The position of many of my colleagues in emigration does not stand up to any criticism. This eternal attempt to remain in white gloves – “we had nothing to do with it” – is perplexing. You are. We’re all in this shit, this shit is on all of us. Stop pretending you had nothing to do with it. The longer you pretend, the more complicit you become in Putin’s crimes.
With every Russian strike on Ukraine, the shameful lie of “Putin’s war” crumbles to dust. This is not Putin’s war. This is Russia’s war. Stop lying to the West that there is an anti-war movement in Russia. There are some number of decent people who are silent. But it’s still a handful against the general background. Some are in prison, but they didn’t go there because they dreamed of a heroic deed. There are only a few heroes like Skobov and Gorinov.
Undoubtedly, we are all historically to blame for what is happening, but much more blame lies with those who, sitting on grants, are trying to deceive Western public opinion by continuing to tell tales that there is some “other Russia” that does not exist.
War has become commonplace, murder has become commonplace. And it is our business to shout that murder cannot be commonplace. Putin is a war criminal, and all the people who work for Putin are war criminals. Any attempt to blur this picture makes one an accomplice too.
Today’s Putin’s Russia is an enemy like Nazi Germany. So we need to help Ukraine win the war, and yes, we need to give Ukraine missiles to fly at Moscow City. This is a principled position that any person who considers himself a Russian patriot should take.
