Then, I traveled across all of Europe for almost a month to Tbilisi. In the summer of 2022, my parents left St Petersburg.
Two and a half years later [after the start of the special military operation], can you say to yourself that you took to the streets not for nothing? Today in Russia, surveys say, 20% believe that nothing will change if they go out to protest, while another 20% think that they will be jailed for doing so.
Street protests have not been able to change anything for a decade, since at least 2014. I think the last chance was 2011, after the rigged parliamentary election. It was the last breath of fresh air. In February 2022, I went out, in a sense, for myself, because sitting at home was sickening. And then, I have always considered myself not only an object of history but also one who makes it. Even a tiny part of it. I went out so that it would not be so sickening to look in the mirror. Like many who still go out, by the way.
Nobody thinks that this will turn things around. But I also understand those who prefer not to protest – from a pragmatic point of view, there will be no result. But pragmatism is not everything.
I left and lived in Tbilisi. And a few days after mobilization was announced, I launched the project Idite Lesom,which helps Russians who do not want to fight [in Ukraine].
First, I was declared a foreign agent, then I was put on the federal wanted list, with a case opened [against me] for discrediting the army under Criminal Code Article 207, Part 2. Unfortunately, I still do not have the evidence from my criminal case, [as] they did not give it to my lawyer, even when I was charged in absentia.
The lawyer spent five months trying to get the justification for putting me on the federal wanted list. They did not even tell him the article [which I am accused of violating]. To find out, I had to file a case against the investigator and then the court of first instance that had denied me the right to look at the evidence. But when they declared me a “foreign agent,” it was clear that people were sitting there reading my social media. They had collected dozens of my quotes where I “discredited” [the army].
If I had stayed in Russia, I would be in jail already, of course. You cannot tolerate the intolerable.