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Illustration: Karin Sunvisson
Essays The Violent State Fear and protest in Russia
The modern Russian state is built on random and unpredictable institutionalized violence, on fear and pain. Therefore, one of the most common reactions to the power abuse from the Russian government is to ignore the state and try to build your own little life.
Published in the printed edition of Baltic Worlds BW 2022:3-4, pp 12-18
Published on balticworlds.com on January 18, 2023
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The modern Russian state is built on random and unpredictable institutionalized violence, on fear and pain. Therefore, one of the most common reactions to the power abuse from the Russian government is to ignore the state and try to build your own little life. Those who leave also often talk about personal and professional values.
“If I survive as a journalist, I can tell the truth about what is happening in Russia and in other countries,” says Anton Karliner, photojournalist and former chairman of the journalists’ union which was closed for anti-war statements. He fled to Kazakhstan with his wife and newborn daughter after the announcement of mobilization.
“I did everything I could; I was an activist, I protested, I suffered for it, and left because I realized that I could not stand it anymore,” says Vladimir Katynev (name changed), who left for Serbia in the first week after the start of the war. “We see how people have been imprisoned for decades, and violence has been used against them, including my friends. You live with it in Russia every day. On the one hand, it’s scary; on the other, you just want to spit in their faces. My friends are protesting and committing different radical acts; I will not give details in order to ensure their safety.”
“I was at the protests, saw that it was useless, and left the country,” says Valentina Grigoryeva (name changed), who left Russia in 2017 without
finishing her medical studies in Moscow.