War in Ukraine – Journalist: “People will never reconcile”

Last year, Russian journalist Dmitri Muratov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and a little later he auctioned the medal for $103.5 million. The proceeds benefited Ukrainian refugee children. Muratov is now in Vienna for the conference on the security of journalists, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with UNESCO and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The “Krone” met him for an exclusive interview.„

Crown”:You fight courageously to preserve freedom of expression in your country, that was the reasoning of the Nobel Prize Committee last year. The European Parliament recently awarded the Sakharov Prize for Human Rights to the “brave people of Ukraine”, how do you rate that?
Dmitri Muratow: The sadness, the compassion and the great pain that comes with this choice. I assume that the two peoples in Russia and Ukraine will never have a normal relationship again in my lifetime. And these are two peoples who called each other brothers and sisters not so long ago. My country, I emphasize this, my country has invaded Ukrainian territory. My mother and grandmother were born in Ukraine. At first the Ukrainians felt betrayed, after all it was the neighbor who attacked them, now they are angry. The Sakharov Prize will not lead to normalization, but it is thanks to the people for the enormous suffering.

Does that mean you don’t easily believe in negotiations or even peace?
I rule out that the peoples can reconcile. You will not forgive yourself. As for the inter-government talks, I hope it will happen one day. But in my estimation the positions of the parties are so far apart that they cannot sit at the same table.

What do you think it would take to have at least hope for peace?
Today I would see no basis for successful peace talks.

Do you think Putin is firmly in the saddle?
I have heard stories that the Russian elites would be divided and that this division could lead to Putin’s downfall. Trust me, there is no elite revolution. The elites are united around Putin.

Will the sanctions affect the Russian elites?
The sanctions have united the elites, they have nowhere to go, the West has canceled them, they have none but Putin. And anyone suspected of infidelity is at great risk.

How well informed are the people of Russia about the war? Are there still critical voices?
The prosecutor’s office has officially blocked 138,000 websites, 262 media have also been shut down, as well as Instagram. There is no longer a press that does not depend on the Russian state. Now there are also initiatives to declare Google an undesirable organization. Any ruling against the so-called special operation can be prosecuted by the judiciary. Under these circumstances, can a society really know what is going on? I have doubts.

The newspaper Novaja Gazeta, of which you co-founded and where you were editor-in-chief, was also closed. How did that happen?
The newspaper has lost its license for both print and online due to a ruling by the Supreme Court. We then published another magazine called “No”, and this project was also filmed. Almost all colleagues left Russia.

But you stayed in Moscow?
Yes, there are about 50 to 60 newspaper workers who cannot leave the country. I’m the editor-in-chief elected by the staff, no doubt I must stay. And in Moscow I say the same as here in Vienna.

In Austria and other EU countries, there are growing voices who believe that if Europe ends sanctions, the energy crisis will be over, as will headline inflation. What do you think of this attitude?
I will not meddle in your politics. But what I can say is that many assumed that the refugee flows would cause governments to tremble, that Europe would abandon its own values. But the fact is that European peoples are more efficient than their governments. They have shown tremendous human solidarity.