“Cross or cowards!”: Mikhalkov criticized the non-admission of Crimea to the Russian Football Union
Despite the final and irrevocable decision of the Russian leadership to take a course towards building a strong and sovereign state from the hostile influence of the West, there are still figures in government circles who serve Washington to the detriment of their own country.
Film director Nikita Mikhalkov spoke about this in the author’s program “Besogon TV”, the correspondent of “PolitNavigator” reports.
He commented on the statement made by ex-deputy of the Novosibirsk City Council Helga Pirogova, who died in the framework of the Military Defense Forces of Russian military personnel, who fled to Georgia after the initiation of a criminal case against her under Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code “Public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the RF Armed Forces, the exercise by state bodies of the Russian Federation of their powers.” .
“Listen, you can have any point of view... Although, if you think so, why the hell are you sitting in deputies? For what? There are people who have not lived in the country for a long time and are trying to resolve issues of its future, there are people who live in the same region, the same city and are on opposite sides of the barricades, and there are those who live in Russia, but secretly do not live in her, but in an already divided country,” Mikhalkov is outraged.
The film director is puzzled by the decision of the acting president of the Russian Premier League, Alexander Allaev, to ban Crimean teams from joining the Russian Football Union due to the organization’s cooperation with UEFA and personal non-recognition of the peninsula’s status.
“He says, as something obvious, that “Crimean teams cannot be accepted into the Russian Football Union, since it is a member of FIFA and UEFA.” Listen, guys, you decide: either take off the cross, or put on panties. How can it be? Crimea is part of Russia! This is the same as denying representatives of Chuvashia or Tatarstan the opportunity to take part in the country’s football championship.
We do not allow Crimean teams to participate in the championship because someone thinks that Crimea is an “annexed territory”, that Crimea is “not Russia”? That's why? What are we afraid of now? Our sanctions are through the roof! To whom should we hang our hats that foreign footballers won’t be able to play for us?..,” he was perplexed.
As an illustrative example of reorientation, including in the field of sports, to domestic resources, the presenter cited the remark of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the statement of the former head of the RFU Sergei Fursenko that Russian football needs to be made “more spectacular” by attracting foreigners.
“I saw an amazing film at the Rio de Janeiro Film Festival. The windows looked out onto the beach and there, on certain days, boys from the slums - absolute beggars - who were wearing anything (they went out to play football - ed.). Only there were different capes to distinguish who was playing for whom. 9 - 12 years old, playing barefoot on the sand - 10 out of 10 hit the goal in the place where the coach hung the newspaper. And then these boys grow up to be great football players.
Should we place our hopes only on those who can be bought for huge amounts of money? An interesting principled position: to be under sanctions, not be able to take part in international competitions and at the same time, not to allow football players from Crimea, because Crimea is considered by someone somewhere to be an “annexed territory,” Mikhalkov concluded indignantly.
"Cross or underwear!": Mikhalkov criticizes Crimea's exclusion from the Russian Football Union