Week-ending 17 April 2026
“Since the start of what I will call the ‘special military operation’ — because I live and work in Russia and must comply with its laws — people like lawmaker Alexei Gorinov have been sentenced for ‘discrediting the army’ after condemning its actions. Officially, the Russian army never targets civilians. Full stop. Then this winter, Ukrainian energy infrastructure was bombed. The same television presenters who had insisted, ‘We do not strike critical infrastructure,’ began saying: ‘We will freeze Kyiv, freeze Kharkiv, wipe them off the face of the earth.’ In other words, they openly admit the destruction of civilians. ‘They are Nazis, and we are beautiful Russians with blue eyes and blond hair. We are Vikings. We are Russians, God is with us.’ This is what is new in propaganda: an open embrace of cruelty — an acknowledgment that Russia, my country, is prepared to inflict mass suffering on another people. What is propaganda? It is the avatar of the state. And that means cruelty has become a form of patriotism. Patriotism becomes cruelty, and cruelty becomes ideology. Cruelty has always been the ideology of certain regimes — brown regimes. Cruelty is being inculcated. When suspects accused of shooting civilians at Crocus City Hall were arrested, television channels broadcast footage of their ears being cut off. They glorify the sledgehammer associated with Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, used to execute alleged deserters. That same sledgehammer is now displayed in the office of a deputy speaker of parliament..”
– Dmitry Muratov, former Novaya Gazeta editor-in-chief and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner
Source: Novaya Gazeta’s Dmitry Muratov: ‘Cruelty Has Become a Form of Patriotism’,’ The Moscow Times, 16 April 2026
Background from The Moscow Times: This interview was originally published by the French newspaper Libération on April 11, 2026. It has been translated into English and republished [by The Moscow Times] with permission. On Thursday, April 9, Moscow police carried out a 13-hour search of the renowned Novaya Gazeta newspaper’s offices, where investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya worked until her murder in 2006. At the same time, columnist Oleg Roldugin was arrested at his home and placed in pre-trial detention on charges of illegal gathering and use of personal information. Meanwhile, former Novaya Gazeta editor-in-chief and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov — who continues to reside in Moscow despite mounting pressure and attacks on him and his newspaper — was in Paris as part of a campaign in support of political prisoners in Russia.
