Published November 15,2023
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Denounced and detained in native Russia for her activism on the army marketing campaign towards Ukraine, Olesya Krivtsova is now attempting to name Vladimir Putin to account from Norway’s Arctic.
“There was a time when I was a student and had a normal life. But now everything has changed,” the 20-year-old rookie journalist informed AFP from the Barents Observer on-line newspaper in Kirkenes, a mere 15-minute drive from the Russian border.
On the wall of her workplace is a printed picture of the Russian president with the Orwellian caption, “Big Brother is watching you.”
After taking a stand towards the warfare in Ukraine, Krivtsova was denounced by fellow college students on the Federal University in Arkhangelsk in northern Russia in December 2022.
After Moscow launched its offensive in February 2022, she started placing up anti-war stickers round her city and posting criticism of Putin on social media.
PUTIN SPIDER
She even acquired a tattoo on her leg of a spider with Putin’s head.
“I had it done directly after the start of the war,” Krivtsova mentioned, a really private act of defiance that she mentioned was “a release” from the frustration she felt on the time.
Arrested by police and brought in for questioning, she confronted prices of “discrediting” the Russian military and risked as much as 10 years in jail.
“I ended up under house arrest. As I was awaiting the court’s decision I understood that if I didn’t leave… there was a high likelihood I’d end up in prison,” she mentioned.
She fled to Lithuania the place she filmed herself slicing off her digital ankle bracelet, posting the video on social media. She additionally expressed curiosity in working as a journalist.
“That caught our interest,” Barents Observer founder Atle Staalesen informed AFP.
“Journalism needs brave people these days and Olesya is one of the bravest people we know,” he mentioned.
They provided her a spot as a trainee, so she travelled to Norway’s far north to start out a brand new life.
“I’ve gotten used to it quite well because the climate is the same as back home,” Krivtsova mentioned, sporting pink sneakers with vivid inexperienced socks.
The Barents Observer has change into a number one supplier of news from the Far North over the previous 20 years, publishing in each English and Russian.
Krivtsova turned a full workers member in late August, the fourth exiled Russian journalist to hitch the newsroom.
But whereas the opposite workers have years of expertise, Krivtsova wanted to be taught a brand new craft.
“She has more of an activist and student background than a journalistic background,” Staalesen mentioned.
“What we have seen so far is very, very promising,” he added, noting that her experiences in activism and the Russian justice system have been an asset.
‘WITCH HUNT’
One of her first articles was concerning the crackdown on the protest motion in her former dwelling of Arkhangelsk.
Russia has fallen to 164th place out of 180 in Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index, a rating Norway has topped for a number of years.
The 4 Russians on the Barents Observer make up one of many hubs of exiled journalists masking Russia from overseas in locations equivalent to Tbilisi, Yerevan, Vilnius and Riga.
Amnesty International final yr denounced a “witch hunt” by Russian authorities towards these talking out towards the warfare in Ukraine.
Given developments in her dwelling nation, Krivtsova does not see herself returning anytime quickly.
“I don’t think so, for the next 10 years at least, definitely not,” she mentioned.
Source: www.anews.com.tr