The Russian invasion of Ukraine is destroying the country, but it is also having and impact on Russia. Western nations imposed severe sanctions on the country to damage its economy, but those Russians who are fighting against Putin or who try to make their voices heard, are also paying a high price and risking their lives.
On 26th February, in the early days of the Russian invasion, representatives from "Project Russia", a professional magazine about architecture and design established in 1995 in Moscow, published an open letter from architects and urban planners supported by over 6,500 signatories in six days.
The statement, included in a post entitled "Нет войне!" (No war!), published by Project Russia on their website and socials, condemned the Kremlin and the invasion, calling the offensive of Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine "unacceptable" and highlighting how foreign policy issues must be resolved "by peaceful means" as war cannot be an instrument of politics in the 21st century.
"War devalues the very essence of the activity of an architect and urban planner, no matter what country they are in," the letter stated. "It violates the rights of people: to life, security, self-realization, a comfortable and healthy environment - all those values that are the basis of our activities."
Unfortunately, the letter had to be removed by the magazine under the threat of criminal liability under the law that came into force on 4th March. The post was replaced with a brief message and an image of Picasso's "Dove of Peace".
Taking censorship to a whole new level, Putin has been busy rewriting the narrative of war: the government blocked the access to Facebook and foreign news outlets and passed a law that may land people spreading "false information" about the invasion in Ukraine or calling "war" what the Kremlin calls "special military operation", to 15 years in prison.
The law applies also to foreign journalists and it had the effects of paralising the work of Russian independent media outlets (many of them shut down) and of foreign news channels (including the BBC) that decided to suspend operations from Russia.
In Anna Politkovskaya's book "Putin's Russia" (2004), the author, who was shot dead on Putin's birthday in October 2006, compared him to Soviet leader Josef Stalin, to Nikolay Gogol's character Akaky Akakievich more concerned with his image than with his soul, and to an over-promoted spy inadequate to govern the country.
Politkovskaya stated in her 2004 book (that also featured an entire chapter about the army in Russia and about soldiers being abused, beaten, tortured and even sold as slaves by their officers, reportages that come to your mind when you read about Russian soldiers being told they were going to do military training activities in Ukraine and not expecting to be sent to war) that Putin was simply moving the country back to a Soviet-style dictatorship.
The late Anna Politkovskaya had already warned us about Putin's dictatorial dream, and the way he wants to control and rewrite the war narrative, manufacturing false news to justify aggressions and massacres, is definitely part of his dystopian project, but also reveals us his fears and weaknesses.
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