The Russians who witness how Vladimir Putin stole their future by the invasion of Ukraine

“My life has collapsed”, confesses to the EFE agency Mikhail, a Muscovite who defines how many Russians feel since the start of Russia's military intervention in Ukraine 35 days ago.

While looking at his 5-month-old son, who is dozing in his wife's arms, this writer, who has been renamed by EFE for security reasons, says that “tomorrow no longer exists”.

Mikhail's uncertainty grows in the avalanche of contradictory propaganda and information coming from the front lines in Ukraine, and in the sanctions imposed by the West, the sharp fall of the ruble and the heavy inflation that affects the pockets of all Russian families.

Added to this is the fear of many Russians of publicly expressing what they think of the Russian military campaign.

Not surprisingly, laws have been adopted at the beginning of the offensive laws restricting freedom of expression and freedom of the press, punishing with significant fines and prison sentences of up to 15 years “false information” about the intervention and the Russian army.

There have already been several arrests of citizens and journalists for protesting against Russia's so-called “special military operation”.

A DRIFT INTO THE DARK PAST

“We have been plainly falling into totalitarianism,” regrets Alexandr, a 62-year-old sculptor who calls Russian President Vladimir Putin a “dark genius”.

Mikhail recalls that Russia's authoritarian turn was forged in 2002, when the first alternative media were closed under the cover of the fight against the Russian oligarchy, accused of corruption.

At that time he tried to fight, but now it's too late, he regrets.

These days the choice arises between a life without luxury in Russia, but with the risk of living in a totalitarian society, or an exile where at his age and with his trade he would live in poverty and without great illusions of freedom.

“There are those who say that you can be very poor in order to be free. That is a lie, poverty deprives freedom of choice, of freedom”, he sighs.

ABSURDITY AS A NORM

“Anything can happen now,” says Alexander, according to which Russia has plunged “into a turbulence in which it is impossible to see the future” of the country since February 24, the day of the start of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine.

He condemned it from the beginning, but thought that the operation would be limited to the pro-Russian regions of the Donbas, where since 2014 the separatists from Donetsk and Lugansk have been facing the Ukrainian Army with the political and logistical support of the Kremlin.

However, Alexandr almost immediately attended in astonishment an offensive that has spread to much of Ukraine.

“In this situation, in the midst of this indeterminacy and this absurdity, it is impossible to have constructive ideas” when “you don't know anything, you don't know what will happen to the country I love,” he says.

And above all, he does not understand how nearly 80% of the Russian population, according to the polls, supports “this barbarity”, from social networks to white “Z” stickers - allegorical of Russia's intervention - on vehicles that roam Russian streets.

WITH THE “Z” ON THE CHEST

Vladimir, a retired soldier from Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, is one of those who welcomes Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to send troops to Ukraine.

“It's hard for the rest of the world to imagine how we lived in Crimea when I was Ukrainian. It was a true fascist regime. They could put you in jail not because you bribed someone, but because you didn't bribe them. A widespread corruption, everywhere”, declares EFE categorically.

He says that the Ukrainian authorities forbade him to speak Russian, his native language, the majority in Crimea, before 2014, and even “Ukrainian” their names on the documents and turned the Nadias into Nadiya and the Vladimir, like himself, into Volodymyr.

“Is this normal?” , he says indignantly, while recalling that, following the overthrow of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, hundreds of stocky young nationalists arrived in Crimea who tried to control the situation by force.

A BARRICADE AGAINST UNCERTAINTY

Elena, a 48-year-old psychologist, sees reality from another perspective. He explains that, in the midst of uncertainty, many give in to despair.

He tells EFE that after overcoming the initial stupor due to the “special military operation”, he joined the humanitarian project EMDR Rossiya, a community of psychologists that organizes daily group sessions to deal with anxiety in these difficult times.

“People are panicking, suffering for their future, wondering how they can live in a world that is changing everywhere and for everyone,” he says.

He assures that he tries to help such people overcome anxiety and fear, without distinguishing whether they are Russians or Ukrainians, who also come to the consultations.

Unlike the overwhelming majority of Russians, who cling to one side and choose to wave Ukrainian flags or draw white “Z” on the walls, Elena prefers not to take sides. “What I can really do is maintain an inner balance and not fall into hysteria,” he explains.

(With information from EFE)

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