A lot of people have been asking what I think about this video featuring Chulpan Khamatova.
http://youtu.be/vgqlx3GfMQQ I don’t know Chulpan Khamatova personally, I don’t know the circumstances, and I’m not going to judge her. In any case, Khamatova has done more than enough good that she has every right to record videos supporting whoever she wants—Putin or Count Dracula. But there is one thing here that seems fundamentally important to me. From several people connected to this story, I’ve heard: You don’t know everything. She was pressured. She was blackmailed—almost literally with the lives of children who survive only thanks to her foundation, "Gift of Life". And people are writing exactly that: "That’s right. She was forced. Only no one offered her money—quite the opposite. Her Gift of Life foundation was put under heavy pressure, with threats to freeze its accounts and bring criminal charges. It was direct and horrifying blackmail that could not be resisted, given that several children were already undergoing treatment and their care still had to be funded." http://bakushinskaya.livejournal.com/810502.html "We were all told to keep quiet. Yes, she was forced, she was threatened. Not personally—children were threatened. They threatened to cut off the foundation and the hematology center, to cut off funding. They have hostages," the source said, comparing the makers of the video to "terrorists making demands." http://www.gazeta.ru/news/lastnews/2012/02/15/n_2205613.shtml "They twisted her arm," people said in one corner, conspiratorially lowering their voices. "They promised to deprive the foundation of all financial support and destroy its reputation," whispered others in another corner. "She was crying during the filming," still others claimed. http://www.openspace.ru/society/russia/details/34370/ If Chulpan really does support Putin—a man under whom every health minister, from Zurabov to "Lady Arbidol" Golikova (a nickname referring to former Russian Health Minister Tatyana Golikova), is a billionaire, while money for children’s treatment still has to be raised through Gift of Life and other charities—then let her record whatever she wants, explain herself to no one, and tell the curious to go to hell.
But if she really was forced, then of course she has no right to stay silent about it. If Russia is to be ruled by a man who forces people to record campaign videos in his support by blackmailing them with the lives of sick children, then that cannot be concealed. It has to be spoken about—for the sake of those very children. The healthy ones and the sick ones alike.