https://twitter.com/ichbinilya/status/1556762095374450695[*quote*]
Ilya Lozovsky @ichbinilya
Just watched a very uncomfortable exchange on @tvrain. The anchor, Anna Mongait, was interviewing Sergei Leschenko, a former Ukrainian legislator and now an advisor to Zelensky's office.
It was a polite interview, but at the end something happened that made my hair stand on end.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZq1prtXEAAgZpM?format=jpg&name=900x90011:59 PM · Aug 8, 2022·Twitter Web App
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Ilya Lozovsky @ichbinilya
Aug 8
Replying to @ichbinilya
The last topic was an upcoming Russian show trial of captured Azov prisoners.
As her last question, trying to wrap up, Mongait asked whether Leschenko would watch it.
A transcript of their exchange:
Ilya Lozovsky @ichbinilya
Aug 8
"L: I’ll find some other shows. We have very interesting Telegram channels that show burning Russian tanks, APCs, shot-down planes. I get more pleasure watching that.
M: Well... we’ll hope that in some not-too-distant future, neither kind of show will give anyone any pleasure."
Ilya Lozovsky @ichbinilya
Aug 8
"L: Thanks to Putin, Ukrainian citizens will, for decades, get pleasure from seeing dead Russians.
M: Uh…
L: Even I, a peaceful person, have this feeling. I spent years speaking Russian, having a social life in Russian. Now I enjoy watching videos of dead Russian soldiers."
Ilya Lozovsky @ichbinilya
Aug 8
"V: There’s nothing more horrible than this reality, when corpses bring pleasure…
L: You can thank that idiot who began this war.
V: Yes, there's someone to thank for the fact that people openly say they get pleasure from looking at corpses, whoever they are."
Ilya Lozovsky @ichbinilya
Aug 8
"L: You know, I’m still a voice of liberalism and humanism. If you ask the person on the street, you’ll hear this along with unprintable profanity.
V: I hope to live to see the day when people won’t want to say that.
L: I’m afraid that will take a long time."
Ilya Lozovsky @ichbinilya
Aug 8
This transcript doesn't really capture the emotion. Leschenko's fury was so palpable, I almost felt like he was going to come through the camera and throttle me.
This is someone I've interviewed a few times — a totally chill, humane, reasonable guy.
Ilya Lozovsky @ichbinilya
Aug 8
I don't blame him in the slightest. How could any of us blame Ukrainians for what they're feeling?
But it was still a punch to the gut. Another marker of the psychic and moral damage Putin has caused, not to speak of the murder and torture and physical destruction.
Ilya Lozovsky @ichbinilya
Aug 8
As a journalist and as a human being, I felt for Mongait. It was shocking, and she behaved totally appropriately and professionally.
But her evident discomfort is also telling.
Ilya Lozovsky @ichbinilya
Aug 8
Well-meaning liberal Russians saying things like "All of this violence is too horrible" will not feel adequate to many Ukrainians.
Russians and Ukrainians are not all caught up together in some natural disaster. The Russians did this. The Ukrainians won't forget it.
Ilya Lozovsky @ichbinilya
Aug 8
If this rift ever heals, it will take generations. Just an unfathomable tragedy.
Ilya Lozovsky @ichbinilya
Aug 8
If you speak Russian and want to see this yourself, it's at 30:22.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGiYHHLumLs&t=1962s"«Референдум» в Запорожье. Яшина оставили под арестом. Обстрелы АЭС:...
В эфире Анна Монгайт и новости «Здесь и сейчас». Сегодня говорим про «референдум» о присоединении к России в Запорожской области, который оккупационные власт..."Ilya Lozovsky @ichbinilya
Aug 9
Ahh, sorry, the “Vs” in the transcript are supposed to be Ms too.
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