The Russians who close their eyes to the war that breaks out a few kilometers away

They live a short distance from the fighting, but, blinded by official information, they prefer to look the other way, accuse Ukraine of attacking them, thinking that their army is carrying out a limited operation in the east of the neighboring country and thanking Vladimir Putin for protecting them.

“Combats? No, they are not combat, they are tactical training, there is no attack (led by) Russia, ”says Evguéni Kotegov, 54, under a statue of Lenin in the central square of a town in the Rostov region, a few kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

However, on the other side of the border, in the north, the Russian military and separatist forces backed by Moscow are fighting the Ukrainian army. And in the west, the forces are advancing towards the Ukrainian port of Mariupol.

Even so, this retired professor from a military academy continues: “Russia leads tactical training on its territory. Its objective? Do not allow them to invade Russia.”

In the news, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov repeats the words used by President Vladimir Putin to justify the invasion of Ukraine, described simply as a “special military operation” limited to the breakaway Ukrainian regions of Donbas, whose independence acknowledged earlier in the week.

“There is no other solution”

According to Putin, the objective of the offensive is to “demilitarize and denazify” Ukraine to prevent the “genocide” that Kiev accuses, without evidence, of carrying out against the Russian-speaking country.

On television, there are no images of the clashes in the Ukrainian cities, of the civilian victims or of the inhabitants of Kiev and Kharkov sheltering in the metro stations. Images that, however, are repeated in the independent and foreign media.

The official discourse is occasionally accompanied by images showing Ukrainian cities with deserted streets.

Vladimir Karavayev, an 80-year-old former Communist Party official, was shocked to learn of the bombing in Kiev when asked by AFP. He quickly digested the information and said, “There is no other solution.”

“I don’t think it’s a wide-ranging conflict. In addition, there is a lot of injustice there: the Nazis are in power”, concludes this retiree, before leaving with his bicycle.

The Russian authorities completely control television, the main source of information for a majority of the population, especially outside the big cities.

In recent years, the media siege has also reached newspapers, bought by personalities close to power.

Many critical journalists and media outlets have been given the status of “foreign agents”.

This week, authorities banned the media from using sources other than “official” Russian ones.

“Putin does not want war”

Lyudmila Yakovenko, 38, works on a farm about ten kilometers from the border with Donbas.

When the wind blows in his direction, he says that he hears the war. “Especially at night, we can really hear the gunshots, even from the fighter jets,” she says, holding hands with her young daughter in a colorful jacket. “I have the television on all the time,” she adds.

For her, it is the Ukrainians who attack Russia. “We hope that Putin will protect us from the Ukrainians. Putin called on the Ukrainians and told them: ‘Put down your weapons, go home,’” she declares.

“Our soldiers are on the border, but they don’t shoot, Putin doesn’t let them shoot, he doesn’t want there to be a war,” he analyzes.

Among the few residents who doubt what Russian television says, Nikita Michenko, 28, bought some newspapers.

“I know that there are episodes of war…”, begins this electronics repairman timidly. “You don’t have to believe everything you see on television, on social networks, you have to stop and think, you have to understand that peaceful citizens have no responsibility,” he says.

“Both sides are both right and wrong,” he adds cautiously, saying he has heard of the fighting outside the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, and near the port of Mariupol.