Zoya Sheftalovich Profile picture
Mar 3 4 tweets 1 min read
And I'm sorry to build a thread on top of a thread, but to illustrate the extent to which Soviet state was corrupt: When I was a wee child, I had to have surgery. My mum had to bribe someone so that I got the full dose of anaesthesia ... 1/4
And to bribe someone so she could stay overnight at the hospital with me. I have such a distinct memory of my mum walking from one child's cot to another, soothing the other kids who had also had surgery. At the time, I was furious with her. 2/4
She was my mum, and she was spending all this time with these other kids, while I was in pain. Later I realised what an incredible woman she is. She saw all those other kids, whose parents either didn't have the means or quick-thinking to pay a bribe, and she soothed them. 3/4
Think about this. Think how corrupt a state has to be, that a parent has to bribe someone to be allowed to stay with their small child overnight after surgery. Bribe someone so their child gets anaesthesia. This is the Soviet state Putin is rebuilding in Russia. 4/4

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More from @zoyashef

Mar 4
Powerful new Zelenskyy, addresses shelling of Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Says in Ukrainian: Russians knew exactly what they were shelling. Says “This night could have been the end of Europe.” Switches to Russian: "Russian people. I want to address you. How is this possible? 1/8
We together in '86 battled the aftermath of the Chernobyl catastrophe. Surely you must remember the burning graphite spread by the wind. The deaths."
"You must remember the evacuation from Pripyat and from the 35km-zone. How could you forget?" 2/8
"And if you didn't forget, you can't be silent. You must tell your leadership. You must get out onto the streets and tell them you want to live. You want to live on an Earth that isn't radioactive. Radiation doesn't know where Russia is." 3/8
Read 8 tweets
Mar 4
Visibly shaken Zelenskyy has posted about the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, where he says "Russian tanks are firing." Translation of main bits below (but please be careful in using these quotes - I am translating on the fly & my Ukrainian is rusty) ... 1/5
Zelenskyy said that "for the first time in human history" Russia was threatening to hit Ukraine with a "nuclear strike." He says: "Now it is not a threat, now it is a reality, and we do not know ... where this will end." 2/5
Appeals "to all Ukrainians, to all Europeans, to all people who know the word Chernobyl," referring to the nuclear disaster that occurred in 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. 3/5
Read 6 tweets
Mar 3
The thread below is really really important — it shows a symptom of a huge problem for Putin. The Russian government, public service, military complex — all are completely rotten with corruption.
Was someone paid to move these trucks around and rotate their tyres? Probably. 1/4
But moving trucks and maintaining them properly is hard work. You know what's easier? To give some of the money you were paid for maintenance, to whoever comes to inspect the trucks to check you've done your job. 2/4
When your state is this rotten with corruption, you can't trust anything anyone tells you. You can't trust any certifier, any engineer, any official. You can't trust your equipment has been maintained properly. You can't even trust the equipment exists! 3/4
Read 4 tweets
Mar 1
Some thoughts on the scenes we're seeing on social media of armed Russians, confronted by unarmed, protesting Ukrainians, being pushed back. Again, these are just insights from someone watching from afar, who just happens to know Ukrainians and Russians and Soviet mythology 1/
In the lead-up to this invasion of Ukraine, Russian state media was wall-to-wall all about how the Russian forces were going to be welcomed by ordinary Ukrainians. Like when the Soviets liberated European nations from the Nazis, freed concentration camps. 2/
Genuinely, I think, many of these young, unhardened Russian soldiers expected a heroes' welcome from ordinary Ukrainians who were being oppressed by an evil government. 3/
Read 19 tweets
Mar 1
Getting a lot of questions about EU fighter jets for Ukraine. A word of caution on this. Many EU countries want to help Ukraine in any way they can - particularly those that have reason to fear for their own territories. But people are getting ahead of themselves. 1/4
EU has received Ukraine's request for jets, but it has walked back on previous comments and acknowledged it doesn't have enough money to pay for them. If Ukraine is to get jets, it will have to get them bilaterally from EU countries. 2/4
Jets are hugely expensive and need to be the sort of jets Ukrainian pilots can use. It's not like riding a bicycle. Some EU countries have these jets, but whether they'll send them to Ukraine is still an open question. 3/4
Read 5 tweets
Feb 28
Going to retweet this video of the "Russian warship go fuck yourself" song I posted yesterday, but with the Russian lyrics translated into English. The original lyrics are a poem (in Russian) by Alexandra Smelyanskaya. You can watch here: 1/5
Someone, of course, is good, but he is not ready to sit in a prisoner transport vehicle
And to some the Calvary isn't a scaffold
The difference in principles is, in principle, only five words:
"Russian warship, go fuck yourself" 2/5
The voice from the tube is calm, intermittent and muffled:
"Mom, I'm wearing a hat, I took the documents, there is no fear."
My daughter fell asleep on the floor in the subway today.
Russian warship, go fuck yourself. 3/5
Read 5 tweets

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