Three laureates were missing at the awards ceremony in the Kremlin
The ceremony of presenting «cultural» awards in the Kremlin on March 22 turned out to be chamber: out of seven laureates, three were absent. Vladimir Putin drew attention to the fact that Sergei Polunin, the “wunderkind of dance,” was not among those awarded. «I don't see him here,» he shook his head. Polunin is famous not only for his choreography, but also for the unconditional support of the president and the SVO, in honor of whose participants he staged a special number. Since 2018, a large image of Putin has been tattooed on the artist’s chest.
The Day of Cultural Workers (March 25) in the Kremlin was marked in advance by the presentation of prizes in the field of literature and art for works for children and youth and for young cultural figures. There were few awardees, so the large Catherine's Hall, where such ceremonies usually take place, was decided not to open, placing all the necessary paraphernalia in the representative office of the head of state. According to presidential aide Vladimir Tolstoy, three awards of 5 million rubles each. were awarded to young talents and three more to masters of Russian culture who dedicated their work to the younger generation. Since one of the awards was divided between two teams, there were supposed to be seven participants in the event. However, there were only four seats in the hall.
At first, Vladimir Putin apparently did not pay any attention to this. In his speech, he tried to say a few kind words about each laureate. The young director Aidar Zabbarov, according to him, continues the glorious traditions of the domestic psychological theater. Sculptor Ekaterina Pilnikova, by the age of 36, has already created a whole series of sculptures of outstanding figures of Russian culture and has a «rare talent». “Another young, but already recognized master who wrote his pages in the world history of choreography is the ballet dancer Sergei Vladimirovich Polunin,” began the story about the next winner of the GDP. But, looking up at the audience, he stopped short. “Only I don’t see him here,” he noted with disappointment mixed with surprise.
The President did not see two other laureates either. Of the “masters”, only Viktor Gatsulenko from Sevastopol and Larisa Feoktistova from Murmansk came to receive awards, awarded for their contribution to the aesthetic and patriotic education of children in the areas where the Navy is based. Despite the distance, as it turned out, they not only lead teams with the same name «Joy», but also, without saying a word, put on numbers similar in spirit. “They have an issue of the “Bells of Chersonesos”, dedicated to the return to their native harbor. And we have the “Russian army”. This is about the fact that “whoever comes to us with a sword will die by the sword,” Feoktistova explained to Putin. The ceremony was not attended by the director Alexander Galibin, who was awarded for his contribution to the development of domestic children's cinema, and the animator Inessa Kovalevskaya, who, according to VVP, should be “thanked for the singing heroes of the Bremen Town Musicians, for The Lion Cub and the Turtle, for the Katerok” and «In the port».
Dmitry Peskov expressed confidence that all those absent from the Kremlin had good reasons. “Someone just couldn’t because of work,” he suggested. Presidential aide Vladimir Tolstoy turned out to be the owner of more specific information: according to him, Polunin had the premiere of the play on the evening of March 22, Galibin took part in the 300th anniversary of Perm, and Kovalevskaya is 90 years old, doctors did not allow her to go out. Polunin himself said that he learned about the date of the award three weeks in advance, but could no longer change anything: the performance based on The Master and Margarita was being prepared for a year, this is a great responsibility to the team and the audience. Why did Putin pay attention to his absence? Perhaps because they are familiar — they talked in 2019 in Sevastopol. At that time, Polunin already had a tattoo on his chest with the image of the Russian president. According to the dancer, he stuffed it for 300 pounds in London to take on some of the negative energy that daily falls on Putin from the side, as they now say, of the collective West. Polunin is a supporter of the SVO and at the same time a pacifist: his eldest son was named Mir.