It is no coincidence that my interview with well-known Russian blogger and Kremlin-critic Dmitry Chernyshev begins at the Jaffa Wishing Bridge.
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Q: It is a very symbolic site. Have you thought of a wish?
"I have one wish, that a certain person should leave this world, and it's not hard to guess to whom I am referring."
Indeed, it is not difficult to guess whom the blogger, writer, lecturer, and founder of a movement calling to overthrow Russian President Vladimir Putin, is talking about. In fact, Chernyshev is the first public figure in Russia to urge so, "even if it requires weapons."
In a recent Facebook post, he published the movement's manifesto, in which he unequivocally called for a rebellion.
"The Resistance Movement is announcing preparations to overthrow the criminal Putin regime," the manifesto began. "We will use all methods, including the right of people to an uprising. It is the citizens' inalienable right to protect their rights and freedom from usurpers through any means, including armed struggle. We have exhausted all peaceful means: we organized rallies – they were dispersed. Ran honest media reports – they were banned. Led an open political struggle – the oppositionists were killed, imprisoned, exiled from the country, and were tried to be poisoned.
"All the rights of citizens in Russia have been destroyed. Not a single constitution clause is working. The cruelest censorship has been introduced. People who call for peace are being jailed. For [heeding] the 'Do not kill' commandment. For holding a blank piece of paper. The country has established a police dictatorship. And worst of all, it has begun a criminal war with Ukraine. The Resistance Movement calls all opponents of the regime to cease all internal strife and unite for a revolution … We need everyone now."
The one-and-a-half-page-long manifesto Chernyshev published while in Israel. Why? Due to remarks said to him during an investigation he was summoned to – or perhaps a more appropriate word would be "abducted" – earlier this month.
One evening, three strangers approached Chernyshev on the street and asked him to follow them. The blogger was then taken to a police station.
Without even introducing themselves, the men began to bombard Chernyshev with questions: Who is paying you for your anti-government post? How much money did you get to betray your homeland? Why are you criticizing the president who was voted in after a democratic election?
Chernyshev's answer: "Russia does not have a duly elected president. Putin's power ended in 2008. Only the SS have sworn allegiance to the führer, you have to defend the constitution. And if Putin is offended by a post of mine, he can sue me."
The police continued to question Chernyshev for three hours, which was not unprecedented, given that he had been interrogated many times before, and even arrested due to his political activities.
But then the officers crossed a line. "You have children. Have you thought about their future? Do you know what we could do to them?" they threatened.
This was a breaking point, Chernyshev said, after which he signed an official document vowing to stop his anti-government activities on social media.
Indeed, the Kremlin-critic disappeared from social media for several days, during which he made his way to Israel, as most countries were off-limits to the citizens of now-sanctioned Russia, and because his wife and youngest daughter are Jewish.
"We tried to get to Istanbul, but the Turks canceled the flights," Chernyshev said. "You sell everything for a fraction of the price. Leave your friends and beloved city behind. All your life is packed into one suitcase and some banknotes. Starting from scratch."
And so Chernyshev arrived in Tel Aviv with his family, and from there to a friend's apartment in Jaffa, where he launched the resistance movement.
Q: Do people criticize you for leaving Russia and calling for a revolution from abroad?
"Certainly. They write to me, 'You got scared, fled to Israel, and are now instigating us to burn police vans that carry protesters.' But for eight years, I was not afraid, and I was already under surveillance [by authorities]. I wasn't silenced after being in prison for a month and a half, so it's not a matter of cowardice.
"I would be less helpful were I to go to prison. I understand the essence of the claim and accept it, but, you know, it's like arguing with [Former French President Charles] de Gaulle why he left France. Had he stayed, he would have been sent to a concentration camp, and outside Paris, he could do much more for the country."
Q: Meaning, you didn't think there would be room here for martyrdom? You thought about matters more pragmatically.
"No. Since I didn't know whether I would be able to leave Russia. I decided that if they let me out, I would deal with them from another country. If they didn't let me out, I would go underground, live with friends in some clandestine location in Moscow, never leave, connect to a VPN [virtual private network], so that it wouldn't be easy to find me. But they did let me leave."
Q: Are you worried they might reach you here, in Israel?
"Of course, I worry that they will try to get to me here, but I understand how cumbersome, bureaucratic and lazy the system is, which has to recognize the threat first, and then find budgets and then conduct the operation, and all this against the backdrop of a failed war and rank purges – so there is hope. I assume that the entire regime will collapse within a few weeks so that they won't have time to get to me."
Born in Moscow, Chernyshev was raised in a standard Russian family. Things, however, began to change when his father traveled to Hungary for work, taking his son with him.
"I was 13 at the time, I lived three years in Budapest and immediately became anti-Soviet. I left Moscow, where you had to stand in line for two hours to buy cheese, and I thought to myself, 'How can it be that these people [Hungarians] live a thousand times better than us? It doesn't make sense.' In addition, in Hungary, I had access to any books I wanted, and I read [Russian writer Mikhail] Bulgakov and everything else that was banned in the USSR at the time."
After returning to Moscow, Chernyshev began to study cosmonautics at a prestigious school in the capital, but dropped out because he felt "it just wasn't it." He was later accepted to study geophysics but dropped out for the same reason. He also served in the military for two years and was even stationed in Ukraine at the time of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
"Our unit was assigned to secure the reactor, and for half a year we lived in tents next to it," Chernyshev said.
After being discharged from the military, the blogger-to-be worked as a security guard, a driver, and even as a translator for hunters.
"I traveled around with drug lords who roamed Russia and hunted bears, and I translated for them. I've been across the entire former Soviet Union, from Turkmenistan to Chukotka. It was so fascinating it is even hard to describe. But my wife was against this."
Chernyshev then switched to a career in the media. He started out in print, studied design, became an art director and for many years worked as a creative director at an advertising agency, becoming one of the best in the field.
And yet, "I understood I was wasting my life by causing people to buy garbage. That is the essence of the publication. I left everything, and began to research a subject that fascinated me: How do people come up with ideas? I wanted to understand how it works."
Having studied the topic, Chernyshev published a book on the subject, one of several to come. The project brought about many more, including teaching a course on creative thinking at a local prestigious academy and running workshops at large corporations, including Microsoft and Deutsche Bank.
Most recently, he has taught a course on thinking outside the box and reforms in education, another subject he has covered in a book.
Q: You have dabbled in several fields, without staying in a particular one for a long time. Are you a rebel by nature?
"I wouldn't describe myself as rebellious, but if something disinterests me, money will not keep me there. I need an idea that will inspire, some meaning. I don't have much left to live, so yes, I want meaning. It is very pleasant that my daughters tell me they are proud of me, proud that I don't stay silent."
Among his many endeavors, Chernyshev also launched a blog on a popular Russian social media platform, which several years later became one of the top-10 most-read in the country. It is on this precise blog that he published an explosive post that first got him into trouble with the authorities.
At the time, Russia was celebrating the "return of the Crimea," a Ukrainian peninsula that was annexed by Putin that year. The public praised Putin and his popularity soared, yet Chernyshev – naming his post "Anschluss", referring to the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938 – harshly criticized the move.
Do you want me to tell you what will happen not to Ukraine, but to Russia? Chernyshev began in the post. There will be pretty footage on TV. Lines of tanks. Women will throw flowers under the wheels. There will be a great and glorious parade. Each window will have a Russian flag. There will be fireworks.
"Do you really think that is how you will liberate Crimea from fascism? No, that is how fascism will arrive in Russia. Because this is just the beginning," Chernyshev wrote already in 2014. "Do you know what will happen next? There will be programs on state TV about the cruelty of the Ukrainian aggressors … You will be told how Russians are being humiliated in [the eastern Ukrainian city of] Lviv. Newspapers will print pleas by tractor drivers asking to get involved in the matter and put [the Ukrainiains] in [their] place … Then there will be an attack, and it is clear who will organize and pay for it. The ruble will collapse. The media will claim it's all the West's [fault], for it is afraid of us."
The streets will be patrolled, Chernyshev continued in the post. Soldiers will be recruited. Any criticism of the government will be considered a betrayal. The infidels will be hunted. History books will be rewritten. A showcase trial will take place. Hyperinflation. Goods will disappear from stores. This is how fascism will arrive in Russia.
It is difficult not to notice the precision with which Chernyshev predicted the future – from the crackdown on protesters through the anti-Ukrainian propaganda to Russia's blaming the West. The streets will be patrolled, Chernyshev continued in the post. Soldiers will be recruited. Any criticism of the government will be considered a betrayal. The infidels will be hunted. History books will be rewritten. A showcase trial will take place. Hyperinflation. Goods will disappear from stores. This is how fascism will arrive in Russia.
It is difficult not to notice the precision with which Chernyshev predicted the future – from the crackdown on protesters through the anti-Ukrainian propaganda to Russia's blaming the West.
"Tactically speaking, I'm pessimistic, because I think in the short term, things will get worse in Russia. Strategically speaking, I am optimistic. Russia is part of European civilization, and all its stories about its special way are complete lies."
Q: Yet it seems those close to Putin believe in this.
"Every person has the right to hallucinate. Certainly, if he suffers from dementia, drug use, and impotence. He wants a 'special way'? So we'll assign him and his followers an area of Mordovia [a Russian republic], where they'll be able to build their Orthodox caliphate … No one will interfere in their mission. Please. But they will be the first ones to go bankrupt."
Q: But in the meantime, they are the ones setting the tone.
"They are not setting the tone, they don't control anything. It is dying. In my opinion, it is only a matter of a few months."
Q: What are the chances the leadership will survive? That Putin and his men will succeed in suppressing the matter?
"They will certainly try. It is safe to assume that they will try to create some kind of provocation now. Maybe even an explosion at a nuclear facility. They need to justify the general recruitment.
"Russia can no longer take it. Besides oppression, there is nothing else for the government to do. And then? The country will be thrown back into the 19th century. Not even the planes will be able to fly because Russia doesn't produce anything. Everything will start to fall apart very quickly."
Putin is not intimidated by the "rotten liberals," Chernyshev continued. What scares him are the empty pots when people will have nothing to feed their children. After all, the Russian National Guard will not shoot mothers.
"Before the war in Ukraine, I wrote that from a political point of view, the invasion would be suicide, also economically and militarily … Putin is insane, and that overshadows everything."
As for the Russian military, "in a way, I am grateful to Putin for being corrupt. With all due respect to [jailed Kremlin critic] Alexei Navalny, whom I know personally, it scares me to think what would have happened had he eradicated corruption in Russia and all the trillions would be used for the military. The fact that those fat generals have stolen everything saved Ukraine.
"What Navalny has done … It cannot be compared to anything. It is a great sacrifice that warrants deep appreciation. He did everything right. I don't know if I could be as heroic as he is, but I admire what he has done."
"All problems in Russian society begin with the education system," Chernyshev continued. "There are people in Russia who are extremely talented. In the 1990s, we didn't have programmers, bankers, or marketing people. We barely spoke English. Within a year, they learned everything and created Yandex, which is a worthy competitor to Google. I have no doubt as to Russia's future. We can tilt the world in our direction so that all the money will come to us. Look at Ireland or Austria, which have become great places for investment. If we create comfortable circumstances, they will come to us."
Q: Look at the history of protests in Russia. We don't see millions taking to the streets. Is it a kind of acquired helplessness?
"The Chinese used to carry around boxes with fireflies in them. In captivity, the creatures would feel unwell and lose their appetite. To get them back on track, they had to be bounced into the air. That would give them wings. The same is true of us: with every success, every achievement, we do this. This is the only cure for our helplessness.
"When Kyiv residents rioted on Maidan [Nezalezhnosti square in the capital in 2013-2014], they were lucky that their [then-] President [Viktor] Yanukovych was weak. Had it been Putin or [Belarussian President Alexander] Lukashenko, they would have drowned [the protesters] in rivers of blood.
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"There is a theory that says that if 3.5% of the population take to the streets, they can overturn any government. But look at Belarus, over 3.5% of the population protested [against Lukashenko]. They were beaten, abused, and chased by Lukashenko's oppressors. At some point, a conciliatory uprising is not enough."
Q: Was that the mistake Belarusian protesters made? Did not take up arms?
"Yes. Had they done that, they would have won. But for Belarussians, it was even more difficult to win, because Lukashenko is supported by Putin. But Putin is not supported by anyone. Therefore, to take down Putin would be easier than Lukashenko.
"And may I add, I really don't like this talk about 'slave consciousness.' They say that Russians have lived like this for centuries. So what? How many years have the Jews lived in exile? Some even said they should not establish a state. Not speak the holy tongue. But then came [Theodor] Herzl and wrote The Old New Land, in which he described the future Jewish state and that it was possible, and here we are – the state has been established … One of the goals of our movement is to write a similar book: to describe a kind of country that Russian citizens will want to live in."
Q: What can an average Russian do to contribute?
"First and foremost, spread information … To write that Putin equals war, Putin equals poverty. These messages need to be heard from every corner. Also, there's a great sentence on planes, to put the mask on yourself first, and only then on your child. True, it's selfish, but it is good to look for a safety net.
"The same is true now. When you have a safety net, you can do more. Once you have that, you can move on to more aggressive actions, for example burning National Guard vehicles." In fact, Chernyshev has posted a 198-point list on Facebook of things Russians can do to protest.
"Protesting is something that will simply not work now, because we say in advance where we will meet, and then are beaten. Now imagine this, every day we call for a protest, but do not come. Or gather at a different place. Imagine how difficult it would be for security mechanisms: you have a plan in the morning and then boom, cancelation. And then again. Organize, prepare, cancel. At some point, they will give up, and then we will protest again."
Q: Do many people contact you?
"My inbox is always full, and what's nice is that organizations from all over the world also reach out to me. I do not want to make up illusions: so far there are only hundreds of people, but I hope that their number will increase quickly. "
Chernyshev's photo on Facebook is the white-blue-white flag that has become a symbol of 2022 anti-war protests in Russia.
"I love the idea of removing the red from the flag," he said. "After all, the red Bolsheviks held onto power by cruelty alone. Hunger, food vouchers, a draconian punishment system. In 1991, they didn't think the society needed a shake-up, and communists were not alienated. You see what it brought.
"No one in the future should hold so much power. Smart people came up with the idea of separation of powers. Everyone should compromise, that is the only way."
As of now, Chernyshev plans to remain in Israel for at least three months.
"It all depends on whether I find work here. In the meantime, I teach courses on creative thinking for children and adults and am in touch with Tel Aviv University about a possible series of lectures. I might also apply for citizenship."
Q: What is your hope for Russia in 2025?
"There are only two options: it will either become a normal country or it will simply not survive until 2025. It will not even survive this year, because this war and the sanctions are a blow that without changing one cannot recover from."
