As Russia launched its full-scale war on Ukraine last year, the head of a Washington think tank found out the hard way about one of the more surprising fissures between Russians and Ukrainians.
Alina Polyakova, who runs the Center for European Policy Analysis, wanted to start a fellowship for Ukrainian civil society leaders as well as Russian dissidents. But she and the center faced immediate blowback from Ukrainians who questioned why any positions would go to Russians — even Russians who oppose the rule of Vladimir Putin.
“It was very controversial, because some Ukrainians still have the view that there’s no such thing as a good Russian,” said Polyakova, a Ukrainian American. The argument, which Polyakova appreciates, is that available resources “should go to support Ukrainian civil society.”
The dust-up over the fellowship program illustrates a broader phenomenon: Despite their mutual fury toward Putin, Ukrainian activists and Russian dissidents are largely avoiding each other. There’s little cooperation and no serious coalition building. Instead, there’s tremendous suspicion on the Ukrainian side and defensiveness from the Russians.
The tensions suggest that no matter when the war ends, the social ruptures between Ukrainians and Russians will fester far longer.
Russian dissidents simply aren’t doing enough to support Ukrainians, said Daria Kaleniuk, a Ukrainian anti-corruption activist. There’s no broad Russian dissident campaign to help Ukraine get NATO membership or funds from seized Russian assets, she said.
Instead, they “are very self-focused,” Kaleniuk said. “They try to present themselves as if they are victims and not lesser victims than Ukraine.”
The tensions have popped up in many arenas: from debates over who speaks at a college graduation to a free speech group’s decision to cancel a panel with Russian writers after objections from Ukrainian writers on another panel.
An Oscar win by a documentary about jailed Putin opponent Alexei Navalny drew much Ukrainian eyerolling, as did the fact that the Nobel Peace Prize was given last year to civil society activists from Russia and Russia-allied Belarus as well as Ukraine.
Alexei Navalny may be the biggest threat to Vladimir Putin, even from the penal colony where he is being held in Melekhovo, 150 miles east of Moscow.
