Awarded the Redkollegia investigative journalism prize for her work on Putin’s palace on the Black Sea, Maria Konstantinovna Pevchikh (Zelonograd, 1987) is today one of the best-known journalists and activists in Russian exile, especially in the wake of the case of the poisoning of the leader of the Russian opposition, Alekséi Navalny, in August 2020, as she was one of his traveling companions on that tour of Russia. Since March of this year, Pevchikh has chaired the Anti-Corruption Foundation, founded by Navalny in 2011.
Russia just outlawed the LGTBI movement this week.
It is a very political move. Vladimir Putin is going to elections in March. With each passing year, his political platform becomes more conservative. His message is that Western customs are bad because they do not respond to traditional Russian values, which he appropriates. In each electoral cycle, these attitudes are inflated and he uses television as a political tool to wash people’s brains. In these twenty years he has created a social base that believes him and has assumed those values. But it is a trick, a tragic trap, because it affects millions of people.
Doesn’t Putin fear that persecuting groups of millions of people will affect him electorally?
All minorities are being repressed and we have reached a point where they are afraid to express their condition because they can be sentenced to up to 12 years in prison and even have their biological children taken away from them. If you are gay, they can come into your house and take your children to an orphanage.
And Putin has come to consider anyone who receives money from a foreign institution, be it a foundation or an NGO, a “foreign agent”…
It is a planned strategy.
To eliminate dissent?
Of course, it is a way to silence all the opposition. In fact it has already happened, because all dissidents have been expelled from the country or are imprisoned. Human rights movements, lawyers, activists, journalists…, all of them are being sidelined, you can’t even go out on the streets to protest with a sign without facing prison sentences. And this has even affected memorial organizations, such as the one that investigates Stalin’s crimes.
Under what conditions does the opposition arrive at the elections?
In December the possibility of submitting candidatures opens, but the entire process is false. Most of the opposition is imprisoned, no one is going to go against Putin. The well-known candidates were fake candidates and parties like the Liberal party barely achieved 2% support.
Is the war the reason or alibi for this progressive Russian authoritarianism or do you think this process would have occurred anyway?
It would have been that way in any case because it is a manifestation of what Putin is. Don’t forget that he is a former KGB agent, he has always been in favor of the murder and imprisonment of dissidents and the only difference is that now he doesn’t have to hide to carry it out. For years he has been planning this strategy, including the invasion of Ukraine, which he considers his pinnacle, his destiny. It is very difficult to imagine Putin without the war, but the repressive laws began much earlier.
What situation is the opposition in exile, where Moscow’s arm has even reached to eliminate dissidents?
Keep in mind that no one leaves their country voluntarily. We are talking about people who have been accused of all kinds of crimes, so that if they return to Russia they face sentences of 20 years in prison. But the advantage of those of us who are in exile is that we can speak clearly about what is happening and that we even have the means to be heard by the Russian population. Those who only watch television will never know what is happening, but even if there are blocked websites, we use VPN networks to accelerate the news and move it within Russia.
Is billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky the head of this opposition movement?
The leader of the opposition continues to be Alekséi Nalvalny, who even from prison remains the best voice against Putin. Even though they have tried to kill him and his life is in danger every day.
The Russian economic exile has many properties in Spain. Does it play a political role?
It plays an undesirable role. They are millionaires whose activities are very close to those of the mafia. They launder black money and are hardly affected by EU sanctions.
And yet, are you optimistic about Russia’s future?
I am moderately optimistic and would never dedicate my life to a hopeless cause. It is true that twelve years ago I thought it was going to be a faster process, and in fact it was impossible to imagine that Putin would still be in power in 2024 or that he would undertake the annexation of Crimea or the invasion of Ukraine. But time will prove us right because we are younger, smarter and stronger. The possibility of consolidating a large opposition movement is very high. It won’t be next year, but everything will come. We Russians do not love dictatorship.
Do you fear for your life?
I have seen friends die before me, but there are things more important than my emotions or my fears. And I don’t feel insecure because I have chosen not to be afraid. Sometimes to not be afraid, you just have to see yourself as a winner. I trust in victory even if I don’t get to see it. You must be strong to be able to do what we must do.
