Brothers Mustafa and Masi Nayyem, 42 and 38 years old, were born in Kabul. Children of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, they have lived in Kiev since 1990. Initially a journalist, specializing in corruption cases, Mustafa Nayyem became famous thanks to a message posted on Facebook on November 21, 2013, in which he called on Ukrainians gather on Independence Square in Kiev to protest against President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to abandon signing an association agreement with the European Union (EU). This demonstration triggered the Euromaidan movement, the “revolution of dignity”, which pushed the head of state to flee Ukraine. Deputy on the list of President Petro Poroshenko (2014-2019), then deputy director of Ukroboronprom (2019-2021), a conglomerate of defense companies, and deputy minister of infrastructure (2021-2023), Mustafa Nayyem is currently director of the agency for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
His brother, Masi Nayyem, is a lawyer. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, he joined the armed forces, then joined the military intelligence services. He suffered a serious head injury in June 2022 and lost an eye. After his convalescence, he was promoted to lieutenant. Alongside military life, he created an association, Pryncyp, which advises wounded fighters and veterans faced with the twists and turns of Ukrainian bureaucracy.
Ten years after your famous message and the Maidan revolution, Mustafa, what does the fact that Ukraine is fighting Russia in a war of this magnitude inspire you?
Mustafa Nayyem: War was inevitable, although we didn’t know it at the time of Maidan. It is an inevitable consequence of our revolt. Without Maidan, the next step would have been the transformation of Ukraine into another Belarus, that is, into a country completely aligned with Russia. Obviously, we did not expect what has happened since February 24, 2022. It was impossible to predict, impossible to imagine, but inevitable.
This is not a rational war, [le président russe, Vladimir] Putin is not rational. He falls in love with an idea and doesn’t count people, resources, time, nothing. We must not look for rational reasons in our actions such as population or territorial issues, it is useless. Russia has enough territories. The idea of a threat posed by NATO was raised [sur la Russie]or now [depuis le 4 avril 2023] Russia has NATO member Finland on its border.
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