Member-only story
Extraordinary conversation with a Russian.
I am constantly surprised when I probably shouldn’t be.
Almost two months ago I published an account of a former girlfriend(Russian) who lost her husband fighting in Ukraine. You can view the article here . In that article I discussed how a well-off Russian with a new family had swallowed the propaganda and voluntarily signed up for the war.
My current job involves dealing with Russians on a daily basis and politics coming up is inevitable. I teach Russians English and the vast majority of them work in the IT sector. Many have already left Russia itself and are now in Armenia, Georgia, Turkey, Dubai or Serbia. Even Bali.
Only one student of the 25 actually supports the war, though he tries to mask it. As in, he doesn’t like what is happening in Ukraine but feels it is necessary and the US etc are to blame.
All the others are strongly against the war. Horrified by it.
Right now Russia has pushed through new laws in a hurry to make it a serious crime, with a jail term of 15 years, to refuse to participate in the war if called on. The same penalty is if you surrender too.
Adding to this, the occupied areas are pushing for a quick, and absolutely bogus referenda. As someone who lived in Russia for a considerable…
