Our first episode is an introduction to what it means to be ‘underground’ in modern Russia, and the myriad of ways anti-war Russians can – and do – express their opposition to the fighting in Ukraine and the political direction taken by the Kremlin.
We meet a documentary filmmaker who has been shooting the reality of wartime Russia, and attend a screening of one of her recent films in Moscow. She is an advocate of so-called ‘partisan filmmaking’, and grapples with issues of risk and self-censorship. And she worries about what will happen if her films are successful and she gains a public profile – could she attract unwanted attention from the authorities?
In a city in the Ural Mountains region, we speak to a political activist and organiser who has been questioned by police, and whose events have been raided. And we attend an event in Moscow where people are writing letters to Russia’s political prisoners – an important way of expressing support. The organiser of the event’s own husband is currently in jail (for reading anti-war poems in public), and she talks about the experience of his arrest and trial.
The identities of some of our interviewees have been disguised for safety reasons.
Great thanks to Katya Dyba, who assembled the episode and has been working on scriptwriting the whole podcast.
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