While the war in Ukraine has raged for more than a year and a half, two journalists and a cartoonist set out to meet the Russians. Their works, A people who walk in stepAnd What are the Russians thinking? are presented in Bayeux at the thirtieth edition of the War Correspondents Prize.
With our special correspondent,
The designer Nicolas Wild is the author of several graphic novels on Afghanistan and Iran. In July 2022, he went to Russia for two weeks on a tourist visa, ordered by a young Indian media outlet, with this seemingly simple question: What are the Russians thinking?. Accompanied by a fixer
Russian, he was able to travel to Saint Petersburg, Moscow and the Bashkiria region, east of the capital. Veronika Dorman and Ksenia Bolchakova are journalists. Franco-Russian, they were correspondents in Russia for several years. In the fall of 2022, for a documentary project, while direct flights were interrupted with Western capitals, they joined Russia by bus, passing through Helsinki, to be as discreet as possible. Taking very little video equipment with them, they took care not to take their camera out in the street and slept with locals rather than in a hotel. Their book A people who walk in step
is an investigation drawn from this trip and the testimonies of their loved ones who remained in Russia.When asked what the Russians think, Ksenia Bolchakova advances, cautiously: “It’s is very difficult to know. Polling institutes no longer exist. And then people are afraid, there is a real crime of thinking “. Nicolas Wild, for his part, has the impression of now having “ some tracks “. During his trip, he met very different Russians: a former soldier who fought in Afghanistan, a flower seller, a rocker who is very critical of the government, a politician, a young girl returning from military training in Crimea, a human rights lawyer, a young activist who offers feminist tours of St. Petersburg, a painter… “ Many had not seen strangers since March. Very few people refused to speak. Because they are a people who are not listened to, who cannot express themselves
», assures the designer.
Still real opponents
Despite the omnipresent propaganda and repression, there are still real opponents of Vladimir Putin in Russia. Nicolas Wild was able to meet several of them. Some with the greatest discretion, because they had already been arrested and feared being arrested again. Since his trip, several of them have left the country.According to Veronika Dorman, “the Opinions became polarized in 2014. There was a series of demonstrations against the government in 2011-2012 which involved quite a few people. But,g Thanks to the annexation of Crimea, Vladimir Putin managed to bring political opponents to his side. The war in Ukraine has only crystallized this rupture within Russian society.
» “But you shouldn’t think that everyone has an opinion. Many are not politicized continues the journalist. The vast majority of Russians are neither for nor against this war. They are silent, don’t want to have an opinion. But this is also explained by the fact that they have to survive, that they have no other alternative to leave the country.” “They have switched on their survival instinct and are waiting for it to pass
», confirms Ksenia Bolchakova.
“Many people no longer watch the news, they are tired of war and propaganda. » In their book, the two journalists recount the propaganda that is everywhere. Since school with the recent introduction of “discussions on important things”, which, according to journalists “prepare for the fact that we must sacrifice ourselves for the homeland . And in times of war, this injunction takes on a whole new meaning
“. According to them, nearly 400 young people have been accused of “discrediting the armed forces” and risk imprisonment for not having attended these courses, although they were supposed to be optional.Propaganda thus begins at school and does not stop with theoretical lessons. Established in 2016, the Iournarmia, paramilitary youth, today have 1.5 million members, recruited from the age of 6 and have sections in almost all schools in the country. During his stay, Nicolas Wild came across a group while visiting Patriot Park in Moscow. Inaugurated in 2020 to celebrate 75 years of Soviet victory in the Second World War, it is a sort of “p attraction arc dedicated to war “. “ You can train there to fight in the trenches », says Nicolas Wild. “ Not all Muscovites go there every weekend, but it is a vacation spot, where we go with family
», adds Veronika Dorman. The three authors are categorical, the Second World War is very present in the Russian imagination. “ It’s still a very deep trauma. », testifies the designer who recalls that “current propaganda claims that Russia is currently fighting a Nazi government in Ukraine
Excerpt from the comic strip “What are the Russians thinking about” by Nicolas Wild. If we come across large portraits of soldiers in Moscow, accompanied by QR Codes, which we can scan to read a biographical text, the front line remains very far away. “ You could almost believe that there is no war, explains Veronika Dorman. There is no state funeral in the capital. The mobilization was ultimately the first moment when the war really came into families
“, she continues. During his stay, Nicolas Wild tried without success to meet families of soldiers who had gone to fight in Russia. And if the effects of economic sanctions are felt (rising food prices, shortage of medicines and spare parts for example), many Russians say they have experienced worse. “ In Russia, there has been a real culture of resourcefulness since the Soviet period, when there were many shortages “, explains Veronika Dorman. “ [occidentales] And then, there is also a certain pride in saying that the sanctions won’t reach them », adds Ksenia Bolchakova. “ Many Russians do not want to complain in front of foreigners
», confirms her colleague. At the time Nicolas Wild went to Russia, a mustard shortage was affecting France and the designer was offered two jars, not without a certain irony. Veronika Dorman and Ksenia Bolchakova say they are very pessimistic about the future of Russia. “ It is becoming more and more difficult to travel to the country. All free media were closed, cultural partnerships were interrupted. Western media are very limited in their travel and the few correspondents remaining in Russia cannot investigate everything. For thirty years, we had the impression that we knew this country well. But it is as if a new iron curtain had fallen. Less and less information is getting out of the country
», conclude the two journalists.