard and I rented an apartment together in Kharkiv, and I was being drafted into the Ukrainian army. I had never been a patriot of Ukraine and did not want to serve. I had a hard time finding a bottle of real vodka to give to the enlistment officer. I left it in the kitchen. When I came back, I discovered that the bottle was empty and Eduard was playing a new song on his guitar with the following lyrics:
Soldiers were carrying soldiers,
To a housewarming in the native hut.
Across the field, the orphaned field,
The soul was flying above the earth.
The soul was flying, touching the steppe,
With its belly almost touching the ground.
It wished to be closer to the sky,
To be level with the birds,
Even just a little higher than the alder,
But sins did not let it.
I started scolding him, saying that now I had nothing to bribe the enlistment officer with to postpone my draft notice. Eduard said, "Yes, they are drafting you into the army. I was thinking about the theme of war, and the song just came to me. I didn’t even notice how I drank the bottle while working on the song." I thought, "Well, for such a song, the bottle is worth it!" This song, "The Soul Was Flying," is now considered one of the best songs about war and has been included in the soundtrack of the film "Bumer-2." The song is especially relevant now.
I am glad that I was able to contribute to creating this new work in this way. After all, our task is not only to defend Russian culture but also to manifest it. It’s important to have something worth defending!
AV: Thank you for your answers and for your time!
SM: And I thank you for your attention and the opportunity to share thoughts that are important to me.
Interesting but wholly deluded worldview, its fascinating to see how much religion still has an influence on people. By any chance could you describe the "Banner of Triune Rus" that was flying in Mariupol ?
It's funny how terrible boring that man is. He said a lot but nothing at the same time.