by Mikhail Zakharov
[REGNUM] On February 20, information appeared that the Investigative Committee of Russia (SK RF) began preparations for an investigation into the murder of the poet and writer Mikhail Lermontov. This was stated by People's Artist of Russia, State Duma deputy Nikolai Burlyaev.
"There was a response from the Investigative Committee, the work is possible within the framework of the fight against the falsification of history in the cultural sphere, including in relation to famous cultural figures of Russia," Burlyaev said. "Specific joint preparation for the investigation has begun, including technical ones, we will report on its progress and results."
Earlier it became known that Burlyaev sent an appeal to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation with a request to investigate the circumstances of the death of the great Russian poet. "I earnestly ask you to conduct a modern, honest, unbiased investigation using modern technologies available to the Investigative Committee of Russia," the document says.
According to the State Duma deputy, the investigation conducted immediately after Lermontov's murder almost two centuries ago was unfair. As Burlyaev notes, serious questions are raised by the fact that the bullet that hit the poet's body passed from the bottom up, at an angle of almost 40 degrees - such a trajectory is difficult to imagine on a level dueling ground.
However, Russian law enforcement agencies almost immediately denied the information about the start of an investigation: “The information disseminated by one of the agencies about the investigation into Lermontov’s murder does not correspond to reality,” the Russian Investigative Committee noted.
DUEL BY THE RULES
Mikhail Lermontov was killed by his old acquaintance, retired major Nikolai Martynov, in a duel on July 27 (July 15, old style) 1841 at the foot of Mount Mashuk near Pyatigorsk.
According to the official version, Lermontov shot upwards, and Martynov shot into the poet's chest. As for alternative versions of the death of the classic of Russian literature, such as the idea that the poet could have been shot by a person from an ambush, experts are very skeptical about them.
Candidate of Philological Sciences, Deputy Director for Research at the State Museum-Reserve of M. Yu. Lermontov in Pyatigorsk Elena Krivetskaya notes that there is no detective background to the poet's death. She doubts the need for a new investigation due to the availability of published and studied documents.
"It is on them and the results of the ballistic examination of Soviet researchers that the version is based, which we consider the only correct one, " says Krivetskaya. " Despite many information gaps, it is unlikely that anything new can be discovered in this matter."
According to literary scholar and associate professor of the journalism department at Moscow State University named after M. V. Lomonosov Yegor Sartakov, there is no need to re-investigate the causes of the famous poet's death. According to the expert, the duel was conducted in accordance with the rules in force at the time, which is supported by written evidence.
“If they [the seconds] had even the slightest suspicion that the duel was not conducted according to the rules, and that it was not Martynov who shot Lermontov, but someone allegedly from the other side, then this would be a gross violation of the duel, and, of course, they would have intervened,” Sartakov said.
According to criminologist Mikhail Ignatov, it will not be possible to obtain new serious information during the proposed investigation, and today there are more serious and pressing problems in the country.
"History has already reached a fat point, why look for a black cat in a black room if it is not there?" Ignatov said. We will never find out who the third person could have been, besides the duelists and seconds, who could have hidden behind a tree and fired a shot. Everyone just wants to become participants in a world sensation and rewrite history a little."
SUSPICIONS ARE CONSTANTLY BEING BORN
On the one hand, Nikolai Burlyaev's interest in history from the distant past can be explained by personal motives. 40 years ago, he made a film about Lermontov (with himself in the leading role), but the film was not released.
According to the director, those in charge at the time “did not like the image of Lermontov, cleared of the layer of lies and slander that followed his tragic death in a duel.”
However, Burlyaev was not the first to draw attention to the circumstances of the poet's life and death. Back in 2007, British scientists suggested that Lermontov's descendants conduct a DNA analysis to answer the question of whether our compatriot had Scottish roots.
Researchers have suggested that the Lermontov surname was derived from the Scottish one. The poet himself was also interested in the origins of his family and even dedicated the poem "Desire" to possible distant ancestors from Scotland.
However, Mikhail Lermontov is not alone in the company of famous writers and poets whose biographies are periodically attempted to be clarified and supplemented. In particular, examinations have been conducted more than once on the subject of the authorship of anonymous libels with insults addressed to Alexander Pushkin, which became the reason (or pretext) for the fatal duel between the classic and Georges Dantes.
Sergei Yesenin's suicide was disputed, there were rumors that Maxim Gorky had been poisoned, and the hand of the OGPU was seen in Vladimir Mayakovsky's death. Abroad, the controversy over whether Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's death was natural continues to rage. The circumstances and reasons for Edgar Poe's death are still the subject of speculation.
However, it is hardly worth reducing such theories and searches to conspiracy theories: serious scientists have hope for new discoveries in archives and the help of advanced technologies.
Just the other day, artificial intelligence was used to decipher crossed-out fragments of Pushkin's draft manuscripts. And who knows, maybe in the future it will be possible to shed light on the secrets of great people that have long excited the minds.