Olesya Krivtsova, a 20-year-old university student, faced up to a decade in prison for “justifying terrorism” and “discrediting the Russian armed forces”. She has now fled to Lithuania. Many Russian officers “got kicked in the teeth” for her escape and started threatening her family, Kritsova says in an interview with LRT.lt.
In Russia, you have been accused of discrediting the Russian army and justifying terrorism. How do you feel about such accusations?
This is a common practice in Russia now, especially after the explosion of the Crimean bridge. Prosecutions under the article on justifying terrorism have increased several times since the Crimean bridge incident. Previously, this article was also used, but not as often.
Now, this article is being stamped on everyone whose statements do not agree with the policies of the authorities. And I fell under this article too. I treat the charges brought against me as politically motivated persecution.
Your posts on your private Instagram profile were reported by your fellow students. Why do you think they did so?
They were people I knew, my fellow students at the university. I honestly do not know why they did that.
I think it was done because of ideology, because they don’t share my position, and they think that in this way, they are cleaning Russia of liberal filth, as they say. They could have done it either by putting me in prison or kicking me out of the Russian Federation. So, either way, they won.
What motivated you to write anti-war posts on social media? What did you hope to achieve?
I posted almost every day, and I wrote the truth. If we talk about the main motive, I probably wrote what I believed in. I wrote the truth about the war, that there was a war in Ukraine unleashed by Russia. I believed in what I was doing, and my Instagram profile basically turned into a platform for my views.
In Russia, all information about the war is censored. Where did you get the news about what was really going on in Ukraine?
Like many sensible people, I subscribe to a lot of independent publications and not only opposition sources In Russia. I’ve reposted news from international media, quotes from international journalists.
When you first wrote your posts, did you expect such an outcome?
No, I didn’t. I was initially detained and given a fine for distributing anti-war leaflets on the street. It was an active performance on the street, and I was detained and fined for it. But I wasn’t scared at all by the prospect of going to jail because I was sure it wouldn’t happen.
How did decide to leave Russia? Was it difficult to do so?
I cannot point to the exact moment when I decided to leave. There was no exact day, no exact minute when it happened. I started thinking about it after the FSB set up a provocation with the purchase of railway tickets in my name, which lead to my measure of restraint being changed.
After this FSB machination, I started writing various statements, sending documents to the so-called law enforcement agencies asking them to look into what had happened. I attached evidence that I didn’t buy the tickets and wasn’t going anywhere, that I was just staying at my mother’s house.
But all my appeals were met with nothing but formal replies, and nobody reacted in any way to my complaints about the crimes committed by the law-enforcement officers.
I guess at that moment, I completely realised what the Russian system was like and accepted Russia as a police state. I understood that the institutions would cover for each other, and no one would listen to my arguments at the courts deciding my fate. It was probably with these thoughts in mind that I decided to leave.
And physically, it was not difficult to do so. It was probably only after I left that they [the police] realised what had happened.
Your escape made Russian officers very angry. According to some reports, there were threats to your relatives and your husband’s relatives. How are your relatives doing now? Are they safe, and did they support your views?
I don’t really want to talk about my views and who supported me because as soon as I say that someone supports my point of view, problems start immediately.
In general, my actions, including my departure from Russia, were supported by all my relatives. Even my father, who has a completely different political position, was very happy that I didn’t go to prison. I hope that after what happened to me something has also changed in his mind.
There are no threats now. Before, they had no choice and were looking for a way to get to me, so they chose to threaten my loved ones. After all, I’m sure my running away caused a lot of resentment from the police management, many got kicked in the teeth for that, lost their bonuses, or were reprimanded for not keeping track. And at that point, they had only one pathetic method of influence – threats – which they used.
Have you thought about what would have happened to you if you stayed in Russia?
Absolutely. I think I would have been sent to prison for 10 years, there was almost no doubt about it. Many people told me that everything would be fine, that we would fight for a fine or a suspended sentence, which, by the way, is excluded from the article on justifying terrorism.
But now these same people tell me that they said so because they didn’t know what else to say. Everyone, even my defence, understood how it would end.
What do you think the future holds for Russia?
I think things will be bad in Russia for many years to come. And I’m pretty sure that if things do get better, it will only be after President Putin dies. But in that case, there could be two scenarios as well: either things will get worse, or they will get better.
In the near future, I think there will definitely be even more politically motivated laws, even more persecution of anyone who disagrees with the policies of the Kremlin and bans on speaking in public and expressing personal opinions on the war or saying things that do not agree with the party line. For now, I think things are going to be bad in Russia.
How have you been received by Lithuania and Vilnius?
Most of all, I’d like to say that I am very grateful to this country for the freedom given to me here. My homeland took away my freedom, and Lithuania gave it back to me. I’m just insanely grateful. I cried about it a lot, as I couldn’t believe that it happened this way.
What are you planning to do now? Do you plan to come back to Russia?
At the moment, I’m not planning to go back, and I cannot do that. I plan to go to university in Vilnius and stay here because I won’t be able to come back to Russia for a long, long time.
I know that one day, I’ll go back there because my relatives are there, it’s the country where I was born. Of course, I want to go back. It’s hard to lose your home because your president is a criminal. But I will only return to a bright, democratic Russia with an amnesty for all political prisoners. Maybe it will happen one day, but right now, I don’t believe in it.
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