But Russia is on a miserable and ruinous course. Under its current plundering leadership, it’s all too clear that nothing is going to get better in the foreseeable future.
The hysterical, pervasive pitch of anti-everything-that-is-not-Russian has grown so insane and ominous over the last year that many Russian friends are packing and getting their families out of there. The once large Western business community has been severely reduced in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The economy is in shambles, and the political and cultural atmosphere is stifling.
Ukraine is also facing almost insurmountable challenges, and its own prospects are precarious. But there is hope for Ukraine, and its citizens are fighting for a better future. That matters. The mood is different in Ukraine. This makes the contrast with current Russia so stark.
This surely terrifies the regime of Vladimir Putin. And this is why I believe that Ukraine’s future success may also be the best hope for Russia as well. Because it will come to this: If Ukraine can develop a strong civil society and accountable, transparent government structures, then people in Russia may begin to ask, “Why can’t we?”
Propaganda against Ukraine has been relentless for the last year-and-a-half in Russia. It has simultaneously vilified Ukraine (Stepan Bandera-fascists roaming the streets of Kyiv in packs, murdering Russian speakers and crucifying children, and so on), while paradoxically making it look ridiculous by playing up the buffoonery of Ukraine’s ruling elite (with Verkhovna Rada deputies, government officials, and a cast of oligarchs lending very obliging hands). The message is basically that Ukraine is not a real country. And even if it were, it’s too much of a basket case to rid itself of its endemic corruption. And even then, it’s bent on fascism. Coherence really is not a big issue for them.
The courage of Ukrainians to unify and stand up to Russia’s aggression has forced Russian propagandists to ratchet things up to an even more shrill tone. They must account for Kyiv’s resolve by saying Ukraine is under the dastardly thumb of the CIA, backed by NATO troops. And many intelligent people really believe this.
Over the last year, there has been no way to escape this relentless barrage of hateful nonsense. Every bar, every restaurant, almost every public space has had televisions broadcasting non-stop images of dead civilians (killed by “junta” soldiers), the tragic fire in Odesa on May 2, 2014, dead journalists, and on and on and on. Television and social media have been flooded by accounts of U.S. and EU iniquity and our apparent obsession with ruining Holy Russia via NATO and our homosexual and immoral ways.
But the most obnoxious of all has been the complete desecration of one of Russia’s most important holidays – May 9’s Victory Day. Somehow, and I am not entirely sure how, the annexation of Crimea and the fight of the Donbas separatists (mind you, no Russians are fighting there) have been successfully linked to the victory of the Soviet Red Army in World War II. I suppose the most likely connection is that Russia likes thinking that it’s once again fighting fascists (this time based in Kyiv); but it really is too batty to spend much time figuring over. It has very worrying implications for Ukraine, however. This May 9 commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Soviet victory, and I suspect that it will be used to the ugliest possible effect.
One day last spring, I saw that the little park that my living room window looks out on was being dug up. Several weeks later, my pleasant view was totally altered. There was a huge, ugly marble plaque dedicating the park to the Red Army victors. The park was resplendent with huge, tacky sculpted flags – the Russian tricolor and the Soviet flags (again, coherence not being a big issue). If it had been a real tribute to the heroism of the Red Army, it would have been a fine thing. But it wasn’t. It was just a ridiculous and cheap ploy to keep people stirred up and frothing against Ukraine.
So why do I keep the apartment? Why do I keep some kind of connection to my beloved Moscow? Because a lot people there aren’t crazy at all. Many Russians hate this war against a country with which it is inexorably linked through culture, history, and family ties. Because of the tens of thousands of people who turned out to solemnly protest the murder of Boris Nemtsov carrying both Ukrainian and Russian flags. Because I cannot believe that a great culture and a place I love so dearly could fall for such lousy and idiotic bunkum. Or at least, forever.
Kyiv Post staff writer Guy Archer is former communications director for the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia and co-owned a publishing company in Russia.
