Young Russians to their parents: 'How is it possible to think differently about this war?'

How can young Russians change the minds of their parents, who get most of their news from state television and defend the war in Ukraine? We spoke to some who talked about heated family debates and deep divisions.

Since the war began, there have been numerous demonstrations against it across Russia

Before Twitter was blocked in Russia, the site saw frequent discussions about how people might be able to persuade their parents not to believe Kremlin propaganda — and, above all, not to support the war in Ukraine.

According to a survey by the state-led opinion research institute VCIOM, 68% of Russians support the war, which within the country can only officially be referred to as a "special military operation." There are hardly any critical or independent press outlets left, and older people in particular get most of their news from state television.

A few young Russians, whose names have been changed here, spoke to DW about their disagreements with their parents over Ukraine, which go back to President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the international sanctions that followed.

'My father has begun to be critical, but my mother remains a Putin supporter'

Yelena, 29-year-old IT developer for NGOs from Moscow

This is an all-out war and I am definitely against it. On the first day, I was totally shocked and cried when I read the news. I am ashamed and sad, and I feel responsible for the fact that the sickness of our land, in the form of our president, is affecting not only us, but also people in another country. I never voted for this government, and I have taken part in protests.

I am going to protests now, as well, and I have already signed everything there was to sign against the war. I talk with people about what they can do to have some kind of an impact on the situation. My friends and I have started going to a metro station in Moscow and handing out green bands as a symbol of peace. We have had all sorts of responses. An older man came up to us with tears in his eyes and asked for a second band for his wife. And then there was an older woman who yelled all the way down the street that we were fascists and needed to be killed.

Russian authorities have arrested hundreds of protesters taking part in anti-war rallies

My parents also live in Moscow. My father is 59 years old and works for a cash transportation company. My mother is 63 and retired. She used to work as a scriptwriter for children's shows. When all this started in Ukraine, we argued. My parents believed everything they saw on television. On the morning of February 26, I called my brother, who shares my opinion. I suggested to him that we all sit down together and talk. We were partly successful.

We got our father to realize that this is all terrible. Since then, he has started to think critically. Even before, he had begun to understand that not everything was as they said it was on TV. But these new realizations were a disaster for him. He had a seizure and couldn't breathe. His entire thinking about Russia and his people was completely shattered.

After my mother retired, all she did was watch TV, and it turned her into a fanatical Putin supporter. We tried to persuade her to read other sources, but she won't hear of it. As soon as you suggest to her that her ideology might be wrong, she gets angry and aggressive, like that old woman on the street who called us fascists. When it became known that Kadyrov [head of the Chechen Republic — Editor's note] was sending his troop of cold-blooded murderers to Ukraine, she was so happy she practically applauded. That hurts.

Most Russians, especially older people, get all their information from Russian TV,

 which is tightly controlled by the state

My mother and I are no longer in contact with each other. Maybe I'll talk with her about it one day, when she's experiencing all the consequences and her rose-tinted glasses begin to crack. But our father is on our side. He was always opposed to me going to protests, just because he was worried about me. But after all our conversations, to my amazement, he told me that if I went to protests again, he would come with me.

'My mother repeats propaganda slogans, but we both find Nemtsov good'

Anton, 24-year-old designer from the Moscow region

I grew up in Morozovsk in the Rostov region, about 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the Ukrainian city of Luhansk. I've known Ukrainians since I was a child; everything was always fine between us. On the morning of February 24, when the war began, I packed my rucksack in case we were mobilized, so I could go and hide in the forest. My mother immediately asked where I was going. She said she supported the war against Ukraine, that it should have been occupied completely in 2014, and that Putin was doing everything right. I was aghast.

My mother is 52 years old and believes in all sorts of strange things, like runes, tarot cards and conspiracies. When she talks about politics, she just repeats propaganda slogans. But I had not expected her to justify the murder of people in a neighboring country. It's important for me to convince her that murder cannot be justified by anything.

I believe that war is unacceptable. I have served in the army, and it was clear to me then that something was wrong in our country. We weren't allowed to take photos of broken equipment, and the officers stole petrol. When I came back from the army, I started going to protest rallies. The war is a product of this system, which is why I'm trying to convince my mother that what is happening in Russia is not normal.

On the second day of the war, February 25, we talked about everything without quarreling and getting angry. I set things out in logical sequence, presented her with arguments, suggested she read Orwell. We talked the next day, quite calmly. But I don't think I can convince her. Her thinking is all muddled, but I'll still keep trying. For example, we both agreed that we find Boris Nemtsov [Russian politician and Putin critic who was killed in 2015 in Moscow — Editor's note] really good.

'If people justify this slaughter, what else will they justify?'

Alena, 26-year-old economist from St. Petersburg

My mother is 47 years old and works in the administration of a hospital. My father is 56 and works for Russian Railways. They both live in Perm, and back in 2014 they were already supporting the Russian government and parroting what was being said on TV.

In the meantime, though, their views have changed. It started after the import bans in 2014, when we couldn't buy cheese every day because we could no longer afford it and it didn't taste good any more. I was in class 11 back then, and I remember it very clearly.

Russia landed troops in Crimea in early 2014, seizing control and illegally

 annexing Ukraine's peninsula

At the same time, my father's Russian Railways salary was cut, because a lot of money was being spent on Crimea. I studied at the Faculty of Economics, and I made clear to my parents that we had suddenly started to live less well after the invasion of Crimea because that was what our money was being spent on. Was it worth it? A very good argument was always: "You worked really hard for me and my sister, and in the end, because the government, for which we didn't vote, seized part of another country, our quality of life has got much worse."

I admit that different generations can perhaps have different ways of looking at certain things, but not the things that are happening right now. I'm happy that my parents seem to share my opinion about the war; I don't know how anyone can think differently about it and still be a good person.

I always think: If people justify this slaughter, what else will they justify? You don't want parents like that. But we children can help them, for example, by providing orientation amid all this information.

This article was originally written in Russian

How the world has united in song via #StandWithUkraine

From national anthems to rock ballads by Sting, the Scorpions or John Lennon, musicians around the globe are showing their support for Ukraine via music.

Protests worldwide have been calling for peace

"Ukraine has not yet perished. Luck will still smile on us brother Ukrainians." These lyrics of the Ukrainian national anthem have been heard around the world since the beginning of Russia's war on Ukraine, on February 24, 2022.

Ukrainians around the world have been singing their anthem, proudly and defiantly — whether at the large Rose Monday demonstration in Cologne, Germany, or before an ice hockey game in Winnipeg, Canada.

It's not necessary to understand the lyrics of the anthem to understand its significance. It's enough to simply observe the faces of those singing to feel their profound expression of protest, love for their country's freedom and desire for peace.

In recent days, musicians around the world have used the hashtag #StandWithUkraine, to show their solidarity. In Germany, for example,  the NDR orchestra played the Ukrainian national anthem at Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie, with the concert hall illuminated in blue and yellow: the colors of the Ukrainian flag.

The anthem has been played by major orchestras around the world in recent days. At New York's Metropolitan Opera the in-house orchestra and chorus performed the anthem before a performance of the opera "Don Carlos." In Paris, it was played by the Orchestre de Paris.

Sting's Cold War ballad: 'Russians'

Big names in the music world are also taking part in the war protest via song. After nearly 40 years, Sting re-recorded his anti-Cold War ballad "Russians." In a video posted to Instagram, he is seen sitting in a studio with a cellist, performing the song which he wrote in 1985 for his debut solo album "The Dream of the Blue Turtles." In it, Sting appeals to common humanity. "There's no such thing as a winnable war," one line of the song goes.

"In light of one man's bloody and woefully misguided decision to invade a peaceful, non-threatening neighbor, the song is, once again, a plea for our common humanity" Sting says before he starts to play. "For the brave Ukrainians fighting against this brutal tyranny and also the many Russians who are protesting this outrage despite the threat of arrest and imprisonment — we, all of us, love our children. Stop the war."

The song is well-known in Russia as Sting has played it at concerts there in the past.

Peace songs have long been sung in Russia, as well. The glasnost and perestroika period at the end of the 1980s when the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev opened the Iron Curtain and turned towards the West, was an especially important time. Some songs came to represent the end of the Cold War, as well as the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany. In a sense, peace anthems of the West became those of the East as the once long-separated worlds began to merge.

German rock band The Scorpions had massive success with 'Wind of Change'

The Scorpions: 'Wind of Change'

German rock band The Scorpions were among the first Western rock bands allowed to play in Russia. In 1988, The Scorpions played in Leningrad, and in 1989, they performed in front of almost 300,000 people with other top rockers like Ozzy Osbourne at the Moscow Music Peace Festival.

It was then tht Scorpions frontman Klaus Meine came up with the lyrics to "Wind of Change," while walking through the city's famous Gorky Park one evening. "The world is closing in, Did you ever think that we could be so close, like brothers" goes part of the lyrics.

"The song is my personal reappraisal of what happened in the world in recent years," he told Classic Rock magazine. The song accompanied not only the reunification of Germany, but also the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

John Lennon: 'Imagine

John Lennon created one of the greatest pop hits in history with his song for peace "Imagine." He dreams of a world in which there are no national borders, no religions, no God. "Maybe I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us and the world will live as one." 

The song's message is timeless. Written in 1971 during the Vietnam War, the song is relevant to every conflict, including the war in Ukraine. At the French preliminary round of the Eurovision Song Contest, all twelve contestants took to the stage and sang the song together for Ukraine, while the audience waved blue and yellow flags.

John Lennon's equally famous peace anthem "Give Peace A Chance" was played simultaneously by 150 European radio stations at 8:45 on March 4.

'GIVE PEACE A CHANCE': SOLIDARITY WITH UKRAINE
Give peace a chance
On Friday morning, many radio stations across Europe played John Lennon and Yoko Ono's peace hymn "Give Peace a Chance" at the same time. Stations in Germany, France, Italy, Latvia, Iceland, Poland and Croatia all took part as a way to express solidarity with Ukraine and protest the Russian invasion. The Ukrainian station Radio Promin also played the song.
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The girl in the bunker

One of the most poignant songs in the last few days, however, is not an anti-war song, but rather "Let It Go," from the Disney movie "Frozen." A viral video shows a young girl singing it in an air raid shelter in Kyiv, where she and others have been holed up for days.

Initially, Amelia, who aims to be a pop star, sings against the clamor of voices of the others. But eventually everyone falls silent and listens. The video shot on a cell phone immediately became a hit on social media, touching the hearts of people all over the world. It even gained the attention of Broadway star Idina Menzel who sang in the original "Frozen." "We see you. We really, really see you," the star tweeted.

This article was originally written in German.

Opinion: Will the Ukraine war plunge the world economy into a new crisis?

Russia's war against Ukraine is disrupting and likely stifling the world's economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. What comes next is unclear, but it's not going to be any better, thinks DW's Henrik Böhme.

Russia's war against Ukraine is changing the post-World War II global order

Crises and wars change much, if not everything. After World War II, a new world order emerged from the ruins, including the creation of the United Nations, in an attempt to never let such a devastating war happen again.

The global financial crisis from 2007 to 2009 caused governments around to the world to put financial markets on a tighter leash, strengthening oversight over banks and their complex products.

The COVID-19 pandemic buried concerns about digitization, as more people have finally come to cherish the advantages of remote working.

But now war has returned to Europe, unleashed by a man who thinks it's his duty to correct what he sees as past political mistakes. He is the president of a country that has all it takes to be an economic superpower: abundant mineral resources, a well-educated population and a rich culture.

Alas, this president has miserably failed to put this wealth to any good uses. The billions of dollars earned by the state from commodity sales haven't been spent on catching up with countries on the edge of technological progress. Instead, the "fat cats" — oligarchs and political elites — have squandered this wealth in a mad global race for the most luxurious yachts, the biggest real estate holdings and the most valuable football club.

Will sanctions hit the right ones?

Now we look on aghast at a war being waged brutally and with no clear idea of who will end it and how — how far is the man in the Kremlin ready to go?

We are also seeing unity among Western countries determined to impose sanctions of the utmost severity. The ruble is plunging, credit ratings have reached junk status and financial investors are leaving the country in droves.

But will these sanctions bring about the desired effects? Are they hitting those pulling the strings? Or is it once again the ordinary people again who are suffering? Those who can no longer buy their Levi's jeans and iPhones, or eat out at their local McDonalds?

DW senior business editor Henrik Böhme

At the same time, countries in western Europe are hurting, too. Strongly addicted to Russian gas and oil, they are concerned about how to shield their industries from the fallout of diminishing fossil fuel supplies. Many Europeans are anxious about the next winter and whether they'll be sitting in cold homes without these fuel supplies. Already, prices at the pump are going through the roof, with the price of oil reaching unprecedented highs.

This might just be the beginning: Nickel, for example, essential for steelmaking and provided to a large extent by Russia, became 50% more expensive virtually overnight. The same goes for palladium, aluminum and inert gases such as neon and xenon — Russia is a major producer of each.

Recipe for a global recession

Meanwhile, we're taking bets when the price of oil will crack the $200-a-barrel mark. But the safer bet is on a return of inflation to economies worldwide. If we're sure of anything, it's that prices won't be going down anytime soon.

All in all, this looks like a perfect storm for the global economy, which appears set on a course into the next economic crisis. 

People stand in line to withdraw money from an ATM of Alfa Bank in Moscow

And all of this in a situation when state coffers have been emptied by a pandemic that swallowed billions in government support. How are we to finance the rescue funds and economic stimulus packages looming around the corner?

In Europe, governments are already hastily cobbling together plans to wean their economies off Russian gas and oil. This is easier said than done and will come at a massive cost. Refilling the continent's gas storage with liquefied natural gas (LNG) rather than Russian gas will increase Europe's energy bill by an estimated €70 billion ($76 billion).

Making do without Russia?

On the other hand, Russia may be thinking twice before shutting off its pipelines to Europe. In February alone, Europeans paid €5.6 billion to the likes of Gazprom and Rosneft who, for example, currently earn between $70 (€64) and $90 for every oil barrel they sell. What usually helps in tight oil markets is pumping more of the crude to drive down prices. 

Even so, it may hurt the man in the Kremlin only so much. He's sitting on a pile of cash and has little debt to pay down. After all, he has a staunch ally backing him up. China is eager to secure raw materials of all kinds and new markets for its own products.

The billion-dollar questions — asked, perhaps, prematurely — are: How can we shape a relationship with Russia in the future? Can there be one?

First and foremost, the war against Ukraine must end. Only then can we think about how to reintegrate Russia into the global economy. Tackling this task could be as difficult as solving humanity's other pressing problems, like fighting climate change. This is only possible with Russia — but a Russia without Putin.  

This opinion piece was adapted from German. 

Ukraine war: How a 'fact-checking' website is spreading Russian propaganda

A website called "War on Fakes" is using false claims made by Ukrainian outlets to disseminate Russian propaganda. DW takes a look at what and who's behind it.

Russian propaganda and false claims are being used to discredit Ukraine

"The unprecedented stream of fake news about what is happening in Ukraine is intended to stir up emotions and eliminate rational thinking," the Russian Defense Ministry writes on Twitter, referring to the websitewww.waronfakes.com, where "a group of experts" and "journalists" are allegedly exposing the "most outrageous" false claims. But what is this alleged fact-checking site all about? DW's fact-checking team took a closer look.

The creators of the website, which was registered on March 1, claim there are signs of an information war against Russia. The website, they write, provides "objective publications" to make citizens less fearful and uncertain about what is happening. "Fact-checking" articles in English, French, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic are meant to show what is really going on in the war in Ukraine.

"War on Fakes" has been set up to reach an international audience

What is striking is that Russian, of all languages, is missing from this website. The aim, it appears, is to reach an international audience. The original Russian version of this website and the associated Telegram account are older, according to research by the Atlantic Council's DFRLab. The Telegram account was reportedly set up on February 23, the day before the war began. The first post appeared a day later. The account now has more than 625,000 subscribers and is one of the top Telegram channels in Russia, with a reach of more than 30 million daily views.

Both the Russian and English websites and the Telegram account are being heavily promoted on social media. For example, Russian television station RT quoted "War on Fakes" in a Telegram post on February 27.

Given that this channel itself has hundreds of thousands of followers, it is likely that much of the growth of "War on Fakes" is due to their promotion, and that of other accounts. Additionally, Russian embassies, like the one in France, have also featured it on their social media accounts, including Twitter.

The ploy of the website operators seems sophisticated: The authors debunk false claims, including those from the Ukrainian side that appear on this site as well. However, Russian propaganda is then used to provide background for the fact checks, as the following two examples show.

Russian soldiers also killed civilians

In one "fact check," the claim that a Grad multiple rocket launcher system, also known as BM-21, is being used against Ukraine is presented as false. In the process, a widely circulated video purporting to show the use of such weapons is revealed to be old — correctly so. In fact, a video from 2021 was passed off as current, as a reverse image search shows. 

However, the website "War on Fakes" does not deny the use of such missile systems at all. Its argument to explain the fact check is to claim that the Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly emphasized that no missile, artillery or airstrikes are carried out on Ukrainian cities. This is false.

As reported by DW, the Russian military is also targeting cities. According to UN figures, at least 406 civilians have been killed so far, including 15 children, and 801 people have been injured, including 29 children (as of March 7).

Russia began its current war against Ukraine on Feb. 24

The website also uses another "fact check" to put Russia in a better light: This article analyzes the tweet of British journalist Larisa Brown, who works for The Times newspaper. On February 25, she shared a video of a man tearfully saying goodbye to his wife and child before they boarded a bus. Brown writes that these scenes are playing out across Ukraine, following the Ukrainian defense minister's decree that men between the ages of 18 and 60 remain in the country to defend Ukraine. The post gives the impression that the man is saying goodbye to his family, who are fleeing the Ukrainian war.

The "War on Fakes" authors reveal that the shared video is outdated and is about a family from the separatist Donetsk region who had already left for Russia on February 21, before the Russian military attacked Ukraine on February 24.

This is apparently true, as the Spanish fact-checkers of the website Maldita also revealed. The "War on Fakes" piece uses the disclosure of the false claim to say that the mother and the baby are now "no longer in danger," implying that they had to save themselves from the Ukrainians. This ignores the fact that the war in Ukraine started on February 24.

These examples show how the website purposefully uses false claims to portray Ukraine in a bad light, while at the same time spreading and substantiating Russian propaganda.

Contrary to its claims, the Russian military has been targeting cities

All the examples on the website are structured in the same way: Two to three sentences are used in each case to refute the alleged Ukrainian fakes, however, the claim is never properly addressed. The writers also don't provide evidence or methods used to expose the "fakes."

Who is behind the website?

So who runs "War on Fakes"? To find out who's behind it, we ran it through the who.is website. It revealed that the website was launched only very recently, on March 1, and focuses only on the war between Russia and Ukraine. The name of the operator is hidden, but an address in Moscow is given as a contact option. However, this address only leads to the company that registered the page.

The given phone number turns out to be a popular scam number previously used in 2019 to rip off people financially.  An analysis of the website using Scamadviser also shows that the website should be treated with caution. In a ranking up to 100 trust points, "War on Fakes" scores a single point.

There is no information on the site itself, nor does research reveal who these "journalists" and "fact-checkers" are who are publishing articles on the site and its corresponding Telegram accounts.

At this point, it cannot be said with any certainty who is behind "War on Fakes." But its sudden appearance, rapid growth, and widespread support from state-run Russian media raise questions about its origins and influence.

This article was originally written in German.

Ukraine War: The role of the Orthodox Churches

About 75% of Russians and 60% of Ukrainians profess to be Orthodox Christians. How are their churches responding to the war?

Patriarch Kyrill (left) has publicly given his support to the war

Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine is driving a wedge into the Orthodox Church. While the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has justified the war in Moscow, it has been condemned in the Ukrainian Orthodox churches, as well as by some priests in Russia.

"The Moscow Patriarchate had been silent about the war for a long time," explains Thomas Bremer in a video interview with DW. The professor of ecumenical theology, eastern European church studies and peace research at the University of Münster adds that this position has now changed with Patriarch Kirill, who presents Vladimir Putin's war as a legitimate resistance to Western values in his sermons in Moscow.

"He bases this on gay pride parades," explains Bremer, "which he claims were intended to be imposed on the Donbass."

In keeping with Putin's line and in accordance with the president's ban on reporting on the war or even calling it as such, the patriarch also did not use the word "war" for the invasion of Ukraine but spoke of "events" and "military actions."

The independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OKU) is led by Metropolitan Epiphanius

Religious diversity in Ukraine

While the Russian Orthodox Church is the primary church in Russia, Ukraine is characterized by religious diversity. Orthodox Christianity has had a turbulent history in Ukraine, especially since Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Currently, two Orthodox churches exist in Ukraine. One is the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OKU), led by Metropolitan Epiphanius. This church was recognized by Bartholomew I in Istanbul, who is considered the "spiritual leader" of the approximately 260 million Orthodox Christians worldwide.

On the other hand, there is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOK), which is an autonomous church within the Russian Orthodox Church and has not often expressed itself politically in the past.

What is the position of the Orthodox churches in Ukraine?

Each of the two Orthodox churches in Ukraine has referred to the "war" by name and condemned it emphatically, Bremer said in an interview with DW. He added that while the OKU's reaction was to be expected anyway, even the patriarch of the UOK, which is after all a part of the Russian Orthodox Church, had spoken of an "invasion" of Ukraine on the very first day of the war and called on Putin to end it.

"The synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church even called on the patriarch in Moscow to use his influence on Putin and work for peace," Bremer notes. "But that was left out of the coverage in Russia. The horrors of war are not visible there at all."

Will there be a split in the church?

According to Bremer, the Moscow patriarch's failure to speak out for peace has led to many bishops of the UOK in Ukraine giving instructions to stop mentioning his name in prayer, as is customary. Even in northeastern Ukraine, on the Russian border, that is the case, he says. "In the church, this shows a great movement away from Moscow," Bremer analyzes. The Moscow patriarch has lost the trust of his brethren in Ukraine — and with it many practicing believers in the country, he said. He explained that about 12,000 of 38,000 parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church are in Ukraine and are part of the UOK: that is, almost one-third.

Bartholomew I is the ecumenical patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox church and its

 approximately 260 million followers

Resistance also stirring in Russian Orthodox Church

In early March, Russian Orthodox clergy and priests published an open letter calling for an end to the war. Written in Russian, the letter reads: "We, the priests and deacons of the Russian Orthodox Church, appeal on our own behalf to all in whose name the fratricidal war in Ukraine will end and call for reconciliation and an immediate ceasefire."

They spoke of the "ordeal to which our brothers and sisters in Ukraine are undeservedly subjected" and referring to the future added, "We are saddened to think of the gulf that our children and grandchildren in Russia and Ukraine will have to bridge to become friends again, to respect and love one another." As of March 8, 2022, 286 priests and deacons have signed the letter.

"This is very courageous," Bremer says of these clerics, who make up a relatively small group out of around 36,000 priests in the Russian Orthodox Church. But they are now being subjected to reprisals and persecution by the Russian authorities and the Federal Secret Service (FSB), Bremer adds.

'Russian Orthodox' as a cultural identity

Professing to being part of the Orthodox Church in Russia can be both a religious as well as cultural affiliation. "There are people in Russia who call themselves Orthodox, but at the same time say they don't believe in God," Bremer explains. "This is also a matter of identity."

Orthodox Christianity is historically closely linked to Russia, the theologian elaborates, and Vladimir Putin is taking advantage of that. In a speech justifying "military actions" in Ukraine, for example, he even referred to the religious dimension when he falsely spoke of Russian Orthodox church members being persecuted in Ukraine.

Both Orthodox churches in Ukraine have rejected this narrative. What impact the war would have on the Orthodox Church, Bremer said, would depend on its further course — and who would win the war. Should Russia take Ukraine, it would mean the end of the independent Ukrainian Orthodox Churches (UOK), he predicts.

But the Russian Orthodox Church would already have lost many believers in Ukraine, and perhaps also some in Russia.

This article was originally written in German.

SEE

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for RUSSIAN ORTHODOX 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX 

Some Russian officials think invading Ukraine was 'a mistake' and are 'discouraged, frightened,' and 'making apocalyptic forecasts,' report says

Jake Lahut

Mon, March 7, 2022, 

Russian President Vladimir Putin.MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

• Some Russian officials are reportedly unhappy about Putin's decision to invade Ukraine.

• Farida Rustamova, formerly of the BBC, spoke with Kremlin officials for a Tuesday story.

• An English translation of her article said many were "discouraged, frightened."

President Vladimir Putin has alienated some top Russian officials since the early stages of the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian journalist Farida Rustamova reported.

According to the journalist Ilya Lozovsky's English translation of Rustamova's Tuesday report, officials and members of parliament she spoke with said they were increasingly worried about how Putin was handling the war.

"In reality, the attitude toward the war within the corridors of power is ambiguous," Rustamova wrote, according to Lozovsky, whose translation she shared on Twitter and reposted in her Substack newsletter. "I came to this conclusion after speaking with several members of parliament and officials at various levels. Many of them are discouraged, frightened, and are making apocalyptic forecasts."

Rustamova recently fled the country and previously worked for the BBC Russian Service — which has since been suspended by the London-based network — as well as Meduza and the RBC, an investigative outlet that experienced a mass resignation in 2016.

"No one is rejoicing," a source described as "close to the Kremlin" told Rustamova, according to Lozovsky's translation. "Many understand that this is a mistake, but in the course of doing their duty they come up with explanations in order to somehow come to terms with it."

"Some officials aren't associating themselves with what's happening at all, viewing Putin's decision as a historical choice over which they have no influence, and the meaning of which no one will understand for a some time to come," Rustamova wrote.

Another person granted anonymity said Kremlin officials were "carefully enunciating the word clusterfuck" when describing the invasion.

Rustamova wrote that every source she talked to believed Putin wouldn't follow through on invading Ukraine and was instead looking to gain leverage for concessions, such as declaring Donetsk and Luhansk "people's republics."

"Everyone had some scattered information that did not provide an answer to the main question: Will we start bombing or not?" another person described as "close to the Kremlin" told Rustamova.

The Russian reporter also outlined how Putin had been limiting information to a close circle of advisors.

"Most likely, my sources say, only the narrowest circle had been informed: Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, and the leaders of the counterintelligence service," she wrote, according to Lozovsky's translation. "For example, the head of the presidential administration Anton Vaino, whose role, unlike his more influential predecessors, is more akin to a private secretary, is not informed about such decisions, my sources say."

A different person Rustamova described as "a good acquaintance of Putin's" said the Russian president's mood had gotten worse.

"Here he is in a state of being offended and insulted," the source said. "It's paranoia that has reached the point of absurdity."