This part of the interview surprised me the most:

[sniggleboots@lemm.ee]

This part of the interview surprised me the most:

There were times when people refused to talk at all. But in my opinion, this was not so much because we were from Russia but rather because it was just too painful for them to revisit those events and relive everything again mentally. I spoke with a man in a small town outside Mykolaiv, and he said, “I don’t have any particular hostility toward Russians — I lived in Moscow myself and studied there. But, sorry, I just can’t talk about this. It’s too painful.” I understand that.

Of course, when they spoke about the [Russian soldiers] who came to their towns, they did so with deep hostility, verging on hatred. Sometimes, they used harsh words, calling them “orcs” or even worse. But quite often, when they used such words, they made it clear that they were not referring to us [Memorial’s staff]. In most cases, they distinguished between us and those who had come as occupiers.