29 May 2022
Witness #5: Freelancer, Moscow (40-50)
Source: Witnesses Against War
Witnesses Against War is an anonymous international group of journalists, writers, historians and translators, who live in Moscow and London. For reasons of security, their project is anonymous. In addition to the above websiste, you can also find them on Instagram / Инстаграм and Telegram / Телеграм.
My first reaction… To be honest, I was waiting for this somehow subconsciously. A friend called me and asked why have you put the Ukrainian flag on your profile picture? This was before the invasion, but there was powerful anti-Ukrainian propaganda here, starting from New Year. It was very tense. My first reaction – I went to buy western drugs for my dad, right on February 24th. I felt and understood right away that everything was going to be closed to us now. These are high-quality medicines, and Russia does not produce them. I thought about dad, I bought enough for a year). Now they are not available in pharmacies. And then I came home, opened Facebook and saw a lot of support for this war from close friends. That’s when I lost it. For me, this war is a catastrophe.
A catastrophe
My dad and I went to a top Moscow hospital, this was is the middle of March. No one talked about anything, as if nothing was happening. But in the smoking room they watched the news and did not discuss anything. Even the doctors were afraid.
It’s like we, adults, are playing a stupid game – which is to lie and to lie.
I was afraid to talk to doctors about Ukraine, because I didn’t know which side they were on.
On whose side.
Doctors.
Emotionally it sucks. So many friends have left
Our family, oddly enough, continues to communicate with relatives, these are Odesa and Kharkov
I stayed, although I was kicked out of the chat I was in with
my circle of friends
I suffer a lot
My moods are terrible, full of repulsion, sadness
Everyone here wants to conquer Ukraine and they worship Putin.
Read in Russian here
