Amid all these astonishing twists in Arkady Babchenko’s story, it is crucial not to forget for even a second what is happening to Oleg Sentsov.
It is very easy for me to count the days of Sentsov’s hunger strike. I heard about it on the radio on my first day under arrest. I spend a week in detention—and he has been starving for a week. My “fifteen days” (a standard 15-day administrative jail term in Russia) are over—and so are his. But our futures are taking shape in completely different ways. Another “fifteen days” will pass for me, and I will get out, hug my family, take a shower, and eat homemade food.
But Oleg Sentsov will die. Alone in his cell, thousands of kilometers from his loved ones. He will die knowing that his case was entirely fabricated, that he bears no guilt. He is, of course, no terrorist.
Before he dies, he will be tortured—we all understand what “force-feeding” means in a Russian prison. If you do not, read the memoirs of Soviet dissidents.
I am far from thinking it makes sense to appeal to the Russian authorities’ mercy. That is like a unicorn—a phenomenon that does not exist in nature. Instead, I will appeal to what they love and endlessly boast about: their desire to cheat, manipulate, and “outplay” everyone.
Dear Kremlin and V.V. Putin! Outplay Oleg Sentsov. Trick him. Make a fool of him. His feat, his sacrifice, and his death will place him alongside Bobby Sands, Marchenko and other giants of humanity.
There will be films about him, and books, and streets named in his honor. And new sanctions too, of course. You need to outplay this. Go ahead and, shocking everyone around you, release him and all 64 Ukrainian political prisoners.
Let tomorrow an “anonymous but trustworthy source in the Kremlin” (let it be Peskov) declare: — We are ready to exchange Sentsov and the others within 24 hours. On an “all for all” basis. Without any negotiations.
And then Peskov, no longer anonymously, can confirm it. And add: the ball is in President Poroshenko’s court.
And we will all watch the Ukrainian side running around in panic. Drawing up a list. Trying to make it within 24 hours. And everyone will write: how cunning Putin really is. He has outplayed everyone again. Sentsov, Ukraine, and Western leaders alike. Look, Western newspapers are praising our Putin once again. Just think about it, would you?
And the outplayed Sentsov will go home and embrace his family. And his death will no longer weigh on us.