I constantly receive petitions with the request to spread information about the burning Baikal, to inform the country and in general to somehow help fighting the fire. They are all written in the same rhetoric – Vladimir Vladimirovich, we are behind you, why don’t you hear us? And where are the journalists, why don’t they help to inform?

Arkadiy Babchenko

Ok, people. Well. I am a journalist. Let me help you. I have enough subscribers, I will spread the information, open up accounts and start fundraising for the victims of the fire disaster, for the purchase of all the necessities and I will organize volunteer squads … Oh, no, stop. I’m a traitor. My PayPal and Qiwi are blocked. I came under fire during the campaign against Alexei Nawalnys fundraising for his foundation. Do you remember how crowdfunding was fought at that time? But I still got off cheaply. Well folks, crowdfunding is either prohibited in Russia, or almost forbidden. My wallets are blocked, I can not arrange a fundraising for you. Firstly, I don’t know for whom, and secondly, I don’t want to spend a year under house arrest like Konstantin Jankauskas for this action.

So what to do … Ah! Of course! Evgenia Chirikova! She will help you! This is the one, that is familiar with the forest, who is able to stand up for it, who shows civic engagement, who is an Ace in economy, has a lot of international awards, has a lot of connections and knows a way out, and so on. Write to Zhenja! She will certainly help you. Ah, no, stop. She can’t. Zhenya’s a political refugee. And is now somewhere in the Baltic …

So, let me think. Ah! Yeah! Evgeniy Vitichko! Write to Vitichko! He knows all about the forest too, he is an ecologist with an internationally known name, a citizen activist, he will certainly help you. Ah, no, stop. Vitichko is still in jail. Locked up exactly because of the forest and the ecology …

And what now? Ah, oh yes! Suren Gasaryan! A friend and ally of Vitichko, an ecologist, a forest guard! He knows what to do! He will help! Write him! Ah, no, stop. Suren is a refugee too…
Ah, I got it! Yes! Denis Sinyakov! He’s a professional photographer for ‘Greenpeace’! All forest fires, natural disasters, protests, volunteers – that is his element. He will spread the information for sure. This is the one you should definitely appeal to. Ah, no, stop. Denis has moved into the hero city of Stockholm, after he was in jail for two months after the protests on ‘Priraslomnaja’ … And anyway Greenpeace is somehow not hip here today – biscuits from the Secretary of State, foreign agents and whatever.

No, Grigori Kuksin tries to extinguish something there with his team, with five people, but that’s almost everything so far.

Ah! Yes, Mitya! Mitya Aleshkovskiy! There you have someone who can do something! This is someone who knows what is how to be done! That’s the one who organized the collection and transportation of humanitarian aid after Krymsk – by the bucketful, in convoys. That’s the one with whom we were in Blagoveshchensk, which is the one who had control over the relief supplies for the people and the organization of the volunteer movement during the state of emergency. Oh, no, stop. Mitya tries to build a children’s hospice at the moment. Instead of our state, yes. Yes, in 21st century Russia there is not a single children’s hospice behind the Ural. So if Mitya can divide himself, he could possibly dedicate himself even to the Baikal, but I don’t think so.

Ah yes! Pavel Shehtman! That’s the one who crawled under every bulldozer at the demolitions of historic buildings! That’s the one who fought in the Khimki forest! This is the one … Ah, no, wait! Pasha is a refugee in Kiev.

Ayder Muzhdabaev? The assistant editor of a newspaper with a circulation of three million? Exactly! He will help! Ah no. He will not help. Aydar is there – a Krimtatar, a political refugee in Kiev, he tries to reestablish the smashed Crimean television station.

So who else … Alena Popova? Olga Romanenko? Ksenya Vasilchenko? Artem Ayvasov? Matvej Krylov? All the volunteers I know, with whom I went to Krymsk, and to Blagoveshchensk and to Mordovia? I don’t know. In my opinion they are all burned out. In my opinion the exact same thing happened to them, as happened to me – people don’t strive after breaking their posterior muscles, their soul and their health for their country anymore. They will no longer come to save your forest at their own expense. And in general – the law on volunteers, the FSB and all that. They lock you up for this stuff. For f#cking what?

Perhaps one should just write, that people should go on their own initiative? What? Our country is rich in oil, has fuel in huge quantities, there is an aviation industry, a federalization can’t be recognized, a center, a vertical line, a state monopolist in the aviation industry. Sit down and fly. Where is the problem? Oh? What? How much, how much is a ticket to Irkutsk? You dropped from the moon there or what… Yes, probably hardly anyone is going to fly…

Well. Shit. Who should you contact finally, my friends. Who could report about you. Whom should you write, so that they help you. The army? She is located in the fields ahead of Ukraine. The Cossacks from the Ural? Are in Donetsk.

Boris Nemtsov, who held a rally for the protection of Lake Baikal in Irkutsk? Murdered. Navalny? His brother is in captivity, he has other worries. Ilya Ponomaryov? A refugee in the United States. Dmitry Zimin? He’s finished. Lenta.ru? Smashed. ‘Kommersant’, ‘Gazeta’, NTV, ORT? Bought or smashed. ‘Grani’? Blocked. ‘Ej’ (Ezhednevnij Zhurnal – Daily Journal)? Blocked. ‘Meduza’? Is abroad. Rustem Adagamov? Refugee. Andrei Mironov? Killed in Slavyansk. All the special rapporteurs and photo correspondents I know? Don’t get out of the Donbass. Perhaps Putin himself?

The President of the country, that is here and now, at this very moment, burning and going down? He is drinking tea in the gym, has a photo session. He doesn’t care about you.

That’s it, I think. There is nobody left, whom one could write to, folks. While you remained silent, as long as you didn’t know of anything, as you were not taken, as long as ‘I am not interested in politics,’ as long as the rating is 86% – Finished – END! My friends that could have helped you are either emigrated, locked up or murdered. There is nothing and no one left to whom I could write. What more should I tell you. Write Putins militant Buryats. Or even better, to the Guiness Book of World Records. In my opinion, there are no other alternatives.

Fiery regards from the independent journalism, the freedom of opinion, the opposition and the civil society.

Original article by Arkadiy Babchenko, translated by Marc Köster