The Long War #20
Something to read
NV (in Ukrainian & Russian) / Our house oligarch. How Zelensky wants to force Kolomoisky into retirement (This piece is an extensive dive into the past year and a half of Ukraine’s most infamous oligarch, Ihor Kolomoisky. The bottom line is that, like most other oligarchs, Kolomoisky is diminished but still there, with some of his problems being remarkably similar to before the Russian invasion—keeping control of his energy empire, for example. The piece also hints at Volodymyr Zelensky’s larger strategy towards oligarchs: to slowly squeeze them out of the political and public space rather than to destroy them outright. Or, to quote an anonymous “associate of the president” mentioned in the story: “to domesticate [Kolomoisky] and prevent him from hindering changes in the country and future accession to the EU”. The conclusion of the article is also worth reading: “the war initiated irreversible changes in the country, with the role of the institutions of power — the Office of the President, the National Security Council, local military administrations — increasing many times over. The Cabinet of Ministers and Parliament, on the contrary, now often perform a technical function.” That is an observation, a pretty undeniable statement of fact. But then comes the prediction— and the hope: “the final construction of relations [with oligarchs] is the subject of a new social contract between the government, business and civil society. Although, from the way events are developing, we can already assume that there is almost no place for oligarchs from the past in modern Ukraine.” This, in my view, remains an open question.)
Realna Gazeta (in Ukrainian) / LLC "Russky Mir". How Russian occupiers set up free television (for all the talk about propaganda and disinformation, little is said about the nitty-gritty of how this actually unfolds on the ground. Kyiv-based, Luhansk-focused outlet Realna Gazeta just published this fascinating investigation into Russian efforts kicked off last November to set up as many as 155,000 satellite dishes all over the occupied territories, through a company called “Russky Mir” (“Russian world”). Per Realna Gazeta, that effort has likely been hampered by financial trouble, with Moscow reportedly struggling to dish out the 1,5 billion rubles that would be necessary.)
Zaxid (in Ukrainian) / Conversation of the dumb with the deaf—What is wrong with the debate on the bill on same-sex partnerships (You may have heard about Zelensky urging parliament to legalize medical cannabis in Ukraine, but you may have missed the fierce debate currently going on about a bill that would establish a civil partnership and give same-sex couples similar rights to married couples (except for the right to adopt children). The piece complains about the lack of civilized debate on both sides of the aisle, which isn’t exactly surprising considering how controversial the topic remains in Ukraine (back in April, 27 of the 33 deputies of the Lutsk city council, in Western Ukraine, signed an appeal calling on MPs to reject a draft bill that, they said, would lead to “destruction of national values” and “caving in to the demands of pedophiles and drug addicts”). But it is nevertheless quite fascinating to see such societal issues being actively discussed, despite the war. If anything, the Russian invasion seems to have given unprecedented visibility to LGBT issues in Ukraine, in particular through the prism of gay soldiers fighting on the frontline [The Economist]. It’s still very fragile, but nevertheless very observable.)
Nature / War shattered Ukrainian science — its rebirth is now taking shape
Chicago Review of Books / The Weight of History in “Ivan and Phoebe”
ICYMI
Stories published these past 24 hours in Western media
Politico / Inside Biden's dramatic backchannel to Russia as a near-coup unfolded
Wall Street Journal / Ukraine Aims for Comeback in Shattered Bakhmut After Wagner Revolt
New York Times / On Ukraine’s Front Lines
New York Times / Exclusive: Inside a Ukrainian Battlefield Hospital
Wired / Wagner Mutiny Puts Russia’s Military Bloggers on a Razor’s Edge
Reuters / EU leaders to debate Russia mutiny, pledge support for Ukraine
Financial Times / Why Ukraine will continue to dominate the EU leaders’ summit
The Independent / Russia to be blocked from accessing UK legal advice in latest sanction
Something else worth checking out
I published this week a thread on Twitter looking at references to the war in Russian regional media. From reports of soldiers being killed to a local parliament trying to push orphans to go to the front, from anonymous interviews of disillusioned mobilized soldiers to the opening of a “museum of the special military operation”, I find the exercise fascinating, and a bit surreal.