Published: Less than 30 min ago
Dad is one of Russia’s top politicians – he helped start the invasion of Ukraine.
When the daughter was arrested in a war protest, he chased her out of the home and ended the relationship.
– My family considers me a traitor, says Diana, 25, who has now fled her home country.
Eduard Isakov, 48 years old and former world champion in powerlifting, is a senator in the Russian upper house. Thus, he is one of the politicians who approved Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
When the daughter Diana Isakova, 25, put up self-made anti-war flyers in town in April, she was arrested almost immediately. She escaped prosecution—probably because of her father’s position—but not his wrath:
– Dad is a hard man, and I was very afraid of his judgement. He said I was an enemy of the family, an enemy of the people, a criminal. Then he came to my house to tell me that I was no longer his daughter, she says to the British BBC.
Senator Eduard Isakov is busy on the sanctions lists of the EU, Canada and Great Britain. At meetings of the Russian upper house, he sometimes wears a blazer with the letter Z, in support of the invasion, and he believes that Russia’s regions should compete to see which is the most patriotic.
In April, he suggested in the Russian media that those demonstrating against the war should not end up in prison for 10-15 days, but instead be forced to help rebuild the areas occupied by Russia in Ukraine. He said the same thing to his daughter when she was released:
“Go to Donbass as a volunteer,” the father demanded
– I suggested that she should go to places that illustrate the glory of the Soviet people, that she should read up on the history of our country. That she would go to Donbass as a volunteer, help people who for eight years lived under a state of war, and realize for herself the reasons for the military special operation, explains Eduard Isakov for Meduza magazine.
The daughter, who is a yoga and meditation teacher, describes the father and other senior Russian politicians as “arrogant”:
– They have a feeling that what is happening now is forever, that Putin will always be around.
Last summer, Diana decided to leave Russia. Now she has done it and continues to criticize the war, which the father joined and approved:
– I know dad signed the paper authorizing the invasion, but I’m not ashamed of it. He is his own grown man who bears responsibility for his actions, says Diana Isakova to the BBC and adds:
– At the same time, I am a little worried about what will happen to my father in the future, because I am convinced that the dictatorship will fall sooner or later.
After Diana was interviewed by both the BBC and Meduza, the father wrote in his Telegram channel:
– It is clear that she has received money from the mass media. In other words – she has betrayed her father, her family, her motherland and fled Russia. It is difficult to choose one’s words when one’s daughter turns out to be a traitor.
Meduza denies that Diana Ivanova received any money for the interview. The BBC has so far not commented on the father’s actions.