“Putin is afraid of the young”: meet the 23-year-old Russian activist living under house arrest
t six in the morning on April 14th I was woken by the doorbell and yelling. “Open up, or we’ll break the door down!” Half-asleep and frightened, I opened the door. Ten or so men entered my flat, holding guns and wearing black balaclavas and bulletproof vests. I was in my pyjama bottoms and a sweatshirt.
The judge placed me and the other editors under house arrest. We were also banned from using the internet and making phone calls. Two weeks later, after we appealed, the court let us go out for a two-hour walk each morning. The film led to several protests. It was dangerous to go to them: we all remembered the arrests of 2019, the videos of police beating protesters with batons, the woman with a bloody head. But I still hoped that something would change. There was a sense of unity and widespread enthusiasm. It was very exciting – this dormant feeling that had suddenly become visible.
The main problem is not fear, it’s a feeling of powerlessness. You can write anything you like on the ballot paper, but the election will still be rigged. You see another trumped-up case where people get ten years in prison for nothing. It’s enough to make me cry. Some of my friends have stopped reading news about arrests and torture. I’m ashamed that I’ve read almost nothing about the people who were arrested for protesting against Putin’s palace – my energy had been drained by the Moscow Case.
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