Ukraine War Day #321: From The World Of Show Business

Dear Readers:

I have a couple of stories here with a common theme: “There’s no business like show business!” While also riffing on our previous topic, which was the theme of Brother vs Brother. In this case we have the story of some various Russian actors and show-biz personalities, all of them linked together in various degrees of Kevin Bacon; some of whom chose Russia, and others of whom chose Ukraine.

We shall start with this story, the actor’s name is Artur Smolyaninov. He appeared in a war movie called “The Ninth Company” which is set during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. [yalensis disclosure: I have not seen the movie, but I heard it was good.] Smolyaninov portrays a soldier with the call-sign “Lyuty” (“Ferocious”). Also appearing in the film is an Ossetian actor named Soslan Fidarov, who portrays a Soviet Chechen soldier. The movie apparently digs into the complex relationships between the different members of the unit.

Russian movie “The Ninth Company”

Anyhow, between these two actors who appeared together in the movie, one (Fidarov) supports Russia, and the other (Smolyaninov) supports Ukraine. And when I say that he supports Ukraine, that is putting it mildly. It isn’t some anti-war thing like “Well, I think Russia was wrong to invade its neighbor,” or something like that, wherein a well-meaning but naive person could be forgiven his ignorance. No, this is something altogether different. Smol came out with the most extreme statements that one could even imagine, sounding like a deranged Old Testament prophet and even calling for Russia to be nuked down to radioactive ashes! Having fled to Latvia, Smol issued a series of tweets and interviews in which he expressed his burning hatred for Russia and all Russians, called for the country to be nuked (“I don’t care if even one piece of it remains, and everything else turned into radioactive ash”) and announced that, if given the opportunity, he would fight on the side of Ukraine.

Smol’s rant from his safe place of exile, did not go unnoticed. His fellow thespian Soslan Fidarov was quick to respond. In fact, the issue was personal, since Smol had threatened to shoot Fidarov, if the two old colleagues should ever meet again on the field of battle. As it turns out, Fidarov is actually out there, fighting on the side of Russia! Fidarov’s response was both classy and to the point:

“Artur, I am still alive. And all those people who told you that I have been killed, they have deceived you. Now, as to the issue whether you will have the opportunity to shoot me on the field of battle… Artur, you and I both understand that you will never do this. And for one simple reason, because you will never show up on the battlefield.”

Fidarov was more right than he even knew; and the stroke of karma that followed was deliciously swift and satisfying, as we shall see.

This is what happened: A couple of Latvian so-called “activists” called Smolyaninov’s bluff. Seeing the famous actor walking down the street, they came up to him and delivered a fake draft notice into the Ukrainian army. But Artur didn’t know that it was fake. Here is how one of the Latvians described the incident: “At first we just chatted with him. He expressed his opinions. Then we tried to hand him the draft notice, it was a fake, of course, we just wanted to test him. He said he was not a citizen of Ukraine, therefore he could not accept it. We urged him to enlist as a volunteer. He tore up the piece of paper, knocked my friend off his feet, gave me good shove, and then ran away.”

In Happier Days

For our next pairing we have the ineffable singer and show-biz personality Filipp Kirkorov. Who supports Russia. His partner in crime is none other than Voldemar Zelensky himself! Who supports Ukraine, it goes without saying. The two talented performers used to be quite good chums, as one can see from these old photographs. Actors are actors, but there is no dissembling that look of pure bliss on Voldemar’s face, cuddled in the arms of his giant exotic teddy bear. Happier times! Then, sadly, friends became foes. And even sanctioned foes. Yes, President Zelensky recently announced a list of Russian performers subject to economic sanctions, as delivered from his own august hand. This list included Kirkorov.

Stipulation: I don’t exactly understand what it means for Zel to sanction Kirkorov. I mean, does he actually have the power to seize his old friend’s assets or bank accounts? Sanctions themselves are a bit of a mystery to me, in truth I thought only the United States of America, as the world’s Hegemon, was allowed to place anathemas and steal the money of private citizens.

In any case, Kirkorov also chose the high ground in his classy response to Zelensky’s sanctions. Attaching clips of old music videos when the duo used to perform together, Kirkorov wrote: “My old partner from stage and screen, has entered too deeply into the role that was assigned him from those people on the other side of the ocean. They are leading both him, and the nation that was entrusted to him, into the ash heap.”