Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Elena Shirnina, an advisor to the head of city district, Samara
Would you, please, tell me have you ever in your life faced Khodorkovsky
and Yukos one way or another, indirectly or directly?
Yes, of course I have.
I've participated in the 'League of Business' programs.
That was the programs for young people.
And also I've participated in the 'Help with your Advise' project,
which followed the 'League of Business'.
And what was your role in these programs?
As for the 'League of Business',
I was, first of all, a participant.
And only then, having passed a few educational levels,
I took over as a head of the 'Help with your Advise' center.
Moreover, this center happened to be
the very first one in the rural district.
Speaking about Yukos as it used to be eight years ago,
was it really a leading company in Samara region?
Do you think it helped
the making of Samara province in economic terms?
I am sure it certainly did.
Even those projects which followed the ones
we've graduated from speak for themselves
At present those guys graduated
from the 'New Civilization' and 'League of Business',
are now among the highest level's managers,
they take up decisions-making positions.
I often asked myself
what they were for me -
these 'League of Business',
New Civilization' and other Yukos's programs?
And I asked myself and thought what they were teaching us?
Were we taught to conduct a revolution? No.
Were we taught rebelling? No.
We were taught to think and to be professionals,
and to look ahead
and think what would be a result of the words you've said,
what would be an answer to your move
as a young politician?
I do remember our disappointment
when after a few seminars, schools we approached
the organizers and Boris Mikhailovich,
and asked them: What shall we do now?
And they simply said: Live!
We've given you all we could.
Our teachers, our coaches -
they had the highest standard of professionalism.
And I believe it's hardly possible
for everyone to meet such people in everyday life
and to be able to ask them any questions.
They were so worldly-wise people;
I very much feel a lack of their experience their advices.
The 'New Civilization' and 'League of Business'
gave us all this, no doubt.
Could you assume what would be it like in Samara region
if only Yukos have still existed in Russia?
Perhaps, I would be able to say with certainty
that there were high quality projects
in the sphere of youth education
and in the sphere of child development as well.
The reason was that a professionalism
with which they were developing the projects
was not a mass one.
Most of the youth programs
we are watching now are exactly mass ones.
That is a desire to prove
- look, there are so many people involved!
That time there was a scrupulous selection.
Yes, many people took offence at them.
But I'm sure we would get high quality programs
not only in the sphere of youth
and child development,
but also in the field of civil society progress.
We would get a new class
formed from people capable and willing to persist
in their opinion, people open to
a) dealing with and
b) solving problems together.
Why do you think all this was necessary
for Khodorkovsky and specifically for Yukos?
Or, to put it the other way, for Yukos and for Khodorkovsky specifically?
I agree with you,
they often compared this.
Even at our seminars we cited an example
or an allegory, if you wish:
When one lives in a house with dirty staircase
and unclean entrance,
but his own apartment is spotless clean
well, of course, it's great.
But one wishes to clean at least
an entryway as well.
And those, society
and public oriented educational programs
were right about it
to force us, living in their own flat, their own house
to start thinking
that there is something
besides the shell we exist in.
And at least once in their lives
we must do something,
stop being just consumers;
we have to understand clearly
our own capability
and potential to convert into something useful
those programs around us.
What do you think, is this Khodorkovsky's case
a political one or is there something real in it? What is your opinion?
I think, yes, it is a political case.
Unfortunately it is.
Igor Ermolenko, a chairman of Samara's branch of Yabloko party
How Yukos and Khodorkovsky personally were represented in Samara?
Yukos was a unique phenomenon for Samara region;
there has not been anything like this
either then or now, unfortunately.
In fact, this company substituted for a large extent
a function of educational institutions,
the functions of municipal officials, etc.
That was just an example how this triad
government, business and society
has been united in one institution.
On the one hand,
this company of high skilled businessmen
was acting as an economic locomotive for the region.
On the other hand,
thanks to the charitable activities of this company,
significant amounts of money have been allocated
to develop the projects
the state could not or would not,
for whatever reasons,
allocate funds.
First of all we are talking about
the local government's development.
Yukos opened competitive tenders
for the local municipalities
and provide them with its own means directly
for the needs of a local government's development.
Serious money was allocated for
the social projects such as trainings
of nonprofit organizations' leaders or young politicians.
At one time I have happened
to work as a manager in Samara School of Public Politics.
It was quite a unique project;
it was a unique one
as dealt with people
of very different political views.
It was a unique project
as it worked in a few regions simultaneously.
As a result of these projects -
schools and seminars
- a significant number of its graduates have become members of the various legislatures.
Moreover, they've taken up the posts
of various authorities as well.
And they were representatives of different political forces,
I should stress.
That means for Yukos' it was not a political project,
it was not some kind of contribution
to their political future.
It was a sincere approach to
what should form the government ...
the government should be formed
from smart, serious and developed people
aspiring to their own development.
I have to say that School of public politics
has helped seriously.
Another very important aspect
of Yukos's activities was fostering the development
and functioning of the Federation of Internet Education -
the project launched in collaboration
with the Institute for Advanced Studies for the educators in Samara.
At that time the state could not afford
to help teachers,
first of all the ones from the rural regions,
and teachers from urban schools as well
to learn The Internet,
to cope with and use new teaching technologies.
One could see quite an unspeakable effect
of this cooperation of state organizations
as represented by the institute and the Federation of Internet Education
sponsored by private persons in fact:
now children, who had computers
and Internet access at home,
coming to school
didn't have any advantage over the teachers,
due to the fact that the last didn't have any.
Under such conditions,
when having become equal to each other
all these people were acting
on the same field
in the Internet field, it was possible to say
that teachers have reached the level
when they were able to help children developing
in an atmosphere the most suitable
and interesting for them.
Unfortunately, with the demise of Yukos
the Federation of Internet Education
has decayed too,
not to mention the other social projects.
Well, the more so because some authorities
considered them as political ones.
Unfortunately, there are no analogues
to those projects now.
Intel Company is trying
to work the same way with teachers,
but for them it is more likely a kind of promotion
of its own software products,
rather than a charitable action,
while Yukos didn't benefit
from these projects directly.
And of course,
it's a long run in our country
to the conditions form when companies
such as Yukos would be able
to invest gratis in those areas of activities
which were not attractive either to the state
to another business.
That is because the reprisal against Yukos,
against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev
tells us that...
well, the authorities will not accept interference
in those spheres
where they are not ready
to see independent businessmen.