From: Roman Sheremeta (Professor of Economics, Board Member, Founding Rector of American University Kyiv)
My recent conversation with a “good russian.”
A good russian: it was your position since the start of the war that all the Russians are to blame.
Me: Just look at your social media page. Zero condemnation of russian genocide as if it is not happening. You are simply enjoying life as if nothing is happening. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of your relatives who are still in russia support genocide of my family and friends, while you simply maintain your “neutrality.”
A good russian: I sincerely wish you never find yourself in the situation when your blood kin radically disagree with your political agenda. That’s a very serious problem for a lot of people nowadays and mocking it seems hardly appropriate. Also, some of our relatives sent to Ukraine humanitarian aid. Also, they participated in evacuation of Ukrainians.
Me: It is precisely for this kind of thinking and inaction from people like you that Putin is running russia today. As for your “struggles with your relatives”, please spare me your petty talk. But I do wish that you would never experience three of your friends being killed by rusisans, your parents living in a basement because russians are bombing them every day, your relatives bleeding every day on the frontlines protecting the lives of their loved one from russuan genocide. As for sending money to Ukraine, how about instead return the lives of my friends? Or return the hand of my cousin? Also, instead of helping to evacuate Ukrainian people, how about they help russia to dissolve so that Ukrainians don’t have to evacuate.
My final words: I understand that you are trying to whitewash your conscience and somehow distance yourself from what your people are doing to Ukrainians. But unless, you take collective responsibility for your moral bankruptcy, history and Ukrainians will judge you harshly for the rest of your lives. I will leave you with a quote from Gary Kasparov: “The big debate is whether it’s Russia’s war or Putin’s war. Unfortunately, it’s Russia’s war. Every Russian, myself included, has a responsibility for the crimes committed in Ukraine.”
Voice of Ukraine 