A duel. It is highly possible that the last time you
encountered that term was when you were reading the « Three
Musqueteers » by Dumas. However, duels have always been among the best
ways used by Russians to solve their conflicts. Translated as
« poedinok », it was originally imported from Europe and seems to be
now the preferred method of Mr Zolotov, chief of Russian National Guard.
Because in the country of Pushkin and Tchaikovski, politics rimes with drama,
let’s have a quick look at a quite amusing incident that happened a few weeks
ago.
Indeed, Mr. Zolotov was offended by the allegations of
corruption made by Mr. Navalny -
dissident, principal figure among the opposition to Vladimir Putin’s
regime, and founder of an anti-corruption fund. As the only way to compensate
that damage made to his dignity, Zolotov officially invited him to a duel and
promised to « make a juicy steak » out of him. He implied that this
challenge had to take place on a ring – as the only way justice could be
restored.
Requesting satisfaction, he denied the accusations made by
Mr. Navalny, saying they were unfounded, and threatened him in diverse ways.
Criticizing his lack of patriotism and his political actions, he also
mentionned that Navalny deserves to be beaten and given a lesson :
« among officers, we’re not used to forgive that easily », he added.
The only issue was that Mr. Navalny was not able to respond,
as he was sent to prison for organizing a protest in Moscow. However, as soon
as he had access to technology (on October, 9th), the activist thanked his
opponent for the invitation. He didn’t use any filters either to respond to his
message. Reminding that the one callled to the duel had the right to choose the
weapon, he suggested to make a debate on television instead of a physical
confrontation. Zolotov, in his turn, declined this idea and showed
disappointment : he specified that he invited Navalny to a « sport
contest, not a mere debate ». Finally, he requested Navalny to go through
a lie detector, that would prove the allegations of corruption were wrong.
Meanwhile, the investigation of Mr. Zolotov’s case is
ongoing, and the confrontation between the two men depends on the result of the
trial. In the end, it turned out to be a kind of « Youtube » duel,
with verbal violence in its most primitive form. Hundreds of memes were
published in reference to this quarrel. Members of the Russian Guard told the
detractors of Mr. Zolotov « to go to the Caucase ».
We could now wonder if the fight took place. To be
continued…
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