2 days ago
The Russian family of dissidents that spans generations
From her kitchen, Zoïa Svetova is changing the world. When we interviewed Svetova, her face was radiant, her smile warm. Yet the eyes and hands of the 66-year-old journalist, one of the most respected in the anti-Kremlin circles in Moscow, betrayed a deep concern. In her central Moscow apartment, a haven for the Russian intelligentsia, the black-clad police could burst in at any moment. One of Svetova's sons had just been placed on the list of people sought by the authorities.
The authorities made no announcement, but Mediazona, a website independent of the Kremlin, extracted the information from an Interior Ministry database: Tikhon Dzyadko, editor-in-chief of the opposition channel Dojd, labeled an "undesirable organization" by Moscow since 2023 and in exile in the Netherlands, was being prosecuted in a criminal case. No further details were available. The family is used to this; they have generations of dissidents. "Since the beginning of the USSR, we have been on the side of Russians oppressed by their own state," insisted Svetova. "On the side of justice, of people who are in their right."
The police could therefore appear at any moment to search the apartment, a family nest for generations. They would not find Tikhon, who left the country over three years ago. Svetova now lives alone. "Life is about taking risks. I feel the danger, but I don't want to think about it," she confided over tea and a few chocolates, those brightly wrapped treats unchanged since Soviet times. In her home, time seemed to have stood still. Black-and-white family photos, colorful icons, small pieces of jewelry, candle stubs, an hourglass, miniature baskets and other items had accumulated on the wooden furniture.
