Yury Dud, Russia’s most popular anti-war YouTuber, shares his wish for the New Year
Yury Dud (pronounced like “dude”) is one of the best-known journalists and video bloggers in Russia. After gaining more than 10 million subscribers on YouTube for his long-form interviews with well-known politicians and public figures, Dud landed on the government’s “foreign agents” registry for speaking out against the war in Ukraine in April 2022. Shortly after, he left the country. To mark the start of 2024, Dud has released a statement in support of Russia’s political prisoners, who he says are behind bars “solely because they’ve spoken out against the Russian authorities and against the war that these authorities unleashed in Ukraine.” In particular, Dud highlighted the case of opposition politician Ilya Yashin, who was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison in December 2023. Meduza shares a lightly abridged translation of Dud’s statement.
In 2023, we did an episode about the cinematographer and director Pavel Kostomarov. More than 10 years ago, he was one of the creators of the film The Term, a documentary that shows the protests of 2011–2012 up close and in great detail. After I rewatched The Term, there were two thoughts that I couldn’t shake. The first was that it was well-made; kudos to its directors ([Pavel] Kostomarov, [Aleksey] Pivovarov, [Aleksandr] Rastorguev) and to everyone who allowed the cameras to document them so closely. My second thought was how much Ilya Yashin has changed in the years since then.
The Yashin we see in The Term is an energetic and ridiculous 30-year-old guy.
The Yashin currently serving a prison term is one of the country’s most honorable politicians.
As I watched the film and thought about how bravely and constructively Yashin conducted himself before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine; how he openly spoke out against this war when it began; how he refused to emigrate, even after receiving every possible warning; the dignity with which he accepted his sentence; and the degree of calmness he conveys with every public statement he makes from prison, my New Year’s wish seemed to write itself.
My wish is this: I hope that someday, the Russian state will be able to change as smoothly as Ilya Yashin has. I hope that instead of this desire to be everywhere, in place of the state’s hostile and destructive energy, there will be rationality, wisdom, and responsibility. And that in the end, for both Russia and Yashin, this will all end with freedom instead of captivity.
There’s currently no reason to believe this will happen anytime soon. But the New Year is a time to wish for what you really desire, not just what you think is likely.
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Right now, Russia’s prisons are full of people who were jailed solely because they spoke out against the Russian authorities and against the war that these authorities have unleashed in Ukraine.
Ksenia Fadeyeva, Alexey Navalny, Lilia Chanysheva, Alexey Gorinov, Sasha Skochilenko, Ilya Yashin, and hundreds of others are meeting the New Year in captivity, far from their loved ones, in conditions that range from bad to horrific.
If you want to mark the start of the year by supporting these people, here is a detailed guide on ways you can help. The simplest thing you can do, and one of the most consistently valuable for the prisoners, is to write a letter (lack of communication with and information from the outside world is said to be one of the things they’re most deprived of). Whether you live in Russia or another country, it’s easy to do.
Happy New Year. Take care of yourselves and your loved ones.
If you’re not a Russian speaker but you’re interested in writing to political prisoners in Russia, here is an English-language guide from the U.K. non-profit Rights in Russia.