The Economist - UK (2022-03-19)

The Economist March 19th 2022 Europe 31

A

ftera12­hourtrainjourneyfrom

Mykolayiv,a townonUkraine’ssouth

coast,Tatianaisreadytotakeherfamily

intoPoland.Shestandsoutsidethe

stationinLviv,a Ukrainiancity80km

fromtheborder,nexttoa pileofsuit­

cases,hereight­year­olddaughterand

Gucci,a tinydogwhosecamouflage­

colouredcoatistoothintostophim

shivering.“Itwasa simpledecision”to

bringGucci,saysTatiana.“Heispartof

thefamily.”Theeuhashelpedbyrelax­

ingthepaperworkforrefugees’pets,as

wellasfortherefugeesthemselves.

UkrainiansfleeingMrPutin’swarare

bringingcatsincarriersanddogson

leashes.Asfamiliesbreakup,withfa­

thersstayingtofight,manyseenorea­

sontocompoundthechildren’sdistress

byleavingtheirpetsbehind.

Thismarksa changefromprevious

conflicts.Whenthesecondworldwar

dawnedinLondon,ownersrushedtokill

theirpets.TheBritishgovernment,

mindfulofloomingfoodshortages,set

upeuthanasiaclinicsandtoldowners

thatit was“kindesttohavethemde­

stroyed”,tosparethemthehorrorofwar.

Somanycatsanddogswereputdown

thatsomevetsranoutofchloroform.

Attitudeshavesoftenedsincethen.

Westernersnowtreatpetsalmostlike

people.Four­fifthsofUkrainianpet­

owners seethemasfamilymembers.

Duringthepreviousbigwaveofrefu­

geesintoEurope,in2015,hardlyany

SyriansorAfghansbroughtpets.This

waspartlybecausethejourneywaslong,

andspacewaslimitedonleakyboats

acrosstheMediterranean.Butit wasalso

becausemostMuslimsocietiesdonot

thinkofpetsaslittlepeople,notesJohn

Bradshaw,a retiredanthrozoologist.

ManypetsremaininUkraine.Kyiv’s

metrostations—nowbombshelters—are

fullofdogsandcats,oftensnuggling

quietlywiththeirowners.Onesuchpet

inDorohozhychistationisa whiterab­

bit,tuckedinsideTariaBlazhevych’s

backpacknexttoa laptop.MsBlazhe­

vych,a softwareengineer,explainsthat

“FluffySteve”getsscaredonhisown,

especiallywhenbombsarefalling.Citi­

zensinthemetroaregettingenough

food,sheadds,butFluffySteve’ssupply

ofgrassandcarrotsisrunninglow.

Someunluckypetshavebeenseparat­

edfromtheirowners,oftenbecausethey

wereoutoftownwhentheinvasion

began.A fewhavefoundrefugeatthe

boutiqueDogCityhotel,inKyiv’ssouth.

SandraIschenko,thedirector,countsin

hermenagerienotonlydogsandcatsbut

alsoa budgieandSimonthehedgehog,

whospendshisdayrunningfromthe

Russiansona spinningwheel.Owners

neednotcalltocheckontheirpets,says

MsIschenko,“becausetheycanseefor

themselves24/7viaourwebcams”.

Ukraine

Thecats and dogs of war

K YIVANDLVIV

Europeisbendingimmigrationrulesforfurryfugitives

Abestfriendinneed

decrying  the  war.  The  symbol,  which  ini­
tially served as an identifying mark on in­
vading Russian tanks and has been seized
on  by  Russia’s  propagandists,  now  stands
for Vladimir Putin’s invasion. Mr Dolin and
his  family  were  on  their  way  to  the  train
station to leave Russia when they saw the
sign. “I felt disgusted, as though I’d stepped
in a pile of shit,” he said.
After  hours  of  interrogation,  Mr  Dolin
and Ms Davydova were let out of Russia. Ms
Davydova  says  she  was  asked  questions
like, “Where are you going? Why? Have you
attended  protests?  What  do  you  think  of
the  special  military  operation?  Don’t  you
feel sorry for the children of Donbas?“
Mr Dolin and Ms Davydova were not tar­
geted  only  for  their  political  views.  Thou­
sands of Russians have come out in protest
against the war, but few have been subject­
ed to such harassment. What links them is
culture. The hostility towards Ms Davydo­
va and Mr Dolin reflects a hostility towards
the  artistic  world  they  represent—the
modern Western art that the two critics see
as a natural part of Russia’s cultural life. 
The idea behind the hounding of prom­
inent figures in the arts is to reject Western
influence as alien. One of the most public
faces  of  this  campaign  is  Margarita  Simo­
nyan,  the  boss  of  the  state­run  rt televi­
sion  station.  As  she  said  in  one  of  her  re­
cent talk shows, “We must all consolidate,
grip  our  will  in  our  fists,  establish  excep­
tional  order  in  education,  culture  and  in­
formation, and rid the country of truants,
idiots  and  traitors.”  In  a  speech  on  March
16th,  Vladimir  Putin  said  such  people
would be “spat out”.
Several new websites have sprung up to
help  identify  such  “traitors”.  One  such  is
provokatoru.net, which is Russian for “No
to  provocateurs”.  It  displays  names  and
pictures of more than 200 artists, writers,
actors  and  journalists  who  have  spoken
out  against  the  war.  “At  a  time  when  our
soldiers are fighting the brown chimera” (a
reference  to  the  Nazi  monsters  who  sup­
posedly  run  Ukraine)  “and  our  volunteers
are  supporting  the  suppressed  people  of
Ukraine, these [traitors] are openly oppos­
ing  our  people,  our  government  and  our
president,”  an  opening  statement  on  the
site  says.  It  invites  “the  people”  to  add
names,  photographs  and  descriptions  of
more such fifth­columnists, to be reported
to the authorities.
Meanwhile, the disquieting zsymbol is
everywhere.  Ever  since  rt advertised  a
black t­shirt with a zin the middle on Feb­
ruary  26th,  z­themed  flash  mobs,  videos
and  billboards  have  appeared  across  the
country.  Hospital  patients  and  factory
workers are being ordered to form human
zsto be photographed from the air. In the
city  of  Kazan  youths  dressed  in  identical
white  hoodies  marked  with  the  zcan  be
seen on videos throwing up their arms and

chanting  “Russia  forward”.  TikTok,  a  Chi­

nese­owned  video­sharing  app,  has  been

flooded  with  z­themed  content  featuring

attractive young women. One video shows

a woman emerging from an ice­hole, to the

accompaniment  of  an  uplifting  Russian

song,  wrapped  in  the  Russian  flag,  and

with a zpainted on her forehead. Display­

ing a zis beginning to be seen as a test of

loyalty to Mr Putin. 

The purpose of all this is to fan resent­

ment and hatred towards the West, and to

create  an  illusion  of  unity  in  the  face  of

growing economic pain and mounting ca­

sualties. But the more pervasive the propa­

ganda,  the  more  noticeable  the  defiant

voices against the war, few though they are.

Probably none has been as widely heard as

that  of  Marina  Ovsyannikova,  a  television

producer who on March 14th interrupted a

live broadcast of a news bulletin on state­

owned  Channel  One  holding  a  sign  that

said,  “Don’t  believe  the  propaganda.  They

are  lying  to  you  here.”  Her  actofdefiance

will  not  stop  the  war.  But  itwasabrave

protest against totalitarianism.n