'Old hag, ' 'Cattle, ' 'What do you know! '

Galina Bastrygina is a retiree from Yekaterinburg who has been going out to protests against state repression for many years. A member of Boris Nemtsov’s PARNAS party. Galina is currently being tried yet again for anti-war activism.

I’ve been standing with placards for a long time. When Navalny was poisoned, I went out with a sign: “Navalny is a hero of our time.” I stood for an hour, then someone called the police, and I was grabbed. There was a first trial — a 1,000-ruble fine. That didn’t stop me.

One picket was especially memorable. I was standing at a bus stop where lots of people gather, and I had a sign: “Putin, your war with Ukraine will strangle Russia. You need to think ahead! Or can’t you anymore?” That was in the fall of last year.

28 people ran up to me, calling me all sorts of names: “old hag,” “you animal,” “what do you know?”

Women my age ran up and tried to snatch the sign. But they didn’t manage. 28 were against me, and only 8 people walked by and gave me a thumbs up — “we’re with you!”

A woman came up and asked how much I’d been paid. I point to the building and say: “I live in that building. I found out about all this tension, drew a sign, and came out. Nobody paid me. It was my conscience speaking.” — “I don’t believe you.” — “Then don’t.” Then a man came up: “You know, you’re a hero. I couldn’t do that.” I replied: “The first time it’s scary, but the second, third, fourth — it’s not anymore. Nothing scares me now, even though if I get caught again, it’ll be a criminal case.”

For six years, we and other activists went out on the 6th of every month in defense of political prisoners. First they started banning us because of COVID, and now they’ve banned it altogether. We pressured the Ministry of Public Security, and they gave us two locations where we can hold actions.

I decided to check those locations and stood with a sign: “They have their Banderites, and we have our Kadyrovites.” Three people said something nasty. Mostly people were silent. The police didn’t approach, but one FSB agent did. A young man standing near me with a sign defending the “Vechernie Vedomosti” editorial office recognized him. It later turned out that the FSB agent had photographed me and sent the photo to the police.

The second location is Victory Park in Uralmash. On May 8, about 8 of us gathered there. I’d prepared leaflets — that we stand for peace and that this war should never have started. We approach the park gates — police are standing there. We walk through the gates, a group of young people comes toward us, I pull out four leaflets and hand them out. I turn around — the police surround me. A woman standing next to me asks: “What does the leaflet say?” I gave it to her to read. The officers snatched the leaflet and started yelling at her. They put this woman and me in a car and took us to the station. They filed two reports on me: for standing with a sign the previous time, and for walking through the gates of Victory Park. These are the places where we are supposedly allowed to be present.

The officers were rude to us, even though they were young enough to be our granddaughters. We’re children of the war — I’m 80 years old. We say: “Have some conscience, how can you act this way?” They wouldn’t let our lawyer in, wouldn’t let us make phone calls. The officers waved their hands at us and yelled. I fell silent — why would I argue with them?

I have a letter from the Ministry of Public Security, from Minister Kudryavtsev. It states that demonstrations are permitted without any notification at two locations in the city. I showed it at the police station, but nobody read it.

My trial took 10 minutes. Without even getting up, the judge read out: a 30,000-ruble fine for distributing leaflets. Then there was a second trial — a 40,000-ruble fine for picketing with a sign. The judges read pre-prepared verdicts — they didn’t even leave the courtroom to deliberate.

I was helped in paying the fine through “ROSshtraf” (a Telegram channel that helps pay fines for politically motivated charges — S.P.). The fundraiser started on Tuesday, and by Wednesday morning they’d already collected 10,000 more than needed. I’ll return that money, of course — I’ll send it wherever ROSshtraf tells me to. People keep sending and sending: on one hand it’s embarrassing, but on the other — thank you so much for the fact that I’m not alone.

In my family, I’m on one side, and my daughter with her husband and grandson are on the other. But we don’t touch politics. We talk about other things — the weather, the children, daily life. They watch Solovyov and Kiselyov, while I follow “Vechernie Vedomosti,” the “Warsaw Mermaid” Telegram channel, Ukrainian YouTube channels, Khodorkovsky’s channels, and “Zhivoy Gvozd.” We don’t argue, but deep down we understand we’re on different sides. There are plenty of families like that — it’s hard.

We’re family, living in the same apartment, and we just pretend it doesn’t concern us. They don’t know I have a 70,000-ruble fine, that I’m going through trials — I don’t tell them. One time they heard my last name on the radio news and said: “So, something wrong again?” And that was it — nothing more. They’re not interested. And I don’t want to argue. I love my children, my grandchildren.

I have many friends who support me. But those who condemn me — there are even more of them. I’m certain that in 10 years they’ll think differently, they’ll change their minds. Roizman (Yevgeny Roizman — former mayor of Yekaterinburg — S.P.) used to say: you have to believe that everything will be alright.

In my time, I was a full-time secretary of the Communist Party organization (a person engaged solely in party work — S.P.). Then Gorbachev came along. And it was as if my eyes opened. He gave us freedom and the chance to feel like a human being, not a sheep in a shepherd’s flock. I left the party. I stood in line for bread and milk, but in my soul I was rejoicing. Books that had been banned appeared — we started learning about the Gulag. And when Gaidar began making all those reforms, everyone criticized him, but I admired him. And now where are we going back to? It’s horrifying. This is called fascism.

As for this fellow who sits in the Kremlin, who used to carry Sobchak’s briefcase — I took one look at him and his eyes were cruel. I never voted for him. Not once.