Back in the USSR and the 90s

Horrors and reality of Russia in 1985-1999

A month ago a good friend of mine, a Portuguese photo reporter currently covering the war in Ukraine, sent me the link to a BBC documentary. It was about Russia in 1985-1999 and it was perfect timing - I was taking the S9 from the Berlin central station to Adlershof, so I had more than half an hour to spend on the train. I started watching it and this documentary, which is basically a series of footage from different parts of Russia, threw me back to my childhood in the 90s. 

Back then, Russian TV Channels, like ОRT and RTR were dominating the broadcasting scene in Crimea until they were changed to Ukrainian УТ-1, 1+1, and Inter in ~1996-1997, as far as I remember. Before that, I remember Russian channels were constantly streaming some horrors about life in Russia all the time - back then it was still allowed. Currently, they are dictated to show horrible stuff from other countries, but only “wins” of Russia and “good” things about Russia. 

The footage in this documentary was exactly what I used to see in our old “Record” TV - I remember reports about teachers and doctors in Moscow striking because they weren’t paid for 6 months and they had nothing to eat. I remember news that some alcoholics or psychos constantly kill others. I remember the Russian journalist/showman Vlad Listyev being killed in 1995 and the Russian politician, and Soviet dissident, Galina Starovoitova in 1998. Both were shot dead on the stairs of their apartment buildings. Both murders shocked Russia and both cases are still not solved after over 20 years. I remember the news about gangs constantly killing each other’s members. I remember reports from Chechnya where Russia blamed “bloodthirsty Chechens”, but almost never mentioned what horrific crimes Russia was doing there. 

As a child, I was always thinking what the hell the Russian army was doing there to start with? In my 20s I asked that question again, but this time in regard to my own country. The whole civilized world couldn’t and still can’t answer that question. Russian narrative “protecting Russian-speaking people from Ukrainian nazis” doesn’t answer this question either, cause it’s nothing more than an excuse to invade the sovereign country. 

As a teenager, I didn’t even realize that once Russian channels disappeared, our political news feed turned into constant streams of Verkhovna Rada sessions where Ukrainian politicians were fighting right there and everyone was simply laughing at our idiots who couldn’t solve problems verbally. I’m not saying it was right, but at least it was fun to watch compared to what was happening in Russia.  On the Ukrainian channels, there was no news about the war or massive killings in our own country, simply because it wasn’t the case. Ukraine wasn’t involved in any wars since its independence and if there were some shootings between gangs or oligarchs or some other killings, the scale couldn’t be even compared to Russia. 

At the end of this episode, they show the beginning of Putin’s “career”. Back then, in 1999 everyone was so happy that finally there was someone young and smart who wasn’t like Yeltsin who had a hard time reading his speeches and at some point barely moving supposedly because of alcohol abuse. I had no idea though that back in 1999 Russian kids were getting books that already had information about Putin, of course praising the future "dear leader". Can you imagine that there’s already a whole generation of adults that haven’t seen anything else but Putin’s regime? Can you imagine that those kids in 1999 were already fed with Putin’s propaganda and they raised their children accordingly? There are already at least two generations poisoned by Putin’s propaganda. 

One can say “Oh poor people, they were just fooled”. What I say is that they allowed themselves to be fooled and they still choose so. I can’t imagine Ukrainians or any other civilized country being silent and simply swallowing whatever the government was feeding them. There is a reason for the Maidan in 2004 and 2013-14 and it’s because Ukrainians were not going to let the government keep fooling them. I believe that the main cultural difference between Ukrainians and Russians is that the first ones want to be free to make their choices, they want independence and transparency, while the second ones can’t even survive as a nation without some “iron fist” ruling them and deciding what to do for them. They don’t want to make decisions of their own, they escape responsibility and they basically didn’t even know what to do with the freedom they were given in between having some dictator ruling.

This documentary is far from being an aesthetic pleasure though, but it tells the truth about Russia in 1985-1999. It definitely is among the best things I’ve watched lately. Absolutely MUST WATCH if you want to have a better understanding of the “mysterious Russian dark soul”. 

As I watched this documentary I almost missed my stop, and when I heard the Ivanushki International song “Тоже являются частью вселенной” (“It also is a part of the universe”) I even shed a tear - that was a song I used to listen on my old cassette recorder and jump wildly in the living room of my mom’s house. The funny fact is that Ivanushka is the main character of almost all the Russian fairy tales and it became a common noun for fools and primitive, not sophisticatedly built people cause Ivanushka’s actions and behaviors were always far from being smart and decent. Adding “International” to the band’s name was probably supposed to make it sound cool, but in the end, in my humble opinion, it made it ridiculous. Just like Simferopol International Airport having “International” in its name, while in fact the only place one was able to fly from it was Russia. And it was possible before the war, but now it’s closed completely. Not really “International” after all. 

Once I got off the train, I found that song and listened to it with a smile still. My inner child felt extremely nostalgic, even though there’s really nothing special about this song. But it brought me back home, to Crimea, my hometown Bakhchisaray. To my mom’s house when my grandfather was still there, watching “Rush Hour” with Listyev. When my grandmother was also still there watching the never-ending Santa Barbara show and her favorite Brazilian soap operas. When my mom was young and energetic working like a horse to provide for the whole family. When my older sister was my idol, and still is, but back then mostly for bringing new cool cassettes home. 

Right after Ivanushki’s video clip for this song, which for an almost 33-year-old more or less adult version of me, looked horribly unprofessional and cheap, YouTube played the same song, but this time performed by the band called Rondo (which to my shame I have never heard of before) with young Alexander Ivanov as a singer. I never heard that version and it turned out it was actually the original one and Ivanushki’s version was a cover. The original song fascinated me, it has a wild spirit in the 80s glam rock style which I adore. I guess that the best Russian music was created at times of big changes - Tsoy is the greatest example.

And I was thinking that for me, Ivanushki's song is about my past when I lived in Crimea - just like this song and Ivanushki themselves, in many ways, it’s just a parody of something that is supposed to be cool and luxurious, but in the end looks ridiculous, artificial and cheap, especially now, while Crimea is being occupied by Russia. And Rondo’s version is about my present where I live in Berlin - the most authentic city of our times, with the wildest spirit one can ever imagine. But this city had to see a lot and suffer a lot, too, to become what it is today. It looks like it’s how it generally goes in life with everything, cities and countries included - no pain, no gain. 

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