Guest in Another Reality – NRK Urix – Foreign news and documentaries

As I sat there with “No. 52” in the air, I was struck by how easily we, not so friendly, accepted his description.

Maybe because it’s said with a hint of his tried-and-true old fashioned charm.

I felt shy. We are not the problem, it is him and the rest of the Russian leadership. They talk about defeating the Nazis. But the very use of language is deception, and possibly self-deception as well.

Because there are hardly more Nazis and right-wing extremists in Ukraine than in many other European countries, including Russia.

And now the Russians themselves are behaving very much like the self-proclaimed German lords they fought against at the cost of 27 million dead in the last world war.

difficult friendship

It was a dark autumn. I was looking forward to meeting an old friend and her husband. First dinner at someone’s house I’ve known since I was a reporter in the ’90s. I have always believed that we share core values.

Not anymore. Because they were so convinced Bodies in the streets of Batsha It was organized by the Ukrainians. Those were Ukrainian forces The port of Mariupol was bombed in ruin. That it was the Ukrainians who started the war against the Russian-speaking people in Donbass.

At one point I got up and said I couldn’t take it anymore.

But then the traditions of Russian hosting began. Friends don’t part like that. A glass of cognac later I was able to leave, in a taxi ordered and paid for by the host. But we haven’t met since, and in that lies an inextinguishable sadness.

Difficult distance to war

Many back home ask how you feel about the war. I answer that the truth is that I only notice it because I am looking for it. That is, the news of the war, on TV, on the Internet and in social media. The nearest battlefield is about 700 kilometers away.

There are few things here in Moscow that remind people of the war. Z code Outside Gorky Park is one of them. Even with minus 25 degrees, people would come to ski and everyone would have to see the letter Z. standing in two places at the entrance.

On the most famous pedestrian street in Moscow, Gamle Arbat, portraits of Donbass children are exhibited.

They will represent the victims of Ukrainian aggression against the Russians.

– Always let my mother, always let me be, is the name of the show.

The images are similar to those used in human rights campaigns at home. But here they are suspended to justify aggressive war. It’s hard to look at them.

I would love to go to Donbass

I would like to go to Donbass myself, to places where people’s lives are turned upside down, where everyone has a story about killed relatives and neighbors. Since I have to enter from Russia, under the protection of Russian forces, there will be stories of Ukrainian abuse.

But we have to bear to hear the civil suffering on that side as well. We must be able to look into the eyes of civilian victims and relatives on both sides and be able to say: “I hear what you’re saying. I understand your grief.”. And then we have to stick to who bears the political responsibility for the matter to become this way.

But those who bear this responsibility do not like to let Western journalists into the war. Honestly, I don’t even know how many people have tried. We are rightly afraid of being pointed in their direction, of being exploited in their propaganda.

War does not concern them

– Two journalism students I met last week said that what happens in Ukraine has no bearing on our vision of the future. They work with the local press and culture.

Young women do not watch the news on TV, like many young men in Norway. Thus, they do not get all the success stories about the accuracy of artillery and young soldiers willing to sacrifice everything to beat the so-called Nazis.

Bang bang, two sentences from the reporter, bang bang, one sentence from a tank soldier, bang bang, suddenly a chorus of men marching into the war zone, bang bang, the reporter shows the ruins free of mines and unexploded artillery. «Finally, we are now in control. The Nazis have been expelled.” This is how Russian television news goes – day in and day out.

But my young journalism students in Moscow have chosen to rule out war.

There are, of course, people who care here in Russia. Hundreds of thousands spoke with their legs as they fled the country in connection with the partial mobilization in the fall of 2022.

The gay opposition politician, economist and staunch war opponent Grigory Yavlinsky told me last week that eight out of 10 Russians don’t notice the war.

– They are so poor that they are not directly affected by the sanctions. Javlinskij explained that they are not used to buying Western brands and going to Europe on holiday.

Although Europe. Russia is also Europe, but everyone understands that when the Russians now say Europe, it is the other Europe that owns all the brands, but, according to the administration here, wants to destroy Russia.

Norwegian Jarlsberg is present

A few words about brands. Before he I became less of them, I left the big chains. IKEA, Henness, Moritz, Zara and all the expensive fashion stores are gone. But an acquaintance just told me that you can still buy Ikea furniture. Western cosmetics and Western hair products are sold everywhere.

I found a lady in the market selling Jarlsberg Norwegian cheese. Admittedly not on-brand, but with the unmistakable flair of Jarlsberg. “via Georgia”she whispered in my ear.

So-called parallel imports are now completely legal. It goes mainly through Turkey, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Georgia. The Russian authorities have no objection to importing Western goods without a license or permission from the manufacturer. The importer shall be responsible for repair or replacement only if the item fails within the warranty period.

And distribution is going very quickly, at least in the big cities. Everything from cars to toilet paper, cinnamon and fish can be ordered online. Here in Moscow, most things come to your door without costing a penny. Amazon does not exist, only Ozone.

So for those who want it, it is entirely possible to live as if the war did not exist.

What do the Russians think – really?

But not to a journalist from Norway. Because the whole point is to talk about how people live and think. Sometimes people in home newsrooms ask what “Russians” think of a particular question.

Sometimes I have to answer with “I don’t know,” such as when it comes to the church and Putin’s campaign against gays and transgender people. I haven’t talked to many people about it, there are no credible polls and I’m not sure if people would answer honestly if I asked.

No LGBTIQ group will apply, it is punishable “Advertising”. And any defense of their values ​​can be classified as propaganda.

Both the Church and Putin use liberal attitudes towards LGBT people in the West as one of their arguments for the need to wage war in Ukraine.

Brave theatre

But there are exceptions for art with a capital K. One Saturday I accidentally went to the theater to see a play by Oscar Wilde Salomea performance of a woman who danced for King Herod, is in this story in exchange for her desire to have John the Baptist’s head on a platter.

The men played all but one of the roles. Salome was a super-masculine man who danced a fierce, sexy dance to heavy rock music in a tiny golden thong in front of Herod.

Then she, or she, kisses Johannes’ severed head on the mouth. This is how Salome took revenge on Johannes because he rejected her.

So this is permissible because it is art. And the women sat around me on the balcony with binoculars to properly enjoy the vision of the men in silks and feathers.

Most likely they will also vote for Putin.