Prominent Russians join protests against Ukraine
war amid 1,800 arrests
As invasion continues, people from worlds of
entertainment, business and journalism voice opposition
Andrew Roth
in Moscow
Fri 25 Feb
2022 17.10 GMT
Prominent
Russians shocked by the invasion of Ukraine have gone public with their
opposition to the war, despite the professional and personal risks that come
with dissent on such a sensitive issue in Russia.
More than
1,800 people were arrested at rallies across the country on Thursday night as
prominent Russians from the worlds of entertainment, business and journalism
have risked their livelihoods in order to speak out.
When Elena
Chernenko, the veteran diplomatic correspondent for Kommersant newspaper, found
out that Russia was invading Ukraine, she said she was stunned.
“Of course,
I was shocked … Until yesterday morning, I refused to believe that Russia could
launch a massive military operation against Ukraine,” said Chernenko, who
believed Russia may at most recognise the territories in south-east Ukraine.
“I thought
that all the talk about invasions was awful hysteria. I argued with people on
Twitter and in person that nothing would happen, it’s all thought up,” she
said. “Maybe I don’t understand anything about Russian foreign policy anymore.”
After Putin
announced the military operation, she penned an open letter condemning the
attack on Ukraine. “War has never been and will never be a method of conflict
resolution and there are no excuses for it,” she wrote. Nearly 300 journalists
have signed, including representatives of state-run media.
In
retaliation, she revealed she has been expelled from the diplomatic pool, which
she has covered for more than 11 years, for “unprofessionalism”.
Chernenko
remains a strong critic of Ukraine’s policy toward the Donbas region, but said
she could not justify the kind of military operation now unfolding.
“There was
nothing complicated about it for me,” Chernenko said of her letter. “It was a
spontaneous reaction. My country has started a military operation against
another … but we’re for diplomacy, we’re for the UN charter, moral values,
brotherly nations, and all that. And I had the feeling that this is the wrong
path.”
Popular
actors and musicians, some of whom are employed by the government, have also
spoken out and appear to have been punished for their dissent.
On
Thursday, Ivan Urgant, the host of a popular talk show on state-run Channel
One, posted a black square on Instagram with the caption “Fear and pain. No to
war.” His show has not gone on air since. Channel One has claimed it is just a
scheduling issue, although several reports in Russian media say that they have
been blacklisted.
Elena
Kovalskaya, the director of the Meyerhold Center in Moscow, quit her job at the
state-financed theatre in an act of protest over the war. “It’s impossible to
work for a murderer and receive your salary from him,” she wrote of her
decision.
“Our future
is being taken from us,” said Yuri Shevchuk, the frontman of classic Soviet
rock band DDT and a veteran anti-war campaigner, who went to Chechnya in 1995
as part of a peace tour. “We’re being pulled like through an ice hole into the
past, into the 19th, 18th, 17th centuries. And people refuse to accept it.”
He pointed
to those in show business who would usually avoid politics now coming out
against the war. “Even those pop stars who never talked about politics, who
were afraid to lose their shows, honorariums, and so on.”
They
include mainstream stars like Valery Meladze, as well as more politically
minded artists like the rapper Oxxxymiron. He voluntarily cancelled six
sold-out shows in Moscow and St Petersburg, writing: “I cannot entertain you
when Russian missiles are falling on Ukraine.”
Even the
family members of some of Russia’s richest businessmen have gone public in
their opposition to war. The daughter of Roman Abramovich posted an Instagram
picture that read “Putin wants a war with Ukraine,” crossing out the word
Russia. “The biggest and most successful lie of Kremlin’s propaganda is that
most Russian stand with Putin.”
And on
Friday afternoon, Lisa Peskova, the daughter of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry
Peskov, took to Instagram to post a simple message on a black background: #Нетвойне, or “No to war.” So did Tatyana
Yumasheva, the daughter of Boris Yeltsin.
While the
acts of dissent may not change Kremlin policy, they could point to
significantly less public or elite support for the current military operation
in Ukraine than the annexation of Crimea eight years ago.
Hours after
Putin announced the military operation, protests broke out on the streets of
Moscow and St Petersburg and more than 50 other Russian cities on Thursday
evening.
They were
not the largest protests that Moscow has ever seen. But they were remarkable as
a show of defiance despite threats that the government would crack down harder
than usual.
“Not only
did they go to war without us, they won’t even let you protest against a war,”
said Zhanna, a young woman with her hair dyed green, pointing to police in riot
helmets. “But war is never right. I need to be here because I feel ashamed.”
One young
man held up a sign that said “Fuck the war!” Within seconds, four police
officers had fallen on top of him, dragging him roughly to a police van as
media and photographers crowded around.
That scene
repeated itself dozens of times, as protesters mostly waited their turn for
police to arrest them. As the protesters were pushed off the square, they began
to march down the broad pavement of Tverskaya Street, chanting “No to war.”
A number of
protesters said that they wished more people had come out in opposition to the
war, a remark echoed by political analysts.
“The
government can put down nearly any protest at this point,” said Tatyana
Stanovaya, the founder of R.Politik. “And in order for the situation to become
serious, many more people would have to come out than did so yesterday.”
Despite the
odds stacked against them, many Russians have said they feel it is their duty
to speak out whatever the consequences.
“They are
all doing this without worrying about their own future and threats,” said
Dmitry Muratov, the Nobel prize-winning editor of Novaya Gazeta. “These people
have all spoken very clearly to say that they are against this bloodshed. And
that is very inspiring for me.”
Muratov
released dual editions of his newspaper in both Russian and Ukrainian this week
and has said that his newspaper would defy the Russian media watchdog’s rules
that they only report official government information about the war, trusting
reporting only from their own newsroom.
He believes
the war is an unpopular one for most Russians.
“The memory
of the [second world] war, and that people have relatives in Ukraine, and that
Ukraine is a dear country to us, it holds back even the most rabid supporters
of the current leadership,” said Muratov. “There is no enthusiasm for
this.”
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