Several months ago, we reported on the Kremlin’s plans to build a gigantic «Main Temple of the Armed Forces of Russia». The armed forces of a nominally secular state, according to its constitution, in which all religious associations are separate from the state and equal to each other. Among them, in addition to Orthodox Christians, serve (unfortunately) Muslims, Buddhists, Protestant Christians and followers of other religions. However, the temple is specifically Orthodox, as the constitution in this country means nothing, and the Russian Orthodox Church has long since become the state church.
However, what could have been seen as a demonstrative elevation of one confession over others, contrary to the principles declared by the state itself, has naturally turned into a farce. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said yesterday, «…we want every square meter of the temple to be symbolic, for this purpose we will cast steps for the temple from captured German technology». It was the year 2018… 73 years had passed since the end of the Second World War. There were hardly any veterans left, and instead there were more and more self-appointed clowns who inexplicably adorned themselves with medals and decorations, or their imitations.
At that time, Germany, a defeated, divided and occupied country, managed to reunite and create the first economy in Europe and the third largest economy in the world, without possessing the reserves of natural resources across almost the entire periodic table that Russia has. In all the main parameters — the state of the environment, health care, social security and life expectancy — Germany, from which the USSR, incidentally, took almost all its industry after the war and whose prisoners of war rebuilt many Soviet cities, is now one of the leading countries of the First World. They have already forgotten the wars of the past, and the news only informs them about the wars Russia continues to wage (open, hybrid, cyber, chemical attacks, etc.) and the sanctions imposed against it because of them.
Russia, of course, cannot boast of such achievements. However, let’s be fair — there are a number of positions in which it occupies first place in the modern world: in terms of absolute population decline among non-warring countries, mortality from cardiovascular diseases, sale of counterfeit drugs, consumption of heroin (21% of global production) and the number of airplane crashes (13 times higher than the world average). It also ranks high in the spread of HIV, the number of journalists killed, and other «outstanding achievements». What else does it have in this situation?
In fact, the only thing left is to cultivate the victory of 73 years ago. Apart from the small things, like seizing a piece of territory from a once brotherly nation at a difficult moment for them, or bombing Syrian children, it’s quite difficult to achieve other successes at the moment. And it will probably be even harder, given that the price of oil has fallen to $47 a barrel in recent days, while the Russian budget (whose surplus, according to Putin himself, is forcing the government to raise taxes) is based on a price of $70 a barrel. In such circumstances, indeed, the only thing left is to build pompous militaristic temples and fill them with the trophies of past victories.