The Only Person with Balls in Russia (So Far)

Regular readers of my articles will know that I lived in Moscow and practiced tax law there from 1994 to 1996. I also spent time working in Russia and Ukraine in 1990. My first trip to the former Soviet Union came in 1985 and my last trip was in 2005.

My best friends from my days in Russia are Ukrainian, but I had many Russian friends when I lived there as well. My time there in the 1990s when Yeltsin, a democrat, was President and anything was possible leaves me terribly sad that the country has become what it has become. In short, it is extraordinary to me that Putin could have built (rebuilt) such a repressive regime where people are instantly arrested for any appearance of opposition to the war in Ukraine. But, it is also tremendously sad that so few heroes have emerged on the street after leading Russian opposition figures like Andrey Kosyrev, Garry Kasparov, Mikhail Khodorovsky and Alexei Navalny have all called for widespread protests.

I just do not believe that Russia is short of good people and heroes who would do the right thing and take a stand against this war.

Against this backdrop and some 24 hours later, I do not think it can be underestimated how courageous Marina Ovsyannikova’s actions were on Russian state TV the other night. While this woman did have the circumstances to interrupt state TV that others would not have, she has risked everything – not just her job, but her freedom and her young children’s freedom – to stand in a place that the Russian masses have not.

We know Zelensky is a hero and we know that there are other heroes in Ukraine. But, it just cannot be understated what a hero Ovsyannikova is.