I welcome guests and regular readers of the site website... So, a video blogger, publicist and critic Ruslan Sokolovsky (earlier Saibabtalov) was born on October 20, 1994 in Shadrinsk. In the nineties, his parents were engaged in the clandestine sale of alcoholic beverages. Due to problems with business, the family had to go out of town for a year. Due to abrupt changes, the boy becomes withdrawn. After the danger has passed, the family returns home.
At the age of 14, Sokolovsky lost his father - he died of a heart attack. During that period, the teenager becomes even more squeezed and devotes all the time to reading books, which he became interested in in early childhood. The young man mastered the entire parental book stock, after which he began to buy new ones, and also signed up for the library.
Despite his great reading, Ruslan had practically no social skills, so he had no friends, and, in addition, was the sickest in the class. To fix this, in the 8th grade he began to engage in weightlifting, then switched to powerlifting. Sokolovsky quickly caught up with his peers in physical form, and later devotes time to fencing and throwing knives.
In high school he got carried away with parliamentary debates, where he competed with students and even defeated them. At that time, the young man was a frequent participant in various biology Olympiads.
When Ruslan got the Internet, he immediately became interested in how he could make money on the Internet. Whoever he was - a rewriter, copywriter, SEO optimizer. In those days, Sokolovsky paid more attention to making money on the Internet than studying.
After graduating from school, he enters a psychologist, but after the first session he realizes that this is not his. Then he tries to study to become a lawyer, but this university drops out even faster than the previous one. Then he tries to work in the office, open his own projects on the Internet, VKontakte, but all these activities quickly bored him.
On July 22, 2014, he registers his personal YouTube channel, on which he begins to release his own videos. It is this activity that Sokolovsky considers one of the most interesting in his experience.
Why am I afraid to make new videos (2015)
He started with translations and soundtracks of other videos, then he tried to make completely his own videos, in which he shared his position on various topical issues, and also talked about events, persons, films, books, etc. that interest him. Ruslan tried to choose topics that would be interesting to the viewer "with brains".
The Seven Most Bloodthirsty Characters in the Bible (2015)
Also, the guy in many videos was engaged in criticizing religion, including Orthodoxy in a very cynical and harsh form. The guy was inspired by the old program of Alexander Nevzorov "600 seconds".
PRISON PERIOD FOR ATHEISM (2016)
Since 2016 he has been publishing his own magazine "Sokolovsky", inspired by the infamous French publication "Charlie Hebdo".
SPRING MY JOURNAL ACROSS YEKATERINBURG (2016)
On August 11, I published a video in which a blogger, being in the Yekaterinburg Temple-on-the-Blood, searches for Pokemon in the popular mobile game "Pokemon Go".
The fact is that the media spread information that responsibility was introduced for catching Pokemon in the church. Sokolovsky, on the other hand, believed that there is nothing wrong with walking around with a smartphone in a temple, especially in Russian legislation not a word is written about this situation. This is what became the prerequisite for recording a video.
CAPTURE POKEMONS IN THE CHURCH - 2016
On September 2, riot police broke into the guy's apartment and detained him on charges of "insulting the feelings of believers."
The guy spent 8 months in prison (he was in a pre-trial detention center and under house arrest). On May 11, Sokolovsky was found guilty on several counts (incitement to hostility and hatred, extremism, insulting the feelings of believers) and sentenced to 3.5 years probation. It is worth noting that the young man was tried not only for the video about Pokemon - they studied all the content that he posted publicly.
While at large, the guy plans to graduate from the university, as well as engage in volunteer activities under the patronage of the head of Yekaterinburg, Yevgeny Roizman.
He also starts working for the Znak.com media, for which he removes his column about the events of the last days. This decision is due to the fact that Ruslan wants to have patronage provided by the mass media, which will competently polish his videos, so that he is not imprisoned again.
Name of the participant: Saibabtalov (Sokolovsky) Ruslan Gafiullovich (Gennadievich)
Age (birthday): 20.10.1994
City: Shadrinsk, Kurgan region; Ekaterinburg
Height and weight: 180 cm
Channel directivity: vlogs, criticism, news and popular science videos
Number of subscribers: more than 300.000
Found an inaccuracy?Correct the profile
From this article read:
Ruslan Sokolovsky was born in a small industrial town in the Kurgan region. From childhood he was fond of reading books. When the boy was 13 years old, grief came to his family - his father died of a heart attack.
Mom had to take on the upbringing of her son, she alone "put him on his feet." In high school Ruslan is fond of sports, often participates in city Olympiads in chemistry and biology.
Unexpectedly for everyone at the age of 15 he is fond of parliamentary debates and politics... The young man earned his first money on his hobby on the Internet, he created websites for different customers, conducted marketing analysis, was a copywriter and SEO-optimizer.
After graduating from school No. 4, he enters the Shadrinsk State Pedagogical University at the Faculty of Technology and Entrepreneurship. But already during the first session, he realizes that he has chosen the wrong direction and hastily moved to Yekaterinburg.
There he entered the Ural Humanitarian Institute at the Faculty of Law, in which he also very quickly got bored.
At the age of 19, he opens his first companyby choosing the main type of SEO promotion and analyzing this market.
In 2014, succumbing to his own creative impulse, Sokolovsky creates his own youtube channel... Here he begins to upload videos on various topics, including conversational videos, in which he actively expresses his opinion regarding certain situations that have occurred in real and virtual life.
After another 2 years, inspired by the information and its presentation to the reader in the French magazine "Charlie Hebdo", he released his own - "Sokolovsky!"
Before the initiation of a criminal case, thanks to which the bulk of popularity came to Ruslan, the blogger had conflicts with other representatives of large channels. Including with Andrey Afonin and.
The guy hides his personal life... It is known that he is not married, does not have a long-term relationship, adheres to "child free". In 2017, he planned to go on a stand up tour of Russian cities with his solo program.
Criminal prosecution of Ruslan Sokolovsky and sentence
The controversial video, which eventually split the public in two, was uploaded to his main channel in the summer of 2016, a few days after the federal channel announced a ban on the use of "Pokemon Go" in temples.
Thus, the guy tried to ridicule, in his opinion, a stupid ban. In it, a guy comes to the Church on the Blood and plays a few minutes in a mobile application.
Then he says that he failed to catch the rarest Pokemon, referring to Jesus, and says that no one prevented him from playing, devaluing the words of the TV presenters. The video went viral, in the first day it was watched by over 700,000 people.
September 2, 2016 Sokolovsky was detained on the basis of two articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
He was accused of extremism and insulting the feelings of believers. The first hearing took place on September 3.
Searches were conducted in his apartment for a week. On September 8, Ruslana was changed to house arrest, but after 1.5 months she was again placed in a pre-trial detention center due to the defendant's failure to comply with the rules of conduct regulated by law.
In December, the guy was recognized as a political prisoner. He stayed there until January 23, 2017. In the detention center, Sokolovsky read a lot, studied English. His infrequent letters at will were published on his personal instagram. In February, he was again placed under house arrest.
The final verdict was announced on May 11, 2017. The court found Ruslan Gennadievich guilty and sentenced him to 3.5 years of probation (the prosecutor demanded a real term). The YouTuber's lawyer intends to appeal this decision. And that same video is still present on the channel in the public domain. In turn, some well-known personalities expressed support for Sokolovsky, including Alexei Navalny, Alexander Plushev and Igor Eydman.
https: //www.site/2016-09-03/neskolko_shtrihov_k_arestu_blogera_ruslana_sokolovskogo
God and Pokemon
A few touches to the arrest of blogger Ruslan Sokolovsky
The story of Ruslan Sokolovsky is a bad story, no matter how you look at it. In addition, in it, as is often the case with big and loud stories, many ambiguities and clichés have appeared, and our task as journalists is to dispel these ambiguities and overcome clichés as much as possible. Therefore - a few comments.
Firstly, the interpretation used by everyone that the blogger Ruslan Sokolovsky was arrested "for catching Pokemon in the Temple on the Blood" is only partially correct. The case was initiated not for catching Pokémon, but for Ruslan's posting on YouTube of several videos, which someone recognized as offensive to believers. The video itself, with the Pokemon catching recorded on it, became only one of three episodes of the criminal case. Therefore, it is more correct to say that "a blogger who caught Pokemon in the temple was arrested", and not "a blogger was arrested for catching Pokemon."
Secondly, in order to understand the context, it is important to say that it is wrong to look at Sokolovsky as a video blogger far from political and social topics, who for the sake of a joke went to the temple to catch Pokemon, and he was suddenly grabbed for it. The theme of religion is one of the most important in, so to speak, the work of Sokolovsky. He is a popular and active figure in various atheistic publics and groups. IN your blog he regularly addressed the topic of religion in the form of rather provocatively formulated atheism. According to him, he received all sorts of threats, and he was in constant skirmish with Orthodox activists. Such episodes can be seen in some of his roller skates (careful: strictly 18+, and the faint of heart shouldn't look).
Ruslan Sokolovsky even published his own satirical magazine Sokolovsky! Which can be downloaded as PDF or purchased on paper from his website. The blogger has a video in which he is distributing issues of his magazine in Yekaterinburg. Ruslan points to criticism of the Church and clericalism as one of the main topics of the magazine, and he cites Charlie Hebdo, known for its provocative cartoons (and the tragic consequences of their publications), as an example for inspiration. At the same time, I did not come across in his video calls to somehow discriminate or show aggression towards believers - although, of course, I did not watch all the videos.
We have to make allowances for Sokolovsky's age and his maximalism, but we must admit that in at least several videos he asks topical and difficult questions that are related not only to faith, but also to the structure of the country in general. For example, citing figures for the size of the middle class in Russia (4%), he notes that “the entire population of Russia lives in disgusting conditions,” and, in his opinion, the only thing that distracts people is faith. He urges to soberly realize the severity of the situation and think about some changes.
Sokolovsky also spoke about Platon or Roskomnadzor, raises questions of freedom of speech on social networks. That is, we have not just a “case against a blogger,” it is, in a sense, a case against a public activist and publicist.
Do not rush to smile at this place. If you think in terms of media, and this is thirdly, Sokolovsky is a fairly successful one-man media outlet: 273,000 users have subscribed to his channel, and the number of views of the most popular videos has exceeded half a million. There are much more popular video bloggers in the country (for example, Katya Klep - more than 4.7 million subscribers), but for a young provincial guy (Sokolovsky comes from Shadrinsk, recently moved to Yekaterinburg) this is a very decent result. We can say that Sokolovsky is more popular than the overwhelming majority of Yekaterinburg media outlets. Both his provocative format and the content of his video were in demand among the audience. As far as we know, video blogging was the main source of his income, Ruslan also helped his disabled mother. Formally, he cannot be called a journalist or publicist, but if we have a person who regularly discusses socio-political issues with an audience of almost 300 thousand people, then is this not journalistic journalism? Albeit in a kind of 2016 format.
Fourth, in order to understand the Sokolovsky phenomenon, one must understand the general phenomenon of “youth video blogging” and “youth Runet” (it sounds awful old-fashioned, but what to do). It is rather difficult for people of the older generation (even mine - although I am only nine years older than Ruslan) to accept the card of acceptable and unacceptable that exists in this area of \u200b\u200bthe Runet. Sokolovsky's blog, like many other phenomena of this world, is filled with provocations, deliberate scandals, hoaxes and foul language. It can be said that provocation is his main "creative method", which makes his work similar to some representatives of contemporary Russian art (including, probably, with the art group "Voina" and Pussy Riot, one cannot do without these comparisons). Here are some titles of his video: "I am a racist", "Patriarch Kirill, you p ...", "Children's porn from the Ministry of Culture." (Headlines should not always be taken literally - for example, in the video "I am a racist" Sokolovsky speaks out "against any racial discrimination", but also against "reverse discrimination", when representatives of national minorities are given certain quotas and privileges only on the basis of He explains that it is wrong to think of all people as the same: for example, statistically, Kenyans run better than others, although this does not mean that some European cannot run better than a Kenyan).
Thus, Ruslan Sokolovsky is a slightly more complex phenomenon than just a "video blogger who caught Pokemon in the Temple on the Blood." Personally, I am not particularly sympathetic to his provocative manner, I do not share his vulgar attitude towards religion and believers, but you need to be aware that this is an intelligent young man with an active life position. Yes, from the point of view of a traditional, “non-networked” society, he obviously played too much. But I am sure that it is wrong to put a person in prison for his words, if these words do not carry a direct public threat. In my opinion, the words that Ruslan utters, for all their provocativeness, do not carry such a threat.
Now - about whom Ruslan Sokolovsky insulted. According to his lawyer Stanislav Ilchenko, the investigation did not submit any statements from the victims or offended believers that would call for punishment for Ruslan. A side plot next to Ruslan's story was the act of the URA.Ru agency employees, who made a note in their note about Sokolovsky that they turned to law enforcement agencies with a request to check the blogger's statements for compliance with the criminal code. Later, media employee Andrei Guselnikov said that in fact there was no appeal, and the postscript was made at the insistence of lawyers in order to protect the media from claims from Roskomnadzor. According to Ilchenko's lawyer, indeed, no statements from the editorial staff have appeared in the case yet, and, according to him, the prosecutor's office began checking Ruslan's actions before the publication of the URA.Ru article. Nevertheless, in my opinion, whether there was a statement or not, the media reported about it, and this act could create a more comfortable atmosphere for initiating a criminal case and arresting the blogger. But this, again, is a side story.
Whom did Sokolovsky insult, and where did his case come from? There is no insider, it's hard to say for sure, but the following can be assumed. Most likely, after the first media publications that the video blogger was catching Pokemon in the temple, the prosecutor's office and the police began an inquiry into the fact, which would probably have ended quite humanely if the discussion around this act had not developed rapidly. Feeling the growing interest of the audience and the media, Ruslan Sokolovsky published several more videos on this topic, in which he continued to provocatively criticize the church and law enforcement agencies. The topic began to be very widely discussed on social networks and other media, Sokolovsky was sharply criticized by the TV Agency of the Urals, known for its "Orthodox" position. There were stories on federal channels. The noise was serious. This could lead to a more attentive study of Sokolovsky's numerous videos - perhaps by investigators, or perhaps by some influential Orthodox people, even in Moscow or Yekaterinburg. Realizing that this is not just a naughty blogger, but a consistent "enemy of the Orthodox faith," they decided to punish the guy in full for an ostracism. (This, again, is my guess)
But what will come of it? The story is even more controversial than with Pussy Riot: they even staged a real provocation in the church, and the guy just walked with a smartphone, did not bother anyone, and then made a video about this. Yes, the video is mocking. Is it okay to put a person in jail for a bullying video, even if it offends us? Of course not.
The court arrested the video blogger Ruslan Sokolovsky, who caught Pokemon in the temple
Probably, in a sense, Sokolovsky is a follower of Pussy Riot. And this is just very important to take into account when thinking about his actions and possible punishment. I am almost sure that if at one time the authorities and the church had not gone to the indicative severe punishment of the members of the punk group, the relations between the intelligentsia and the Church would not have been so complicated now, which means that the militant atheist Ruslan Sokolovsky (or, according to at least he would not be so popular, and his actions would not attract such attention). As we can see, in this case, the severity of the punishment does not at all stop those who want to joke in the church, on the contrary, there are more of them, more and more people are trying to test the strength of the system. This is a self-winding spiral of conflict, and the more they now try to punish Sokolovsky, the worse it will ultimately be for the Church and society itself.
In addition, people cannot help but come to an involuntary comparison of Sokolovsky, who is in prison for videos, and people who are at large, although they are suspected of much more serious crimes (or even have already been convicted of such). "Fight crime", "Found the main enemy" - this is now a very popular commentary on Ruslan's story, and I think this opinion is heard not only on Facebook.
Now the Church can go in two ways. First: to demand the punishment of the video blogger "to the fullest extent of the law." In this case, in turn, two scenarios are possible. First, Ruslan Sokolovsky will be convicted and put in prison for 2-3 years. Second, the investigation will not be able to prove anything, and the guy will be released from the jail in 4-6 months. In either case, history will be additional irritants for society, add mistrust in relations between the intelligentsia, law enforcement agencies, and the Church. Perhaps, after leaving the jail or later from the camp, Ruslan Sokolovsky will no longer engage in his video provocations, but I am almost sure that there will only be more others who want to troll the Russian Orthodox Church. And thousands of his subscribers will decide that Sokolovsky was absolutely right in presenting the Church as a bunch of embittered narrow-minded people. Its subscribers are mainly schoolchildren, the future of our country.
There is a second option - to ask the investigation for leniency towards the young man. If Metropolitan Kirill of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye had turned to the investigators with such a petition, I am sure they would have been able to release Sokolovsky from the pre-trial detention center under house arrest or a recognizance not to leave. Or the court of second instance could mitigate the sentence after seeing the attitude of the representatives of the diocese. This is exactly what you expect from Christians. And in this case, people's trust in the Church would, on the contrary, grow. Even those who are critical of it would see that the ROC knows how to forgive and seeks peace, not conflict in society.
Taking this opportunity, I appeal to Metropolitan Kirill of Yekaterinburg: Your Eminence, show Christian kindness and do not allow this story to turn into something more dangerous. See this as an opportunity to show people the best things about the Church.
I am sure that only those who are internally ready to be offended can be insulted. In the desire to put a person in prison for a video, anger and inner weakness are felt. There is strength in the ability to forgive.
P. S. After the column was published the site with Metropolitan Kirill of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye, who is now in Chisinau. He said that he would ask for the release of Ruslan Sokolovsky on bail if the blogger wants to accept such help. Vladyka hopes that in the event of his release, Sokolovsky will take part in the work of the diocesan mercy services.
Ruslan Sokolovskith- a blogger who came out of the "underground intellectuals" crowd.
He began his work with translations of foreign videos, later switching to the usual podcast genre.
Due to the similarity of worldview (atheism, childfree, etc.) and content presentation, they are often compared with, with which, by the way, Ruslan is really close. The general public is known as the "Pokemon Catcher" in the church.
More about creativity
As mentioned earlier, Sokolovsky began his career mainly with translations of popular foreign video makers.
Later, Ruslan decides to switch to a more traditional podcast format, trying on the image of intellectual and an educator with an alternative point of view.
As you know, bloggers with similar views often cause a public outcry, which Ruslan, apparently, staked on. Criticizing religion with all that it implies, Sokolovsky manages to attract the attention of some Orthodox activists
Blogger profile
Date of Birth:20.10.1994
City:Ekaterinburg
Hometown:Shadrinsk
Height Weight:∼180 cm, 73 kg
Carier start: 22.07.2014
Sokolovsky vs Roma Mechanic
Dawkins Akbar
A funny production, perfect for mutual PR, or just for fun.
17 january 2016 of the year, a video appeared on the wall of the official community in which Ruslan Sokolovsky said that he had hacked this public, and would return it to its owner only after he gave him $ 10.
Sokolovsky and pokemon
"I believe it is safe and not prohibited by law."
One of the most scandalous incidents throughout history Russian video blogging.
Everyone remembers that universal hype around the game " Pokemon go"In mid-2016. In one of the broadcasts on TV, the news slipped that for catching Pokemon in the temple, you can be fined for 500 thousand rubles.
This impudent stuffing touched Sokolovsky, and he, like a militant atheist, challenges the system and goes to the lion's mouth with provocative intentions.
The video spread incredibly quickly throughout the network, and later reached television. One of the main state channels - Russia 24, dedicated a story to the blogger, in which they said, they say, "a young man with a fragile mind does not understand what he is doing." The blogger dedicated a video to this story with his reaction, in which he mentioned that he really faces imprisonment or a fine, as a result of which he decides to spend donation stream.
The next stage of the scandal happened September 2, 2016... In the morning, representatives of law enforcement agencies burst into Ruslan's apartment with clearly negative intentions. The punishment was severe, but not terrible (especially by the standards of the Russian court) - 2 months jail.
11 May 2017 the final trial took place, during which Ruslan was "given" 3.5 years suspended sentence... It is important to understand that the reasoning for the final verdict was markedly different from what was originally stated. The final accusation was based not so much on "OChV" as on the storage of forbidden spy gadgets.
Note: you can read more about this incident in Wikipedia (link to article)
Comments from other bloggers about the arrest
Did Sokolovsky insult? Yes, insulting, I really think it's wrong. Should I be punished for this? Naturally - if there is an injured party.
But is it necessary for, albeit stupid and offensive, words to deprive a person of freedom, and put him in the same place of detention with murderers, rapists, and real criminals?