The Real Russia. Today.

Meduza interviews the mother of the first Russian soldier charged with a war crime in Ukraine, and leaked records expose the politics of Putin’s eldest daughter

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

For ongoing coverage of the invasion of Ukraine and its consequences back in Russia, follow Meduza’s live updates. Please note that the authorities are now blocking our website in Russia, and we’re turning to you, our global audience, for financial support.

In today’s newsletter:

• Latest news
• The first Russian soldier accused of a war crime in Ukraine pleads guilty in Kyiv
• Leaked chat records indicate that Putin’s eldest daughter sees the world much like her father does
• Photo report: how the war in Ukraine has changed the face of Moscow
• Explaining Georgia’s feeble response to the invasion of Ukraine

Major recent events in Russia and Ukraine

• 🍿 Russia’s Silver Screen: Struggling under the weight of Western sanctions, many Moscow movie theaters located inside shopping malls are now closing down, reports the newspaper Izvestia. The shutdowns could constitute lease violations and trigger litigation, but a more immediate concern is that the loss of cinemas could reduce consumer traffic to the shopping centers that host them, causing cascading economic damage.
• 🛫 Commercial absence: Google has moved the bulk of its employees out of Russia, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal, ending the company’s commercial presence in the country “for the near future.”
• ⚖️ The fate of Azovstal’s surrendered: Eighty-nine of the Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered at the Azovstal factory in Mariupol have reportedly been transferred to a Russian detainment facility in Taganrog where they will face extremism charges in military court for fighting in the Azov Regiment.
• 💉 RIP, CoviVac: Nanolek, which manufactures CoviVac (Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine that never proved its efficacy in a phase III clinical trial), says the Russian Health Ministry has not ordered additional supplies of the vaccine, leading the company to suspend production.
• ☢️ An arrest at Chernobyl: The Ukrainian authorities have arrested the deputy director of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on suspicion of deserting his post and collaborating with Russian invaders to facilitate their (temporary) capture of the plant in late February.
• 👮 WikiCensorship: Russia’s federal censor has reportedly ordered Wikipedia’s English-language edition to revise or remove two articles (“2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine” and “Rashism”), arguing that they contain false information about Russian military losses in the conflict and Russian attacks against civilian targets.”
• 👮 Discrediting felony charges: For the first time ever, Russian police officers have charged an individual with the new felony offense of repeatedly “discrediting” the armed forces. If convicted, a man named Vladislav Nikitenko in the city of Blagoveshchensk could face up to three years in prison for posting antiwar content on social media.

⚖️ Vadim Shishimarin is the first Russian soldier on trial for war crimes in Ukraine. Meduza interviewed his mother. (10-min read)

A Kyiv court began the first war crimes trial for a Russian soldier on May 13. On Wednesday, May 18, the accused, 21-year-old Vadim Shishimarin, pleaded guilty to fatally shooting a civilian in Ukraine’s Sumy region. Meduza interviewed Shishimarin’s mother Lyubov, who lives in the town of Ust-Ilimsk in Russia’s Irkutsk region (she asked that her surname, which isn’t the same as her son’s, not be disclosed).

💬 Journalist Dmitry Kolezev publishes messages from ‘Maria V.,’ revealing what one of the Russian president’s alleged children thinks about Crimea, the West, and more (6-min read)

Vladimir Putin’s eldest known daughter, Maria Vorontsova, is reportedly active in a Telegram chat group used by alumni of Moscow State University’s Medical Department, where she sometimes writes about current events. Dmitry Kolezev, the editor-in-chief of the website Republic, shared this information on Wednesday, May 18, 2022, posting several screenshots received from a member of that chat group showing Vorontsova’s comments. The messages, if authentic, offer a rare glance at the political thinking of one of the Russian president’s closest relatives.

📷 ‘Moscow has changed for me’: Photographer Petr Kamanin captures Russia’s ‘peaceful’ capital in wartime (3-min read)

Russia has been waging a full-scale war against Ukraine for nearly three months. Photographer Petr Kamanin has spent this time taking pictures of Moscow and Muscovites, in an attempt to capture how ordinary, everyday scenes have changed since February 24. Meduza shares these snapshots of the Russian capital along with the photographer’s commentary.

🕊️ Why Georgia's response to the war has been feeble — despite months of pro-Ukraine protests in Tbilisi (16-min read)

Since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Georgian citizens have enthusiastically supported Ukraine: thousands of people have attended anti-war rallies in Tbilisi, the city is covered in Ukrainian flags, and some Georgians have even chosen to fight alongside Ukrainians as volunteers. Despite all that, official relations between the two countries remain strained. Ukraine withdrew its ambassador from Georgia a month ago and has criticized the country for imposing insufficient sanctions against Russia, while the Georgian government has rejected Ukraine’s calls for it to open a “second front” and reclaim its occupied territories from Russia. The conflict has started to affect Georgia’s domestic politics as well — its ruling party is facing accusations of cowardice and of supporting Russia. At Meduza’s request, Georgian journalist Iya Barateli reports on how her country is trying to walk the line between Ukraine and Russia.

Yours, Meduza