However, as usual it was the National-Bolsheviks who reacted first. In Khabarovsk the regional department headed by Rem Latipov held a protest action against the Chinese embassy: the guys threw bottles with paint at the embassy building. They paid dearly for this: several criminal cases were opened. Latipov spent several months in an isolation ward; he was sentenced to prison conditionally and up to now cannot extricate himself fully from the hands of the Russian justice.
What concerns the sessions of the State Duma on May 20th 2005, the minister Sergey Lavrov absurdly declared: “In the legal plan there is no place to concessions or us transferring our territory to China”. (So what does take place, Mr. Lavrov, you, diplomat?) Lavrov added that the president is certain “that this will strengthen security in the RF”. And the head of the border service, first deputy of the FSB director Vladimir Pronichev said, “the agreement on the Russian Chinese border will contribute to the reinforcement of Russia’s border security”. The deputies quietly believed Lavrov and voted on the same day. 301 deputies voted for the ratification, 80 against and two abstained, as informed the ITAR-TASS agency.
It is curious that Lavrov did not deny that Russia has unregulated territorial issues with several States. He named the USA (in the Bering Strait), Norway (in the Barents Sea) and “besides, Russia still hasn’t signed the border agreement with Latvia. Although this agreement is ready we are naturally against any attempts of a unilateral interpretation of this agreement”, Lavrov said. He reminded about other territorial conflicts on the border with Georgia and other “small issues of demarcation that need to be clarified”.
So the National-Bolsheviks, the 39 of them who are detained in Moscow prisons since December 14th 2004 are completely right in their denouncing of the transfer of territories right next to Khabarovsk’s walls to China and in their fearing that other territories might be transferred as well. What does that agreement with Latvia mentioned by Lavrov say? Isn’t it a part of the Pskov region, the Pitalovski area that Latvia has been claiming for itself since a long time? I am extremely worried that Lavrov is already against a unilateral interpretation of the agreement. So there is something that might be interpreted unilaterally?
I will mention here the declaration of Khabarovsk’s NBP on November 5th 2004. This is the most decent document on the subject of the islands. The more so that it is reinforced by the prison detention of its authors, beating and repressions that have not ceased to this day. I have only shortened it in the beginning. The title is “Island Betrayal”. The text: “On October 14th president Putin has committed an act of political betrayal towards Khabarovsk’s residents as well as our entire people. During a visit to Beijing Putin got generous and during the conclusion of the agreement about the Russian-Chinese border with a stroke of the pen gave Bolshoy Island on Argun River, Tarabarov and half of Bolshoy Ussuriisky with Kazakevich Channel to the Chinese. These islands are situated near Khabarovsk and their transfer to China automatically turns our city into a border city. /…/ The Chinese tried to annex the disputed islands by treachery: they were sinking boats and barges with sand near the islands from their side – in order to dry out the channel and get the islands to be on their territory. In return the Russian Kazaks built the chapel of the martyr-warrior Viktor on Bolshoy Ussuriisky with the inscription “Even one in the field is a warrior”. The 30-meters-high chapel stands on the highest point of the island and is perfectly seen from the Chinese side. Now after the signed agreement the chapel will stand right on the border.
In all the Chinese will get about 370 sq. km of Russian land and all of this without a single shot. I do not think that the transfer of the islands is the result of the Chinese diplomats’ excellent work. Simply Putin is our ‘kind’ sovereign: ‘You want islands? Take’em!’ The Chinese just slyly smiled and thanked VVP for his ‘generosity’. It is always easy to give what does not belong to you. And Vova did not feel uneasy.
There is a special fortified zone located on Bolshoy Ussuriisky. According to plans, in case of a Chinese invasion it should retain the enemies during 45 minutes at the gates of the city. Now there won’t be any need in that – in case of an attack it will take the Chinese half an hour to seize the entire city. Moreover, the take-out trajectory of the 11th army’s military planes was passing above Tarabarov Island. Now the planes will not fly… So the military consequences of the islands’ transfer appear quiet clearly – Khabarovsk has turned into a vulnerable target for its southern neighbor. Even the fat asses from the district’s General Staff and the region’s administration understand that: in case of an invasion they will not be able to get the hell out and they will have to support the occupation with the rest of the residents. /…/
As for the political aspect of Putin’s transfer of the islands, it will certainly cause territorial pretensions from our other ‘good’ neighbors. The Japanese will politely ask for Kunashir, the Germans will demand Kaliningrad with the whole region. How could our Vova refuse it to them? It would be double standards politics: why China can and not the others? What a generous soul you have, Vova! /…/
What concerns the attitude of the population, then the news about the upcoming transfer of the islands came as a surprise to many Khabarovsk residents and caused a negative reaction. Criticism was heard in the local media as well as in the region’s administration. The region’s Legislative Duma adopted an address to the State Duma and the Federation Council, in which it expressed its concern about any demarcation changes. Still, in whole all this functionary protest attitude recalled a lackey’s resentment of his master’s foolishness. Khabarovsk residents limit themselves to ‘kitchen protest’; it is easy to illustrate the dominating attitude with the opinion of a private soldier of the railway forces (this unit is located on Bolshoy Ussuriisky) from the article of a local newspaper: ‘Our fathers and grandfathers fought for these lands; they shed their blood and the president has given everything away with a stroke of the pen. He feels good; he lives in Moscow, but we are here near a billion of Chinese people. You can’t just give away your lands like that. Although this is probably done with a defined State goal. Only what will we have from this? Again, like in the song ‘The Russian and the Chinese are brothers forever’?’ In private conversations with ordinary people I hear swearing after the words ‘president’ and ‘Putin’. I doubt that they will forgive Vova for this political betrayal. The attitude is even more radical on Bolshoy Ussuriisky itself. The residents reacted very negatively to the territorial modification. Some intend to start a guerrilla war: ‘We will not let these Chinese people to our islands so easily. We will arm ourselves and beat them.’ Well, it’s only words.
Nothing much can be said about the reaction of the political forces from the fact that there was almost none. The first to react was a couple of young nationalists, history students who by night were spreading leaflets in the city decorated with two ‘sieg’ runes and headed with the words ‘We were abandoned’. The inexperienced fighters for the nation were arrested during this activity. The media were about to attribute this action to the nazbols. But we joined the political fight for the islands together with the CPRF. A picket near the embassy, a collect of signatures against the transfer of the islands, ‘Putin is a traitor’ graffiti on the fences. Tikhonov’s party and the agrarians have also spoken out. The first with a bleak picket, the second with an even more bleak declaration. Zhirinovsky’s people kept silent: their ‘fuehrer’ was in Ukraine; the party doesn’t have an official position. Well, sure, Zhirinovsky doesn’t want to mess up with Putin. And in the whole, there was a silence.