Iya Boronina’s blog post, 14.11.2023

Photo: Public Prosecutor’s Office in the Republic of Udmurtia / Photo by Iya Boronina

I sent an inquiry to the Ministry of Culture of Udmurtia, as part of the preparation of amendments to the draft law “On the Budget of Udmurtia for 2024,” about the amount of funds allocated by the regional budget and spent on the creation of performances for 2020-2023, in particular to the Tchaikovsky State Opera and Ballet Theatre. For some reason, the ministry refused to provide the data. I received a letter that did not contain a response referring to the substance of the appeal.

In addition, no preliminary cost estimate was provided for the renovation of [composer] Tchaikovsky’s estate in Votkinsk, which is in a deplorable state. Last month, during a visit, I discovered several rooms with leaks on the ceilings. One of the employees mentioned during the conversation that many people come, take photographs, and promise to solve the problem, but it never gets further.

What the Ministry of Culture of Udmurtia is hiding and why remains to be determined by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. On Friday, I sent an appeal with the aim of conducting a public prosecutor’s audit regarding the Ministry of Culture spending of budget funds as per their intended purposes, as the funds were allocated for the creation of performances, the purchase of musical instruments, and the renovation of the Tchaikovsky’s estate museum.

Photo: Ceiling in Tchaikovsky’s estate in Votkinsk / Photo by Iya Boronina

Let me remind you that in May of this year I submitted amendments to the next draft law on the budget of Udmurtia in order to add funding for the production of the new Nikolai Markelov’s ballet “Cleopatra” by the Tchaikovsky Opera and Ballet Theatre, which requires about 12 million roubles.

The amendments were ignored by the State Council [of Udmurtia] in violation of the law on the budget process.

In this regard, I would like to cite a very appropriate quote from Mikhail Kazinik, a Soviet writer and music critic:

“If our country, when planning its budget, put culture as its number one priority, then all other areas would automatically rise by many percent. One percent added to culture is the same as 15% for health care, the same as 25% for education. We have been convinced of this for a long time.

Where culture is in the second place, money for healthcare will have to come first, because people get sick without culture.

Everything we do is an equivalent of culture. Any country is great because of what it has contributed to the global treasury of civilisation, and not because of how much sausage it has consumed over the n-th period of time.”