Russian police officers stand guard during a rally in Moscow, Sept. 21.
Photo:
REUTERS PHOTOGRAPHER/REUTERS
I’m American, and my wife is from Russia. We met when I was working as a reporter there in the early 1990s. My wife loathes
and the security services he served. As a student in Moscow, she was expelled from university at the KGB’s behest for watching a film at the American Embassy. I’ve written on these pages before about my Moscow-based, Putin-supporting mother-in-law, Maria.
When the Ukraine war started, my wife took to rebutting the
posts of Mr. Putin’s chief propagandist,
Maria Zakharova.
Facebook is banned in Russia, but Ms. Zakharova used it to make Moscow’s case to the world. My wife, from the safety of our Connecticut home, dared to note that Bucha and other possible war crimes did indeed occur. I too wrote articles that could be deemed critical of Mr. Putin’s invasion.
At the same time, we continued to talk to the other Maria, my wife’s mother, via Skype even though that too is banned. Maria has an eighth-grade education and is a former hospital janitor—hardly a target I thought the security services would monitor. My wife and I joked about the FSB listening in to our calls. We aren’t laughing anymore.
My wife recently underwent significant surgery. After the fact, she mentioned this with her mother on a Skype call. Shortly thereafter, Maria received a phone call on her Moscow landline from a man who didn’t identify himself.
“We know your daughter has a medical condition,” he said. “This is retribution for her traitorous behavior toward Russia.” Then he hung up.
I can’t say for sure, but who else beyond the FSB would conduct such an operation? Maria was too scared to call us. Instead she phoned an intermediary, who relayed the details and said Maria was putting a halt to our conversations and…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RSSOpinion…