Paul Goble
Staunton,
February 4 – A new book, entitled Russia
and Ukraine. Days of Eclipse, which collects articles about Putin’s war in
Ukraine that were published in Pskovskaya
guberniya between 2014 and 2017 shows that that conflict looks very
different in Pskov than it does in Moscow, a regional variation few have paid
much attention to.
The
Russian-language book was presented at Moscow’s Sakharov Center, Aleksandr
Semenova says, with some of those behind it fearful that the police might raid
the place to stop this from taking place. Fortunately, that did not happen – or
at least it hasn’t yet (mbk-news.appspot.com/suzhet/luchshe-by-etoj-knigi-ne-bylo/).
Pskov opposition politician and
commentator Lev Shlosberg said that it would have been better if this book had
not had to appear because it would have been better if the tragic events in
Ukraine had not occurred and those whose deaths are recounted were still alive.
Historian Andrey Zubov agreed, noting that the war had “dehumanized” opponents.
The book’s various authors said that
they had been able to publish only a small part of the information which they
had received from people in Pskov oblast alone, but even that much shows how
false the accounts of the Russian authorities are and how efforts to classify
everything ultimately fail.
Ukrainian journalist Svetlana Prokopyev
said that Moscow’s denial of its role in Ukraine reflected a kind of “shamanism:
if one doesn’t pronounce the word ‘war, then it doesn’t exist and there are no
losses” beyond those of a few “volunteers.”
Of course, such things fool only a few people and only for a short time.
“Despite the tragic nature of the events which
were discussed at this meeting,” Semenova says in her report, “the session ended
on a positive note: In their concluding speeches, the journalists for the Pskov
newspaper and Lev Shlosberg expressed the hope that the war in Ukraine will
soon end, “’a hope that unites all those gathered there.’”
Shlosberg said that the new book will
be given for free to all who want to read it. In Moscow, those who do can turn
to the Sakharov Center or to the press secretary of the Moscwo branch of the Yabloko
Party, Igor Yakovlev.
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