Yury Khaschavatski: «Belarus can be the first to move from the way leading to the past»

The documentary movie “Forth - to the past” by Yury Khaschavatski was first demonstrated in Russia, St. Petersbourg. In the movie, the producer compares the political situation in Russia with the Belarusian events of early 90s.

The first demonstration of the movie “Forth- to the past” was held in the House of Culture of Lensovet. 300 viewers were mostly those invited by activists of the local brunch of “Union of Right Forces.” Yury Khaschavatski made his publicistic movie on the initiative of this party, Interfax reports.

Before the demonstration, the producer said that he, being a foreigner, comprehends everything which is going on in Russia, since, in his view, the current situation in Russia reminds of that in Belarus in the end of XX century. “We used to say in early 90s that the changes are irreversible, nothing can break us, and freedom of speech cannot be killed. We substituted the reality with our expectations,” Yury Khaschavatski remarked.

Dictatorship in five stages

According to the Belarusian producer, the five steps that had been made in Belarus were necessary to change the situation. “First of all, the independent press was persecuted. Then a rigid vertical was built, then financial movement was scrutinized. After that, the parliament became decorative, and the civil society was destroyed.”

The audience particularly enjoyed the comparison of the episode when at the last session of “United Russia” Vladimir Putin accepted the proposal to head the federal list of the party with the episode of the movie by Sergey Eisenstein “John the Terrible” when the people fall down on their knees begging the beloved tsar to keep the hard burden of the Monomakh crown - tsar’s symbol. Yury Khaschavatski remarked Belarus had already experienced this event in its history.

Money - burden, not blessing

The Belarusian producer gave the following reply to the question about which Slavonic country will be the first to move away from the path leading to the past: “It’s highly probable, that Belarus will be the first: first of all, Belarus is smaller and more flexible. Second of all, we moved back earlier and found nothing there. Moreover, according to Yury Khaschavatski, there is a great amount of money in Russia today. “Unfortunately, this money is Russia’s burden, not blessing. It’s common knowledge that the money is being used to keep the acting regime,” the Belarusian producer is convinced.

All viewers of the first demonstration of Yury Khaschavatski’s movie were presented with a free DVD with “Forth - to the past.” Yury Khaschavatski remarked he didn’t expect the movie to be shown on Russian TV channels. “If the movie is interesting, people will spread it themselves,” he added.

By the way, previous movies of Yury Khaschavatski - particularly “Ordinary President” and “Square” - were spread among freethinkers of St.Petersbourg.