The World Cup is coming to an end, but its main problem has not been solved yet. The arguers differed in their opinions, trying to understand how a Russian should be properly ill in a tournament in Russia. Finally, I want to find a mutually acceptable answer to this question so simple as to appear, writes Ilya Milstein in the column on "Radio Liberty".

There are different concepts. A purely aesthetic, combined with cosmopolitanism - it is sometimes forgotten. Still, football is a great game, and if Denis Cheryshev scores a fantastic goal in his beauty Croatians, you can not help but admire the skill of the Russian midfielder. Everything will pass, even Putin will someday leave us alone with our unlucky Rotogund, you can go to the beach, and this goal will be in the centuries. It's a sin not to be happy for a person who is able to twist so much from a long distance and so to hammer the ball into the net.

There is also a deeply personal side to this matter. Bad or divine, but the ball under the guidance of coach Cherchesova on the field is rolled by people who understand you, speaking the same language. When they crash to the ground, shot down on the fly by the enemy, or hit the gate, from their lips you read the family from childhood words.

With all due respect to the Uruguayans that they are shouting, Ignashevich felled, we can not comprehend, only guesswork is to build. That is allowed to hurt against Putin's Russia, but it is unclear how to root for the Saudis, Egypt, Uruguay, Croatia. This kind of experience - like love without reciprocity, to an unattainable and alien foreigner in fact. If only his wife annoyed.

There is also a political component in the matter, as has already been said almost everything that can be said on this topic. About the Berlin Olympics with reference to Sochi and that there is no sport outside politics. This is especially evident in authoritarian and totalitarian countries, in their nauseating propaganda, which in itself becomes a weighty argument in the polemics of the pros and cons, as well as those indifferent to superiors and football.

It's hard to worry about the team that the government itself chooses as a symbol of the state, and when the president's press secretary seriously remembers the May 9 after the victory over the Spaniards, you forget about the aesthetics of the sport. We have a good team, power, speaking with utmost gentleness, is bad, and these flies from these cutlets are inseparable. They are served in one plate, so either eat the dish entirely, or push aside.

Finally, the moral aspect. The country for which the hero Cheryshev fought and the hero Akinfeev with his miraculous leg, is waging an occupation war. Not the worst in the history of the world, but mean and hypocritical, for up till now songs from our high tribunes have been sung about the fraternal peoples, Russian and Ukrainian.

Something similar happened half a century ago in Prague, when the Soviet army taught the Czechs the basics of socialist democracy, but that occupation campaign did not turn into big blood and millions of refugees. And this war with all its oddities, including the saved diplomatic relations, continues even in the days of the championship, and people die on it almost every day, and the hostages serve time and bend in our Palestine and Labytnang.

Well, and how not to recall that after August 1968, some renegades, who later turned out to be true patriots of the country, were sick in hockey matches of the USSR - Czechoslovakia exclusively for the Czechs. By the way, there were no identification problems with them - there were people who were led by Vaclav Nedomansky, brothers in misfortune, dear and close, not the slightest resemblance to Uruguay. In general, support for "our" solidarity with the authorities and its subordinate people, the renegades stopped even then. There is a tradition in which the sense of shame suppresses simple yard feelings.

However, today's dissidents - of those who live in Russia and lead the protest movement - have largely not supported the tradition and are rooting for the Russian national team. Explanation of this phenomenon is easy to find. Unlike those who disagree with the Soviet authorities, the current non-system oppositionists are almost entirely political. They try to be elected somewhere, which makes them be very careful when it comes to subjects about which there is a consensus in society. That's why they do not have a sandwich in Crimea, and they speak about the successes of our heroic team with predictable admiration.

Probably quite sincere. Yes, and why in the nineteenth year of Putin's reign to take on us the other irreconcilable? They will, we assume, see the happy future Russia, in which athletes vaguely imagine lawfully elected presidents, and presidents do not need proxies from among football goalkeepers.

The championship is coming to an end, but the main problem is, we think,. You can understand all. Aesthetes and courtyard patriots. People who are keen on political subjects and embarrassed by shame. And also the dissenting leaders who agree with the authorities and with the people that Dziuba is our battle glory. And all of them should not only be understood, but also not deprived of the right to be ill as they want. Otherwise, what are we democrats.

Freedom of speech, aesthetic sense, patriotic experience, political views, woeful thoughts about the fate of the Motherland and the heinous treacherous wars that the country's leadership leads with the support of the population - all of this is valuable in itself. All this is very important and will soon come in handy for Russians, when football will end and the people will again face power. Freedom of speech, feelings, views, thoughts will be in demand, as soon as we forget about the championship, how we forget about everything in the world. When the holiday ends and everyday life begins.

Then we will become ill only for ourselves, and in this fight in the era of pension reform, permanent price increases and further tightening of the nuts, the chances of winning citizens will be much less than that of the Russian national team at the World Cup. The bosses in his confrontation with civilization are also quite bad, which again does not promise the people anything good. But still, while the championship is nearing the finale, we will concentrate on a wonderful game performed by the most brilliant masters. Enjoy football.

Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Join also the TSN group. Blogs on facebook and follow the updates of the section!.