Dear Mr. Depardieu,
In connection with your plans to settle in Mordovia, let me
ask you a few questions as so to say your new compatriot.
1. A few days ago you visited Mordovia and, as you put it,
you were stunned by the hospitality shown to you there. Vladimir
Volkov, President of the Republic of Mordovia, offered you
in a handsome gesture an apartment or a plot of land under
a house. The generosity of the head of the region struck many
people in the republic, especially the residents of Tambovskaya
street in Saransk.
Do you know that this street is located close to the monument
to Yemelyan Pugachev you were taken to see? Dozens of families
had been living there in their private houses for years until
the brother of the President of Mordovia put an eye on this
plot of land. After trials in the controlled courts these
families were deprived of their property titles and were unable
to buy new housing with the compensation [assigned to them
by the courts’ decisions]. Also there are many people enlisted
in the housing queues in Mordovia (low income families, families
with many children, handicapped, etc), they have been waiting
for years to get from the state the housing they must get
in accordance with the law. According to media reports, the
head of the Republic donates you an apartment in one of the
new apartment blocks in Saransk.
Here comes my first question. Do you think it is possible
to accept such a gift taken away from one of these unfortunate
Saransk families?
2. In a letter to Channel 1 you called modern Russia a "great
democracy". Do you know that the party of your friend
Vladimir Putin obtained 104 per cent of the vote in the Republic
of Mordovia in the parliamentary elections of 2007?
And here comes one more question in terms of clarification:
Do you think that the greatness of a democracy is measured
by the amount of votes obtained by the ruling party at the
elections?
3. In Russia people associate the decision of President Putin
to grant you citizenship and the fuss around it in the state-owned
media with the desire of the government to divert public attention
from the “Anti-Magnitsky law” which has come into force. You
probably know that Russia has adopted this law prohibiting
to Americans to adopt Russian children in response to the
U.S. entry ban for the persons responsible for the murder
of Sergei Magnitsky.
And here comes my third question. Could you, as a Russian
citizen, tell us about your attitude to this law the Russian
society is so concerned about?
With a great respect for your talent,
Vladimir Gridin,
Chairman of the Mordovia branch of the YABLOKO party
See also:
Human
Rights
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