Appearance and reality: Between them there is a constant fight in Moscow. Despite nearly three years of war, life here can seem so normal: from the transport workers traveling on the metro to the youngsters at night clubs popular among the youth of Moscow.
Then, suddenly, something happens to remind you: There is nothing normal today in Russia.
That “something” can be a Ukrainian drone that broke through Moscow’s air defense.
Or – even more dramatic – what happened on Tuesday morning: the shooting to death of a high-ranking Russian officer as he stepped out of a block of flats.
As the classifier it became clear when Lt Gen Igor Kirillov and his assistant Ilya Polikarpov were blown up by a bomb in an electric scooter that Russia was at war with Ukraine.
In any case to at least those Russians who were close to the crime scene.
‘It is one thing to read it in the newspapers, it seems far and far away, but when it happens around the corner, that I find very scary,’ said Liza. She, as many others, lives close to what used to be the site of the blast, in the very next building.
Up until now, [the war] has been happening in a faraway job – now someone is dead, here, you can touch the results.
Currently my anxiety levels are off the roof. Every noise freaks you out – you begin to think if it’s a drone or something at the construction site,” Liza says.
This is how people treat Russia’s war in Ukraine as something that is happening far away – I kept hearing that here. I get a feeling that for a significant percentage of the population, this is a war they only watch on their television or through a smart phone. In many ways, a virtual war.
Remarkable, one would say, given the fact that there were so many casualties and injuries.
But the killing of a Russian general in Moscow: saying that is a definite wake-up call; it was good to have been reminded that this war is very real and very close to home.
Will it act as an awakening for the Russian authorities?
Probably not. It appears there won’t be a Kremlin change of heart about Ukraine. Moscow is infinitely more likely to escalate the war.
Just look at the signs.
After the news of Kirillov’s murder, a host of a political talk show on the Russian state Television accused Ukraine and stated that “with this attack, President Zelensky has signed his own death sentence” .
In a statement former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pointed out that ‘investigators must find the killers in Russia’. He added: “We have to eradicate everything that could potentially eliminate their patrons who are in Kyiv.”
As for the president Vladimir Putin, he has not responded in any way to the general’s death and that of his assistant.
The head of the Kremlin has said many a time that to security threats ‘Russia will always respond’.
From that assurance, reprisal is expected.
On Thursday, the Kremlin leader is to give his traditional annual end of year press conference and tele-phone-in. It is usually a long drawn affair which is beamed live by all the major television stations.
I wonder: Did he use the event to mention the dramatic early morning assassination of Kirillov?
Will he finally speak on Syria? The Russian president has not publicly commented on the demise of Bashar al-Assad, Russia’s main partner in the Middle East.
But what will he say to the Russians about where their country is going as the conflict in Ukraine – what Putin continues to refer to as his ‘special military operation,’ is about to enter its third year?
