On the first day of the invasion of Ukraine, February 24, 2022, Elena Kostyuchenko, a reporter for Novaya Gazeta, went straight there. She stayed in Ukraine for five weeks, becoming the last journalist from independent Russian media to work in Ukraine. Her writings on the abuses carried out by Russian forces forced her newspaper – six of whose contributors have paid with their lives for their work since its creation in 1993 – to suspend its activities for the first time.
Nine months later, in October 2022, while applying for a new Ukrainian visa in Munich, Germany, Kostyutchenko was the victim of an attempted poisoning. Visiting Paris, the bright-eyed 36-year-old, who caused a scandal in her country by revealing her homosexuality in 2011, has published her first book which has been translated into French, Russie, Mon Pays Bien-aimé "Russia, My Beloved Country).
Elena Kostyuchenko: Navalny didn't die, he was killed. It's important to understand that difference. The second time, they managed to kill him. Russian special services first poisoned him in 2020. In the winter of 2021, he returned to Russia from the German hospital and was arrested at the airport. He said he had to be with his country and his people, that he was responsible to his fellow citizens, to whom he had promised another Russia.
The responsibility for Navalny's assassination lies with Vladimir Putin, no one else can make such a decision. And Putin of course wanted to bury our only hope with Navalny, the hope for the future Russia he had promised us, a peaceful, free, happy Russia. But this idea cannot be killed.
One of 150 million Russians. Alexei's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, said she would continue her husband's fight. I'll do everything I can to support her. Right now, we can only count on ourselves.
The investigation is still ongoing, and my partner – who joined me in Europe –and I move every month. It's tiring, especially as I'm still feeling the effects of the attempt. But I've got some good news too! I'm getting married soon and I'm back on track, even if I can't talk about it yet.
The first few days there, I felt like I was in a nightmare. I was looking and writing, but at the same time I had a feeling of unreality, as if I were waiting to wake up. In the encircled town of Nikolayev [Mykolayev in Ukrainian], the morgues were full. I remember the bodies of two sisters, one of whom was only 3 years old. I said to myself, for sure, I'm going to wake up from this nightmare, but it went on and on... I concentrated on what I was seeing. Then all the questions came: how is it possible that I, a reporter, didn't see this fascism invading my country? And that's when I decided to write this book.
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