Ashamed to be Russian

Katie O’Keeffe

“I feel ashamed to be a Russian”. That is how Olga Fitzgerald and many other Russians living in Ireland currently feel.

Olga who grew up in Russia, has lived in Ireland for over 20 years.

Speaking to the Cork Independent, she says she is ashamed of what her country is doing but she finds that most Irish people are able to see the difference between the people of Russia and the politics of Putin.

However Olga’s friends who still live in Russia don’t share her views.

“We are trying to be civil but they are so brainwashed, it’s like they turn into a different person when the topic of Ukraine comes up,” she said.

“I have friends who have family members that live in Ukraine and they can’t even get them to believe what is happening, it’s like they are zombified on the topic.”

Most Russian people consume state-controlled media, according to Olga.

That means all TV, all radio and now, almost all easily accessible internet sources for news stories are composed by state officials. The Russian state has shut down most easily accessible sources of alternative information.

“People who understand what is happening are either terrified and doing nothing or they are protesting and getting arrested. I have huge respect for the people protesting in Russia, they are probably hated by their friends and family for doing it,” Olga added.

Last weekend the Russian Ambassador to Ireland, Yuri Filatov, told a Russian TV channel that Ireland is very hostile to Russia and everything Russian.

This week a truck was driven through the gates of the Russian embassy in Dublin and a man was arrested.

However Olga says she does not share the same view as Filatov. “Maybe there could be one case the ambassador has heard of but it is not widespread. There are dozens of Russians married here with children and nobody has that feeling.”

She added: “Anyone who knows Irish people won’t believe they are bullies. Irish people have just always stood up for what is wrong.”

Olga has also expressed her fears for those in. Russia who want to leave as they need to be granted an external passport which she explains just won’t happen now.

“Any normal people who want to leave like doctors, journalists etc, if they didn’t already have that passport then they definitely will not get it now so they are stuck.”

For Russians in Ireland who have spoken out against the war on their social media or in public, they are concerned with travelling to the Russian embassy to renew their passport.

“With the new law in Russia saying you can get up to 15 years for sharing what they consider false information, I don’t feel safe going to renew my external passport because as far as I understand if they want to arrest us when we are within the gates of the embassy, they can.”

The Cork Independent has reached out to the Department of Foreign Affairs on these concerns and currently await a reply.