Grandstand. On the morning of February 24, our world came crashing down. Since then, we Russians living in France have lived to the rhythm of the atrocities and abuses committed in our name by the Russian army in Ukraine. Our anger is limitless, as much as our dismay. This tragedy of the Ukrainian people, to whom we have always been attached by such intimate and strong ties, affects each one of us. Taking on the role of enemy is inconceivable for us. We are ready to assume the historic responsibility that Russia will bear from now on. However, we refuse to retreat into paralyzing guilt. We have a duty to act and it is as citizens of the Russian Federation living in France that we commit ourselves against the war in Ukraine.
Many of us were born after the fall of the Wall, when the hope for freedom resounded loudly in Russia. Unfortunately, our country has not stood the test of democracy. The coming to power of Putin marked the return of an imperialist and nationalist ideology based on the instrumentalization and misappropriation of the history of our country, in particular that of the Second World War. This discourse, which has gradually replaced all public debate in Russia, has never been ours. However, we are all partly responsible for the longevity of Putin’s regime and we strongly oppose its extension, which jeopardizes the democratic future of neighboring nations.
Dying dictatorship
Russia is currently experiencing an unprecedented wave of repression. Since the start of the war, the last dissident media have been banned and suppressed by the authorities. The government establishes total censorship, blocks access to Facebook, Twitter and all alternative sources of information. Anyone disseminating information that deviates from the official version is liable to criminal prosecution, up to fifteen years in prison. The existence of a war is denied, the very use of the word “war” is prohibited. NGOs, human rights defenders, political opponents are subjected to searches and preventive arrests. Even the most innocuous forms of protest against the war are considered extremist acts, while any form of aid to Ukraine is labeled as high treason. Seeing our country plunge into terror, we ask the international community not to abandon Russian civil society, disarmed and isolated, in the face of the horrors of a dying dictatorship.
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