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NDTV
09-07-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
Strange Case Of Evgeniya Mayboroda: Putin's Fan In Prison For Opposing Ukraine War
The elegant 72-year-old Russian put her hand on her heart as the verdict fell. Five and a half years in prison for posts opposing the war in Ukraine. Then, according to a witness who saw her in the dock, "her nose began to bleed". Yet only a few years before, Evgeniya Mayboroda had been an ardent fan of Russian leader Vladimir Putin and had celebrated his annexation of Crimea. A photo taken in the court in Shakhty shows her shock as the sentence was pronounced -- her punishment held up as an example of what can happen to even model citizens if they question the war. Mayboroda -- who comes from the Rostov region bordering Ukraine -- was accused of sharing "false information" on the Russian army on social media and of "making a public appeal to commit extremist activities". Even before she was convicted in January 2024, the posts on her social media feed -- thick with pictures of cats and flowers -- had put her on the Russia's "terrorist and extremist" watchlist. Curious to discover how a pro-Kremlin pensioner could so quickly become an enemy of the state, AFP tracked her down to a penal colony where she said her faith and prayers were sustaining her. We also talked to those who know her and were able to piece together a picture of this unlikely rebel, whose strange story says much about today's Russia. Loss and loneliness Evgeniya Nikolaevna Mayboroda was born on June 10, 1951 near the coal-mining town of Shakhty and met her husband Nikolai at the local technical institute. They both got jobs at a facility just outside the city -- he was a miner in an elite squad, while she worked in the power station above ground. They had a son, Sergei, in 1972. The Mayborodas were the ideal Soviet family. As mine workers they occupied a privileged place in the communist hierarchy and were able to travel regularly across the Eastern Bloc. But when the USSR collapsed in 1991 so did their world. Not only was there no money to pay their wages but the socialist values they believed in were replaced by a wild, cowboy capitalism. Then on Miners' Day 1997, an important date in the Soviet calendar, Sergei, their only child was killed in a car accident. He was 25. "We were at the burial. Evgeniya was in such a state that she can't remember it," a friend of the family, too afraid to give her name, told AFP. "Her son was everything to her." The mine shut down in 2002 and, less than a decade later, her husband died after a sudden illness and Mayboroda found herself alone. Love for Putin She took refuge in religion and was soon back on her feet, again taking pride in her appearance. Photos show that even on a budget, she kept her sense of style, always with a little touch of mascara. "She is a leader in life," a friend said. "She is hard to break." At the end of 2017, she discovered social media and joined VK (Russia's equivalent to Facebook). Her page shows her political evolution. For five years she shared hundreds of pictures of cats and flowers, religious messages or nostalgic reminiscences about life in the good old USSR. And she was effusive in her praise of President Vladimir Putin, posting some 30 photos of him from March to August 2018, hailing him as a marvellous leader who was making Russia great again. In one of them, Putin tells Donald Trump that Russia would give Crimea back to Ukraine "if the United States gives Texas back to Mexico and Alaska back to Russia". She also called former Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko -- who accused Putin of having him poisoned -- a "moron". Like many Russians laid low by the crisis of the 1990s, Mayboroda was receptive to the Kremlin's rhetoric that Russia had regained its power and stability under Putin. 'No to eternal lies' Then something changed. In the summer of 2018, a sudden raising of the retirement age saw discontent with the government spread beyond the big cities. "Normally Putin, as a great popular leader, likes to position himself as referee, guaranteeing the interest of the people," said French sociologist Karine Clement, a specialist on Russian protest movements. "But this was the first time he spoke up to defend a reform that, let's say, went against the interests of the poor." While his popularity plummeted, there were no large protests. At around the same time, the mood of Mayboroda's posts about politics began to change. She started to share posts denouncing poverty in Russia, contrasting it with the country's vast natural resources. Tatyana Vasilchuk, a journalist from the independent outlet Novaya Gazeta, said the Maiski area where Mayboroda lived was wracked by neglect and unemployment when she visited. "It was drowning under rubbish," she said. In 2020, Mayboroda made clear her opposition to a change in the constitution allowing Putin to stay in power until 2036, reposting a message that said: "No to an eternal Putin... No to eternal lies and corruption." War Then came the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. "One of the motors" for Putin going to war, Clement said, was his need to silence opposition and "restore control". On her VK account, Mayboroda -- who had family in Ukraine -- criticised the invasion and even expressed support for the Azov Brigade, a Ukrainian unit founded by far-right militants. While some Azov members were neo-Nazis, its dogged resistance on the battlefield, particularly during the siege of Mariupol in 2022, won it hero status in Ukraine and recruits beyond ultranationalist groups. In Russia, where all opposition -- particularly online -- is tracked, her posts did not go unnoticed. The security services have locked up hundreds of people for criticising the conflict and Mayboroda's turn came in February 2023. Police raided her home and she got her first jail term and a fine. A more serious criminal investigation was also opened, which led to her conviction last year. Investigators accused her of criticising the Russian assault on Mariupol in which thousands of besieged Ukrainians died. They also said she reposted a disturbing video in which a young girl, sat in front of a screen showing a swastika, holds a knife and declares in Ukrainian that Russians should have their throats cut. The video seems to support the Kremlin line that Russia had gone into Ukraine to fight "neo-Nazis", playing on the admiration some Ukrainian nationalist groups have for those who fought with the Germans against Soviet leader Joseph Stalin during World War II. Mayboroda was accused of being a Nazi for reposting the video, which had in fact been published by a pro-Kremlin account on VK. Ukraine's SBU security service claim the clip was part of a Russian "propaganda campaign". "She does not support that ideology," a source close to the case told AFP. Mayboroda, who regularly crossed the border to visit her Ukrainian relatives before the war, told the court that one was wounded in a Russian strike on a building in Dnipro in the summer of 2022. 'Scrambling minds' Yet at the time Mayboroda did not see how dangerous her online comments were, a friend told AFP. She compared the pensioner -- who is now 74 -- to a "lost lamb" who she still loved despite being "in the wrong". Expert Clement said she could understand how Mayboroda became politicised once she saw through the Kremlin line. Beyond prosecuting its opponents, the Kremlin tries to "scramble minds" with a fog of often contradictory disinformation to stop "the forming of mass political movements", Clement said. This strategy of confusion allows it to present the invasion as "a fight against Nazism", she added, even though Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish. Russians are cynical about politics after watching oligarchs present their ultraliberal reforms that robbed the poor in the 1990s as an advance toward "democracy", the expert argued, a distrust which now works in favour of Putin's authoritarianism. "You have to be very smart to navigate public life in Russia," she said, adding that a "thirst for community" was part of the reason why so many have got behind the war. Despite that, Mayboroda's plight has garnered attention from opposition media and NGOs both in Russia and in exile. The banned group Memorial quickly recognised her as a "political prisoner", and Kremlin critics said her jailing showed the growing intensity of repression. 'Thou shalt not kill' Unlike thousands of Ukrainian prisoners who human rights groups say are being held in secret and sometimes tortured, as a Russian citizen Mayboroda's prison conditions are much better. Theoretically, she can receive letters, though censored by prison authorities, and occasionally make phone calls. In June, after a six-month wait, AFP was able to talk to her during a mediated and recorded 10-minute call from her prison in the Rostov region. During the spring her friends said she was depressed and unwell. But her tone during this call was surprisingly upbeat given she has been behind bars for 18 months. "The hardest thing for me was losing my freedom. It's very hard... But my faith and prayers help me," she told AFP, her voice sometimes cut by the crackly line. Asked why she reshared the video of the girl calling for Russians to be killed, she said "it happened by accident. It was stupid." She insisted that she detested "hate" and "lies", and that she believed in "love and the joy of living". Her opposition to the war was on simple moral grounds, she said. "I am a (Christian) believer. Thou shalt not kill." Nor could she see why the invasion had to happen. "Why all this? I don't understand." (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Daily Mirror
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Brit kids 'must do their bit' amid threat of war in UK, government report warns
Chilling escalation in "grey zone' warfare against the UK by Russia and its allies means every one of us Britons needs to do our bit to allow the military to prepare for war Britain has been plunged into a dangerous crisis zone 'between peace and war' with increasing attacks from hostile states led by Russia, an alarming new report reveals. And the cross-party Defence Committee has called upon Britons - including even children - to be taught measures to combat the threat, which is just below the 'threshold for war.' Called Defence in the Grey Zone it warns we need a 'whole of society' approach to beat attacks from countries such as Russia. It warns the UK is being targeted in the 'Grey Zone' between peace and war and it is worsening daily with attacks of sabotage, espionage, cyber-attacks and disinformation campaigns. One of the biggest threats that may still be below the threshold for all-out war, it to the UK's undersea cables linking Britain and Europe's communications to the US. And chillingly the report, out today but launched two years ago, said that: 'Recently, the speed, scale and intensity of grey zone threats in the UK has increased.' It identifies the main and immediate threat as Russia, which has become alarmingly aggressive since the Ukraine invasion and the UK's support for Kyiv. The report reads: 'Russia's hostility has long been evident.' 'Witness the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 and the assassination attempt on Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury in 2018 using the Novichok nerve agent, but has accelerated significantly since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It argues that the MoD must help spread awareness of the threat to wider society, even dumping some responsibility for the battle on schoolchildren. And once society has become used to the precautions it must take against hostile threats, that will leave the military to prepare for the possibility of going to war. The report says: 'Defence in the Grey Zone' urges the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to proactively engage with wider society – including businesses, schools and communities – to help generate an informed dialogue around grey zone threats to the UK and build consensus around a common response. 'The MOD could pitch this 'offer' to society, in conjunction with building cyber skills and awareness – from protecting critical national industries, and preventing ransomware attacks, to teaching school children to stay safe online. 'By sharing its crisis management expertise with other departments and wider society, the MOD can help strengthen long-term resilience planning and preparedness across the UK. 'This would also allow the Armed Forces to focus on their primary responsibility during any serious international conflict, deterring or defeating military threats. . .' The Committee argues that nobody in the UK is excluded from the daily threat which chairman, Labour MP Tan Dhesi says helps 'unsettle the fabric of our day-to-day lives.' He added: 'Grey zone threats bring war to the doorstep of each and every one of us. These attacks do not discriminate; they target the whole of our society and so demand a whole of society response, in which we all must play our part.' And he said the nature of this new Cold War - often called a 'hybrid war ' means the responsibility of fighting it does not just fall on the MoD. He said: 'The MOD plays an important part in defending the nation from grey zone attacks, but it is only a part. 'We must now assume that any vulnerability will be exploited against us. The industries and technologies we rely on most are clear targets for hostile states. This is why, in today's report, we are calling for a shoring up of our digital and cyber skills and protections. The report argues that often hostile states disguise the source of the attack by using proxies, such as extremist sympathisers, 'hacktivists' or criminal gangs. These can launch cyber or sabotage attacks leaving the enemy state at arm's length.
New Straits Times
07-07-2025
- Politics
- New Straits Times
Strange case of Evgeniya Mayboroda, Russia's rebel retiree
THE elegant 74-year-old Russian put her hand on her heart as the verdict fell. Five and a half years in prison for posts opposing the war in Ukraine. Then, according to a witness who saw her in the dock, "her nose began to bleed." Yet only a few years before, Evgeniya Mayboroda had been an ardent fan of Russian leader Vladimir Putin and had celebrated his annexation of Crimea. A photo taken in the court in Shakhty shows her shock as the sentence was pronounced – her punishment held up as an example of what can happen to even model citizens if they question the war. Mayboroda – who comes from the Rostov region bordering Ukraine – was accused of sharing "false information" on the Russian army on social media and of "making a public appeal to commit extremist activities." Even before she was convicted in January 2024, the posts on her social media feed – thick with pictures of cats and flowers – had put her on the Russia's "terrorist and extremist" watchlist. Curious to discover how a pro-Kremlin pensioner could so quickly become an enemy of the state, AFP tracked her down to a penal colony where she said her faith and prayers were sustaining her. We also talked to those who know her and were able to piece together a picture of this unlikely rebel, whose strange story says much about today's Russia. Evgeniya Nikolaevna Mayboroda was born on June 10, 1951 near the coal-mining town of Shakhty and met her husband Nikolai at the local technical institute. They both got jobs at a facility just outside the city – he was a miner in an elite squad, while she worked in the power station above ground. They had a son, Sergei, in 1972. The Mayborodas were the ideal Soviet family. As mine workers they occupied a privileged place in the communist hierarchy and were able to travel regularly across the Eastern Bloc. But when the USSR collapsed in 1991 so did their world. Not only was there no money to pay their wages but the socialist values they believed in were replaced by a wild, cowboy capitalism. Then on Miners' Day 1997, an important date in the Soviet calendar, Sergei, their only child was killed in a car accident. He was 25. "We were at the burial. Evgeniya was in such a state that she can't remember it," a friend of the family, too afraid to give her name, told AFP. "Her son was everything to her." The mine shut down in 2002 and, less than a decade later, her husband died after a sudden illness and Mayboroda found herself alone. She took refuge in religion and was soon back on her feet, again taking pride in her appearance. Photos show that even on a budget, she kept her sense of style, always with a little touch of mascara. "She is a leader in life," a friend said. "She is hard to break." At the end of 2017, she discovered social media and joined VK (Russia's equivalent to Facebook). Her page shows her political evolution. For five years she shared hundreds of pictures of cats and flowers, religious messages or nostalgic reminiscences about life in the good old USSR. And she was effusive in her praise of President Vladimir Putin, posting some 30 photos of him from March to August 2018, hailing him as a marvellous leader who was making Russia great again. In one of them, Putin tells Donald Trump that Russia would give Crimea back to Ukraine "if the United States gives Texas back to Mexico and Alaska back to Russia." She also called former Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko – who accused Putin of having him poisoned – a "moron." Like many Russians laid low by the crisis of the 1990s, Mayboroda was receptive to the Kremlin's rhetoric that Russia had regained its power and stability under Putin. Then something changed. In the summer of 2018, a sudden raising of the retirement age saw discontent with the government spread beyond the big cities. "Normally Putin, as a great popular leader, likes to position himself as referee, guaranteeing the interest of the people," said French sociologist Karine Clement, a specialist on Russian protest movements. "But this was the first time he spoke up to defend a reform that, let's say, went against the interests of the poor." While his popularity plummeted, there were no large protests. At around the same time, the mood of Mayboroda's posts about politics began to change. She started to share posts denouncing poverty in Russia, contrasting it with the country's vast natural resources. Tatyana Vasilchuk, a journalist from the independent outlet Novaya Gazeta, said the Maiski area where Mayboroda lived was wracked by neglect and unemployment when she visited. "It was drowning under rubbish," she said. In 2020, Mayboroda made clear her opposition to a change in the constitution allowing Putin to stay in power until 2036, reposting a message that said: "No to an eternal Putin... No to eternal lies and corruption." Then came the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. "One of the motors" for Putin going to war, Clement said, was his need to silence opposition and "restore control." On her VK account, Mayboroda – who had family in Ukraine – criticised the invasion and even expressed support for the Azov Brigade, a Ukrainian unit founded by far-right militants. While some Azov members were neo-Nazis, its dogged resistance on the battlefield, particularly during the siege of Mariupol in 2022, won it hero status in Ukraine and recruits beyond ultranationalist groups. In Russia, where all opposition – particularly online – is tracked, her posts did not go unnoticed. The security services have locked up hundreds of people for criticising the conflict and Mayboroda's turn came in February 2023. Police raided her home and she got her first jail term and a fine. A more serious criminal investigation was also opened, which led to her conviction last year. Investigators accused her of criticising the Russian assault on Mariupol in which thousands of besieged Ukrainians died. They also said she reposted a disturbing video in which a young girl, sat in front of a screen showing a swastika, holds a knife and declares in Ukrainian that Russians should have their throats cut. The video seems to support the Kremlin line that Russia had gone into Ukraine to fight "neo-Nazis", playing on the admiration some Ukrainian nationalist groups have for those who fought with the Germans against Soviet leader Joseph Stalin during World War II. Mayboroda was accused of being a Nazi for reposting the video, which had in fact been published by a pro-Kremlin account on VK. Ukraine's SBU security service claim the clip was part of a Russian "propaganda campaign." "She does not support that ideology," a source close to the case told AFP. Mayboroda, who regularly crossed the border to visit her Ukrainian relatives before the war, told the court that one was wounded in a Russian strike on a building in Dnipro in the summer of 2022. Yet at the time Mayboroda did not see how dangerous her online comments were, a friend told AFP. She compared the pensioner to a "lost lamb" who she still loved despite being "in the wrong." Expert Clement said she could understand how Mayboroda became politicised once she saw through the Kremlin line. Beyond prosecuting its opponents, the Kremlin tries to "scramble minds" with a fog of often contradictory disinformation to stop "the forming of mass political movements", Clement said. This strategy of confusion allows it to present the invasion as "a fight against Nazism", she added, even though Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish. Russians are cynical about politics after watching oligarchs present their ultraliberal reforms that robbed the poor in the 1990s as an advance toward "democracy", the expert argued, a distrust which now works in favour of Putin's authoritarianism. "You have to be very smart to navigate public life in Russia," she said, adding that a "thirst for community" was part of the reason why so many have got behind the war. Despite that, Mayboroda's plight has garnered attention from opposition media and NGOs both in Russia and in exile. The banned group Memorial quickly recognised her as a "political prisoner", and Kremlin critics said her jailing showed the growing intensity of repression.
Int'l Business Times
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
The Strange Case Of Evgeniya Mayboroda, Russia's Rebel Retiree
The elegant 74-year-old Russian put her hand on her heart as the verdict fell. Five and a half years in prison for posts opposing the war in Ukraine. Then, according to a witness who saw her in the dock, "her nose began to bleed". Yet only a few years before, Evgeniya Mayboroda had been an ardent fan of Russian leader Vladimir Putin and had celebrated his annexation of Crimea. A photo taken in the court in Shakhty shows her shock as the sentence was pronounced -- her punishment held up as an example of what can happen to even model citizens if they question the war. Mayboroda -- who comes from the Rostov region bordering Ukraine -- was accused of sharing "false information" on the Russian army on social media and of "making a public appeal to commit extremist activities". Even before she was convicted in January 2024, the posts on her social media feed -- thick with pictures of cats and flowers -- had put her on the Russia's "terrorist and extremist" watchlist. Curious to discover how a pro-Kremlin pensioner could so quickly become an enemy of the state, AFP tracked her down to a penal colony where she said her faith and prayers were sustaining her. We also talked to those who know her and were able to piece together a picture of this unlikely rebel, whose strange story says much about today's Russia. Evgeniya Nikolaevna Mayboroda was born on June 10, 1951 near the coal-mining town of Shakhty and met her husband Nikolai at the local technical institute. They both got jobs at a facility just outside the city -- he was a miner in an elite squad, while she worked in the power station above ground. They had a son, Sergei, in 1972. The Mayborodas were the ideal Soviet family. As mine workers they occupied a privileged place in the communist hierarchy and were able to travel regularly across the Eastern Bloc. But when the USSR collapsed in 1991 so did their world. Not only was there no money to pay their wages but the socialist values they believed in were replaced by a wild, cowboy capitalism. Then on Miners' Day 1997, an important date in the Soviet calendar, Sergei, their only child was killed in a car accident. He was 25. "We were at the burial. Evgeniya was in such a state that she can't remember it," a friend of the family, too afraid to give her name, told AFP. "Her son was everything to her." The mine shut down in 2002 and, less than a decade later, her husband died after a sudden illness and Mayboroda found herself alone. She took refuge in religion and was soon back on her feet, again taking pride in her appearance. Photos show that even on a budget, she kept her sense of style, always with a little touch of mascara. "She is a leader in life," a friend said. "She is hard to break." At the end of 2017, she discovered social media and joined VK (Russia's equivalent to Facebook). Her page shows her political evolution. For five years she shared hundreds of pictures of cats and flowers, religious messages or nostalgic reminiscences about life in the good old USSR. And she was effusive in her praise of President Vladimir Putin, posting some 30 photos of him from March to August 2018, hailing him as a marvellous leader who was making Russia great again. In one of them, Putin tells Donald Trump that Russia would give Crimea back to Ukraine "if the United States gives Texas back to Mexico and Alaska back to Russia". She also called former Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko -- who accused Putin of having him poisoned -- a "moron". Like many Russians laid low by the crisis of the 1990s, Mayboroda was receptive to the Kremlin's rhetoric that Russia had regained its power and stability under Putin. Then something changed. In the summer of 2018, a sudden raising of the retirement age saw discontent with the government spread beyond the big cities. "Normally Putin, as a great popular leader, likes to position himself as referee, guaranteeing the interest of the people," said French sociologist Karine Clement, a specialist on Russian protest movements. "But this was the first time he spoke up to defend a reform that, let's say, went against the interests of the poor." While his popularity plummeted, there were no large protests. At around the same time, the mood of Mayboroda's posts about politics began to change. She started to share posts denouncing poverty in Russia, contrasting it with the country's vast natural resources. Tatyana Vasilchuk, a journalist from the independent outlet Novaya Gazeta, said the Maiski area where Mayboroda lived was wracked by neglect and unemployment when she visited. "It was drowning under rubbish," she said. In 2020, Mayboroda made clear her opposition to a change in the constitution allowing Putin to stay in power until 2036, reposting a message that said: "No to an eternal Putin... No to eternal lies and corruption." Then came the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. "One of the motors" for Putin going to war, Clement said, was his need to silence opposition and "restore control". On her VK account, Mayboroda -- who had family in Ukraine -- criticised the invasion and even expressed support for the Azov Brigade, a Ukrainian unit founded by far-right militants. While some Azov members were neo-Nazis, its dogged resistance on the battlefield, particularly during the siege of Mariupol in 2022, won it hero status in Ukraine and recruits beyond ultranationalist groups. In Russia, where all opposition -- particularly online -- is tracked, her posts did not go unnoticed. The security services have locked up hundreds of people for criticising the conflict and Mayboroda's turn came in February 2023. Police raided her home and she got her first jail term and a fine. A more serious criminal investigation was also opened, which led to her conviction last year. Investigators accused her of criticising the Russian assault on Mariupol in which thousands of besieged Ukrainians died. They also said she reposted a disturbing video in which a young girl, sat in front of a screen showing a swastika, holds a knife and declares in Ukrainian that Russians should have their throats cut. The video seems to support the Kremlin line that Russia had gone into Ukraine to fight "neo-Nazis", playing on the admiration some Ukrainian nationalist groups have for those who fought with the Germans against Soviet leader Joseph Stalin during World War II. Mayboroda was accused of being a Nazi for reposting the video, which had in fact been published by a pro-Kremlin account on VK. Ukraine's SBU security service claim the clip was part of a Russian "propaganda campaign". "She does not support that ideology," a source close to the case told AFP. Mayboroda, who regularly crossed the border to visit her Ukrainian relatives before the war, told the court that one was wounded in a Russian strike on a building in Dnipro in the summer of 2022. Yet at the time Mayboroda did not see how dangerous her online comments were, a friend told AFP. She compared the pensioner to a "lost lamb" who she still loved despite being "in the wrong". Expert Clement said she could understand how Mayboroda became politicised once she saw through the Kremlin line. Beyond prosecuting its opponents, the Kremlin tries to "scramble minds" with a fog of often contradictory disinformation to stop "the forming of mass political movements", Clement said. This strategy of confusion allows it to present the invasion as "a fight against Nazism", she added, even though Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish. Russians are cynical about politics after watching oligarchs present their ultraliberal reforms that robbed the poor in the 1990s as an advance toward "democracy", the expert argued, a distrust which now works in favour of Putin's authoritarianism. "You have to be very smart to navigate public life in Russia," she said, adding that a "thirst for community" was part of the reason why so many have got behind the war. Despite that, Mayboroda's plight has garnered attention from opposition media and NGOs both in Russia and in exile. The banned group Memorial quickly recognised her as a "political prisoner", and Kremlin critics said her jailing showed the growing intensity of repression. Unlike thousands of Ukrainian prisoners who human rights groups say are being held in secret and sometimes tortured, as a Russian citizen Mayboroda's prison conditions are much better. Theoretically she can receive letters, though censored by prison authorities, and occasionally make phone calls. In June, after a six-month wait, AFP was able to talk to her during a mediated and recorded 10-minute call from her prison in the Rostov region. During the spring her friends said she was depressed and unwell. But her tone during this call was surprisingly upbeat given she has been behind bars for 18 months. "The hardest thing for me was losing my freedom. It's very hard... But my faith and prayers help me," she told AFP, her voice sometimes cut by the crackly line. Asked why she reshared the video of the girl calling for Russians to be killed, she said "it happened by accident. It was stupid." She insisted that she detested "hate" and "lies", and that she believed in "love and the joy of living". Her opposition to the war was on simple moral grounds, she said. "I am a (Christian) believer. Thou shalt not kill." Nor could she see why the invasion had to happen. "Why all this? I don't understand." A residential building in Dnipro, Ukraine destroyed by a Russian strike in 2023 AFP Forty-one people went on hunger strike in Shakhty in 2004 reclaiming unpaid wages from coal giant Rostov Ugol (Rostov Coal), which ran mines in the city AFP A woman holds a smartphone bearing an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin at a rally of his supporters in 2016 AFP Social media platform VK (formerly VKontakte), Russia's equivalent to Facebook AFP Evgeniya Mayboroda's nose began to bleed as the verdict was read AFP
Kuwait Times
07-07-2025
- Business
- Kuwait Times
Sanctions? No big deal, say Russian middle-class couple
MYTISHCHI: For Sergei Duzhikov and Maria Tyabut, a middle-class couple living in a town just outside Moscow, Western sanctions on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine have been manageable. The pair drive a Chinese car, vacation in Venezuela and buy 'Camembert' cheese made in Russia. Their modest two-bedroom apartment in Mytishchi, home to 300,000 people northeast of the capital, has been recently renovated and their Chinese-made fridge is stocked with Russian goods. Despite warnings of a looming recession and high inflation, they and many other Russians feel their economy has adapted successfully to Western sanctions, even if it means parting with some well-known Western brands for good. 'From the perspective of my everyday life - home, family, work, leisure, friends, hobbies, and interests, I honestly don't feel the impact of sanctions,' said Maria, who works at a cosmetics company. 'There aren't any brands that have left such a void that I can't live without them,' the 43-year-old added. Supermarkets have found a range of domestic and foreign alternatives to Western products, including Camembert cheese, one of Maria's creature comforts. 'It's delicious. I haven't tried real French Camembert, so I can't compare,' she admitted. 'Overall, my life hasn't changed much,' she told AFP. Western countries first levied economic sanctions against Russia in 2014, after Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine. Those sanctions became significantly tighter following Moscow's full-scale assault on its neighbor. Moscow responded by ramping up production of domestic goods, shifting its trade away from the West to what it calls 'friendly' nations like China and importing other items through third countries. For ordinary Russians, the most noticeable effect of this was an exodus of Western brands from supermarket shelves and from the high street. Among the most well-known brands to leave was fast-food chain McDonald's, famously replaced by Russian-owned 'Vkusno i tochka' (which translates to 'Delicious, Full Stop') in 2022. Maria's husband Sergei, a funeral director, said he had 'no complaints' about the quality of the food. 'The kids love it,' he said of the restaurant chain. When shopping, Maria buys a new brand of yoghurt that replaced one belonging to French company Danone. Danone left the Russian market in 2022 and eventually sold its operations to a businessman linked to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Some Russian companies have also been able to import popular Western goods via third countries, albeit at a higher cost. As for vacations, Maria and Sergei have opted for trips across Russia and Latin America. Most European countries cut off direct flights to Russia shortly after the offensive began, while some tightened entry requirements for Russian citizens. The couple said they had been to Venezuela, a country under US sanctions, which they described as a nation of 'friendly people who love Russians.' The couple admitted there were a few teething issues. Two years ago, after a car accident, Sergei said he waited 'three months' for spare parts to repair his Korean-made Kia because of sanctions. 'That's when I realized that it probably made sense to sell my beloved Korean car and replace it with a similar Chinese one,' he told AFP. Maria also said she noticed it was harder to find products in 'certain' categories of goods. But overall, she said, 'I don't feel deprived in any way. Certainly not when it comes to food. There's a wide and rich selection.' The Russian economy has been marked by volatility since Moscow launched its Ukraine offensive in 2022, a military assault that has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. The country reported strong economic expansion in 2023 and 2024, largely due to massive state defence spending on the conflict, but is now slowing down after a period of what officials called 'overheating'. — AFP Inflation has also been running high, clocking in at more than double the central bank's target for over a year. Maria and her husband's combined income is around 300,000 rubles (around $3,800), higher than the average wage for one person of around 100,000. While Maria acknowledged prices were going up, she said her family was not 'crying' about it. 'It's not like we used to buy a kilogram of buckwheat three years ago, and now we can only afford 600 grams,' she said.- AFP
