In February, Ruslana, the pop star at the heart of Ukraine’s pro-democracy movement, stood on the stage in Kyiv’s Maidan—Independence Square—and witnessed snipers pick-off un-armed men in a sea of protesters. In a recent conversation, she described to me how the riot police beat people as though “intoxicated with hate.” President Obama’s sanctions are strong, but Putin’s propaganda machine will continue to beat the drums of war. The Russian soldiers and militias now in Ukraine truly believe they’ve come to stop fascists.
Last month, Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea, an ethnically diverse region of Ukrainians, Crimean Tartars, and, yes, Russians who make up less than 60% of the population. They lived together peacefully. To be clear, Ukraine is not on the brink of a civil war—unity events between East and West followed the popular uprising that toppled corrupt President Victor Yanukovych. Ukraine is the target of Putin’s dream to resurrect the Soviet Union. Statues of Stalin have gone up under his reign, and a main subway station in Moscow features a tribute to the mass-murderer.
ll Russian media now is controlled by the government—just like in Soviet times. The Kremlin runs a multi-hundred million dollar propaganda machine—can it be sanctioned? Russia Today alone is a $400 million operation. In March, the Kremlin put Chinese government-like restrictions on the Internet, and cracked down on the few remaining independent news outlets and bloggers left in Russia. The Guardian revealed that the Kremlin has a paid network of bloggers and commenters, “some are paid as much as 600,000 roubles ($16,700) for leaving hundreds of comments on negative stories about Putin.”
Beneath the smog of Russian propaganda is a fratricidal war. The heartbreak of it forces many Russians to finally find their voice. On March 15, around 50,000 people marched in an anti-war protest in Moscow. A photograph from the demonstration shows Russian people on their knees begging Ukrainians for forgiveness, and a sign painted in the blue and yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag said: Forgive us, Ukraine.
When Putin invaded Crimea, many Russians took to Twitter expressing their shame and outrage. “Net Voyne”—“No to War”—popped up on Twitter and on protest signs. DigitalMaidan, a social media arm for Ukraine’s pro-democracy movement, organized a Russian-language Twitter storm using #нетвойне (notowar). Thousands of anti-war Tweets were sent from Russia, Ukraine, Europe, and North America.
“Americans [derogatory term for] have started to float hashtag #нетвойне [notowar],” wrote Maxim Mischenko, a leader of the All-Russian Movement, Young Russia. “Need our own hashtags. For example, #нетфашизму [notofascism].” Mischenko exemplifies Russians who are cheering Putin’s annexation of Crimea, likely seeing the kidnappings of journalists and activists, and the deaths of at least four people as justified. Reshat Ametov, a human rights advocate for Crimean Tartars—over 200,0000 were forcibly removed from Crimea by Stalin—was found dead, with signs of torture on his body.
Yet Putin talks of “Ukrainian fascists” as though they’re the greatest threat in Russia’s history. In his speech on March 18th, Putin announced that “nationalists, neo-Nazis, Russophobes, and anti-Semites” launched “pogroms and terror” after an “armed coup” in Kyiv. Putin, as well as all articles in Western media that make this case, failed to mention that Ukraine’s new Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who recently spoke to the United Nations, is Jewish. So are other leaders in the new government, many of whom come from diverse backgrounds outside of Ukraine.
Jewish communities in Ukraine joined together to write a letter to Putin: “Unfortunately, we must admit that in recent days stability in our country has been threatened. And this threat is coming from the Russian government, namely – from you personally.”
Calling the letter “extraordinary,” Israeli newspaper Haaretz wrote: “After centuries of persecution at the hands of czars, Cossacks and commissars, Ukraine’s Jews have quite bluntly told the man sitting in the Kremlin to get lost. They categorically deny the Russian propaganda that they are under threat, and directly address Putin and his credibility as a protector of the Jews and other minorities.”
Ukrainians have commandeered the “ultra-nationalist fascist” label. I’ve heard activists playfully call each other that, knowing full-well that the accusations are absurd. But the brainwashed pro-Russians causing unrest in their country think otherwise.
A thousand years before Moscow even existed, Ukraine’s capital held the culturally rich civilization the Kievan-Rus. On a trip to Saint Petersburg years ago, I asked my host about the two countries’ history. He emphatically replied: “Ukraine is our older brother.” Before the corrupt president was overthrown, Ukraine had a media plagued with propaganda, too, which called the pro-democracy protesters “neo-Nazi fascists.” Russians now must look to their older brother, and follow Ukraine’s example. Unfortunately, most Russians won’t notice that they’re living in a prison until the walls start closing in.