When a college student challenged Russia’s top censorship activist at her Q&A event, she threatened him with prosecution
On February 6, Ekaterina Mizulina, the head of the Russian censorship lobbying group Safe Internet League, met with students from Ural Federal University in Yekaterinburg. Soon after the event, numerous Russian media outlets reported that Mizulina had threatened one of the students with prosecution for “discrediting” the Russian military over statements he made about army conscripts. According to the media outlet Groza, that student’s name is Ivan Doronin. Video from the meeting shows an exchange between Doronin and Mizulina that lasted several minutes, during which time he openly called her out for her censorship efforts and denunciations to the authorities. Rather than addressing Doronin’s criticisms, Mizulina (who rarely gets challenged in public) told him that military service is the duty of every citizen, then began leading the crowd in a chant of the word “Russia.” Ultimately, she managed to pressure Doronin into apologizing. Meduza shares a lightly abridged translation of the exchange.
Ivan Doronin: You’re not answering my question.
Ekaterina Mizulina: Hmm?
Doronin: I asked you how long you’ll be able to keep this work up, because…
Mizulina: Forever. For as long as I live.
Doronin: Because it’s censorship, and it’s banned by the Russian Constitution.
Mizulina: I’ll explain it to you further right now. [...] And let’s you and I discuss censorship. Are you ready?
Doronin: Go ahead.
Mizulina: Where have you seen censorship?
Doronin: When you threaten a blogger with military service…
Mizulina: No, no, no — you read the media, you use social networks. Where do you see censorship?
Doronin: I can’t listen to the song “This Will Pass” by the band Pornofilmy. It’s banned on [Russian social media site] VKontakte for some reason.
Mizulina: I have no idea why.
Doronin: I’m afraid that you’re…
Mizulina: Don’t be afraid. (Laughter from the audience)
Doronin: That you’re part of this system.
Mizulina: I can tell you that we’ve never contacted anyone about this band. Now, let’s look at the facts. What other questions do you have about censorship? As far as this “censorship” on the Russian segment of the Internet that you’re talking about, in the Russian media. And what complaints do you have about us? Based on the facts, using the names of performers or bloggers. Let’s hear it!
Doronin: You directly used the institution of the army to scare Danya Milokhin.
Mizulina: He got scared all by himself. (Laughter and applause from the audience.) You know the story: we didn’t actually call attention to Danya Milokhin, we called attention to the fact that the Defense Ministry was underperforming. (Laughter from the audience.) We wrote them a letter asking why some of your peers are being drafted into the army while others were already mobilized and still others seem to have other rights and exceptions. Why is that?
Doronin: I wonder, did comrade Shaman serve in the army? (Laughter from the audience.)
Mizulina: I think he’s already past the draft age. Don’t interrupt me. I won’t be able to finish my thoughts on the situation, okay? So, we reached out to the Defense Ministry to ask why different people have different rights. This question was directed at them, not at the blogger. But this blogger really disappointed me personally. Why? He’s a young man. Let’s say he goes to the conscription office. So what? What would happen? They might draft him, they might not. What’s the guarantee that he would be drafted? There is none. Aside from that, let’s say they send him to serve in some library somewhere — what’s the problem? You think they’d send a person like him to serve in a tank unit? Fat chance. So he’d serve his time, he’d fulfill his duty to his motherland, as long as he passed the medical exam and other criteria.
Doronin: He never borrowed anything…
Mizulina: What?
Doronin: …from his motherland — he doesn’t owe it anything. (Murmurs and shouts from the audience.)
Mizulina: Every citizen has a duty. That’s the law. It’s the law! It’s the same for everyone. And besides, you see, if he went to the conscription office, it’s not guaranteed that they would draft him. And if they did draft him, well, that means he should be a decent person and join the army. And I think it would be great if continued to do his TikToks in the army and told the whole country — starting with you — about what it’s like to undergo military service. (Laughter and applause from the audience.) Thank you very much. (Doronin walks away from the microphone.)
Mikael: Hello, Ekaterina. My name is Mikael.
Mizulina (filming a video for Telegram): By the way, we… Please excuse me, I see you’re upset. Because I forget that I need to upload content — so let’s make some noise! Ro-si-ya! Ro-si-ya! (The audience chants “Ro-si-ya!” five times.) Thank you.
[...]
Muzlina: All right, is our hero ready? Hi.
Student in dark clothing: Hello. Can I, actually, have the boy come back up here? To talk to him a little bit.
Mizulina: Did he run away from us, or is he here?
Student: There he is, he’s sitting right there.
Mizulina: Let’s have you go to that microphone over there, then. We’ll have a battle.
Student: Could someone smart come help me move the microphone up a bit, please?
Doronin: You can remove it from the stand, buddy.
Mizulina: Oh, super.
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Student: First of all, about our duty to the motherland: what do you mean you never borrowed anything? Your country, your state, it defends your borders and protects your interests and your rights. And in exchange, you should at least fulfill your obligations. One year in the army is nothing compared to what the state does for you. (Applause.)
Doronin: All of that is paid for by taxes, and my service is completely unnecessary for that. And conscripts, as we’ve seen, are completely useless and have to be retrained.
Student: Well, since they’re so useless, I guess you'd be more useful — maybe you should go and show them how they should do it. And once again, your taxes are nothing compared to what the state gives you. (Other students begin discussing.)
Mizulina: Thank you, guys. [...] The young man who took the liberty of insulting conscript soldiers had better apologize for this before he gets prosecuted for discrediting our army. (Applause.)
Doronin: I’m very afraid. I sincerely apologize to conscript soldiers and I deny that they need some time to retrain to take part in the special military operation. (Light applause.)
After the event, journalists from Groza spoke to Ivan Doronin about his exchange with Mizulina. He had the following to say about the censorship activist and his motivations for going to the meeting:
I felt that there’s something wrong with such a prominent person who promotes censorship coming to my city, giving a self-righteous speech and being applauded for it, and nobody daring to speak up against it. So I decided to go speak up against it.
I absolutely do not support her. In my view, she should be in prison for her actions, because they directly infringe on the constitutional order of my country.
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