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Elena Kostyuchenko: ‘Poisoned’ journalist on love for Russia [1]
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Date: 2023-10
oD: There’s an interesting yet sad moment in the book about how Russian TV changed your mother, and the gap that grew between you as a result. Do you think it’s possible to speak to Russians who believe what they see on TV and to make them see and understand what's happening in Ukraine?
EK: I believe that’s what we must do. We have to fight for the souls of our people. It's a tough fight because propaganda in Russia is very sophisticated, extremely well-funded and made by very smart and talented people. It achieves really great results because it’s very pervasive, and it changes not only people’s picture of the world, but their very perception of it, as well as their personality.
In the future, I hope the people who made this propaganda will be put on trial as war criminals. What they did to people like my mother is unimaginable.
Still, I’m not going to leave my mum behind, not going to give her to Putin because she's the most important person in my life. Despite all the differences we have, I don’t want to quit our relationship, because we love each other. And this love creates a connection stronger than anything. We keep talking every day, and it's tough. Sometimes we just scream at each other. Sometimes we talk and she says, ‘I can’t talk anymore’, or I say it. Either way, that’s ok. In a day or two, she says, ‘Let's talk again’ and we do.
It's like looking for someone in the forest at night, you go step-by-step. You can’t hear their voice, but you also hear so many other voices. Sometimes my mum speaks like a Russian TV anchor. I know her phrasings, how she chooses words, the way she thinks, but sometimes, she switches and starts to talk like someone else. I’m like: ‘Mum, are you quoting [Russian TV presenters and propagandists] Solovyov, Kiselyov or Simonyan’? And she's like: ‘No, I'm not quoting them.’ But she says exactly what they say, exactly the way they say it. And in that moment, it's important not to get mad at my mother, but to get mad at the people who put all these words and constructions into her mind.
There’s a view from people outside of Russia that those inside the country who are under the influence of this propaganda are very happy. But they're not: they don’t feel like they live in the real world and they’re terrified.
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[1] Url:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/elena-kostyuchenko-interview-book-love-russia-novaya-gazeta-poison/
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