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Transcript/ScriptFinland / Russian Exiled Artists (TV)
HEADLINE: Russian Artists Flee Country Amid Brutal Clampdown on Opposition to Ukraine War
TEASER: ‘Artists at Risk’ organization helps prominent Russian artists to find safety in Finland
PUBLISHED AT: Thursday, 05/19/2022 3:55 pm
BYLINE: Henry Ridgwell
CONTRIBUTOR: Mari-Leena Kuosa
DATELINE: Helsinki
VIDEOGRAPHER: Henry Ridgwell
VIDEO EDITOR: Henry Ridgwell
PRODUCER: Barry Unger
SCRIPT EDITORS: BR, MAS
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA, APTN, ‘Artists at Risk’ (see script for courtesy)
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB _X_ TV _X_ RADIO __
TRT: 2:48
VID APPROVED BY: BR
TYPE: VPKGF
EDITOR NOTES:))
((INTRO))
[[Amid a severe clampdown on political opposition and civil society in Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, thousands of people have fled the country – including many artists, whose work is often critical of President Vladimir Putin. Some of those artists are now in Finland, as Henry Ridgwell reports from Helsinki.]]
((NARRATOR))
Theatre director Mikhail Durnenkov and actor Aleksey Yudnikov are both long-standing enemies of the Kremlin.
For decades their performances parodied the Russian government and its leader Vladimir Putin – testing the boundaries of expressive freedom, under constant state surveillance.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, both men fled the country – and have found temporary shelter at a haven run by the organization ‘Artists at Risk’ in Helsinki, Finland.
((Mikhail Durnenkov, Playwright at Teatr.doc (in Russian) ))
“We left the country simply so as not to be on the side that is waging war, so as not to cast our votes in this way. If I'm here [in Finland] that means I can speak, I must speak and I must help the protest voices from Russia to be heard, because in Russia it is impossible.”
((NARRATOR))
Anti-war protests in Russia have been brutally suppressed. A new law imposes jail terms of up to 15 years for spreading what the Kremlin calls ‘fake’ news about the invasion.
Durnenkov says the space for freedom of expression has all but disappeared.
((Mikhail Durnenkov, Playwright at Teatr.doc (in Russian) ))
“There is an unspoken law that exists now in Russian society, whereby if you are a country at war and if you say something [against it], you are selling out your country at the frontline, and this will be punished instantly, severely, that very second.”
((NARRATOR))
Ukrainian-born actor Aleksey Yudnikov also fled Moscow following the invasion, leaving behind his family.
((Aleksey Yudnikov, Actor (in Russian) ))
“I feel pain and personal guilt. What could I alone change? I couldn't find any better option than just leaving. It was spontaneous, an instinctive gesture to leave - but also to try again here [in Finland]. Simply because here, outside of Russia, you can tell the truth.”
((cf. mandatory courtesy ‘Artists at Risk (AR)’))
((NARRATOR))
Yudnikov staged a protest outside the Russian pavilion at the recent Venice Biennale art festival in Italy. He says the invasion of Ukraine has unleashed a parallel war within Russia.
((Aleksey Yudnikov, Actor (in Russian) ))
“The henchmen of this regime are trying to impose absolutely shamelessly now this formula – that Putin is Russia, and that these things do not exist without each other. This is a war between reality and escape. If you like, it is a war between something real and something fake.”
((NARRATOR))
Durnenkov and Yudnikov are among the artists who have fled Russia since the invasion – to preserve their freedom but also to continue voicing their opposition.
They don’t know if or when they will return home.
((Henry Ridgwell, for VOA News, Helsinki))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Helsinki
Embargo DateMay 19, 2022 18:46 EDT
Byline((Henry Ridgwell, for VOA News, Helsinki))
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
