For several years, a picture of demonstrations has been spreading through social networks, the participants of which allegedly went out to protest against the collapse of the Soviet Union. We checked whether such a description of this image is correct.
In the photograph (more precisely, in several images often distributed together, made from a similar angle), a huge crowd is visible, which flooded the manifold square in the center of Moscow. It is claimed that all these people (from 500,000 to “millions”) gathered in one place in one place to support the preservation of the USSR.
Such a description accompanies one of the photographs in the media bank "RIA Novosti", As well as in the social networks of the publication Lenta.ru and on the site "Culturology.rf". The picture was widely used in Facebookas well as in "VKontakte" And "Zen".
In the Media Bank, RIA Novosti, along with the signature, indicates the name of the author (Alexander Makarov) and the date when the picture was taken (February 23, 1991). Indeed, on that day in Moscow, a rally was held on Manezhnaya Square in support of the updated single USSR, for the civil world, consent and further democratization of society. Its participants expressed distrust to Boris Yeltsin and supported the president of the country Mikhail Gorbachev. Magazine "Kommersant Power»With reference to the police, he wrote that about 250,000 people took part in the demonstration, and Forbes In 2012, he evaluated the organizers of the action of 600,000 - 800,000 protesters. Contrary to the statement about the spontaneity of the action, which is given in some publications on social networks, it was organized by the deputy groups "Soyuz" and "Moscow".
Of course, such a massive event of recent history is captured in many photographs. The most famous reviewing picture Store In the archive of TASS and made by Anatoly Markovkin and Gennady Khamelianin.
The place of shooting is obvious as in viral photos, but numerous red flags are visible in this picture, which is natural, because supporters of preservation of the USSR gathered. This image, as well as the verified one, is actively It spreads On the Internet with a similar signature, and there is no doubt about its correctness.
However, there are no red flags on the analyzed frames. It is easy to notice Russian tricolors and national flags of Ukraine.
March 10, 1991 in the center of Moscow, another rallywho claims to be the most massive in Russian history. According to some reports, up to half a million people went to Manezhnaya Square. They demanded the resignation of Gorbachev and supported Yeltsin. The organizers called to vote against the preservation of the USSR in a referendum, which was supposed to take place a few days later. And although in the end most of the voters Supported The preservation of the Soviet state, it soon still broke up. It is completely logical that people came to such a rally with national flags.
The author of the upper of the pictures belongs TASS photographer Dmitry Sokolov. Almost identical, differing only in small details, frame did Photographer Associated Press Dominic Mollar. His photo is widely known in the West and often issued For pictures taken much later in other places. Connected with this frame and another entertaining story: It turned out that in AP it was not edited slightly in order to remove the glare, however, after receiving an appeal from the attentive reader, the original was returned to overall access.
There is no doubt that the photo was taken on March 10, 1991, this date is indicated by both TASS and AP. As for the lower image, from RIA Novosti, then, apparently, a rally is incorrectly indicated on the site, during which the photograph was shot.
Finally, in another similar photo, issued In some publications, for a picture from a rally for the preservation of the USSR, it is also impossible to find red flags, but (despite the poor image quality), other banners and other elements are located approximately in the same place as in the pictures from March 10. Apparently, the photo (or maybe the video from which they later took the frame) was made at the same time.
Thus, in the publications about the rally for the preservation of the USSR, they often use a series of the same photographs from the demonstration of opponents of the preservation of the Soviet system, which took place in the same year a little later.
Photo on the cover: social networks
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