2024-04-19 07:12:06
As a little girl, she wanted her mom to tell her about her grandfather who fought the fascists. She read books about World War II, watched movies. She herself says that one day she would also like to fight the fascists. Today, Yelena Kostuchenkov of Russia is an adult and, according to her words, she is really fighting the fascists. But with those in their own country.
The former reporter for the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta said in a debate held in Prague about her book My Russia that she considers the regime of President Vladimir Putin to be fascist.
“I believe that sooner or later there will be a revolution in Russia. Some people believe in a coup within the current regime, but I don’t, this regime cannot be reformed. It will be difficult and it will go slowly, but all of us who reject fascism in Russia we have to contribute according to our strengths and abilities,” says the thirty-seven-year-old Kostúčenková, who now lives in exile, for Aktuálně.cz. Last year in Germany, Putin’s regime apparently tried to poison her, about which she wrote an extensive text for Medusa.
Book My Russia | Photo: Martin Novák
In Russia, she was threatened with prison not only for criticizing the aggression against Ukraine, but also for being an admitted lesbian. Such people can be jailed for six to ten years in the country under the law prohibiting the promotion of homosexuality.
The book My Russia was published in Czech in April by the Argo publishing house, and in it the author writes about the shame she felt on February 24 after the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She still lived in Moscow. “I go back to the room and my beloved is sitting with the phone in her hand. Why aren’t you sleeping? They are bombing Kiev and all the big Ukrainian cities. We are bombing them? Yes, we (…) I get dressed and go to the editorial office. They ask me if I am ready. But it is impossible to prepare for the fact that we are fascists. I am absolutely unable to digest such a thing,” she describes in the book.
After the start of the conflict, Kostuchenko worked on reporting from Ukraine, but Novaya Gazeta continued to operate only thirty-two days after the outbreak of war. Then the authorities banned her. The journalist says that she is trying to change Russia even now, albeit in a different way. “Every person has to help in some way. I participate in the functioning of a network that gets men from Russia across the border who refuse to fight against Ukraine. They cross the border secretly, of course, in the forests. I can’t say more, but of course it costs money, saving one such person it’s around a thousand dollars,” he says.
She added that when she was fleeing from Russia, the Czech Republic was the first country to accept her, which Czechs will never forget.
One of the themes of her book is the huge difference in life between Moscow and the Russian countryside. The metropolis is the shiny showcase of the country, while the countryside is abject poverty and underdevelopment.
“The reason is the tax collection system introduced by Putin. All taxes go to Moscow and there it is decided how they will be redistributed. Putin introduced it to suppress autonomist tendencies in Russian regions. It is such a system of controlled poverty. Some regions are punished by the Kremlin, it rewards others. It’s not just a difference in living standards, it’s a completely different life with different possibilities,” he describes.
He describes Moscow and Russian villages as two completely different countries. According to her, it creates a feeling in Russians that there are two categories of people with different rights, people have different value and it is so normal.
He still has relatives in his native country, such as his mother or younger sister. “It is impossible to talk about the war or the occupation of Ukraine in Russia. People are afraid that every conversation can turn into a conflict or that someone will report it. That is why there has been a great silence in Russia, people are either silent or talking about the weather,” he recounts .
At the same time, according to her, Russian psychiatric institutions are increasing their capacity to accommodate soldiers who return from Ukraine with a confused mind and in a critical psychological state. “All Russians bear their share of responsibility for what happened. We lived in our bubbles and believed that we were working to make Russia a free and prosperous country, but on February 24, 2022, all illusions collapsed,” concludes Kostuchenkova.
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