Guilty, Wrong, but Determined

A Rare Look at the Russian Side in Ukraine

The Russians have their strengths. They have an unshakable belief in the superiority of Russia, of its right to control and dominate neighbors. More importantly, they have numbers—a large pool of infantry, however hapless, and a lot of North Korean artillery shells.

This documentary by Sean Langan (for the excellent German public broadcaster DW) is unnervingly honest in its peregrinations through the Russian side of the Ukraine conflict. Wandering the frontlines, dodging artillery, Langan finds Russians still mentally committed to the war. They say the conflict is holy, civilizational, and just. Russia has to defend itself. Russia has the right to run its neighbors’ affairs. Ukraine will be allowed to be independent—once it surrenders and agrees to be ruled by a Russian-picked president. What’s next, one Russian asks—Belarus expecting to run its own affairs? It is a frankly imperialist worldview.

What makes the documentary important is that these familiar, war-time slogans are spoken by ordinary Russians, not Kremlin hacks. A career soldier who admits he was at the Bucha massacre. An old lady on the street. A cynical fixer who knows his paycheck depends on the People’s Republic of Donbas. They say they want peace—after defeating the Ukrainians. They say Russia has the right to march on Kiev. It’s all NATOs fault for surrounding Russia.

Not everyone agrees. Langan finds a young Russo-Ukrainian journalist who blames Putin, and more strikingly, a stout combat soldier who lashes into one propagandist, bellowing that Ukrainians do not want “us” here and the war should never have happened. A 19-year old survivor of a decimated regiment is obviously traumatized as he tries to justify the loss of his friends.

Langan holds his own commentary until the end, honestly acknowledging his fear of asking tougher questions while in the company of armed, nearly lawless militiamen and soldiers. These are the same men who must provide him with frontline access and protect him in the process. (Yikes! Landmines!) For better or worse, he waits until the end to say what he really thinks: that the immoral invasion is Putin’s fault and Russia’s shame. But his brave camerawork here proves that Russia’s appetite for war is far from exhausted.

BTW, I sat for an interview with Langan once, 20 years ago, when he was working on something about the chaos of Argentina. I remember the fun conversation in a Buenos Aires hotel, but I got cut from the final documentary. I forgive him.