Evgeny Roizman

Former head of Yekaterinburg, political and public figure Yevgeny Roizman, who openly opposes the Russian military special operation in Ukraine (the court was repeatedly fined for anti-war statements on social networks), gave an interview to Katerina Gordeeva for YouTube. channel “Tell Gordeeva”. Key citations collected.

On expressing one’s political position

They won’t put you in a concentration camp, don’t join it, refuse, don’t take the side of evil. Being yourself now is the main task and a goal in itself.

At the opening of the Nevyansk icon museum

In 1995 I established the first private icon museum in Russia. The next is in 2006. I had the largest collection of icons of Nevyansk (Old Believer school of icon painting. – Ed.), I made a decision and delivered them to the city. So for five years, no sign has yet been hung that it was Yevgeny Roizman who founded the museum and delivered the collection to the city. I don’t know why I’m doing this. Like an island of sanity, a hymn to the Russian peasant and Old Believers. The monthly maintenance of the museum costs 300 thousand in any case: preservation, restoration and maintenance. This is a serious story.

About raising children

I have four daughters and a son. I don’t touch my children with fingers, I don’t understand how to hit a child or insult him. I do not consider myself a good father, but I have always loved my children. It’s clear that I didn’t give them anything, it makes me sad. I don’t know how to train them. I think my children have complaints against me, they are formulated somewhere, not somewhere. My job is to make them grow free and strong people.

The eldest daughter Irina lives in Sweden, she left when she was very young. I have a good relationship with him. Russian is his native, he can write and read. Swedish is also the mother tongue. She is a happy person, she has traveled half the world. The second daughter, Nina, now works at the Great Russian Encyclopedia. Daughter Zhenya entered the university this year. Now they are all getting married. And small children study here in Yekaterinburg. One day, God willing, all children will be friends.

about women

I’ve been living for a long time, I’m 60 years old, if you divide this number by 60 years, that’s quite a lot. Now the bubbles are coming out of the nose, the crazy love is gone. I love women as phenomena. Life in Russia is built incredibly unfairly towards women. The role of the man is childish and it is useful for them to be childish, they do not want to grow up. I think the whole country and men are not enough for women here. I remember all my women with gratitude and gratitude.

About working as mayor of Yekaterinburg

If I had not stepped down in 2018, I would have had to resign in the current situation. I couldn’t physically participate in all of this. I managed to do the most serious things in my life without having any status. The mayor of Yekaterinburg had no authority. At the same time, everyone knew that there was a mayor in the city who never took bribes and that anyone could get an appointment.

About current activities and earnings

I am unemployed now. I have assets that I do not sell or manage. I always need funds to support the museum. I stopped writing poetry a long time ago, I can’t. Now he has started scientific work, I will publish a book about symbols (600 pages of text). The creative component is still present because I write texts in a way that people are interested in reading, not in an academic way. Then I will publish a children’s book about birds, animals and people in different situations. I want to write a book about artists’ paintings and stories of how these works were obtained. My books are sold out, but they haven’t made any money.

About why he stayed in Russia

Why should I go? I am connected to this land: I was born and raised here. I don’t move a millimeter, I love my country. I understand all the risks, but I can’t leave here because this will be an escape.

Reference

Evgeny Roizman is primarily known as the founder of the Drug Free City Foundation, which fights drug trafficking in and around Yekaterinburg. In the 2000s, he was a deputy of the Sverdlovsk Regional Duma. In 2013, Roizman won the Yekaterinburg mayoral election with 33.3% of the vote. In May 2018, the politician submitted his resignation of his own free will. During his tenure as the head of Yekaterinburg, there was the so-called “personal reception of Yevgeny Roizman”, citizens came to his office and asked for help in solving their problems.

Evgeny Roizman tries not to talk about his personal life. In the first marriage, a daughter Irina was born. When Roizman married a second time to Yulia Kruteeva, a glass artist and owner of the Art Bird Gallery, two daughters were born to this marriage – Lina and Nina. After the divorce, Roizman began dating journalist Aksana Panova, the former editor of the regional online publication Ura.ru. In 2014, Panova, who headed Roizman’s headquarters before the election of the mayor of Yekaterinburg, gave birth to twins: a son Evgeny and a daughter Alexandra.