"The hardest and most terrible thing is the unknown": journalist Kirill Vyshinsky - about being imprisoned in a Ukrainian prison

- What were you accused of?

- In high treason.

In the cell, sooner or later, they ask what article and what got it.

They ask me: "Who are you?"

I say: "I am a journalist."

- "And what article?"

- "111th".

Everyone is tense: "What is this?"

- "Treason".

- "Oh you!"

The second question that is traditionally asked in prison, if they do not know what the article is, is what is the "start", that is, the minimum term for this article.

My minimum term for 111 was 12 years.

And then the eyes widen.

Because the 115th (premeditated murder) - there is a minimum term of ten.

That is, for the murder you will receive ten years, and for the publication of 72 texts that were supposedly supposed to completely destroy the state of Ukraine and lead to its absorption - 12 years.

- Probably, people knew about you?

You still had a public affair.

- Each cell has a senior.

And this man said to me: "We were expecting you earlier, why are you, where have you been?"

- Who were you to them?

Friend, enemy or just like that?

- Of course, in my heart I was very worried about this.

Because there were two most terrible characters in Ukrainian propaganda at that time: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and me.

Demoman, organizer of a whole propaganda network.

I understood that I would definitely not enter the cell as a hero.

There is such a thing as solidarity.

All people, everyone understands that you are in shock from the fact that you suddenly lose your usual life.

Therefore, what your new neighbors did is good.

The neighbors helped ...

- In America they really trust the state.

Including prisoners.

How are things in Ukraine?

- In Ukraine, everything is exactly the opposite.

The TV spots said about me that I was a propagandist, engaged in subversive activities in favor of the DPR - LPR, as well as in support of Crimea.

And literally two or three days later, a man came up to the door of our cell: "Where is the journalist?"

Well, I'm fine.

He says: "Well, is everything okay?"

I say, "What do you mean?"

- “What do you need?

Maybe tea, cigarettes? "

I say: "No, it's okay."

He says: “You're Crimean, you're ours.

We will not leave you. "

Where am I, where is Crimea ?!

I was born, raised and lived all my life in Dnepropetrovsk.

I went to the Crimea to a pioneer camp.

But after this story it turned out to be "ours" and "Crimean".

- Whose Crimea?

- He is Crimean.

They made their choice.

The one they did.

And one of the Ukrainian opposition politicians said that we must understand a simple thing: it was not Crimea, not the territory that left us - people who, having seen what happened in Kiev, left us, made their choice.

They realized that they didn't want to live like that.

And if they don't want to, they won't.

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- Do you consider yourself Ukrainian or Russian?

- I am a person with two passports.

Ukrainian and Russian.

Ukraine is my Motherland.

I was born there, grew up, formed as a person.

And Russia is my Fatherland, which in some difficult period for my life came to my defense.

- So after all, Ukrainian or Russian?

- I belong to a huge number of Russian-speaking Ukrainians who live in Russian culture.

They live, are brought up and continue to live.

Although they are now trying to force them to live differently.

- Cyril, do you feel that you have lost your homeland?

- I hope I haven't lost it yet.

- Do you want to come back?

- Of course, I really want to.

By and large, I have everything there.

Childhood, youth, a huge chunk of work and life - everything is there.

Yes, there were childhood friends who (said. -

RT

): "Well, like, we'll meet after the war."

I answer: “Wait, after what war?

I am not at war with anyone. "

- "Well, we have a war with Russia."

I say: “Open your eyes, what is the war with Russia?

Ukrainian aviation is bombing Ukrainian cities.

Where is the war with Russia? "

Incidentally, I have always been amazed at how television propaganda works, especially news.

The first plot is necessarily about the war.

War, aggressor country and so on.

The second or third story is that the trade turnover between Ukraine and Russia increased by 20% last year.

It seems to me that the absurdity that coexists in two different forms of Ukraine is so obvious, which, on the one hand, is at war, and on the other hand, is fighting to ensure that the transit of Russian gas goes only through its territory.

- War-war, and money should come on schedule, it's obvious.

- Yes.

Then what do we mean by the word "cynicism"?

At the level of state policy in Ukraine, Poroshenko just made crazy money in the war, crazy!

- How to survive in prison - Kirill Vyshinsky's recipe?

- There are three main words in prison: "thank you", "please", "sorry."

Yes, there are situations where you cannot give back.

Because it will be a sign of weakness.

It doesn't have to end in a fight, a showdown, but you must show character.

Moreover, your character should not overlap with another character in everyday life.

That is, you do not need to demonstrate character every day.

This is a prison.

- You were beaten?

- I'm not.

- Tell us what you ate, cooked?

“In a Ukrainian prison, they feed from a common prison cauldron out of despair.

Because it's totally unappetizing.

The pragmatic and practical food in prison is instant vermicelli.

But in a Ukrainian prison, corruption prevails over any rule.

With connections, money and understanding who to pay, you can get everything.

With me in the Lukyanovka prison sat the guard of the pre-trial detention center who was caught bringing drugs into the prison.

That is, for money you can get alcohol, drugs - whatever you want.

- So corruption in such a situation is good?

- You don't need to steal anything in Ukraine if there is corruption.

There is corruption - you decide everything.

After all, there are more parcels in the Ukrainian prison.

And this is a big plus, unlike the American one, where they are not.

The main thing in a prison is to get things done.

To feel at least something the same.

• © Frame: RT video

- Have you ever wondered why this happened to you?

- There was a latent feeling that something was happening that, in theory, should not happen.

The very atmosphere in Ukraine, the fact that among my colleagues there were people who ended up in emigration, ended up in prison before me.

But you know, as always: it can happen to anyone, just not to me.

Since I honestly did my journalistic work, fulfilled my professionally duty, it seemed to me that I would not be touched.

- How does Russian propaganda differ from Ukrainian propaganda?

- There is no propaganda in Russia, at least in those editions where I worked.

- How was it in terms of sanitation?

- In Odessa, I saw what I could have seen before, probably only in the cinema or in a museum.

Drainage not with a cistern, but with a drain pipe from the sink.

You go to the toilet, and in order for everything to go down the drain safely, you need to turn on the water in the sink.

- Are you afraid that this will happen again?

- I have no feeling that this can happen to me again.

I don't dream about prison, I don't think about it.

But I remember that there was a moment in my life when I had no freedom of choice.

Probably the most unpleasant of human sensations.

- Tell me about the horrors of the prison.

“A man was killed in the cell diagonally from us, across the corridor.

He fell twice from the top tier.

The next morning they carried him out cold.

As it was explained in the cell - an accident.

Everyone understands perfectly well what happened.

Twice he fell from the upper bunk and broke his neck.

- Twice?

- Apparently, the first time I didn't break it, so I got up and fell again.

Such an everyday horror.

He is in some simple everyday things.

When, for example, you understand that there are no smells in prison.

Not because they do not exist physically, on the contrary.

It's just not a smell in prison, but a stench.

There is no paint in the prison.

Even if the walls are the same color, the floor is different - these paints are still dirty.

- Faded.

- Yes.

You wake up every morning and live in it.

An absolutely unfair thing is happening to you.

Prosecutors are lying, investigators are lying.

The judge is listening to you carefully.

You are telling, presenting, foaming at the mouth, proving something.

He looks at you with cold eyes, because he realizes that he cannot make the decision that ...

- Does he already know what he will say?

- Of course.

The biggest, hardest and worst thing in prison is the unknown.

When you don't know what happened to those who remained behind the wall.

I could not understand where the people who had fabricated a case against me would stay.

How many and who else will they put in prison?

So the first thing I did was ask my mother to leave.

- They said that you took the money in suitcases.

This is true?

- I was accused of having powerful funding, I received tens of thousands of dollars every month.

- And in fact?

- Of course.

Because I had an editorial office.

I have employed more than 40 people, plus authors, plus rent.

If someone thinks that all this costs 15 hryvnia - alas, no.

We worked openly on the Internet and in the public space.

All taxes were paid.

People were arranged.

That is, I have more than 40 people lost their jobs at one point.

- And there were those who went over to the side of Ukraine and said: “I knew that - Vyshinsky was like that”?

- Firstly, there was nothing to talk about in the long run.

Nobody gave a confessionary statement, did not say that we were engaged in propaganda and they told us what to write.

This was definitely not the case.

- So all your guys stayed with you?

- They told the truth.

They stayed with the truth.

The first days it was hardest for me to think about what could happen to my family and friends, to the people who worked with me.

When my father came on a date before the New Year in Kherson, he joked gloomily: "Come on, come out soon, because if you go out, there will be no one to drink with."

Several of his friends, in whose eyes I grew up, died, because this is already age, my parents are not getting younger.

One of my classmates also died.

In general, people left.

And indeed, at some point it seemed: when I go out, who will I talk to?

It seems to me that this is horror.

A horror that is difficult to describe.

- Do you want revenge?

- Revenge is too strong.

I want justice.

When all the ways to restore justice have been exhausted, then it is about revenge.

- And where are your business going?

What outcome do you expect?

- I want and am waiting for an acquittal.

Because, from my point of view, there can be no other way.

- Do you believe in justice in Ukraine?

- Yes I believe you.

It is not a matter of knowledge.

In this sense, so far I have no positive experience related to such political persecution.

But I believe this is possible.

- Do you have a mission?

- No.

I don’t think about the mission.

I think about work.

I want people to be more informed, which means freer.

Freedom is a conscious need.

They must be aware of something before making a choice.

And in this sense, journalists make people free.