In my childhood, my parents had a friend who had a very negative attitude towards the Soviet government (his father was a victim of Stalin’s repressions), and expressed his feelings were his first choice sport. In particular, at the football and hockey international games, he was a passionate fan for the Soviet national team, as he said, any team playing against Russians. The Soviet football was not so impressive, but hockey was one of the best in the world, and this man’s hatred was largely focused on specifically hockey team. He was extremely happy when “Russians’” main rivals, the Czechs, win, with whom the relations were particularly strained after the events of 1968, when the Soviet tanks had stretched their “brotherly hand” to the peoples of Czechoslovakia.
Those feelings seemed strange to me, not only because it was one common country the then, and, in particular, Armenian players were playing in the Soviet football team. The main reason was that I did not understand how one can “be a fan” against someone, and wish that the team loses in all cases, regardless of who its opponent is. Last night, when the Russian team was playing in the world championship, I caught myself that this bad, destructive, and absurd feeling has woken up in me. It is clear that I do not have any special liking towards Algeria, but I rejoiced when the team of this country scored a goal in response, and although my working day lasted about 19 hours, I waited until the game ends to be sure that Russia will come get to the 1/8 final.
The football players, of course, are not to be blamed, there are wonderful players among them, international-level masters. Nor I have negative feelings towards Russia and its people. My anger is associated with September 3, when the Kremlin, taking the advantage of the weakness of our authorities, hampered Armenia’s road, by which eventually our fate sharing and now already the former fate-sharing countries, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine went on. Of course, goods will not be shed over their heads, a complex and hardship way expects these countries. Instead, it is obvious for me that it is the only right way for us, Armenians.
Russia, of course, does not need our membership to the Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Union. September 3, as rightly pointed out by political scientists, was “aimed” not at us, but Ukraine. The latter, however, endured at the expense of great sacrifices. But not we. We can be consoled on the failures of Russia in the football game.
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ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
