The Real Russia. Today.

A showdown in South Ossetia, Pope Francis faults NATO’s ‘barking,’ and middle-aged vets are asked to pitch in

Tuesday, May 3, 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
• Talking to Russians about their wartime thoughts and feelings
• Why some Russian soldiers are refusing to fight
• The Kremlin’s plans to push back against antiwar celebrities

Major recent events in Russia and Ukraine

• 🪖 An honest exchange in South Ossetia: Journalists at Mediazona obtained the audio recording of a recent meeting between a group of soldiers in the breakaway state of South Ossetia and President Anatoly Bibilov. In late March, roughly 300 soldiers from South Ossetia refused to fight in Ukraine and returned home, citing a critical lack of weapons, communications, and command. In the new exchange, Bibilov chastised the men for abandoning the fight and complaining about shortages, but the soldiers described scenes of chaos at the battlefront, such as incompetent officers being beaten by their own men, and artillery fire missing by several kilometers without commanders even caring.
• 🔎 Murderous factcheckers: A pro-Kremlin Russian think tank called the Social Research Expert Institute has released a report, titled “How They’re Killing the Free Press: Factcheckers as an Instrument of Western Counter-Propaganda and Censorship.” The authors describe U.S. Democrats as a “single party that’s merged with the state apparatus and secret police” and cite the 1998 film “Enemy of the State” (starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman) as evidence of U.S. government surveillance. The authors’ beef with factchecking is that they say it’s too selective: it’s a post-hoc, partisan effort to defend political attacks and deny information that undermines those attacks. Tellingly, the first example they cite is a supposedly unfair proof of Russian troops’ involvement in the Bucha massacre.
• ✝️ The Pope weighs in, sorta: Pope Francis told an Italian newspaper he has offered to visit Moscow to meet with Putin and suggested Russia’s invasion of Ukraine might have been provoked by NATO’s eastward expansion (“this barking of NATO at Russia’s door,” as he put it). The Catholic leader also criticized the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, after a 40-minute videoconference, saying Kirill “cannot turn into Putin’s altar boy.”
• 💥 More Russian missile strikes: The head of Ukrainian Railways says the Russian military bombed six train stations in central and western Ukraine on Tuesday. The full scale of the damage to the nation’s rail infrastructure is still unknown. Russian missiles also struck power plants in Lviv on Tuesday night, knocking out electricity in much of the western Ukrainian city.
• 🤐 So much for public oversight: The Russian government has drafted regulations that would allow any companies connected to sanctioned individuals or legal entities to conceal their information in Russia’s commercial registry. The new policy would seriously complicate oversight and third-party audits.
• 🪖 Calling all vets: Retired Russian soldiers between the ages of 40 and 60 have reportedly been summoned to draft boards and offered contract jobs to “administer” different areas of Ukraine now under Russian occupation. The new policy indicates the Russian military’s manpower shortages and plans to remain in Ukraine for years to come.
• 🤐 He identifies as a Russian Federation: Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov (who visited Mariupol on Tuesday) has hidden three of his Moscow luxury homes from public records, reregistering them as the property of “Russian Federation” (a notorious bookkeeping trick). He also has a cottage outside the capital that’s still listed under his own name.
• 💰 Live to default another day: Russia made overdue payments on two of its sovereign Eurobonds, apparently avoiding a debt default yet again by dipping into its scarce U.S. dollar reserves. But other payments are coming due soon, and U.S. permission for American bondholders to accept payment on Russian bonds is set to expire May 25, “so even if Russia tries to pay, investors would not legally be able to take the money,” explains The Associated Press.
• 💥 Last days in Mariupol: The Russian military resumed its strikes against the Azovstal iron and steel works in Mariupol, claiming that Ukrainian troops took up firing positions at the factory, supposedly exploiting the state of ceasefire. Meanwhile, 156 civilians escaped the factory and Russian capture, reaching the city of Zaporizhzhia (about 140 miles northwest of Mariupol), reported Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

🧠 Feeling Around for Something Human: Why do Russians support the war against Ukraine? Shura Burtin investigates. (1-hour read)

For more than two months now, many Russians have openly supported the Kremlin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine — choosing to close their eyes to executions and rapes, the shelling of peaceful cities, unthinkable destruction, and millions of people losing their homes. Journalist Shura Burtin spent several weeks talking to Russian citizens about their thoughts and feelings about the war. For Meduza, Burtin recounts how fear and a sense of humiliation defeated Russians’ humanity.

🪖 Russian soldiers are refusing to fight in Ukraine. Lawyer Maxim Grebenyuk is helping defend their rights. (13-min read)

As Russia’s war against Ukraine grinds on, stories continue to appear in the press about Russian soldiers refusing to perform military service to avoid joining the fight. The most recent, high-profile case occurred in early April, when a local publication reported that around 60 soldiers from Pskov were refusing to go to war. Since then, these soldiers have been discharged and threatened with criminal prosecution. A few dozen of these “objectors” are being advised by lawyer Maxim Grebenyuk, who runs the online community Military Ombudsman. Meduza sits down with Maxim Grebenyuk to talk about why Russian soldiers are refusing to fight in Ukraine.

🎭 Kremlin officials are coming up with ‘creative’ ways to hit back at celebrities who oppose Russia’s war against Ukraine (4-min read)

Despite the threat of military censorship, getting arrested, or facing criminal prosecution for spreading “false information” or “discrediting” the Russian military, many Russians openly oppose Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. According to Meduza’s sources close to the Kremlin, officials in Putin’s administration are particularly “concerned” about the influence of celebrities who have spoken out against the war. And as special correspondent Andrey Pertsev learned, the Kremlin plans to do something about it.

Yours, Meduza