Roman Melnik, 53
Roman Melnik
Age: 53
Pasadena
Monday, March 7, 2022
I am originally from Minsk, Belarus. I came to the US as a refugee with my parents at the age of 12 in 1981 back in the Soviet period. When we left Belarus, we took a train. The Soviet-Polish border was closed because of the Solidarity movement in Poland, so everyone leaving Belarus had to go through Ukraine. You took a train to Chop, which was on the Czechoslovak-Hungarian-Soviet border, in Ukraine, and that's where you crossed into first Czechoslovakia and then into Austria.
I realize logically that I'm not responsible for what the Russian government does. I'm not even from Russia, although Belarus is obviously a co-aggressor here. I'm an American citizen, but nevertheless, I felt a real sense of shame. I'm ashamed that the cultural space of which I am a part could have allowed people like that to come to power and to have done what they did. The one thing that Putin is right about, although this by no means justifies invading another country, is that Russia, Belarus and Ukraine are part of the same cultural and linguistic space. It is very literally a fratricidal war. It’s relatives killing relatives.
When Russia went into Crimea in 2014, a significant percentage of the Russian speaking community here in the U.S. was pro-Putin, and supported the invasion. Unfortunately, there's still a significant percentage that supports Russia's actions, something that I find completely unfathomable. Because these people have access to free media. They're not restricted to the propaganda on Russian television. So it's difficult for me to digest that.
I think it has to do with the phenomenon of the echo chamber, and believing what you want to believe, because believing the alternative is uncomfortable. The alternative is that your country is acting in a genocidal manner, that it is killing civilians, that it is intentionally destroying hospitals, that it is dropping half ton bombs on residential areas. For Russian citizens who grew up with stories of World War Two, of fighting Nazism, of being the good guys, it's a real psychological leap.
My mother has been a Putin supporter for a long time and religiously watched Russian TV, and she finally came around. She called me a few days ago and she said, "Okay, I’ve been wrong all these years. He's a monster. He's lying. And now I see that." I respect her for being able to admit that. But it's easier for her because she lives here and has access to Western media. If you're the average person in Russia, who doesn't know how to use VPN or Tor browser, then you have to want to get the alternative information. And even if you're confronted with it, you then need the strength to admit that your country is doing something awful. I think a lot of people don't have the courage. I'm not saying that Russians are more morally deficient than others. I think that we've seen that phenomenon in the US as well.
