Russian journalists came mainly from media outlets that openly criticized the war: Dmitry Muratov of Novaya Gazeta, Tikhon Dzyadko of TV Rain, writer Mikhail Zygar, Ivan Kolpakov of Meduza, and Vladimir Solovyov of Kommersant. Not everyone could post comments. Both Novaya Gazeta and Kommersant have complied with the Russian censors’ ban on posting comments, while most of the other stores have been banned in Russia. The easiest way for Russians to see what Zelensky said is on social media. More than 112,000 people watched the interview in Russian on Zygar’s YouTube page, and some excerpts were shared on Telegram. Russians need a VPN to read sites like TV Rain or Meduza. On Monday, Novaya Gazeta announced that it was suspending operations because it had received a second warning of a breach of the law on “foreign agents” in Russia, most likely in retaliation for an interview with Zelensky. The newspaper would stop publishing new material until the end of the “special military operation”, the official term in Russia for the war in Ukraine. The decision marks the temporary closure of Russia’s largest independent media outlets.
Why did Zelensky choose to speak to the Russian press?
Zelensky has made many attempts to directly appeal to the Russians about the war and has repeatedly said that they can better persuade Putin to abandon his invasion of Ukraine. In a speech shortly after the outbreak of the war, Zelensky addressed the Russian people in Russian, their mother tongue, saying: “If the Russian leaders do not want to sit at the table with us for the sake of peace, they may do so. sit behind the table with you. Do the Russians want war? I would like to know the answer. “But the answer depends only on you, citizens of the Russian Federation.”
What has Zelensky put on the table?
Zelensky said Ukraine was ready to discuss a “neutral regime” with Russia, possibly one that would prevent the country from joining NATO, in exchange for security guarantees against future attacks. This is not a new Zelenskiy statement, but it has made headlines as Ukraine and Russia begin a new round of talks in Istanbul this week. Zelensky also said any agreement on “neutrality” would have to be confirmed in a nationwide referendum involving Ukrainians who had been forced to flee the country. More than 10 million people have been displaced by the Russian invasion, according to some estimates. The referendum could not be held while Russian forces remained on the newly occupied Ukrainian territory, he added, urging Russian forces to return to the territory they controlled before February 24. “It’s a compromise,” he said. “Go back to where it all started and there we will try to resolve the Donbas issue.”
Will it make a difference?
Probably not. Russia seems to intend to occupy as much Ukrainian territory as possible before taking the negotiations seriously. And Ukraine’s strong defense of major cities has also galvanized the population, making it less likely that the public will accept any Russian ultimatum in a national referendum. Zelensky has already made similar offers to discuss the country’s neutrality. But the need for Russia to seize the territory it has seized by force and for the West to intervene as guarantors of a new security agreement runs counter to Putin’s key goal in this war: a Russian sphere of influence in Eastern Europe.
How did it fall with the Kremlin?
Poorly. As of Monday afternoon, the Kremlin had claimed that Vladimir Putin had not yet read what was said in the interview and that any meeting between Zelensky and the Russian president at this time would be “counterproductive”. Meanwhile, Russia’s media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, had warned news outlets not to interview Zelensky as part of a wartime censorship effort that also barred local media from calling it an “attack”. , “Invasion” or “war”. . Stores like Meduza and TV Rain have already been banned in Russia so they can run the material freely. But others, such as Novaya Gazeta and Kommersant, have chosen to follow the government line, which means that the interview will not appear in their publications.
How will it go down with the people in Russia who saw it?
Russian society is polarized, so an interview is unlikely to change its mind. Those who read publications such as Meduza or TV Rain are much more likely to be opposed to the war, so they will probably be receptive to Zelenskiy’s view and want the Kremlin to abandon its invasion of Ukraine. But the fact that it has not been managed by more mainstream media means that many Russians will not watch the interview or see only what they ultimately choose to publish in the state media.
