I know there is a total of 2 Russian-speakers on the blog but I still want to share this excellent, excellent, EXCELLENT video in Russian. It’s by a journalist from Russia who is alone among people from Russia who has figured what Ukraine needs from good, helpful, anti-Putin Russians. (Short answer: absolutely nothing. Please, anti-Putin Russians, just go away now). The amount of condescension and superiority that good, helpful, anti-Putin Russians have been directing at Ukrainians during the war is off the charts. “This is what you should do,” they keep saying, looking utterly confused that nobody is thanking them for their crucial insights. At this point, once I hear that somebody is an anti-war Russian, I immediately know that this is a person who despises me (and you, and everybody else) with an uncommon passion.
But hey, if this journalist finally figured it out, maybe a few more wars down the road and one more Russian journalist will get it. By the end of the century, we might have 3 or 4 Russians finally getting it. Things are looking up, my friends.
Clarissa's Blog 
Well, as one of the 2 Russian speakers, I watched most of that video and I agree. This guy’s background is interesting. I was going to say he’s not a journalist, but since he has his own Youtube channel, I guess he is one now. He’s a former lawyer. He’s had Ukrainian clients and that’s why he understands Ukrainian.
In reading lots of tweets about the war from Russians, I’ve concluded that the people I like best are those who are going to Ukrainian primary sources – watching Ukrainian videos, following people who tweet in Ukrainian, and picking up the language that way.
Which Russians do you think don’t despise Ukraine/Ukrainians? Is there anything a Russian could say that would indicate that to you?
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There are a few tells that always manifest themselves.
One is an exaggerated, overly dramatic incapacity to pronounce Ukrainian names. There are many people who were born since 1991 and they go by Олена, Микола, Микита. When one feels an overwhelming need to correct somebody who is introducing themselves (“Oh, you mean Елена”), that’s a bad sign. The need to start a long debate about the stupidity of using the Ukrainian version of the name is another tell. There was a raging debate about this on social media in the past couple of days.
Another tell is the need to say “нееезалееежнисть” in a mocking tone, including in conversations on a completely different topic. The persistent need to discuss “well, and what exactly did you get from that нееезалееежнисть of yours?” that awakens regularly like clockwork. Another is the constant need to explain what Ukrainians are doing wrong.
If I met a Russian person who didn’t do this, I’d. . . celebrate, I guess. Because it would be a very new experience.
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