Weekly “Argumenty i Fakty” No. 8. Homeland Defense Above All 02/23/2022
“Gazprom” and the government by May 1 shall arrange a free supply of gas for all Eternal Lights and Memory Lights – such an instruction was given by the President earlier this month.
Prior to this, the company provided free gas to Eternal Flames only in Heroic Cities and Military Glory Cities. And in the workers' estates, the small towns, the villages, the payment fell on the local budgets, most of which are extremely meager. As a result, the situation in some settlements has long been critical. And every year these problems only accumulate. And the lights go out.
When some idiots try to extinguish the Eternal Flame with snowballs by frying a barbecue on them or drying their socks, – yes, it is disgusting, but in principle it is understandable: there have been enough people with short memories and shrunken souls at all times and among all peoples. It's much more offensive when memory shortens trade calculation. How do they say in such cases? “Only Business – and nothing personal?
How much does memory cost?
One such unpleasant story happened at the end of last year in the village. Far from Konstantinovo, Nizhny Novgorod region, where the Eternal Flame did not burn for almost a month. It turned out that Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Nizhny Novgorod removal of “unauthorized” connection to gas distribution networks; object. And the district administrations filed a complaint for the blue fuel consumed over 3 years. According to Evgeny Mavrin, Head of Administration of Dalniy Konstantinov,the bill for a year of Eternal Flame work amounted to 1.2 million rubles. There was no such amount in the village budget, even though they had appealed to contribute with the whole world. Another “penalty box” turned out to be the Eternal Flame that burned in Dzerzhinsk in the same region of Nizhny Novgorod. since 1965. Here the account pulled 5.7 million rubles. Luckily, it wasn't about putting out that fire – a wave of public outrage helped.
On the one hand, the business can be understood – it's really a business: they released fuel, got money for it. But there are times when laws come to the fore not business, but morals, ethics, moral duty. And they are stronger than the market.
Representatives of the All-Russian Popular Front joined in resolving the conflict. Activists checked the situation with the payment of gas for Eternal Lights throughout the region, – these are 54 memorial complexes in 40 municipalities. Not everywhere there are eternal fires that burn all year round, in some places there are the Lights of Memory, which only come on on holidays. It turned out that two dozen municipalities in Nizhny Novgorod paid for gas. In addition, the price range is important – from 3.6 to 413 thousand rubles. within the year. The ONF offered the regional government and “Gazprom” to sit down at the negotiating table and together find a solution to the problem. “Eternal Lights– it is a symbol of the greatest achievement of our people in the Great Patriotic War and our memory of its heroes, they cannot be extinguished just because of money. The work of the Eternal Lights should not depend on the size of the municipal budget or the wishes of resource agencies, – commented the head of the regional executive committee of the Popular Front in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Alexey Alekhin.
As a result, they tried to amicably settle the issue of the gas supply of the Eternal Flame in the village of Dalneye Konstantinovo. And the local branch of “Gazprom” is developing a project for the reconstruction of gas supply systems in order to optimize the costs of gas supplied to memorials in the region. “This example suggests a systemic problem. If the fire is eternal – this means that gas workers are not allowed to turn it off, like an ordinary burner on the stove, – noticed then the deputy of the State Duma Alexander Khinshtein. – Perhaps we should discuss the relevant law that will determine the status of the Eternal Lights and make it impossible for them to be extinguished.
“Must be on everywhere”
And in the Chelyabinsk region. the company itself came to the aid of the activists. Accounting and Restoration of “Eternal Flame” this is the area Veterans Council. Council members inventory memorials each spring. In 2021 there were 47 in the region, in 2018 only 17 were permanently in operation, the others were only lit on May 9 and June 22. “But if we call this memorial fire 'eternal', then it should also burn in a constant mode, – safe Deputy Chairman of the Board of Veterans of the Chelyabinsk region. Alexander Degtyar. – This year we are finishing a project we have been working on for 5 years. We decided that the Eternal Flame should burn everywhere, in every neighborhood in the region. Last week they lit it in the village. Bredy in the south of the region. This is already the 40th fire. This year, we will have to light 5 of them. How was it before? Eternal lights in memorials were not eternal, they were extinguished, but only lit on major holidays – June 22 and May 9. And if the memorial was located on the territory of the police station, then it also burned there during their working holidays. It was expensive to maintain. Three years ago, 128,000 rubles came out in one year! But we were helped by Novatek, who took care of everything: laying the pipes, keeping them in working order, and the gas itself is now free for the heads of neighborhoods.
And last year, the inhabitants of the southern Urals published the book “No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten”, which contains the 927 monuments dedicated to the fallen defenders of the homeland. And with the help of regional party members, they were able to put a lot of them in order. “They painted, whitewashed, mowed the grass, erected fences so the cows and pigs wouldn't trample! – adds Degtyar. – The next step – install CCTV nearby. Of course, our homeless man, who dried his socks at the memorial, was on the federal agenda. But there have been three such cases in one year, no more. To avoid them at all, you need cameras! And we are working on it.”
Home delivery
As the pandemic makes its own adjustments until the most important holiday was held on May 9 of last year, many veterans were forced to celebrate while sitting at home. People's Front and All-Russian Club “UAZ Patriot” they decided: since participants in the war cannot come and lay flowers at the Eternal Flame, then let the fire itself come to them. As part of the action “Fire of Memory” In the Alexander Garden in Moscow, activists lit about a hundred kerosene lamps of the country's main eternal flame, which were delivered to the cities and towns of Russia. And some were brought straight to the veterans' homes.
Among those who received a piece of the Eternal Flame in St. Petersburg was Vladimir Melentiev– participant in the battles on the Kursk Bulge, the Smolensk offensive operation, the liberation of Poland, Czechoslovakia and Germany, holder of the orders of the Patriotic War I and II degrees, the Order of the Red Star. “Where did you light that Eternal Flame from?” – he specified. – Of the Moscow memorial? I will try to keep it so that it constantly burns with me, and on solemn days put it in the most prominent place in the house.
And who keeps your fire going?
This year, the Eternal Flame has a double anniversary.
65 years ago, in November 1957, the first fire – on the Field of Mars in Leningrad, in memory of fallen revolutionaries. And 10 years later, on May 8, 1967, from a torch that arrived from Leningrad, a fire broke out in Moscow, near the Kremlin wall, near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
There are hundreds of them in the country today – Eternal fires and fires of memory. Some are kept in pristine condition, some suffer from desolation, and somewhere kind people are trying to rekindle the fire near the monument.
We are waiting for you, dear readers, to tell stories about who and how keep the Fire of Memory in your village, city, workers' colony. We are waiting for stories about these people, thanks to whose energy these monuments are alive. We are waiting for stories about the heroes whose memory is immortalized there.
The brightest stories will be published on the pages of “AiF” and on the site www.aif.ru.