Putin. Visible and Invisible. Enemy or Friend?

By Boris Meshcherskiy, Denis Meshcherskiy and Olga Meshcherskaya

The theme of Putin and Russia's actions on the world stage has long been of interest to people in different countries. Now interest has increased even more in connection with the events in Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, etc.
The book is based on information obtained from open sources, including official statements by the Kremlin and its propagandists. “Putin. Visible and Invisible. Enemy or Friend?” allows people to understand who Mr. Putin is, what he is doing, and most importantly, what his actions really mean and what is behind them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Family Publishing Services
• Release date: Nov 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9789527209103

Boris Meshcherskiy

Boris Meshcherskiy died on November 24, 2019

Book preview

The book Putin. Visible and invisible. Enemy or Friend? consists of separate chapters-articles. They are all about Putin, the Kremlin, Russia and the World.

Boris’s preface

Now it is increasingly possible to hear from people living in different countries of the world: Putin is a tough guy, not like our rulers, he doesn’t care about the opinions of others. Putin is an athlete, he copes with everything…

This is a very dangerous tendency. It comes from nescience, from a lack of understanding of what actually happens in Russia, what is the essence of the Kremlin’s manipulations, foreign and domestic policy actions of Putin’s power. People receive most of the news from Russia only in the form of news, without explanation and analysis of the causes and consequences of the events.

The authors of the book had to leave Russia because of disagreement with the policy of the Kremlin and to ask for international protection in Finland in year 2017. Two years in the status of asylum seekers and two years of permanent work, which has a sole purpose – the fight against the criminal Putin’s regime. The result is this book. Is Putin an enemy or a friend? Every reader must answer this question himself.

Boris Meshcherskiy died on November 24, 2019.

Denis’s preface

I never planned to become a blogger.

I never planned to leave my country.

I never planned to become a refugee.

I did not plan any of this and did not choose this life; Putin and his regime did it for me. By building a totalitarian society, he established his dictatorship in the country: nothing significant happens without his approval or against his will. Freedoms of people are violated, and first of all – freedom of speech. Dissenters are arrested, imprisoned for any manifestation of dissent, or they simply disappear without a trace. More and more new laws that drive people further and further into slavery to Putin’s Regime are quickly being adopted. And these rapidly impoverished people, who are afraid to open their mouths, are exposed to the Kremlin’s aggressive propaganda around the clock. If not to take urgent measures, if not to fight with Putin and his team all together, then the day will come when he will eradicate all the dissenters and the rest will forget everything that was before.

And now there is a tendency in the world to forget Putin’s crimes. Forget Georgia, Crimea, Donbass, shot down MH-17, Syria... People want to do business with Russia and earn more money, and when money comes to the fore, it is possible to close eyes to everything else.

But I do not want to forget. And I will continue to tell people what I know, what I see. Because people must understand who Putin is, otherwise they will be defenceless against him.

Please read.

Please think.

Please do not be indifferent.

Olga’s preface

Putin – visible and invisible.

Crime – visible and invisible.

Criminal – visible and invisible.

Is a person who tells a lie a criminal? Or is a person who tells the truth a criminal? The truth can be seen and heard, the lie is easy to hide. Is it a crime to hide the truth or to tell about it? Who is Putin for us – enemy or friend? Who are we for ourselves – enemies or friends?

Will our life be enough to give answers to these seemingly simple questions?

I can answer only for myself. Putin is my enemy, he commits crimes, and he is a criminal. And like any person who commits a crime, he must be punished.

Chapter 1. What for does Russia need genocide?

December 18, 2020

Some time ago many mass media, bloggers and ordinary internet users were surprised by the news about an investigation of genocide facts of the USSR civilian population during the Second World War which had began in the Volgograd region. Veterans of the Second World War and other witnesses of Nazi crimes were summoned for interrogation (or invited, as representatives of law enforcement agencies emphasized). Everyone immediately started to discuss this news and, as usual, to laugh at stupid security officials and out of mind Putin. Another nonsense, well, Russian authorities are so stupid... and almost no one asked the question: Why does the Russian government really need this?

But this is not the first such case, just the public response was not substantial before. In fact, there is an All-Russian project Without a statute of limitations: the tragedy of the civilian population of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation is actively involved in this project. The first criminal case was opened back in 2019, when the remains of people killed during Nazi punitive operations were found in the village of Zhestyanaya Gorka, Novgorod Region. Since then, similar cases were conducted in different regions of Russia, and the project includes also exhibitions, documentary...

The purpose of these criminal cases is to prove the guilt of Hitlerite Germany exactly in genocide. And we can find different definitions: genocide of the peoples of the USSR, genocide of the Soviet people, genocide of Slavs, genocide of Slavic peoples – depends on taste. Such cases are not initiated by local authorities, significance of statements is too high – it is impossible to talk about fool local officials, as many people like to do.

So what for? After so many years, to reopen old wounds, to worry veterans who are living out their last years, to aggravate relations with Germany and European Union... This is the whole point. Putin can’t but stir up the anthill of human grievances, mixed with blood and death, the loss of relatives and friends in our past.

The source of Putin's strength is the past, it has long been known. He takes all he needs from previous times: genetic code of Russians, heroism, victories in large and small wars, and so on, and so on. And the main thing on which the ideological unification of Russians is being built is, of course, the victory of the USSR in World War II. Afghan and Chechen wars are not really suitable to proud for, there are too many black spots. But that victory, the main one, becomes further and further. Fewer and fewer schoolchildren remember who fought with whom, when the war began and when it ended... And significant anniversary of the victory, 75 years, was already celebrated in 2020, and not as pompously as planned – the coronavirus interfered. But it is necessary to use this subject, otherwise people will look around them, and then they will see the collapse, lawlessness and poverty of the bulk of the population. That is why it is important to distract them.

After all, the Jews have their own Holocaust, the Ukrainians have the Holodomor, and why is Russia worse? Citizens must feel strong negativity towards neighboring countries in order not to see Putin’s crimes. Otherwise, they will soon come to their senses and say: Comrade Putin, why are you blaming everything on the dashing 90s, which are long gone, and in what team were you yourself in those notorious 90s?

There were many other things to remember. For example, the terrible famine in the Volga region and in other regions, first in 1921-1922, and then in 1932-1933. But it would be inconvenient to remember it: the Soviet government itself starved its own people, taking away wheat and covering meat with chlorine. Here even nationalists have nothing to say: Russians were killed and forced to die no less than other peoples.

And it is also possible to find heroes in the past, preferably military, so that by their example... but here everything is not very good either. If you take some warlord, well, for example, innocently murdered marshal Tukhachevsky, so smart and handsome, almost shining... Wasn’t he a hero? And also a sacrifice. But again, some bloggers and journalists will find, for example, the information that comrade marshal gassed Tambov peasants when they decided to overthrow the Soviet regime. And we talk not about the gas which is in pipes now, but the gas which is in cannon shells. And heroism immediately starts to fade... And so with other times and heroes, and remains only the Second World War. Here, even if someone finds an unsightly fact, they will immediately attack him: do not touch the sacred. Moreover, different commissions on countering the distortion of history are not asleep. So here Kremlin can dig up bones as much as they like in order to dig something profitable for themselves.

From myself I can add that two of my great-grandfathers fought in the regular Red Army, which came under the first blow of Germany. One, the commander of a tank battalion, burned down in a tank on July 16, 1941 in the Battle of Smolensk. The second, senior sergeant, infantryman, died on July 21, 1941 in the fields of Ukraine. And in 1942 my third great-grandfather died in the Battle of Stalingrad. He lived and worked in Stalingrad and died there as a soldier of the people’s militia division.

I could ask Russian historians a lot of questions. For example, why did Stalin and Zhukov move so many troops to the state borders in May-June 1941? Or why did they fill the front-line airfields with airplanes so that they could gain height only over foreign territory? Or here is another question: why did these comrades gather an uncovered mass of tanks and echelons of strategic cargo at the borders? Maybe they were preparing for another type of war? You can’t prepare for a defensive war in a such a way, but if you prepare for an offensive war – you must behave exactly so. After all, no one has yet explained the reasons for the catastrophic defeat of the USSR in the first months of the war from the standpoint of logic and reason, and it is impossible to blame everything on Stalin’s stupidity here – everything is too serious.

But it is a topic for a separate article, and not one. And concerning the subject of this article I can say the following: although my ancestors died and suffered in that terrible war, I hold no grudge against anyone. Furthermore, if we talk about the Germans, they have already repented and asked for forgiveness many times. And I do not want Putin and his henchmen with their dirty hands to dig in this human pain, looking for benefits for themselves and sending new instructions to their propagandists. May the dead rest in peace and may there be no more such a war on Earth. Maybe it is time to live in the present and the future, learning from the past?

Chapter 2. The world... that has changed

November 22, 2020

The world has changed forever. It will never be the same, no matter how much we want it.

The year 2020 has become a turning point for many people. If before that everything was unstable, turbulent, unpredictable (so we thought before), now everything has become completely different. NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING. Nobody knows what will happen next.

You can believe or not in the COVID-19 pandemic, but people get infected and die all over the world. Moreover, it is not enough just to recover from this virus – the list of complications and consequences is very long. The economies of different countries are affected by the pandemic to varying degrees, but the fact that all countries are affected is undeniable.

What is an economy of a country? This is money, enterprises, people. Therefore, not official statistics attracts attention, but fates of people. Previously prosperous industries suffer huge losses, and behind each loss there are living people, owners and employees of companies. And each has a limit of losses and a financial margin of safety.

And finally fear came to people. Not to all, but to very many. It came and settled in their hearts, then stepped back a little and again knocked on the door. Everyone is afraid to die, although they easily talk about it. They laugh, joke, and at the same time they are afraid. And they close the doors and windows, but the disease can suddenly come to any home. And then people close doors between rooms. And they seem to be together, under the same roof and in the same house, but in reality they are separated by a wall of fear, and this wall is much stronger than any metal.

And others are more afraid of losing their jobs, losing their benefits, not having such opportunities as before... and then unrest, clashes and riots begin. Because both sides are right. Some do not want to get infected, while others want to eat. At least, to eat not worse than before. Will they understand each other? Will they find a compromise? Time will show whose fear will overcome.

But this is not the worst thing. The worst thing is when a person dies somewhere behind the white doors. He is not alone, there are doctors near him. They try to save him, but this is not always possible. And then he passes away, and he passes away alone – there are no relatives next to him. They cannot hug each other for the last time, they cannot kiss each other, they cannot say words of love and support. Only strangers are around, tortured and overwhelmed by work. And there, behind the white doors, relatives are somewhere far away, and they cannot be reached, they cannot hear him. And this is really scary.

It is scary when the dead are burned one by one or stacked in common burials. As if there is a war, but there seems to be no war. But no, it is, it is just undeclared, and this war is against an invisible enemy which has no mind and with which it will not be possible to agree – it does not hear.

But it seems that there is little fear and few deaths for people. That is why all over the globe people happily come into conflict with each other. Some are at war with neighbors with whom they have lived side by side for centuries, others are happy to incite them to this, still others cut heads for words and pictures, while others increase pressure on previous ones, and others use the moment to press their own people stronger... The countries seem to have closed because of the virus, but at the same time they are ready to start conflicts with other countries with joy. Maybe people are too bored in their relative self-isolation? Or maybe the fear of death is easier to overcome when you threaten someone else?

I have no answers to these questions. I only know that the world has really changed, and few will say that it has changed for the better. We also change – we adapt to new conditions, come to understand something new for us, realize our mistakes or make new ones... And each of us has a choice of how to act with our life, what to change in ourselves and how to behave with those who lives nearby.

And it is also time to think about the fact that our relatives and we ourselves may be behind those very white doors, from where we cannot reach our loved ones. And then, in the worst scenario, the only thing that will matter will be the person’s memories of the last days and hours spent with those who are dear to him. Will you have time to say everything that you did not dare, what you were ashamed of, or for which you did not find the time? After all, if not, you will never improve it.

Of course, it is better not to be afraid. Not to fight, not to kill. Not to provoke each other. To love those who are dear to you and not to touch those who do not touch you. To remember that there is nothing more important than family.

Or it is too difficult?

My father died in November 2019. There hasn’t been any pandemic yet. And I am glad that he died not behind doors that I could not get through, but next to me and my mother, and I was with him that day, touched him and kissed him. Just because he is my father and I have always loved him and continue to love him. And I know that dad always wanted to die like this, at home. Yes, he died unexpectedly, although he was seriously ill for a long time. But I, not knowing that death was so close, told my father about my love, supported him with usual everyday good words, I saw his happiness from the fact that he was loved.

But will you be in time?

Chapter 3. Belarus and Putin

August 18, 2020

When state leaders, fathers of the nations, make statements that everything that happens in the country is done only in the name of the people, in the name of saving the country, everything in fact happens exactly the opposite. I mean Putin and Lukashenko. Both, mind you, praise themselves so that no one else is needed. Only they can rule their countries and no one else. Russia will vanish, and so will Belarus, if Putin and Lukashenko go from their posts. None of those living today know how Belarus and Russia would have developed under other presidents, because they simply did not exist. There was no changes in power. Either they or no one – their own slogan. I have no doubt that sometime, in the distant past, many people really voted for Putin and Lukashenko. But it was past, and every time when new leaders come, and especially relatively young ones, as it was in the first terms of Lukashenko and Putin, people hope for changes for the better. It is always assumed that young people understand the problems of the same young people better, and, naturally, they respect old age and love their families and their children, which means they understand the problems of the majority of the population .

It was then. It was and it is gone. Because time moves forward, and in accordance with this, the leader of the country is obliged to keep up with the times and with the needs of the population in order to quickly and accurately solve problems.

Of course they solved. And they solve. At their discretion. The word discretion here means the following: I look for benefits for myself and for my people, whom I choose myself. And looking at the people is no longer necessary. They did everything for themselves and their people, built laws for themselves, hedged off with riot police, National Guard and it is not clear with who else, earlier it was possible to say polite people, and now – impolite people. The first ones simply stood and were silent, to intimidate, and then they silently captured, and the second ones now beat and kill, and they are no longer silent, because they like this kind of work, and they are paid well for it.

What will Putin and Lukashenko do? Putin got the Crimea from Ukraine sheltering Yanukovych, he got the Donbass. And what does he get from Belarus at the moment? Nothing. Lukashenko recently spoke in Europe when he failed to agree with his neighbor on the price of oil and gas. But he always remembered that only Putin could protect him from his own people. And if to choose, then remaining the second person in the state is better than becoming nobody. The question is what Putin will do. He loves to talk about genetic codes. His genetic code is aimed at obtaining benefits for himself and his favorites. This means that it is important to get benefit, but at the same time to come out dry from water, as a peacemaker and a champion of settlement of the most difficult situations, at least as in Syria.

And people – who are they? These are the ones who do not interfere with doing dark deeds in the daylight, and if they interfere, then they are not people. And if they interfere, then there are different ways to calm down them. Which one will be chosen this time?

Chapter 4. A circle or a square around the head of Vladimir (Putin)?

May 3, 2020

You have probably already heard about the mosaic depicting Putin and his entourage in the Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces. I think you laughed and forgot about this news a day later. But you should not.

You should have remembered the prayer for Putin’s health, how he walked around the pulpit in a church, where a secular person has no right to be at all, his constant trips to holy places, praises from the patriarch and all sorts of metropolitans, kissing the hands of the sovereign by clergy of a lower level. Why should you remember all this? Let’s look at everything through the eyes of Putin himself.

You are the ruler of the largest country in the world, a very rich country. You have ruled this country for two decades. During this time, a lot has changed, but one thing is invariable – you are at the very top. You have almost unlimited power, you have the image of a superhero who can do everything and always succeeds, a great athlete – judoka and hockey player, a secret service agent, a defender of the orphan and the poor, a collector of Russian lands, a leader of Siberian cranes and a friend of all children... New components are permanently added to this image – and you are already an artilleryman, a virologist, an economist, an archaeologist-frogman... but something is still not right. The continuous flow of flattery, praise, victories and money does not bring desired joy anymore. All this become boring after two decades. And then what remains? After all, the years go by, and you are not becoming younger. What can be done to make life finally bring you complete satisfaction?

The minds of people remain. That is the sweetest thing. Not an insincere adoration, not a usual flattery, but genuine reverence and delight. Great politician and leader – you have these titles (let’s not discuss here how many people really think so and how quickly this number is decreasing – it is very large in any case). But there have already been such rulers. There was Stalin with his cult of personality, the father of the people, there was great inventor Khrushchev, there was honorary monument Brezhnev... there was also canonized Emperor Nikolai. It would seem, how can you surpass them all, especially the latter?

Well, it’s very easy. You should become a saint while you are still alive. That one died, he did not save the country, suffered, was canonized – and that’s all. This one, the current one, is not like that – he will allow no one torture him, he himself will poison and hang anyone. So martyrdom is not an option for him. But to become a saint, a savior, a liberator – yes. Don’t believe me? Let’s see. According to the Kremlin, he bloodlessly returned Crimea to its native harbor. He saved Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic from death at the hands of enemies who yesterday were the same people, but suddenly became occupiers on their own land. He did not let the Nazism infection come to Russia. He saved moms and dads, he didn’t let the third or any other sex appear in the Homeland. And he didn’t let the country fall apart after the dashing 90s. There are a lot of facts that many Russian citizens will gladly confirm. And do you think there are no Putin fans in other countries? You would be surprised how many people around the world like his superhero image. Their rulers are not so tough, they hum and haw, not like сomrade Putin.

You say that Russian people will soon have nothing to eat because of Putin’s holiday with guaranteed salary and self-isolation because of COVID-19 pandemic? Riots will start soon? Putin will be overthrown? Are you sure? After all, there is another option. Putin will wait as long as it is necessary, and then he will suddenly help people. He will give them money, restrain banks with their loans and mortgages, put someone in prison for show, adjust prices... and that’s it. And people will forget what happened before and because of what they suffered so much. They will forget it and will remember only that they were helped in the end, and most importantly – who helped them. People have a short memory, especially when they are fed after hunger. Not everyone, fortunately. But many, unfortunately. And Putin will be a savior again – from hunger, or even from a terrible infection

Reviews for Putin. Visible and Invisible. Enemy or Friend?

[Readerstreamer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I like it very much. Now I know why the country is so rich but people are so pauper

[Berrylines · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I never loved Putin, really. But I knew so little about him! He is an animal, really. In fact, he is worth than Lukashenko and other despots. P.S. Chapters are not big, very comfortable for understanding for each topic