Alexei. I’ve been reading you for a while now. You are almost always at the top of my list for Medium people to read. This piece gave me the sense that you are wandering and a bit lost, perhaps because of how Putin has corrupted what it means to be Russian. I felt that you were saying “I can no longer be Russian so I don’t want to be anything else”. Citizen of the World, or Global Citizen sounds nice, but it lacks the feeling of “homeland”. Russia will always hold that place in your heart; and that’s OK.

The turmoil in your messages is heartfelt. But “this too shall pass.” When the dust clears and the chaos subsided Russia will need voices like yours to point to, and lead to a new future of peace, prosperity and freedom and rejoin the world. The current gang will never get that done. It is beyond their intellect, beyond their capacity to put Russia’s people ahead of their own distort grasp of reality.

It’s OK to be pissed off at them!