In the discussion about Ulyukayev’s overnight detention on bribery charges, there is sometimes a hint of mild sympathy for the minister slipping through (I would even say, between the lines). Or even the question: perhaps we ought to sympathize with him?
After all, newspapers conventionally call him a “systemic liberal.” And just imagine, he worked at the Gaidar Institute until 2000. A mere 16 years ago. So he must definitely be a liberal: he has served Putin’s government for only 16 years. The spirit of true liberalism, of course, cannot be eradicated in such a short time. It is entirely possible that, each time he made yet another decision to crush geese with a bulldozer as part of Russia’s countersanctions, Ulyukayev would pull a portrait of John Locke from his desk drawer, brush off the St. George ribbons stuck to it, and kiss it on the sly.
Besides—and this is important never to forget—Ulyukayev wears glasses, which means he understands economics very well: the surest sign of all.
All of this would seem to mean that Ulyukayev is closer to us than Sechin or Bastrykin, and therefore it would be proper to feel at least a little sympathy for him.
The idea is to split the elite this way: label some of them “syslibs” (“systemic liberals”; the main criterion is glasses) and feel a bit of sympathy for them, while calling others “siloviki” (security-state hardliners) and doing nothing but denouncing them.
Personally, I do not like this approach, but I understand perfectly well that it is no longer going to change: public consciousness, shaped by the media, has clearly divided officials into the somewhat decent and the utterly indecent.
So the question facing all of us is this: to what extent should we sympathize with the “syslibs” if repressive measures are used against them?
I propose the following universal approach. We should express sympathy for Ulyukayev, Chubais, Kudrin, Prokhorov, Shuvalov, Medvedev, Livanov, and all employees of ROSNANO and Skolkovo, etc., etc., exactly to the same extent that they are today expressing sympathy for the innocent man Ildar Dadin, who is being tortured in Penal Colony No. 7 in Karelia. Not one iota more.
People