When Putinism lies in ruins, Russians will remember the fearless moral clarity of this prison letter from Darya Kozyreva, a medical student first expelled from university and then arrested for her antiwar actions. 'Russia is wrapped in a heavy, impenetrable cocoon, a cocoon of silence. How many crimes the Putin dictatorship has committed, how many foreign cities it has seized and devastated, how many killings and tortures it has meted out, and the response to all these outrages is a deafening silence. Many prefer not to know what is happening, to close their eyes and stop listening. Many deceive themselves, wishing to be deceived - after all it is so easy to believe blindly what the television says, even if it is broadcasting the most monstrous lies. But many know perfectly well what this vile regime is doing. They endure the burden of their dissent, their outrage, their anger. And all the same, they are silent. Just as any crime is committed with somebody's tacit consent, so any dictatorship is maintained thanks to the people's silence. A colossus with feet of clay will be worthless if all the dissenters speak out. But they are silent. One person thinks that everything has been decided, and that there is no reason for them, a minor figure, to get mixed up in this. Another hopes that others will say everything - but those others also find excuses to remain silent. The real reason for this silence is human fear, visceral fear. No dictatorship can make everyone believe in it - therefore it constantly resorts to fear, its first and last instrument for subjugating the people. Germans in the era of Hitler obediently shouted 'Heil,' understanding the consequences of disobedience; Soviet people in the era of Stalin were afraid to whisper in their own kitchens for fear of being denounced. The steamroller of repression doesn't need to crush every dissenter, just a few demonstrative examples, and the rest will gag their own mouths. The absurdity of Putinist repression has reached such heights that any trifle can become a pretext for persecution - and no one knows what one can say. The criminal in the Kremlin is satisfied; that's exactly what he needs. As long as everyone is silent, his own skin will be safe. That is precisely why one cannot stay silent. No, human fear is understandable: it is very difficult to risk one's position, one's future, one's freedom. To say nothing of the fact that many have families - for these people, the fear is doubled. But will it be easier for these families to live under a dictatorship, under tightening screws, behind an iron curtain? A dictatorship can continue to wreak its atrocities, its lawlessness, as long as it feels strength and power. Nothing will change as long as everyone remains submissively silent. So perhaps the time has come to start speaking? Everyone who can speak, must speak. The individuals who dared to speak up are now too few to move anything. Everyone must speak, who does not agree with the Moscow regime. Individuals can easily be put behind bars for their words, because they are individuals. But there are not enough prisons for everyone, for all the dissenters in Russia. Even if the regime builds just as many especially for them. When, having overcome fear, everyone begins to speak out, it will time for Putin's gang to be afraid. No evil lasts for ever, any dictatorship will inevitably collapse. It can collapse of its own weight, like the USSR, or thanks to the uprising of the people. Don't let this dictatorship live any longer than it can. Speak out, people!