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“Everything is fine with me and I don’t regret anything. And don’t regret it or be upset. Everything will be fine. And even if it doesn’t, we will be consoled by the fact that we were honest people."
—Alexei Navalny’s letter to Yevgenia Albats, 2021
We are making good magic, together. From our recent Founder’s Day event with cultural archeologist Stephen Douglas on decoding trolls and disempowering Russian disinfolklore, to today’s David Pepper event, Blue Tennessee, which was born out of a Bette Speakeasy with our member, Tennessee activist Desia Batiste. As Dee told me this morning:
“Democracy is strengthened by our individual efforts to preserve and perfect it. Make it personal! As Fredrick Douglas said, ‘Freedom is not free.’” ~Desia Batiste
We are on a roll.
I am very inspired by what I am learning from two-time Navalny campaign volunteer Dmitrii Kovegin, who continues to have hope for the future despite the murder of Navalny, despite being poisoned for his work with Navalny, and despite news of yesterday’s brutal beating of Leonid Volkov — Navalny’s former chief of staff.
Kovegin explained that the beating, which occurred in Lithuania, was designed to send a message to anyone organizing to continue Navalny’s work of exposing the corruption of Putin and his oligarch cronies, particularly with the Russian presidential-election-in-name-only coming up.
But he holds out hope, because he believes in America. It was America that inspired him to believe in freedom and democracy and to begin working toward freedom by volunteering for Navalny’s mayoral campaign in Russia in 2009.
Kovegin wants Americans to use our voice, to put pressure on representatives to support Ukraine and punish Putin for war crimes. He wants us to understand that Putin’s attacks on the West are rooted in jealousy.
He says Putin has been trying to dissolve our trust with one another to weaken us, and that we need to encourage our elected leaders to support the International Criminal Court in arresting and convicting Putin for war crimes.
Humanity Against Crime
“Putin envies the United States. He wants to rob the humanity. He claims that Russia doesn’t have boundaries. Putin wants to be everywhere. Do you want spies, killers, and crazy people camped out on your lawn who spread their hatred in society, or do you want to organize against them. Just do your part, analyze, demand, and go forward. It’s not just Putin, but his hand puppets — like Medvedev — it’s the state, parroting Putin’s words. It’s not a fight against ideology anymore. The ideology of Russia is just go wherever they can go. If we can stop them, we have to do something to stop them.”—Dmitrii Kovegin
Kovegin cautions against depression and despair, and the need to stay in action. He read this quote from Navalny for us.
“Everything is fine with me and I don’t regret anything. And don’t regret it or be upset. Everything will be fine. And even if it doesn’t, we will be consoled by the fact that we were honest people."
He said this is all the more reason why we must be united. We must work together to preserve democracy and move America in the right direction.
“Stop Putin in his border,” he said. “If Russia considers to go, it won’t stop. They claim it’s state policy to not settle down with current borders. What American people can do is call their representatives and ask them not to recognize the Russian election and not to recognize Putin as the legitimate president. And support and protect the judges of the ICC.”
He says he thinks often about a question that HiFi asked him on RadPod Ep 85 about Navalny’s exposure of Russian oligarch corruption, and he said that America should investigate the St. Petersburg mob and how they transfer money to associates who can do business deals in the West.
I am thinking about what he said about trust.
“Putin envies the United States’ trust in one another,” he said. “Trust is crucial in American society… Compassion to another person would not be able if there would be no trust.”
And that is why we are constantly barraged with propaganda designed to destroy our trust. It’s our sacred duty to repair what we have lost and to hold the line on what we still have.
“Keep believing in yourself, and help each other anyway you can afford to. Be ready and don’t go to sleep until your work is done.”—Dmitrii Kovegin
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Please have a listen.
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More from Dmitrii Kovegin:
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More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter, author, and veteran music and nightlife columnist. She is the cohost of RADICALIZED Truth Survives, an investigative show about disinformation and is part of the Byline Media team. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism.
🤍 Begin each day with a grateful heart.🤍
Bette Dangerous Podcast Ep85: ‘Don’t Go To Sleep’ — Dmitrii Kovegin on Protecting Our Trust and Being ‘Honest People’