Wrong Children” - Deborah L. Armstrong - Medium
Deborah L. Armstrong

An Essay by Faina Savenkova, a Child of Donbass
Photo: Faina Savenkova

This week, I am working on a lengthy but paid (!) translation project, so in lieu of writing more articles, I am publishing the work of the child writer from Donbass, Faina Savenkova.

She is just 13-years old and has been writing since the age of 11. She has already published two novels. She is well known in Russia and when you read her work you will see why she is thought of as a prodigy there. In addition to her writing, she is also an activist. She appeared at the United Nations to bring awareness to the children of Donbass. Unfortunately, this action got her added to the infamous “Mirotvorets” list — the Ukrainian kill list which publicizes the private and personal data of thousands of journalists, activists and other civilians including more than 300 children.

Faina continues to write and make appearances on media to spread awareness about Mirotvorets. Speaking about the war crimes of Ukrainian nationalists is considered “info terrorism” under Ukrainian law, but that has not stopped Faina from making herself heard.

I hope that you will read what she has to say.
“Wrong Children”

By Faina Savenkova

For three years now, I have been telling you about what is happening in Lugansk. About the war I live in, the sorrows and joys. A year ago the website “Mirotvorets” (Peacemaker) made my personal data public. I wrote many letters to world leaders and artists in Western countries. I had only two requests: To remove the private data of all children from “Mirotvorets” and to help the children of Donbass find a peaceful life, so that we wouldn’t get killed. When the confrontation with “Mirotvorets” began, my Ukrainian journalist friends asked me why I didn’t write a letter to Zelensky, and only mentioned him in an interview. At that time it was hard for me to answer; I still naively believed that there could be peace between Ukraine and Donbass and that UN Secretary General Guterres and UNICEF, as internationally known organizations, would help me. But, unfortunately, I was wrong. Everything I asked for was ignored by these organizations, and Ukraine decided that we could be taken over by force. My efforts and dreams remained dreams. The only thing I’m glad for is that I didn’t write to Zelensky back then. And now I understand why: You can’t write and ask not to kill children to the one who gives the orders to shell Donetsk, Gorlovka, Alchevsk, and other cities. One cannot write to the president who sends thousands of his soldiers to their deaths without sparing them, gives orders for terrorist acts and the murder of children. One cannot write to the president who started this massacre and lost half of his country. You can’t write to a loser. Every day children die in Donbass, in Kherson and Zaporozhe. And he has only himself to blame. A president who will lose everything…

Well, what about UNICEF, the UN, Amnesty International? Did they say anything about the children killed by the Ukrainian army? No, of course not. Just like how they responded to the “Mirotvorets” story. They know. But they remain silent or express “concern.” They are silent always and everywhere. When the children of Yugoslavia, Syria, Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya were killed, they were silent. And if such respected organizations turn a blind eye to the brutal killing of children, do they have anything to say about the “Mirotvorets” story? I guess not. After all, we are the wrong children, born and living in the wrong place, according to UNICEF and Amnesty International. One of my essays says that war children are quiet because adults can’t hear them. They are. Unfortunately, we — the children — are not interested in these adults. We are not like them. They seem to think it’s okay to kill us, just so long as it’s done quietly, so as not to disturb others with our cries for help. I’m sorry that this is happening. I’m sorry that the country I was born in is shelling and trying to destroy everything I hold dear and everything I love, under the approving smile of those who can but won’t stop this war. Unfortunately, all those who help Ukraine do not realize that the war is coming to them.

Ordinary people in the U.S. and Europe are mostly unaware of the atrocities of the Ukrainian army, the brutal shelling and killing of civilians. People are told that we are shelling ourselves or that the Russian army has been shooting at us for eight years. Apparently, that’s why we’ve been waiting for Russia to come here in 2022, right? It is a different reality.

But I’m sure it won’t always be that way. The truth will still win. The hardest part is not getting discouraged when everything that you do fails to get results. You are not being heard. Just when you think it’s no use, an event occurs that makes you believe again that what you are not doing is not in vain. That’s what happened with the Pope’s letter. When I was in Moscow, I received a reply from Pope Francis. According to my Italian friends, he rarely answers anyone, but he offered to pray with me for peace. I don’t know if he answered himself or if the answer was written for him, but the important thing is that the Pope paid attention for the first time to the request of a child from Donbass and wanted to pray together with someone who is considered an “enemy of Ukraine.” He offered to pray with me, a child who is not considered a human being in Ukraine. And I will definitely pray with him for the hundreds of children killed by Ukraine and for the peaceful life we all need.

Letter from the Vatican to Faina Savenkova.

English translation of Faina’s essay: Deborah Armstrong.

About the author:
Deborah Armstrong currently writes about geopolitics with an emphasis on Russia. She previously worked in local TV news in the United States where she won two regional Emmy Awards. In the early 1990’s, Deborah lived in the Soviet Union during its final days and worked as a television consultant at Leningrad Television.
https://medium.com/@deborahlarmstrong/wrong-children-16d094edb0f3

ittwoch, 14. Oktober 2020, 13:00 Uhr
~5 Minuten Lesezeit
Kinder des Krieges
Faina Savenkova, ein 11-jähriges Mädchen aus der Ostukraine, hat die Hälfte ihres jungen Lebens im Krieg verbracht. Rubikon veröffentlicht ihre Essays nun erstmals auf Deutsch. Teil 2/2.
von Faina Sawenkowa

Foto: NDanko/Shutterstock.com

Der Konflikt in der Ostukraine ist bereits in das siebte Jahr gegangen. Während des Krieges wurden kleine Kinder zu Teenagern. Jugendliche sind bereits Erwachsene. In der Stadt Lugansk lebt ein heute 11-jähriges Mädchen namens Faina Savenkova. Sie schreibt wunderschöne Märchen. Zwei Theaterstücke sind bereits ihrer Feder entsprungen. Sie ist das jüngste Mitglied der Schriftsteller-Union der Lugansker Volksrepublik. Faina gewann bereits einige Preise für ihr noch junges literarisches Wirken. In zwei Essays, die beide bei Rubikon veröffentlicht werden, beschreibt sie ihre Kriegserlebnisse. Sie appelliert darin eindringlich an uns Erwachsene, alles, was in unserer Macht steht, zu tun, um den Krieg zu beenden und so Kinder zu schützen.
Wenn Erwachsene schweigen

Alle Kriege haben einen Beginn und auch ein Ende, das ist allgemein bekannt. Oft bleiben offizielle Daten nicht mehr als kalte und gleichgültige Zahlen im Gedächtnis der Beteiligten.

Wann hat der Krieg im Donbass für jeden von uns begonnen? Stelle ich diese Frage meinen Mitmenschen noch so oft, bekomme ich unterschiedliche Antworten. Im Jahre 2014 gab es eine Vielzahl von Ereignissen, die zu jenen Trennlinien wurden.

Ich glaube an die Menschlichkeit. Ich will daran glauben. Wie meine Eltern auch. Nein, wir leben nicht in einer Fantasiewelt. Es gibt einfach einen Unterschied zwischen dem, was wir sehen, und dem, was wir wollen. Meine Verwandten wollten daran glauben, dass alles, was geschah, ein furchtbarer Zufall war. Menschen können doch nicht so grausam und erbarmungslos sein? Doch, können sie. Und wir wissen es, geben aber die Hoffnung nicht auf, dass Menschen zur Besinnung fähig sind. Warum sollen wir sonst weiterleben? Einfach nur eine naive Hoffnung, die keinesfalls die Verbrechen rechtfertigt. Ich weiß es nicht.

Wahrscheinlich hatten wir die Überzeugung, dass so etwas in unserer Zeit und in unserer Heimat nicht passieren kann. Alles schien wie ein alberner Albtraum. So konnte es nicht sein. Es durfte nicht sein, dass die eigene Armee ihr Volk vernichtete. Doch das passiert weiterhin.

Ich denke, dass das wahre Verständnis dessen, dass der Krieg begonnen hat, erst kommt, wenn man sich an den Tod gewöhnt. Eben dann beginnt der Krieg für den einzelnen Menschen und nicht nur für den Staat.

Für mich wurde der 2. Juni zu so einem Datum. Ich kann mich erinnern, dass es ein Montag war, ich und mein Bruder waren krank und mussten zum Arzt. Das alltägliche Leben ist auf die Minute festgelegt, auch wenn wir es nicht merken. Soundso lang ist der Weg zur Bushaltestelle, die Fahrt nimmt soundso viel Zeit in Anspruch. Der Busfahrplan, die Öffnungszeiten des Kinderarztes, die ungefähre Wartezeit im Wartezimmer … Eine Mandelentzündung ist natürlich unangenehm, aber nicht tödlich.

Mit einer Maske wird man auch in die Bücherei gelassen, dort kann man dann Bücher aus der Schulliste für den Sommer ausleihen. Pläne, die sich in Abhängigkeit von den Umständen verändern können. Unsere Pläne veränderten sich, weil mein Bruder Angst bekommen hatte; an diesem Tag war nur ich beim Arzt. Ich hatte keine große Lust, in die Bücherei zu gehen, weil ich noch nicht alleine lesen konnte, hätte nur Bilder in ausgeliehenen Büchern angucken können. Wenn mein Bruder keine Angst gehabt hätte oder wenn meine Mutter seine Sorgen nicht ernst genommen hätte, dann wären wir während des Beschusses in der Nähe jenes Parks gewesen, der am aus der Luft angegriffenen Gebäude der Lugansker Regionalverwaltung lag. Ich verstehe jetzt, dass ich und Mama vielleicht nur dank meines Bruders noch am Leben sind.

Ich kann mich erinnern, wie ich wegen des fürchterlichen Krachs, der über der Stadt dröhnte, weinen musste. Ich weiß noch, dass es keinen Netzempfang gab, wir konnten die Oma nicht erreichen, die am Theater an der anderen Straßenseite vom Ort der Tragödie arbeitete. Weiter weiß ich, was mir mein Lehrer über die Geschehnisse des 2. Juni erzählte. Hinter dem Verwaltungsgebäude befindet sich ein Kindergarten; an diesem Tag standen die Erzieher nach dem Beschuss am Tor und begrüßten die vor Tränen erblindeten Mütter nur mit einem kurzen Satz: „Alle sind am Leben!!!“ Mehr brauchten sie auch nicht zu hören.

Krieg ist dann, wenn am 1. Juni die Welt den Internationalen Kindertag feiert und schon am 2. Juni das wichtigste, das nötigste Wort, was Eltern hören können, einfach und kurz ist: „Leben“. Eine Woche später kommt während eines Artilleriebeschusses das erste Kind um. Polina Solodkaja aus Slavjansk. Sie ist sechs Jahre alt geworden — meine Altersgenossin. Sie hätte Ärztin, Lehrerin oder Künstlerin werden können. Sonst jemand. Sie bleibt aber für immer die erste in der Liste der getöteten Kinder — Opfer dieses Krieges. Das Schrecklichste an all dem ist das Wort „Liste“. Sie wird von Tag zu Tag und bis heute immer länger. Eine unbequeme Wahrheit, die aber nicht in Vergessenheit geraten sollte. Doch kann man es nicht vergessen, auch wenn man es wollte.

Es gibt in Lugansk ein den Kindern gewidmetes Mahnmal, den Kindern, die bei einem Beschuss umgekommen sind. So ein Mahnmal gibt es in Donezk. Wenn Erwachsene dort stehen, finden sie bis heute keine Worte und schweigen, die Augen zu Boden gerichtet. Hier kann man wirklich nichts sagen. Die Welt feiert den Internationalen Kindertag, kann uns aber nicht beschützen.

Ich schrieb bereits früher, dass Kriegskinder still sind, weil sie von Erwachsenen nicht gehört werden. Bis jetzt ist es so. Aber ich glaube daran, dass alles sich verändern wird. Irgendwann mal erleben wir Frieden auf unserem Boden. Wir, Kinder, die den Krieg überlebt haben werden, werden erwachsen sein. Und wir werden versuchen, all das Grauen zu stoppen, indem wir verwirklichen, was Erwachsenen nicht gelungen ist. Damit der Internationale Kindertag nicht nur ein Datum bleibt, sondern sich zu einem echten Feiertag wandelt.

Kurzfotostrecke „Kinder des Krieges “:https://www.rubikon.news/artikel/kinder-des-krieges-2

Ukraine is All Blah-Blah-Blah Now.
An Essay by Faina Savenkova — a Child of DonbassOnce again, in lieu of writing my own article, I am sharing an essay by Russia’s famous child-writer, 13-year-old Faina Savenkova. She published this piece on September 28th, as the people of Lugansk were celebrating their overwhelming vote to join Russia. She is responding to an article published in Ukrainskaya Pravda, in which she was accused of being an unwitting Russian propagandist.

I have translated her article from Russian and included hyperlinks to the people and places she mentions. All notes in brackets are mine.

Ukraine is All Blah-Blah-Blah Now.
By Faina Savenkova

Monday morning began with my friends congratulating me on the referendum on joining Russia and once again I’m being accusing of working for the “bloody Putin regime” (I demand my salary!!!). As was recently written in another fantasy article by another fighter of the info-front from Ukraine — a citizen by the name of Samygin.
Denis Samygin of the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. Photo: Ukrainskaya Pravda

In a lengthy article he called me the “youngest author in the world,” which in itself is already delightful in its abnormality. Who, moreover, is being used in anti-Ukrainian propaganda. The man in a balaclava, Roman Zaitsev from the Mirotvorets website, I remember, also wrote a lot about me. So did the “Stop Fake Foundation” or some big center in America! But all of these were, as they say, private foundations and organizations, and the whole Center for Strategic Research of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine got involved! The Ukrainian state began fighting against a 13-year-old teenager. Again. And the president of this country [Ukraine] is not in the habit of punishing those who kill children. It’s already a habit to hurt those who can’t defend themselves. Of course, I wouldn’t have paid attention to this, however, this excellent article about how the “bloody Putin regime” uses children was aimed at a European and American audience. And not everyone there knows what is happening in my homeland so I cannot not answer to the amazing “expert” from “Ukrainskaya Pravda” whose article uses my name. It’s their own fault :)

So, here is the 1st quote from the opus “Sacred Victims and Yunarmiya: How Russian Fascism uses Children”:

“For several years now, Faina Savenkova, a thirteen-year-old girl from Lugansk, has been used to deceive people around the world, who must believe that in 2014 it was not Russia that attacked Ukraine, but Ukraine that began to destroy itself.”

The author of the article writes that I have been used for several years to tell untruths. What is there to say? This amazing journalist apparently does not know that in one of my first essays, “Adult Silence,” I describe the strike of a Ukrainian military plane on the center of Lugansk on June 2, 2014, as well as my family’s and friends’ memories of that event. Yes, in case the author of the article does not know, it was a Ukrainian air strike on Lugansk, so there can be no question of Russia there. Oh, Mr. Samygin? In the above-mentioned essay I only regret that at that time the army of my country [Ukraine], instead of protecting us, cruelly and callously killed innocent people in the center of the city, next to a kindergarten.
Image used in Faina Savenoka’s essay “Adult Silence.” Photo: Faina Savenkova

Moving on to number 2.

“Russia orchestrated another speech by this girl at the UN on December 22, 2021, right before a large-scale invasion. The propagandists intended to set up fertile information soil for a further attack on Ukraine and to justify more murders.”

That’s… This is… No, well, why be so shallow? Take it higher: I am the main reason for starting the Special Military Operation. It’s about time we remembered Mirotvorets’ claims that I should be considered an enemy of humanity. I hope this nobody Samygin understands the meaning of the word “sarcasm” and the tone of my words? If anything, I declare with full responsibility that I do not keep “death stars” under my bed and I do not make any attempts on humanity’s life.

But seriously, the claim that Russia specifically arranged the second meeting at the UN for me is the height of professional ineptitude. As always, everything is twisted and information is understated, as Ukrainian propagandists know how to do. Yes, I participated in the UN Security Council members’ Arria Formula meeting on the manifestation of fascism in various countries. And the meeting was organized by Russia. But it’s not a bad idea to say what kind of meeting it was and what it was specifically about, right? It’s defined as “informal meetings organized by a member or members of the Security Council for the purpose of holding a frank exchange of views in private, using a flexible procedural framework,” according to Wikipedia. Oops, here’s the rub! It’s an informal meeting. Plus, Olena Berezhnaya and several other public figures from Ukraine were there, and in addition, representatives from other countries. Did you forget to tell me that there is a recording of this meeting which anyone can watch? I’m afraid this meeting was not specially organized for me.

And, in general, it is funny and scary that such nonsense can be written by a well-known publication in Ukraine. By the way, I would like to tell the author of this bestseller that my first essay appeared a year before my address to the UN for Children’s Day was written. This truly amazing author did not notice, or perhaps bashfully failed to mention, that my position on the war and my texts were published not only in Russian and foreign media, but also in Ukraine itself. Naturally, when Ukraine was still a democracy, there was independent media, and politicians and journalists did not flee the country to avoid being arrested. So, again, a deliberate lie.

Part 3. “Vikhoreva organized the event.” “Here is an eloquent detail: It was this ‘cultural activist’ Irina Vikhoreva who previously arranged the provocation with the DPR [Donetsk People’s Republic] flag at the match between Shakhter and Roma [a soccer match].”

Unfortunately, I don’t know what flag Irina Vikhoreva was carrying at the Shakhtar-Roma match and how it can be connected to my presentation in Italy and fascist propaganda, but the author lied again. Yes, Irina organized it, but at that online presentation there were many journalists; public and political figures from Italy with completely different beliefs. Which, by the way, is surprising and somewhat indicative, because in other circumstances, a significant percentage of these people would not even shake hands. And the presentation was not only in Italy. Before that there was a similar presentation in the Czech Republic and in Russian cities, and later in Lugansk.
Faina Savenkova’s profile on the “Mirotvorets” site

Number 4. And now my “favorite” Mirotvorets — “Peacekeeper.”

I have always said in interviews that I was outraged — not because the “Mirotvorets” site considered me both a victim of propaganda and a propagandist in one person (see the first screenshots from the “Mirotvorets” site) — I was outraged that this site put my personal data and that of my family in the public domain, which leads to the danger of crimes being committed. “Mirotvorets” violated European and American laws about personal information, as well as global laws on personal data in general. But if you, dear author, think that the laws of the civilized world are not laws for Ukraine, no questions asked, you can justify crimes against kids. Just a couple of questions: Do you have children or any nephews? Would you want their photos, phone numbers and class schedules to be given to people who have repeatedly committed crimes against children, when they are released from prison? Well, just as a little present. And that’s exactly what Mirotvorets does, illegally posting children’s personal data in the public domain.

It’s all those tiny details in which the devil is known to lie, isn’t it, Samygin? Do you think your readers don’t need to know such details, since you’re so diligent to obscure them, trying to hide them from prying eyes? The worst thing that has happened in Ukraine is that you can’t speak your mind. If you think that what the authorities say is untrue and wrong, then you are a propagandist and an enemy of Ukraine. Very convenient for someone who wants to become a dictator. And by this example, I demonstrate once again that it is very easy to accuse a person of propaganda — or indeed of anything else — by writing some truth and diluting it with a huge dose of outright lies, your own conjectures and very dirty falsification of facts. Is this modern journalism in Ukraine? It’s so unpleasant, as if you accidentally stepped in the mud. Well, never mind, we have hot water, so I will wash myself. But the Center for Combating Russian Propaganda will have to find a new journalist. This one is unconvincing. It’s all blah-blah-blah.

About the author:
Deborah Armstrong currently writes about geopolitics with an emphasis on Russia. She previously worked in local TV news in the United States where she won two regional Emmy Awards. In the early 1990’s, Deborah lived in the Soviet Union during its final days and worked as a television consultant at Leningrad Television.

https://medium.com/@deborahlarmstrong/ukraine-is-all-blah-blah-blah-now-36ed168f34c

Freedom and justice
Faina Savenkova

The world can be a cruel place. And in time everyone realizes it. I live next to a war and I see what a human life is worth in today's world. It is equal to the cost of one bullet. Nevertheless, I believe in humanity, freedom and justice, no matter how many try to convince me that this is a myth. It's no myth. And the Donbass knows this, keeping in its memory the events of the current war.

The world can be frightening in its lies and indifference to one's fellow man. And... the world really is indifferent, what else could it be? Except that it doesn't lie. Never. Not to anyone. That's a human thing, not a world thing. And often human lies go side by side with human indifference. But there are those who are willing to fight them. One such person is Julian Assange, who is not afraid to say that the world is a little different from what the news shows us.

As the head of the Foundation to Battle Injustice and my friend Mira Terada says: "Julian Assange's case was the official beginning of the end of Free Speech.” His case is now being used as a model for how independent journalists' rights are infringed upon and persecuted. The website "Mirotvorets” and similar resources were created as additional tools and mechanisms precisely to intimidate people and make them stop telling the truth. The Assange case and the creation of such resources as Peacemaker are inextricably linked, because they are all aimed at abolishing Freedom of Speech, at abolishing the truth, at total control over people's consciousness and its expression.

That if humanity continues to lie and does not pursue the truth, we will find ourselves in the darkness of a new world war. It is dangerous, and sometimes unseemly, to tell the truth now, because it can upset those who are used to living in the darkness of ignorance and illusion. But I, like many others, don't want to. And Julian Assange has become for us a tiny candle, whose dim flame does not allow us to get completely lost. We walk into its light, carrying already our own little lights in our hands. While we are lonely. But as time goes by, there will be more of us, just as there will be more light around us, and now other people will follow us. Together we can dispel the darkness, I am sure of it.

There is the famous story of Danko, who ripped his heart out of his chest to light the way for people walking in darkness with his flame. The past and the present show us similar examples both in literature and in real life. And somehow it seems to me that this story will be repeated as long as the world a