Vladimir and Yevgenia are two fervently patriotic Russians in their 60s who are consumed these days, in very different ways, by what is happening to the desperate but valiant ordinary people of Ukraine.
Yet it is not at all clear which one the Russian people would really agree with — if they could ever get the true facts about what is really happening in Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin derives consummate satisfaction and vindication every time his generals and elite weapons specialists achieve his goal of civilian devastation without leaving their safe sanctuaries 10 or maybe 100 miles from their target — or even without leaving Russia. They simply fire artillery, rockets or missiles that soar over Ukraine for miles, smash homes, apartments, hospitals, schools and shops — and successfully slaughter and maim Ukrainian women, children, infants, elderly and infirm where they were helplessly huddling, hoping only to survive. It is inhuman, but far better than using Russian ground convoys that stall, run out of fuel and food, and end up with demoralized troops deserting or becoming easy prey for determined Ukrainians protecting their homeland.
Yevgenia Albats, a veteran journalist in Putin’s Moscow who refuses to abandon her job, has her online sources and has seen all the above reality. She is the editor of an independent magazine, The New Times. She also still has a YouTube channel where she reports to Russians what their military is really doing inside Ukraine.
She is the best of our news business and is among the best of Russia’s true patriots. And she wants you to know why she insists on braving Putin’s fury — risking being jailed, or worse — just so she can report to fellow Russians the truth about their president’s blizzard of Ukraine lies.
She had the guts to go on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” show on March 13 to prove to you and the world that there still are patriotic Russians who believe in democracy and humanity.
“I wake up in the middle of the night and ask myself, is it really happening to us?” she said. “Is it really happening that Russian troops are killing Ukrainians? … My father fought during World War II in Ukraine, in the city of Mykolaiv … where there are heavy shellings and … bombardment going on right now. And that's what makes me absolutely sick.”
State television, print and websites repeat Putin’s blatant falsehoods. Among them: Ukraine’s government is made up of “neo-Nazis” (yes, he really, repeatedly says that!) who are a threat to Russia (that too!). Many journalists have quit rather than mouth Putin’s lies as if they were his ventriloquist dummies. Russians who are not internet-savvy have no news sources that will tell them the truth. Not surprisingly, Russia’s younger population and the better-educated Russians can still find accurate news reports.
But Albats soldiers on, waging combat with the weapons she wields better than a barrel of Putin’s generals.
“I'm not a martyr, but I feel like somebody has to do that,” she said. “ … I'm trying to be very careful. I'm an experienced journalist, so I know how to … speak between the lines and I'm trying to do it in a very careful way. I can tell you for sure I don't want to end up in jail.”
Why does she risk Putin’s retribution so she can bring the truth to her fellow Russians?
“I am so ashamed for my country,” Albats said. “ … I am ashamed that my taxes go into bombs that kill people in Ukraine. “ … I've been to Ukraine many, many times when I was a kid … when I was a reporter, when I was an editor. ...
“When I see photos from Ukraine I feel deadly shame. … I want to get on my knees and say I'm so sorry … my country is doing this to you guys. … I totally failed ... with this regime. … We totally failed to stop them.”
Maybe not totally. Maybe just temporarily. What Vladimir Putin has mainly accomplished is that he is in fact shattering life in Russia just as surely as he is shattering the buildings of Ukraine’s beautiful cities. Because of Putin’s actions, Russia has been blackballed from the global economy and the global banking system.
Russians will soon see, and feel, the painful reality that Putin’s presidency has destroyed what could have been a prosperous partnership in a welcoming global economy.
In their balloting or just in their streets, Russia’s fed-up voters may yet have the final say. And the courage of journalists such as Yevgenia Albats may turn out to be their bridge over Putin’s troubled, roiled waters.
