In the church of Alexandra and Antonina lies a coffin. It is covered with the Russian tricolor. On the coffin there is a hat and a photograph.
Mikhail Orchikov was deputy commander of a motorized infantry brigade. He died in combat in the Ukraine. A group of Russian soldiers form an honor guard.
An Orthodox priest walks around the coffin reciting prayers and swaying an ornate bowl that emits incense smoke. The intense scent fills the chapel, mixing with the sweet cadences of the choir. The widow of the dead soldier, with her face covered with a black scarf, is comforted by her relatives.
How many Russian soldiers have died in Ukraine? In Russia it is a punishable offense to report any figure other than the official one.
According to information released by the Russian Defense Ministry, 498 soldiers have been killed in what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation.” Those are the most recent figures, as of March 2. There have been no updates for two weeks.
“The situation in our country is not simple,” the priest tells the congregation. “We all understand that.”
an alternate reality
The Kremlin wants the public to think that the Russian soldiers in Ukraine are heroes and that Russia’s offensive there is an act of self-defense.
In a recent edition of state television’s flagship newscast, the presenter stated that if Russia “hadn’t intervened now, in three years Ukraine would be part of NATO… with a nuclear bomb. [Ucrania] it would definitely move into Crimea, then into southern Russia.” An alternate reality, in which Ukraine is the aggressor.
On the streets of Kostroma, many seem to believe the official version of the Kremlin.
That’s due in part to the power of television to shape public opinion. But also, in times of crisis, many Russians instinctively rally around their leader, as if they don’t want to believe that their president could have made the wrong decision.
“NATO wants to settle right next to us [en Ucrania] and they have nuclear weapons,” Nikolai tells me. “Well done Putin. He didn’t allow it.”
“Russia has to carry on to the end,” declares Nina Ivanovna, a retired woman.
“How much do you trust the information you get from Russian TV about this?” I ask. “I trust him. Why not? What I don’t trust is the internet.”
“Why not?” I ask again.
“I don’t know,” he replies.
“The blood is on the hands of the one who spilled it”
Not everyone supports Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. In the village of Nikolskoye, I visit the house of the Orthodox priest, Father Ioann Burdin. He recently gave a sermon against the war and voiced criticism of it on the church’s website.
He was later arrested and fined for violating a new law that does not allow the Russian armed forces to be discredited.
“I believe that any bloodshed, whatever its cause and however you try to justify it, is still a sin,” Father Ioann tells me.
“The blood is on the hands of the one who spilled it. If an order was given, it is on the hands of the one who gave it, who supported it or remained silent.”
“Worst of all is the hatred that has been generated. It will spread deeper and deeper, because we can see that the situation [con Ucrania] it’s not ending. There is no political will to end this. The hatred on both sides will grow stronger and become a wall between our peoples for decades to come.”
Geopolitics
In a Kostroma cemetery, eight soldiers carry Mikhail’s coffin to the grave. A military band plays solemn music. Salutes are then fired in his honor and, with the Russian national anthem, the coffin is lowered to the ground.
Brief words are said: “The loss of a son, brother, father is always a tragedy, but we are proud that he died defending our people, our children, our country.”
In Kostroma, Mikhail is called “a defender of the fatherland.”
However, it was the Russian army that crossed the border into a sovereign nation and attacked Ukraine under the orders of President Putin. The Kremlin leader claims that the goal of his “special military operation” is to “demilitarize and denazify” Ukraine, as if the Ukrainian government is infested with fascists, which is simply not true.
In recent days, Russian officials have barely been able to hide their broader goals. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared that what is happening in Ukraine “…is a life-or-death battle for the right of Russia to remain on the world political map with all respect for its interests. legitimate”.
In other words, this is about geopolitics, and Moscow’s determination to force Ukraine back into the Russian sphere of influence.
That is something the government in Ukraine is determined to avoid.
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BBC-NEWS-SRC: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-internacional-60794089, IMPORTING DATE: 2022-03-18 22:20:04
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