Famous Russian journalist, photo correspondent and a volunteer Viktoriya Ivleva told the Informator.lg.ua how she was driving people away the “LNR”, why she was reputed “SCU’s agent” and why she decided to write a book “Mandrivka, or a trip of the Facebook worm around Ukraine”.
Tell me about the book, why did you decide to write about Ukraine?
The book was published at the end of December, it is for sale in Ukraine. The book is about my trip right before the war with Ukraine. On the 11th of April I went from Donetsk to Moscow and on 12th – Girkin entered Slavyansk. I think that this book describes the country before the war very well, when it has been obvious already that something was going to happen. Expectation of war and a terror, bewilderment because Russia dared to do that – everything is shown in the book. I remember Ukrainians and their feelings, when they found themselves betrayed by the closest friend.
I drove from Donetsk to Ivano-Frankivsk, I saw 9 different towns on my way – Donetsk – Pavlysh – Poltava – Zaporozhie – Korosten – Lubny – Kiev – Zhitomir – Lviv – Kolomyay and Ivano-Frankovsk. I wanted to go to Poltava and Pavlysh village in Kirovograd region, where the school of famous pedagogue Vasiliy Suhomlynskiy is. I was in Pavlysh 25 years ago and wanted to see how the village has changed since that time. To other cities I was invited by people from Facebook, that is why the book is titled: “Mandrivka, or a trip of the Facebook worm around Ukraine”.
I’ve heard that there are two separate parts of Ukraine, and the right one hates the left one. It was the most reasonable for me to check if it was right. I decided to sort out contradictions and understand weather they were real or artificial. I would say that it’s a strong side of Ukraine and Russia – that they have so many different people mixed. Itisgreat, whenthecountryissodifferent. But it is bad, when this diversity is used to harm.
Did you manage to sort out contradictions or they are just a myth?
Now it is not a myth at all. I suppose that roots of these contradictions are in a very far history. I see problems in transition of Ukrainian territories to Poland in 1918th and impossibility for Ukraine to have its own state. People often forget that Western Ukraine, apart from a very small piece of Volyn region, has never been in the USSR or the Russian Empire. It hasn’t gone through Holodomour, collectivization, industrialization, GULAG or anything else, when the other part of the country experienced everything with the USSR.
There were heroes from both sides. We have to reconcile them in our memories and history. And it is impossible to do in an offhand way. Authorities had to work with population little by little, but not to turn Bandera into a hero in one night. And we can see results of such politics today.
From the other side, I saw a journal of the Luhansk Regional Administration, published in 2008, ant it was written there: “We will never let cursed fascists, banderovtsy from Western Ukraine to encroach our Luhansk holy …” What is that? Where was your Security Service when authorities of the one side of the country stir up people against the other part? We cannot blame Russia for that too. It is a very difficult process to reconcile people, and you cannot try to do this aggressively. I don’t exculpate Russia here, it is clear that the conflict would have never turned into a war without Russian intervention.
How do people in Russia think about your pro-Ukrainian position?
There are 140 million of people in the country and everyone has own opinion. When authorities ask them to express it they don’t say what they really think very often. Fortunately, I’m well-known person and can easily do my job. I was a volunteer in Luhansk region with Zhenya Kaplin (volunteer of the humanitarian mission “Proliska”), when we became too famous in “LNR”. Then I was arrested, our bus with IDPs was turned back and we were “slandered”. It harmed our work a lot.
I was detained for 4 hours – but it was a captivity. The most important was that other people were detained. Authorities of uncontrolled territories thought that we were taking away kids from a children’s home. When they checked our documents and made sure that children were with parents, they didn’t let them go. Moreover, there was a pregnant woman in the bus, she was afraid and distressed. It was a real torture.
There also were outrageous pieces of propaganda on local TV, where they told that we were going to sell children’s organs and sell women as prostitutes. They scared many people, who wanted to leave by those mares.
All people, who leaved the uncontrolled territory with us are healthy and alive, and we keep in touch. All people get or apply for social benefits. All of them are very grateful for our help.
The purpose of that action was to stop volunteers help people to leave the territory. When the “vice-premier of the LNR’s government” Nikitin (Nikitin banned us to take away children from the Slavyano-Serbsk psychoneurological boarding school on the front line) announced on TV that we are going to sell children into slavery – he has deliberately lied. Why? To stop people from leaving, and to discredit volunteers and me especially, because I was “beyond the template”. I am a citizen of Russia who protects Ukraine and helps people in trouble. It is interesting that they didn’t mention my name or citizenship, because authorities of uncontrolled territories suppose that all Russians support “Novorossiya”, but I am for all suffering people, regardless of my and their political position.
It doesn’t matter at what side you are fighting, if you have a heart and brain, you will understand that the war is not a place for children and women. But I live in a country, which jeers at its people and it is very painful for me.
But we still help people to leave the territory. It is impossible to stop a grapevine. Together with Zhenya we took away more than 100 people and delivered meds, diapers and food back there. Now authorities dismiss rumors that we are SCU’s agents, because we managed to take people away. But we did it because we contacted people in Ukrainian army, who understood importance of our job. They helped us a lot. We are very grateful for that.
We were almost the only people who kept taking people away after introduction of the admission system. This system has to be changed immediately. Don’t fool us in the twenty first century that you cannot develop a system, where we will not wait for months in a line. This system violates European Convention of Human Rights, it violates the right for free movement.
Of course people can go via Russian territory – but it would be much expensive. Problems start in Kharkiv, where police try to tag for illegal crossing. I see the point and formally – they are right. But to tag people, who didn’t want to stay in Russia and want to come back to Motherland – is shameful! Howtheywillpayafine? Sellanoldchairorboots? It is an endless fight of an army of volunteers born by the Maydan against the state, which hasn’t changed. I see that this thievish state existed for 70 years and will not give up easily. Looking at this struggle I understand that once it will happen in Russia.
To be continued
Denis Matsola for the Informator.lg.ua