From the editor
The large-scale phase of Russia’s war on Ukraine has been going on for six months now, and I have launched a project together with Kentucky lawyer Johnathan Gay called Putin’s Victims that aims to document and commemorate the thousands of people who have been killed in Ukraine and around the world by Vladimir Putin’s regime. We have a website at www.putinsvictims.co.uk and a Twitter account @PutinsVictims, and we hope to gather first-hand information from family and friends. If you would like to write about someone you know, email us at editor1@putinsvictims.com.
Elsemiek de Borst was 17 years old when she was killed on flight MH17
Johnathan explains why he is volunteering to run the project with me: “I care deeply about humanity and democracy. Putin has trampled on both routinely and with impunity over the past 20 years. The people of Ukraine are my heroes for the way they have fought back against him better than any other foe he has ever faced. This project allows me an opportunity to hopefully help their – our – cause.”
The first victim featured on the website is Elsemiek de Borst, who was murdered at the age of 17 in July 2014 while flying on MH17 on holiday to Malaysia from the Netherlands. She was one of 298 people on board the plane, including her mother, stepfather and little brother. Elsemiek wanted to study architecture and was full of plans for the future, according to her father Hans, who together with other relatives is waiting to hear the verdict in the MH17 trial that is due to be announced in November. The four suspects are not in custody, but the trial will at least provide some measure of justice, which is rare when it comes to Putin’s crimes.
I myself have been writing about Russia since my first trip to Moscow and Leningrad in 1990. As a teenager I was inspired to enter this field and learn the language by the democratic revolutions in eastern Europe, the fall of the Berlin Wall and Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika and glasnost reform policies. I visited Russia numerous times and didn’t expect to be thrown back into not only a new Cold War but also a horrific hot war until it all seemed to start in 2014, although those who had been paying more attention knew things had gone downhill under Putin long before then. I lived in Alaska from 2001 to 2013 and lost touch with day-to-day politics in Russia during that time.
Since the annexation of Crimea I have tried to use my knowledge of Russia to inform people about what Putin has been doing, particularly in Ukraine but also at home and in other countries, from Syria to Venezuela to the Central African Republic. I visited Ukraine twice in 2015 but unfortunately have not had the resources to return since. I have not been back to Russia, or wanted to go back, since my last visit in March 2013.
It often feels like there are far too many reports of deaths in the war to keep track of all the victims, let alone get to know who they were as people. Johnathan and I hope to make a contribution towards reviving their memories and to build a database to preserve the historical record. We welcome offers of help because the scope of this project is enormous and we don’t have enough time on our own to do everything that could be done. But what we can do may in a small way give voice to people whose lives were cut short for no reason other than to satisfy the insane ambitions of an aging dictator.
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Russia attacks civilian train, cuts off nuclear power plant
On Ukraine’s Independence Day, August 24, Russia attacked a train station in Chaplyne, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, killing at least 25 people. Kyiv and other major cities had been on high alert for missile strikes, but Russia chose the softest possible target, where no one would have expected to be hit. Outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Kyiv on Independence Day to show support, and damaged Russian tanks were put on display in the city centre.
Meanwhile in a very worrying development the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is occupied by Russian troops, was disconnected from the power grid temporarily yesterday due to fires at nearby ash pits. There has been increasing concern over the situation at the power plant where Ukrainian staff are forced to work under Russian supervision and two employees were recently arrested by the Russians for allegedly “collaborating with Ukrainian forces”.
Russia blames Ukraine for Dugina murder
Russia’s FSB concocted an absurd explanation for the apparent car bombing murder of Alexander Dugin’s daughter Darya in Moscow on the evening of August 20, claiming that a Ukrainian woman called Natalia Vovk had entered Russia together with her 12-year-old daughter in a Mini Cooper, carried out the assassination and fled to Estonia. Ukraine has denied involvement in the murder. Dugina, 30, had been a regular guest on Russian state TV expressing similar views to her father’s. She claimed that the massacre by Russian forces in Bucha was staged. Dugin is generally considered to be a fascist and a possible inspiration for Putin’s imperialism. He famously urged Russians to “kill, kill and kill” in Ukraine in May 2014. It is not known if he was the real target of the assassination.
Opposition politician Yevgeny Roizman arrested for criticising war
Police in Yekaterinburg arrested former mayor of the city Yevgeny Roizman on Wednesday on a charge of discrediting troops for his constant criticisms of the war in Ukraine. Roizman has been an outspoken opposition politician for many years. After his arrest supporters came out onto the streets for a silent protest and some were violently detained. People applauded and chanted “Freedom!” as he was brought into court yesterday to be placed under restrictions by a judge that include a ban on using the phone and internet and attending public events. The judge declined the prosecution’s request to hold him at home for nearly 24 hours a day while awaiting trial, with the caveat that he would have been allowed out for one minute from 11:59 pm to midnight.
Tortured Kadyrov critic now assumed dead
Independent Russian outlet The Insider reports that Salman Tepsurkaev, the 19-year-old moderator of a Telegram channel dedicated to criticising Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov called 1ADAT, who was abducted from the hotel in Gelendzhik where he worked as a waiter in September 2020, was subsequently murdered. After his abduction Tepsurkaev was shown on video apologising and denouncing himself, and trying to sit on a glass bottle. The new report alleges that immediately after the torture he was killed by having a grenade put in his mouth and detonated from a distance.