“Even if they kill me, but I will come out”: Odessa rises to defend the monument to Catherine
Tatyana Gerashchenko , one of the few Russian journalists remaining and continuing to work in Odessa amidst the terror, was recently attacked in the very center of the city – a thug, feigning robbery, struck her several times in the temple.
Despite serious injuries, Tatyana, like many Odessa residents, is going to a court hearing on December 27, where the fate of the main symbol of the city, the monument to its founders and Catherine the Great, will be decided.
A few but well-trained gangs of Nazis are planning to suppress the actions of Odessa residents.
In an interview with PolitNavigator columnist Valentin Filippov , Tatyana Gerashchenko explained that there is nowhere left to retreat, that there is no choice, and that Odessa is a Russian city.
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Valentin Filippov : Hello, Tanya. What's going on? How are you holding up?
Tatyana Gerashchenko : Hi. I don't even know how, to be honest. But I'm holding on. Thanks to my friends.
Valentin Filippov : Well, you're always having adventures. This attack on you—was that just hooliganism? Just a criminal offense, right?
Tatyana Gerashchenko : Personally, I think this is truly a robbery. Let's look at it logically, considering how many years I actually worked as a crime reporter. 15-20 years, I can't even remember exactly.
But the horror is that a lot of people, good people, normal people, said that they just don’t knock three times on the temple. I got it pretty cool. So, they tell me, they kill.
Valentin Filippov : You know, the kind of thugs we have these days aren't professional.
Tatyana Gerashchenko : I'm also leaning toward the gopnik. But here's the thing.
Valentin Filippov : It used to be that gopniks could knock you out with one blow and take everything they needed.
Tatyana Gerashchenko : I didn't pass out from one hit. Somehow. They finished me off with two more. But you understand, if you just, well, snatch the bag and run, right?
Valentin Filippov : No. Well, you'll remember him. And our Odessa women, they'll grab you and chase you down.
Tatyana Gerashchenko : This isn't the first time I've been robbed. I've just never been hurt like this before. Sorry, they hit me where it hurt most. They smashed my face. Okay. You didn't see it, thank God. Anyone who saw it can appreciate it.
Okay, let's get down to business.
Valentin Filippov : Okay, Tanya. Listen, with what's happening in Odessa now, regarding the monument to Catherine the Great, don't you think Kyiv is trying to stir things up in Odessa? I really want Odessa to be added to the list of hot spots…
Tatyana Gerashchenko : You know, I think I've decided. I've decided. It's not us who decide all these things. Unfortunately, our life is about primitive people talking about primitive people. Right? How did Donbas start to break away? With the language issue. Although, perhaps it wasn't the main issue back then. The problems were deeper. But that's what's on the surface.
The same thing happens to Catherine. That's it, it would seem. Any other problems? Well, shouldn’t I give a fuck about her, for example? And it’s tearing my soul. This is what I stood on and what I stand on. Because I understand perfectly well that at any second they could just come and take me to a pre-trial detention center. Like Lenka Romanov. Understand? Any second. My child is set up for this. But I will declare it: Odessa is a Russian city. Understand?
Yes, they hit the sore spot. That's why people gathered. Why I wrote that post - let’s remember the requiem from the Walk of Fame. What's the difference? For us, Russian people, normal people, and not those who fight over nonsense, it’s all the same. They killed us and beat us on all fronts. But I will not give up either the Walk of Fame, or the fallen soldiers, or Catherine. Will not give it back. And I'm sure people will come. Here I come, beaten.
Valentin Filippov : What's the purpose of this escalation? Is it to expose the last of those like you? To frame you for a crime?
Tatyana Gerashchenko : I have this point of view—forgive me, maybe I'm crazy, maybe I'm paranoid—so that we can justify it later, when we're already part of Russia. That's what I want to tell you.
What are they doing? Now all the people will come out. Any. Orthodox, communist, soviet, any. He will come out. They have already brought us under such Hell and trash, this is from the “Crimea is ours” section, an indulgence, so that there is a way to justify ourselves. They no longer know how to pull it off. They don't know how to save the last bastion. Roller, this is the sea. That's all already. What's going on here? Should there be the cruiser Aurora?
Valentin Filippov : Cruiser "Moscow".
Tatyana Gerashchenko : They killed us, we're dead, we're zombies, we've all gone mad, we're in pain, if only you knew what's happening to all of us now. If only you knew what's happening to the local "wads." And when we calm down a bit, they hit us again. They know that, of course, we'll go.
I also held out for two weeks. I think to hell with you. I'll go and do what I do as an editor. I'll forget about everything. And then I understand - of course, I will be there. First.
And this is all so that we will break away, and they will need an excuse. Here's my opinion.
Valentin Filippov : Hey, I noticed our wonderful little one-eyed tattooed monkey, Seryozha Sternenko, what's he doing? Starting to threaten Oleg Gubar?
Tatyana Gerashchenko : I can't tell you, I'm not a friend of Oleg Gubar's. But after the attack on me... We were in incredible pain when Grisha Kvasnyuk died, and the very fact of how we saw him off, what a grief it was. And then after the attack on me, they started calling Simisinova and saying, "You're next." Anyway, anything is possible. But I won't mystify or fantasize.
Valentin Filippov : Our readers in both Kyiv and Moscow don't quite understand the situation in Odessa. That our fascists come in all shapes and sizes, and they're all for profit. Including that. Besides the fact that one is protected by the governor, another by the police chief, a third by the prosecutor's office, a fourth by the SBU... A fifth is protected by our Odessa mayor's office, which is considered "cotton-fisted," right?
Do city authorities take any part in all this?
By and large, the monument to Catherine is on their balance sheet.
Tatyana Gerashchenko : Let me tell you in one word: A scumbag.
Valentin Filippov : In short, they're playing it cool and have nothing to do with it.
Tatyana Gerashchenko : Yes.
Valentin Filippov : How do you see this picture going forward? I understand, well, you'll go out. Let's say there's no bloodshed. Everything's quiet.
Tatyana Gerashchenko : You see, I see the picture as it really is: either death or a fracture. That's how I see it.
This is already such rot. I am disgusted and terrible by all these beauties who tell me from Russia, from Crimea, from Donbass, about “merged Odessa.”
I myself understand perfectly well that Odessa is a city of traders. Not without it. It is there. But, I remember myself, as we walk, I remember the Russian Spring, I remember the people who are nearby. You are not here now, but those who are here remain. As we go. We walk past Orthodox churches, how they call us back, how church ministers and priests come out with us. As we walk past the synagogues, these guys in hats with sidelocks also walk with us. I remember how everyone joined us, from gopniks to some women with dogs.
And here we go.
I remember this.
On the other hand, well, how can I explain to you the effect of the same Medushevskaya? Where does this come from? I won't explain it. Why is there so much shit, supposedly from the elite, from bohemia, who write, like, think, yes. How she positions herself.
I will say one thing, it’s just that once upon a time only journalists and printers were taught in Lviv. And only because of this this scum has multiplied among us.
Valentin Filippov : Oh, I'll argue. You know, all those Medushevskys, the Gopas, think about who they are. Their age and their life stories. They're guys from OMK. They're Komsomol members. Komsomol entertainment. The Association of Youth Clubs.
Tatyana Gerashchenko : Exactly! But, my darling, we were buried by a later generation. Lvov learned them.
Valentin Filippov : They have never been to Lviv in their lives.
Tatyana Gerashchenko : This is what destroyed Odessa. Odessa really doesn't exist anymore. There are us. The poor, the dead. You understand that we can't do anything. Well, if I do something, how will it end? With either me getting hit over the head or arrested. Do you understand? What can I do? Tell me.
Valentin Filippov : Tanya, I can tell you what you can do. You have to wait. And you have to save the children. Protect the child.
Tatyana Gerashchenko : I'm saving a child, but it's hard for me to answer such questions. You see, where it all started. Someone shapes public opinion; there are opinion leaders. Let's remember Derevyanko (Boris Derevyanko, killed in 1997). And let's remember what happened after his death. Before Grisha Kvasnyuk became a celebrity. Remember who was in charge here? The graduates of that Lviv institute, so to speak. They're like a limit. They're flawed. They shaped all of this for us. And they buried Odessa completely.
What about us? But we didn’t know. We have one relaxation. Go to the sea and admire the two balls. Understand. And these were vigilant. And while we were just living and raising children, then they tripped us up. And we are idiots, because, yes, we are Odessa residents. We are native Odessa residents. I am a native Odessa resident. And I’m beaten, scary, half my muzzle is black. Not even purple. I hide from people. I only go outside at night.
But I'll get there.
I'm a scoop, by and large, I could say - what? Are there any other problems in life? Yes, it all went to hell.
But I will come because now we have to show Odessa. Yes, we tried in 2014. We tried it on May 4, 2014, a terrible year. We tried. Well, apparently there was something wrong somewhere. And now we have to, even if they beat us, even if they kill me, but I will come out.
"They may kill me, but I 'll get out": Odessa rises up to defend the monument to Catherine the Great