Love Pushkin, Hate Putin: Support Russians Opposing War in Ukraine

My family is originally from Russia, having left that country and emigrated to the US in 1903.?I’ve always been fascinated by the rich Russian culture – literature, music, ballet, theater, and art.?I took classes in Russian literature as a college undergraduate and learned the Cyrillic alphabet and some elementary Russian many years later.

I taught in Lviv, Ukraine, when it was still part of the Soviet Union, and then a few years later, in Novosibirsk, Siberia after the Soviet Union had collapsed and the country again became ‘Russia.’ I returned to Russia once more as a tourist after glasnost and perestroika had significantly shifted the country’s political, social, and economic landscapes.

I share this background because both Russia and Ukraine are in my heart.

My friend Michael Bazyler, a California lawyer, professor, descendant of Holocaust survivors, and a Russian-Ukrainian, sums up the complex mix of emotions well: “Love Pushkin, Hate Putin.” Pushkin – Russia’s greatest poet, the founder of modern Russian literature, and also a political radical – and Putin, now charged with war crimes.

It is a crime to dissent, and upwards of 15,000 people have been arrested.

The Washington Post estimates (2-13-2023) that as many as a million Russians have fled from Russia in opposition to Putin’s policies. The BBC reports (3-13-2022) that this exodus is a real brain drain of the best and the brightest: scientists, engineers, and scholars. At least 10% of all IT workers are gone, according to the Post.

These Russians face a challenging time, particularly in the US.?All things Russian, and Russians themselves, are excoriated. Russian children are bullied in the schools because of their national identity. Russian-Americans face workplace discrimination.

We are honored to partner with the organization Russians Against War-Minnesota (RAW-MN) and The Museum of Russian Art to lend support to Russians in exile.

They are courageous, putting everything on the line in this unprecedented exodus.